The well-planned out city of Tenochtitlan was taken over by the ruthless Spanish as they destroyed the Aztec culture and civilization. The Aztec had advancements in architecture and religion before the Spanish arrived. The Spanish arrived and took over the Aztecs mercilessly killing the innocent people and destroying their culture. Before the Spanish arrived with disease in 1519 the Aztecs were a thriving culture with advanced architecture and religion.
The architectural advancements used by the Aztecs allowed for the creation of a complex city to be built on top of a lake. The Aztecs used architectural ideas to make the city of Tenochtitlan more accessible. The created causeways that connected to the mainland that allowed people to travel into the city. This architectural design was an advancement that allowed the Aztecs to work with what they had. Another architectural advancement that made the lives of the Aztecs easier were their floating gardens. “Aztecs built a series of chinampa, or floating gardens, by layering mud and plants together that were then held in place by tall posts.” These gardens allowed the Aztecs to grow crops that would supply the food for the community. The Aztecs also used architecture in their temples to the gods. They were able to create a round temple
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The europeans also brought not only disease but warfare and sacrifice along with them. They sacrificed helpless victims and killed off the population in battle. After they had killed the Aztecs and their leader they took control of the city and implemented their own rules. “The many other warnings we had received to beware of entering the city of Mexico, since they would kill us as soon as they had us inside.” This shows how the Spanish denied their rude ruling habits causing the Aztecs to revolt. The Spanish were ruthless during the battles and their advanced weaponry is how they took over the Aztec
... The plague was brought over by the Spanish who where immune to the disease, but the Aztecs weren't so lucky. Many where killed over the course of seventy days, including the new King Cuitlahucs (92). Obviously this had a dramatic impact because they lost their leader. Those that remained where very weak with a milder form of the disease (93). Obviously this affected their strength to fight.
It is the 1450s. Foreigners have invaded your land, and they’re capturing the citizens living there for their lethal rituals. (Doc. A) You are unlucky enough to find yourself kidnapped, along with your family. Your mother is taken away quickly, but your father is forced to become a human sacrifice for the Aztec gods. What does this mean, exactly? According to The History of the Indies of New Spain by Friar Diego Duran, your father’s chest is severed, and his heart is taken out of his body. This is all while he is still awake, and before the time of pain medication. He slowly bleeds to death on the temple stairways - and you’re watching it all. This sounds terrible, does it not?
Aztecs were tribe. In Chronicler’s Account talked about Spaniards with Aztecs from 1519 to 1521.When the Spaniards arrived in Tenochtitlan, and they bought horses, guns and also smallpox that killed a lot of people there. A Text from the Chronicler’s Account saids “ at about the time that the Spaniards had fled from Mexico….there came a great sickness, a pestilence, the smallpox. It …. spread over the people with great destruction of men.” The Aztec chronicler was trying to be objective in what happened at that time. Aztec Chronicler wrote about struggled in
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico suffered an immense decimation of 2,500,000 peoples to less than 320,000 by the end of the sixteenth century (Vargas, 30). The Spaniards’ cruel treatment of the natives aided this vast reduction in the Aztec and Mexican population, enabling the Spaniards to conquer the lands of the Aztecs and other native tribes. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had expanded their conquests into the southwest region of what is now known as the United States of America.
The Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. They dominated the valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Aztecs were an advanced and successful civilization that built beautiful, sophisticated cities, temples, and pyramids. They also created a culture full of creativity with mythological and religious traditions. Aztecs lead a structured and evocative life that let their society to become a very superior civilization. The Aztec’s communication skills were very well developed for their time; through religious beliefs, government involvement, and family life they lived a full and productive life. Until in 1519 when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, and defeated the Aztecs.
The Spanish and Aztecs were both, very powerful and rich empires. They both were immensely successful. The Aztecs, originally known as the Mexica, was a group of people who lived in Tenochtitlan, now know as Mexico City. They believed that the gods controlled the world, and that they worshipped them by sacrificing. If the gods were not fed blood, the believed that the world would end. The Aztecs became one of the greatest cities in the world. On the other hand, the Spanish lived in the west of Europe, converting people to Catholicism. The Spanish wanted to explore, to conquer and by doing that, they could get rich. They were both powerful in their own areas. The Spanish soon were exploring and came across the Aztecs. The Spanish were seeking
The Spanish defeat of the Aztecs has been extensively criticized for many years. Religion was a motive for discovery, enabled the Spanish to enter the heart of the empire, and was used as justification for torture of the natives. The centrality of religion as a force in Spanish conquest is undeniable. Virtually all of Aztec culture was destroyed and the Spanish victory has had lasting effects for both natives and Europeans up to and including the present-day.
