the impact of the spanish conquest of the aztec empire on the modern world

8/19/2019 The Impact of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire on the Modern World

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The signifcance o the Aztec Empire

in terms o economic, cultural, technological andastrological development


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By: Derick Coetzee

Table o Contents

Heading age!" Introduction

(1)

#" Sourcesa.Summary of Evidence (2)

b.Evaluation of Sources (5)

$" The sini!cance of the "ztec Em#irea."nalysis ($)

b.Conclusion (12)

%" %e&ection (1')

&" iliora#hy (1*)

'ntroduction

What role did the annihilation of the Aztec Empire play

in the destabilization of the Yucatan? Was the Aztec

Empire as backwards as many people today think it was?

Would it have become a regional power if the Spanish had

not destroyed it or would it have collapsed into nothing

with the introduction of western ideas? Moreover how


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has the destruction of the Aztec Empire affected the

cultural heritage and sense of cultural belonging of the

natives of !orth Yucatan and South Me"ico? #n this

investigation # will give proof that the Aztec Empire

was in fact e$ual to or even greater in stature than the

empires of Europe in terms of economic social and

cultural development% # will show how that Spanish

&on$uistadores changed the cultural heritage of the

entire area by annihilating the Aztec Empire% And # will

show how the current destabilised state of the region

was caused by the taking away of the region's backbone

by the Spanish%

(ources

+ere ,e ,ill summarize and evaluate thesources that ,as used in this investiation-

Summary of Evidence

Source A: The Oxford Interactive Encyclopaedia

Article: (he Aztecs


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Content: &onsists of a picture of the Aztec

calendar with a caption e"plaining it and

describing the intricate city of (enochtitl)n%

Usefulness to the investigation: #t showed me

the level of artistry and science achieved by the

Aztecs before the Spanish arrived thus it can beused to prove how advanced the Aztecs were%

Source B: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia 2004,

Article: Spanish &on$uest of the Aztec Empire

* the &ort+s E"pedition

Content: A detailed e"planation of the

battles between the Spanish con$uistadores of&ort+s and the Aztecs especially the ,attle of

(enochtitl)n and conse$uent siege% #t also tells

of how the Aztec commanders strategically

outsmarted the Spanish clearly showing their

advanced military tactics% #t also contains a

picture showing the splendour of (enochtitl)n%

Usefulness to the investigation: (his source

actually prompted me to do this investigationespecially since # saw how the Aztecs almost

prevailed over the Spanish%

Source C: World Book Millenniu 2000

Article: (he Aztecs

Content: Short e"planation of what happened

to the Aztecs and why they did not see &ort+s as

an enemy at first% #t also tells us how the Aztec

heritage was lost during the Spanish occupation

and how it is being revived today%

Usefulness to the investigation: &an be used

to answer the last $uestion in the introduction-

.ow has the destruction of the Aztec Empire

affected the cultural heritage of the natives of

!orth Yucatan and South Me"ico?


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Source G: The (ational )eo*raphic Ma*a+ineu*ust -./.

Article: 0iscovering the !ew World's oldest

dated work of man

Content: #t is an article about anarchaeological e"pedition in the Yucatan% #t

contains a paragraph about the relay runners that

the Aztecs used to transport fresh products

across their empire%

Usefulness to the investigation: (his small

paragraph gives us a bigger picture of how the

Aztecs transported goods around their empire%

Evaluation of the Sources

Source A: The Oxford Interactive Encyclopaedia

Origin: &omputer/based encyclopaedia picture

sketched by a Spanish artist compiled by the

1earning &ompany

Purpose: (his picture was probably sketched

to show the Europeans what the Aztec culture was

like%


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Value: #t shows the level of artistry that

the Aztecs were capable of%

Liitation: #t might not be accurate as the

artist may not have had the Aztec cultural

background to correctly draw the calendar%

Source B: Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia 2004

Origin: &omputer/based encyclopaedia two

articles by William 2% 3owler and &arl Waldman%

4icture taken of an unnamed museum model%

Purpose: (he purpose of these articles is to

give unbiased information on the Spanish con$uest

of Meso/America% Value: #t provides a balanced view of what

happened in the con$uest

Liitation: (here is a possibility of bias

and misinformation since as Source 0 says

there are many contradicting sources and the

Spanish destroyed many of the original Aztec

accounts of the period% (his fact may distort

some of the articles written on this period%

Source C: World Book Millenniu 2000Origin: &omputer/based encyclopaedia unknown

author

Purpose: #ts purpose is to tell us what

happened to the Aztec culture and its effect on

today%

Value: .elps to complete the picture of what

happened to the Aztecs

Liitation: Might be biased since it is verycritical and sarcastic about the Spaniard's


