Restall’s work in this book administers a revitalizing dose of truth to historic and modern misconceptions of the Spanish Conquest. The book is not very long but it is written in an entertaining prose that fluidly transitions between concepts. The arguments are solid and detailed making it almost too easy to follow. Restall’s research seemingly taunts historic perspective and makes you question how you could have ever believed the contrary. His clear…
References: David E. Shi, H. A. (2010). Juan De Onate From Letter from New Mexico (1599). In H. A. David E. Shi, For The Record (pp. 6-8). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.…
In the short story The Cast of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe shares a story about insults and revenge in action. Montresor is the protagonist who holds a grudge against the antagonist, Fortunato. The first sentence sets the stage for the murder of Fortunato. “The thousands injuries of Fortunate I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe, p. 108). It does not say what the “injuries” Montresor is referring to are, but in his book they were enough to murder Fortunato.…
In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides, each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. These statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc. When two cultures interact for the first time there is bound to be some discrepancies over what truly occurred. These discrepancies are portrayed quite well through Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of New Spain and The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, either side showed similarities, but at the same time they showed even more metamorphoses, making it nearly impossible to say either account holds more water than the other. The Aztec and Diaz agreed on two major points, the high ranking of Montezuma/Motecuhzoma and the accommodations the Spaniards were given, while variances included the light in which the Spaniards were depicted, and the motivation for the journey to Mexico.…
Aztecs did not use their written language to document descriptive details and information about their culture for historians. However, conquering Spanish peoples such as Diego Doran, years later, wrote and recorded details and descriptions of Aztec culture (doc 12.1, 593). Although Doran was not an Aztec and did not live during the peak of the Aztec civilization, he was able to credibly record and describe features of the Aztec civilization. This paper will first discuss why Doran’s descriptions of the Aztecs was indeed credible. The discussion will then look at Doran’s writings in document 12.1 “Diego Duran on the Aztecs”. Part 1 of the document is “Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations “, 1450- King Moctezuma l. Part 2 is “Book of Gods and Rites”, by Diego Duran, 1574-1576. Duran provided strong details regarding his description of the Aztecs, their social classes and features, social mobility, and finally the process of the fall to slavery. This paper uses those details as evidence of Doran’s credibility.…
History of the Spanish defeat of Mexico and the Aztecs has always been told in the words of the Spaniards. It has often been forgotten that with only having one impression of the events that took place during this time period, we can never be certain of the entire story, or what actually took place. For this reason, Miguel León-Portilla took it upon himself to further explore pre-Hispanic history and gain insight from the native perspective. With permission from Dr. Angel Maria Garibay K., director of the Seminary of Nahuatl Culture at the University of Mexico, León-Portilla was able to gain access to Spanish translations of several Nahuatl texts. The aforementioned texts provided “faithful representations of the indigenous originals” for which León-Portilla used to detail the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico.…
This assignment examines the document entitled “Bartolomé de las Casas, from Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies.” Bartolomé de las Casas, who spent most of his time in the New World protecting the native people that lived there, authored the document in 1542. The main reason for the writing of the document was to portray the devastation of the crimes made by Spaniards against the Indians who inhabited the islands of the Indies.…
Show how the iconography at Chavin de Huantar can be understood and what it can tell us about the Early Horizon ceremonialism in the Andean Highlands.…
