S. N. Goenka

On the sandy shores of Mexico in 1519, Hernan Cortes strode off of his ship and stepped into unfamiliar territory. Around the small group of conquistadors was a half-naked crowd of native Aztec people – people who thought that Cortes was a messenger from their gods. Little did these so-called savages know, within a few short years millions of their race would be massacred and their way of life would be destroyed. Up and down the coast of the New World, Europeans took advantage of the weaker and…

Dominating the America’s was one of the smartest decisions the Spanish could have made in the 1500’s. Bankrolling Columbus’ expedition fashioned several opportunities for the boundless empire. This colonization brought numerous characteristics for possibilities at a new life. They had an instance to obtain areas of rich land and develop their realm across the sea. Soon to find out, the Spanish weren’t the only ones there nor the first people in the America’s. Long before them, the invaders…

The impact of hierarchy on the social structures and religion of both the Spanish and the Mexica empire before and after contact led to the Spanish conquest of the Mexica empire. Hierarchies were fundamental aspects of both the Spanish and Mexica empires, and permeated through all aspects of society, including religion. When the two groups interacted for the first time, they established a hierarchical relationship with the Spanish being superior to the Mexica. This allowed for the Spanish…

If left up to the text of the 16th century the fall of the Aztec Empire would be accredited only to Cortes, but as Kevin O. Collins stressed in The Fatal Flaws of the Aztec Empire we see that we must look past the conquest and look more to the political, and religious view of the Aztec. Writers, such as William Prescott saw the flaws in the manuscripts written by those under Cortes and stressed that it was the mismanagement of Tenochtitlan that caused its fall. Unfortunately for this paper I…

accidentally discovered in the Caribbean was a part of Portuguese (Restall p.9). Columbus wasn 't having any success and his career was extremely mutilated. So he exaggerated about his voyage to Queen Elizabeth. He signed a contract promising to find America 's doing this time Christopher Columbus expressed his knowledge of how the world was shaped. Some of his colleagues thought the world was flat (Restall…

1. The title of this sculpture is The Goddess Coatlicue. She stands at eight feet, six inches, and is located in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City. An Aztec sculptor created her out of an igneous rock called basalt. This black or gray colored rock is fine-grained and forms from lava as small amounts shoot out of volanoes and cool quickly. This statue was originally discovered in 1790, but was immediately reburied due to its terrifying nature.…

Did you know that the word Aztec was given to them by Europeans ? They actually called themselves Mexica which is where the name Mexico comes from . Westerners that visited the lands called them Aztec due to the original place named Aztlan that they had visited many centuries ago.The Aztec empire was one of the most powerful civilizations in Mesoamerica at the time. The pyramid of Tenochtitlan means “the city of where the gods were created” .The city was constructed on top of a lake which it no…

1. Carlos Fuentes described the civilization discovered by the European in a way that seems, that the native’s people progression has halted and they needed help from others who are more advance (European). Fuentes mentioned the Eurocentric view of why the native people were not advancing. He said “they [Indians] were blessed by nature, but dwarfed by it,” most scholars believe that the Indians were “lazy,” thus making their civilization backwards compared to the rest of the world. However, that…

Artifact 1: Feather Shield Picture/Source Aztec civilization feather shield (Mexico, Aztec civilization. feather shield with linear meander design incorporating eye motifs. From Mexican Altiplano) Description/Source These Shields were used by Aztecs in battle. The Aztecs were a warrior civilization, and this shield represents that. The Aztecs built their empire on tribute from conquered places. (Mexico, Aztec civilization. feather shield with linear meander design incorporating eye motifs. From…

patterns this came from the book of Chilam Balam Chumayel. These books however were written from a European style so they hold Mayan ideology coated in a European veil that must be analyzed to truly understand. As opposed to focusing as much on actions s Clendinnen did with the Spaniards, she focus on Mayan speech and thought process. She draws that Mayans were selective when it came to incorporating thing to their culture, as their spoken language remained relatively unchanged as opposed to its…