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religious 5duty' to wipe out the Aztec culture

and religion% #t is not very detailed bare facts

only very little elaboration%

Source D: Britannica !eluxe Edition "MultiediaEdition#

Origin: &omputer/based encyclopaedia two

articles- 6Aztec culture to the time of the

Spanish &on$uest7/ William (% Sanders and 8ac$ues

Soustelle and 6&on$uest of Meso/America7/0avid

,ushnell

Purpose: 6Aztec culture to the time of the

Spanish &on$uest7- (his is a discussion on thebiasness of different sources from that period to

make us aware of the e"isting biasness% 6&on$uest

of Meso/America7- #nformation on the con$uest of

the Aztecs%

Value: .elps identify potentially biased

sources and provides more information for a

fuller total picture%

Liitation: !o evident limitations it is avery good unbiased source

Source E: The $niversal %tandard Encyclopaedia

Origin: ,ook/based encyclopaedia edited by

8oseph 1affan Morse Sc%,%11%,%11%0% from the

Aztec article on page 9:9/9::%

Purpose: ;eneral information on the Aztecs%

Value: ;ives a lot of e"tra information%

(hus it compliments the other sources with e"tra

information


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Liitation: #t was taken from an old

encyclopaedia 9@ so the information might be

outdated to some e"tent%

Source F: &ollier's Encyclopaedia

Origin: ,ook/based encyclopaedia edited by

William 0% .alsey and Emanuel 3riedman from the

Aztec article on page =B/=C written by 8% Eric

and S% (homson%

Purpose: #nformation on the Aztec way of

life%

Value: 3irst hand account

Liitation: (he account of a Spanish soldiermight be biased for obvious reasons% .owever it

may also contain over/e"aggeration as the

Spanish were over/awed by the immense city of

(enochtitl)n%

Source G: The (ational )eo*raphic Ma*a+ineu*ust -./.

Origin: An article in the !ational ;eographic

Purpose: #nformative article about the

Yucatan

Value: E"tra information

Liitation: (he article only mentions this

small piece of information about the Aztecs as

it is actually about Maya ruins%

The signicance of the AztecEmpire

Many people today believe that the Aztec Empire was Dust a loose

conglomeration of backwards barbaric tribes bent on killing each

other and making human sacrifices% ,ased on this belief they also

think that the Spanish con$uest of the Aztec Empire while being


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cruel was a good thing as it brought 5civilisation' to the

region and destroyed the 5heathen' practises%

#n a way they are right% (he Aztecs practiced a religion that was

barbaric and cruel in the e"treme% (hey daily sacrificed people to

the sun ripping their hearts out while they were still alive or

flaying them alive%

.owever despite having such a cruel religion by the time that

Montezuma ## came to power the Aztec Empire had con$uered most of

the region ruling it with an organized system of provinces ta"es

and trade that was e$ual to that of the 2oman Empire and Europe%

According to the niversal Standard Encyclopaedia- 11+tec

cities, pyraids and aueducts indicate a vi*orous and hi*hly

developed people3 In their social or*ani+ation, also, the +tecs

shoed a coparatively advanced state of civili+ation1115 - (his

source clearly illustrates the point of this argument- the Aztecs

were a lot more than backwards tribes living in stone huts and

drinking cacao%

Many archaeologists regard Aztec astrology as e$ual to and even

superior to that of other civilizations% (hey 6FFdivided the solar

year into -6 onths of 20 days each, ith 7 intercalaries3 They

naed each day 8y consecutive hiero*lyphics and calculated annual

periods of 4, -/, 72, and perhaps as any as -04 cycles37 B (he

picture below is a sketch by a Spanish soldier of the Azteccalendar%G !ote the intricate artwork etched into the stone%