The Spaniards didn’t destroy the Aztec civilization all by their self another factor which helped the Spanish were the disease that they brought over to the Americas from Europe and Africa. The introduction of diseases like syphilis, measles, smallpox, malaria, mumps and yellow fever are just some sickness that plagued the Budhu 2 Aztecs. Also the introduction of different species of animals and plants caused a ecological imbalance (Plagues and Peoples 176-199). All these are some reasons to why the Aztec civilization was destroyed. With the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico rumors started to reach
Present day Mexico finds itself in a state of shambles. All one ever hears on the news is about how all the corruption and violence has thrust Mexico into a state of chaos. Being of Mexican descent and having grandparents that still live in Mexico it is tough to see and hear that Mexico is barely a step above of being a third world country. What some people might forget is that present day Mexico was once home to one of the Americas greatest civilization. When the Aztec empire was at its peak their territory stretched from what today is Central Mexico to Southern Mexico. It is important to go back and look at what made the Aztec empire one of the worlds greatest. The Aztec Empire flourished because its people came together in aspects of everyday life.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims. In the mid-fourteenth century, the Aztecs used the method of human sacrifices to uphold fear in their neighbors by using the method year round to please the gods and ensure their survival.
The Olmecs are the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization. Around 1200 B.C. the Olmecs originated as a primitive people living and farming on the shores of Mexico (Stanton 91). Soon, however, they began to build cities such as San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Monte Alban. These “cities” were religious centers where people gathered to worship, and were not populated (Stanton 91). The first of these centers, San Lorenzo, was built c. 1150 B.C., on a flat topped, man-made mountain. It was mysteriously abandoned 200 years later (Stanton 92-93). La Venta, built between 1000 and 600 B.C., sat on an island in a swamp (Stanton 93). Later, around 500 B.C., Monte Alban, which was used as a religious center even after the Olmecs faded, was built on an immense mountain (Stanton 93). The cities were made up of temples and plazas, and decorated by monumental stone heads, which weighed up to 50 tons (Stanton 93)! These heads probably represented their early kings and had distinct helmets (Kingfisher 32). It is incredible how the Olmec people transported the stone from the distant mountains to La Venta, near the shore, without the aid of work animals or carts. It appears that the Olmecs did this grueling work for their gods willingly, as there is no evidence of forced labor (Stanton 93). The Olmecs probably worshipped the jaguar, as it appears so often in their artwork. There are also many e...
The leader of the Aztecs was Montezuma the second.Their government was similar to a Monarchy.They called the leader at the time a Huey Tlatoani. The Aztec Indians had many enemies, their enemies were, Texlacans, Huaxtec, purempecha, mayans, and spanish conquistadors. They had so many enemies because they were all fighting for the same territory. They were around from 1428 to 1521.
The very existence of the Europeans posed a threat to livelihood of the natives. They had a disease called smallpox which the natives did not have an immunity to. The disease was a plague among the natives very rapidly. When the Spaniards fought and temporarily left Tenochtitlan, many Aztecs died due to the smallpox of the Spaniards as recorded by Miguel Leon-Portilla (Doc. 4). When the Europeans learned of how their disease was affecting the natives, the Europeans took advantage and used it to kill natives that were in places of possible settlement. Geoffrey Cowley gives some modern statistics of just how many natives died. In Mexico alone from 1519 to 1568 the native population dropped from about 30 million to 3 million (Doc. 6). The disease brought horror to the New World but did manage to clear the way for many colonies for the Europeans. Sadly these colonies were built because there were no natives to stop them after they were
The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the “god” that included a human sacrifice, which was seen by the Spanish as a disgusting act, this trigged Spanish hatred for the Aztecs. When the Spanish saw the resources that the Aztecs had, they quickly started taking advantage of the Aztecs weaknesses. The Spanish had more power; they were better equipped than the Aztecs and more advanced. The Aztecs’ leader Montecuhzoma was a weak leader, he was more of a coward, more concerned with his well being and safety than the safety of his people and kingdom so he quickly surrendered under pressure. The Spanish used surrounding enemy tribes to take over the Aztec lands, then began to massacre men, women and children. When the Aztec became angry and started to fight back, they were quickly wrecked by the diseases the Spanish ...
...The last two reasons that the Aztecs were defeated had to do with the disease that the Spaniards brought with them from Europe mainly small pox and the Aztec warfare rituals. The Aztecs had never been exposed to this disease and therefore their immune systems could not beat it and it eventually claimed the lives of thousands of Indians not only the Aztecs. The Aztecs had many rituals that they performed and most of them had to do with human sacrifice and this was something unspeakable and unholy in the eyes of the Spaniards which only fueled their cause in killing them and stopping such barbaric acts. Also the Aztecs would perform rituals before declaring war which the Spaniards used to their advantage and caught them off guard with their immediate attack of Tenochtitlan. These were the most important factors that led to the eventual fall of the Aztec empire.