Pablos compares the Spanish and Indigenous society and proposes the question: “which tradition was more patriarchal? In other words: did women win or lose power and authority with the Spanish conquest?” (1) La Malinche, for instance, was an important symbol in the Spanish conquest of Mexico. She was Hernán Cortés’ interpreter and mistress and her role became a controversial one. To many, she was a traitor, and to others a distinguished woman. Pablos states “Marina has been institutionalized as the symbol of mestizaje [meaning, the mixing of Spanish and Native Mexican blood]…” Her reputation changed as people were incomprehensive of her actual role in society. Like all other women, she was an object in the Spanish conquest and a subordinate woman. La malinche was offered as a gift from her father to Hernán Cortés, was baptized Christian, and she served Cortés until she disposed of her and married her to one of his soldiers ignoring the fact that they had a son together. All because it was acceptable in their “society of Mesoamerican traders” not because she accepted.…
In The broken spears, author Miguel Leon-Portilla gives accounts from the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1519. These accounts include several texts written by surviving indigenous people of the Aztec civilization; these perspectives truly shows the emotion, fear, and uncertainty the Aztec’s felt in depth during this time. With the accounts in our textbook and the broken spears, we are able to draw conclusions viewing both facts and experiences through this prevailing point in world history.…
Cuando era niño(a),yo era obediente. Yo jugaba con mis amigos. Me gustaba jugar con mi triciclo. Yo tenía que portarme bien. Mis padres no me permitían saltar en la cama.…
The document, written by Arana Xajilá in 1519, illustrates for the reader the lasting impact and implications the plague had to the Cakchiquels tribe and the reader can then infer how the plague paved for the Spanish conquest of what is now present day South America.…
After reading Carlos Fuentes’ book, “The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World”, he devoted a section to Bartolome de Las Casas which allowed the reader to capture his unique perspective (32-38). In the introductory text before the reading of “The Brief History of the Destruction of the Indies” (as read in class), Bartolome de Las Casas is viewed as a devoted Saint and missionary that was an activist for the Indian’s human rights and against Spain’s military conquest of the “New World” (Briffault). However, Fuentes illustrated Bartolome in a different perspective; even though Bartolome tried to stop the obvious brutal treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, he ultimately became the Spaniard’s “most useful tool” in an evolved attack to the Indian’s humanitarian values in a newly “disguised” method of slavery. This was a very unique perspective because of the fact that after discussing and reading about him, Bartolome is largely perceived as a good Saint that brought about great awareness of the injustice of the Indians. So how could he contribute to the Crown’s corrupt rule over the land? As a result, in order to understand the true ultimate historical value of Bartolome de Las Casas, we will take an in-depth look into his life, what he believed, what he did for the Indians, and discuss the general opinion of Bartolome de Las Casas versus Fuentes impression of him. I will then prove that Bartolome de Las Casas did not impact the Indian community as beneficially as many people thought he did – and in fact, he indirectly and unintentionally contributed to the very image of the original corruption of both the private and public life in Spanish America.…
There is no abnegating that the use of literary devices is very much present in the short story, The Cask of Amontillado. Now, what is the meaning of literary elements, and what are some examples? Through research, literary elements simply means a technique a writer uses to produce a special effect in their writing. Now knowing that examples can range from, Allusion, Foreshadowing, Imagery, Metaphor/Simile, and Personification and many more. Mr.Poe use of similes and metaphors and Foreshadowing not only makes the book more intriguing but suspenseful and leaves readers on the edge of their seats.…
As written by Isabel Allende, the novel “Ines of My Soul” captures the Spanish Conquest of the South Americas during the early to late 1500’s. In this story of Inés Suárez, an actual historic figure who lived in the early-mid 1500's and one of the founders of Chile, she is a very old woman about to die and is recounting the story of her adventure-filled life to her daughter. She was born into a poor family and spent her childhood in Spain, and eventually made her way to the New World. She lived in Peru for a short period of time and fell in love with Pedro Valdivia. Pedro Valdivia was born into nobility as a hidalgo. Well educated and honorable soldier for the Spanish Army, Pedro goes to the New World in search of fame and adventure. Along his journey he meets Ines and together they fall in love and lead an expedition to Chile to found the colony and the city of Santiago. In addressing the question as to who was more instrumental to the conquest and settlement of Chile during this timeframe, we bring to light both contributions made by both characters, Ines and Pedro. But overall after viewing the contributions made, we see that without the presence of Ines Suarez, this would not have been a successful conquest.…