1 niversal Standard Encyclopaedia /p%9:C

2 niversal Standard Encyclopaedia /p%9:C

3 4icture- (he H"ford #nteractive Encyclopaedia


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(his brings us to Aztec art the place where the culture of a

civilization is measured% As you can see in the above picture the

Aztecs were skilled artisans% (his can also be gauged from the

beauty of the well/known headdress of Montezuma ## and other

paintings and codices


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edicinal plants? and the &odex Mendo+a and the Matr@cula de

tri8utos, 8oth tax docuents of the +tec epire35 4

(he heart of the Aztec Empire (enochtitl)n was built on a small

island on 1ake (e"coco% (he

picture9 alongside shows the

sacred temple district of

(enochtitl)n% When the city grew

too large the Aztecs anchored

wicker baskets filled with ground

to the bottom of the lake to

create more 5land'% (he city

itself was kept clean by a myriad

of canals which were also used as

transport much like Jenice%

#ndeed that is what many of the

awed Spanish soldiers called

(enochtitl)n- Aenice of the (e

World35 6 As the empire grew so did

the city so that by the time

that &ortes got there it was home to about BKK to GKK thousand

residents making it one of the biggest cities in the world at

that time 1ondon only having about =KK thousand and 4aris about

the same%

(enochtitl)n was also a regional centre of trade with markets the

size of which the Spanish &on$uistadores had never seen% (he

following is an e"cerpt from the diary of ,ernal 0Laz del

&astillo a Spanish soldier and chronicler- 61et us begin with

the dealers in gold silver and precious stone feathers mantles

and embroidered goods% (hen there were #ndian slaves both men and

womenFFF% !e"t there were other traders who sold great pieces of

cloth and cotton and articles of twisted thread and those who sold

4 William (% Sanders and 8ac$ues Soustelle in ,ritannica 0elu"e Edition

5 4icture- Encarta Encyclopaedia Standard BKK

66 Encarta Encyclopaedia Standard BKK


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cacao% #n another part there were skins of Daguar and mountain

lions deer and other animalsFFF% (hen every sort of pottery made

in a thousand different forms from great water Dars to little

Dugs% 4aper and reeds scented with li$uid amber and full of

tobacco and yellow ointments and things of that sort are sold by

themselves and much cochineal is sold under the arcades% (hose

who sell salt and those who make stone knives the fisherwoman and

others who sell small cakes of a sort of ooze which they get out

of the great lake% (here are for sale a"es of brass and copper and

tin


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Conclusion

So what can we conclude from all this? (he Aztecs were cultured

civilized and organized enough to have become a regional leader

and contributor to regional stability and to an e"tent it did

bring stability to the region% (he Spanish greedy for gold and

power destroyed the Aztec civilisation destroying the

infrastructure and authority structure in the region with it% (hey

tried to bring their own forms of authority into the region

causing revolts that have contributed to the current instability

in the region that grew from the gap left by the Aztecs and

filled by warlords% #n addition to creating this political

instability the Spaniards also forced their own customs on the

Aztec people creating

the culture/crisis

e"perienced by many

&entral Americans

today%

)e*ection# conducted this investigation by first checking all the

encyclopaedias on my computer for anything that could

prove that the Aztecs were an advanced culture% After

that # asked some friends of our family if they could

lend me some book/based encyclopaedias and # looked in

there% As the library was closed for the holiday # could

not use it so the only sources # used were those


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available to me which turned out to be enough%

nfortunately the real codices are not available to

children so # could only use what the encyclopaedias

and other informative books gave me%

# enDoyed doing this investigation and # realised again

how the Europeans especially Spain and the 2oman

&atholic &hurch destroyed whole cultures for personal

gain% nfortunately the world has not learnt from its

mistakes yet and we still destroy other peoples' lives

to secure our own wealth and power%

Bibliography!" !he O"for# $nteractive Enc%clopae#ia!eveloped 8y The earnin* &opany, Inc3

&opyri*ht C -..= T& Droperties Inc3ll ri*hts reserved3

#" &icrosoft Encarta Enc%clopae#ia '(()C-../;200/ Microsoft &orporation3

ll >422

Version: -/3030307/-

$" *orl# Boo+ &illenniu '((("International#Multiedia Edition


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the impact of the spanish conquest of the aztec empire on the modern world

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