Cultures Of The World: Mexico By Mary Jo Reilly

Miguel Leon-Portilla author of Broken Spears- The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, tells the story of the Spanish conquest over the Aztecs from the Aztec point of view. It is more familiar in history that the Spanish led by Hernan Cortez defeated the Aztecs with a powerful army and established an easy victory all while having intentions to gain power and greed. However, Leon-Portilla focuses on the Aztec Empire and their story. Leon-Portilla does a great job giving readers the real occurrences and events from Aztec members. This paper argues that history must be told from all sides. It is more common to hear about the Spanish conquest

It is crucial to focus on translators when it comes to understanding the conquest of Mexico. It shows how

Leon-Portilla based the stories told in this book upon old writings of actual Aztec people who survived the Spanish massacres. The actual authors of the stories told in this book are priests, wise men and regular people who survived the killings. These stories represent the more realistic view of what really happened during the Spanish conquest. Most of the history about the Aztec Empire was based on Spanish accounts of events, but Leon-Portilla used writings from actual survivors to illustrate the true history from the Indians’ point of view.

Halsall P. (1997) Modern History Sourcebook: A Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/aztecs1.asp

The reading “An Aztec account of the Spanish Conquest” is mainly about a story when Hernan Cortes came for the first time at Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City). The Aztecs believes that when Hernan Cortes arrive they believe the he was Quetzalcoatl, the main god in the Aztec culture. Cortes were friendly invite to the Aztec city as the most important guest, the Aztec people made a big party to celebrate the return of their god, but the Aztec people did not know Cortes intentions of conquer the empire. Later the Aztecs were betrayed by Hernan Cortes. Cortes’s army began to attack the city and at the end they take over the city.

     The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly

Before the 15th century, the Indians in the Americas were not connected with the world and would remain that way until Columbus's exploration. In the beginning of 15th century, the Aztecs were the dominant group in Mesoamerica leaded by Montezuma, the last leader, before the Spanish conquest. In 1519, Hernan Cortez led the Spanish mission to explore and conquer the New World. This paper will compare three primary sources about this event. First, an informing letter sent from Cortez to King Charles V, the king of Spain. Second, the Broken Spears which is an Indian recollection about the conquest of Mexico. Lastly, Bernal Diaz’s (one of Cortez’s men) account was written by him to share his experience with Aztec

In the book Daily Life of The Aztecs On the Eve of the Spanish Conquest by Jacques Soustelle you are walked through what life was like for the Aztecs. You are in 16th Century Mexico, or to them Mexico-Tenochtilan. Soustelle does an excellent job immediately putting you in character with the introduction of the book. The book is broken down into seven different main chapters detailing major aspects of the Aztecs lives in the late 1500’s. You learn about where they lived, to the wars they fought, and what life was like for them from birth to death. In this paper I will further discuss four topics that were very crucial in the daily lives of the Aztecs. I will help you find a better understanding in their daily life as well as the many changes they migrated through over time. The four topics I will be discussing are: 1. Culture and Customs of the Aztecs 2. Civilization vs Barbarism 3. Art and Architecture 4. Education and Home Life.

3. The Aztecs arrived in the valley of Mexico as a nomadic band of hunters and gatherers and began working as mercenaries. As they settled into the valley, they began to be influenced by the Teotihuacans and Toltecs. They made pilgrimages to the ruins of Teotihuacan, adopted Teotihuacan gods, and married into the Toltec royal family. The Aztecs built the city of Tenochititlan and formed alliances. They began

Before their meeting with the Spanish, they went to other tribes and fought, when they won they took warriors, money, and food. The Aztecs are also very smart people. Since the Aztecs had no homeland, they just walked the earth, until they saw what they believed to be a

It is a known fact that every human being communicates through language, but perhaps a little known fact that we communicate even through the food we eat. We communicate through food all the meanings that we assign and attribute to our culture, and consequently to our identity as well. Food is not only nourishment for our bodies, but a symbol of where we come from. In order to understand the basic function of food as a necessity not only for our survival, we must look to politics, power, identity, and culture.

The primary intended audience was Charles V to in an attempt to gain support from him to have authority over the territory of New Spain. Cortés wanted to set up a position where he did not have to answer to the governor of Cuba but only had to address himself to the Emperor. The audience of the document was not only meant to be for Charles V, but most people in Spain were able to read. Cortez went into great detail about the power of the Aztecs to add to his glory of how he was able to conquer a whole nation. As a result, Cortés did his best to relate what he was experiencing to cities in Spain and the old world to allow readers get an idea how the cities and culture functioned in the new world. Cortés also made sure to touch a lot on the culture and the traditions of the natives in an effort to convey the Aztecs way of life. As result anyone who would end up doing the research on the Aztec culture would see this source as a helpful primary document.

II. Thesis Statement: Mexico is an interesting country, with many different and people and customs, as well as major problems.

Mexican culture dates far back as the 13th century. This is when the Aztecs were prevalent in northern mexico. Aztecs were a people who were all about war and honor. They made many enemies going to war with smaller tribes and brutally killed their enemies. In the 16th century the Aztecs Empire crumbled due to the invasion led by Hernan Cortez. Disease, superior weapons, and aid of the Aztec’s enemies were all contributing factors to the Aztecs downfall. Fast forward September 16th 1810 when Mexico gained its independence from Spain Mexico's identity started to develop. Mexican culture is defined by many things, its food, its language, its clothing, its art. However, There is one aspect that defines Mexican culture and that is family life. Mexicans have a very rich family life that defines the culture. The way that family is organized and the way each member acts can be traced back to the very beginning. It's a mixture of the indigenous peoples culture as well as the Spaniards culture. The indigenous peoples pass on their ideas of honor and machismo and the Spaniards pass on their ideas of catholicism, and family value and structure. I fit into this because I grew up on these ideas and my family still practices some of these ideas today.

Mexican Americans were decedents of Mexico, or “Estados Unidos Mexicanos” as their culture would say. Mexico is bordered by the “United States to the north, the Gulf of Mexico to the east, Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea to the southeast, and the Pacific to the south and west” (Englekirk & Marin, 2014). In this area, the population consist of 75 million people between these locations. According to Englekirk and Marin (2014) Mexico’s earliest occupants were hunters from Asia. Prior to the 16th century civilizations such as Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, and more, built societies amongst themselves in these areas. In 1951 Hernan Cortes conquered this area, thus establishing Mexico and their culture. Three groups were mixed to form