Legacy of Rwanda

The book Spanish Expeditions into Texas (1689-1768) by William C. Foster has thirteen chapters. In chapter One through Two the author talks about three diaries that were found during the expedition. The first diary the author talks about is De Leon’s personal diary and how it is translated into the English language. The second is Juan Bautista Chapa’s diary account which talks about the history of Nuevo Reino De Leon. The third one is about a letter found during 1690 expedition, it was from Fray D. Massanet’s to Don Carlos de Siguenz which was also translated into the English language.

Hernan Cortez was a Spanish conquistador that landed in Mexico in April of 1519. Upon his arrival, he met a native woman named Dona marina. Dona marina spoke many languages and was eventually Cortez’s interpreter when he found the Aztec empire. It was because that the Aztecs saw Cortez as some god and the weapon differences that he took advantage of that and killed off everyone leading to a defeated Aztec empire Cortez eventually claimed Mexico for Spain. Cortez is important to history because he began the European

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was born in 1490 at Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. His parents went by the name Francisco de Vera and Teresa Cabeza de Vaca. “Cabeza de Vaca means ‘head of cow’ and was derived from a peasant ancestor.” (elizabethan-era.org) “By 1528, he was appointed treasurer underneath the explorer Panfilo de Narvaez which reached what is now Tampa Bay, Florida later in the same year.” “By September of that year, all of the members of the expedition except for 60 of de Vaca’s men had died near the shore of present-day Galveston, Texas.” (Biography.com Editors). Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer who was the first historian of Texas, and one of the four survivors of the Narvaez expedition.

Cabeza De Vacaśsurvival was a mystery among others or was it ? In the spring of 1527 five spanish ships set sail for the New world one of them was holding a man named Cabeza De Vaca.After waiting for winter to stop Panfilo De Narvaez (The leader of the expedition) hopelessly confused made accidental landfall near modern day tampa bay,Florida After 2 difficult months,Narvaez and his men arrived at Apalache Bay and only new he had to travel west to get to mexico and told the men to melt guns down into tools to build 5 rafts that could hold fifty men and one of the five rafts was led by Cabeza. Some wondered how Cabeza survived when he came back from his horrible trip and I have three of many to tell you abou. Cabezaś survival was attributed by having faith in god, the ability to be trusted by indians,and being able to heal the indians.

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.

This particular story is like a complementary to the note lectures about the Aztecs. Also, this lecture help to understand

The book “A Land So Strange” by Andrés Reséndez basically illustrates 8 years of long odyssey from what is now Tampa, Florida to Mexico City on Cabeza de Vaca’s perspective. Cabaza de Vaca along with his companions named Andres Dorante, Alonso del Castillo, and Estebanico, are survivors of failed expedition to New World from Spain during 16th century. Unlike other members from the expedition, these four members found a way to live with native Indian tribes to survive. They were slaves of Indians and treated cruelly all the time. However, after long period of time of being slaves, they decided to make escape to Spanish territory. During their fugitive period, they had chance to help injured Indians. Their knowledge of certain medicine,

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

begin marching In-land, in their arrival to Tlaxcala and Cholula. One could argue that the

"La Malinche." Slave, interpreter, secretary, mistress, mother of the first "Mexican." her very name still stirs up controversy. Many Mexicans continue to revile the woman called Doña Marina by the Spaniards and La Malinche by the Aztecs, labeling her a traitor and harlot for her role as the alter-ego of Cortes as he conquered Mexico.

In the primary source document, The Aztec Marketplace at Tlatelolco by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Castillo manages to describe the magnificent marketplace at the Aztec city, Tlatelolco. Castillo’s memory and recollection of his experience at the market place occurred around the time period of 1521, when the Aztec empire was conquered by the Spaniards through the expedition of Hernán Cortés. After these expeditions and battles between the Aztec natives and the Spanish newcomers, Castillo was able to record his involvement and experience in his entries fifty years later in Guatemala where he lived in retirement.

Cortez and his force arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8th, 1519. Tenochtitlan was the capital of what we know today as Mexico. Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world at that time. Tenochtitlan was run by the Aztecs. Cortes then met Montezuma, the Aztecs’s emperor. Montezuma and the Aztecs thought Hernan Cortes was a god. They thought he was Quetzalcoatl. Cortez was there at the right time because the god was supposed to arrive the same year Cortes was there. Since they thought he was a god they would do anything for his command. Later on Montezuma suspected Cortez not to be the god. He gave him gold and jewels to try and get him to leave. It had the opposite affect and increased the Spaniards greed. Cortez then captured Montezuma as hostage to prevent the Aztecs attacking.

came back and helped kill over 10,000 Aztecs and in the act, thousands of Spaniards died. Suddenly, Cortes started

Hernando Cortes was one of the bravest military leaders of all time. Born in Medellin, Spain, he was a Spanish Conquistador who conquered most of Central America. He also gave Spain three-hundred years of control over Mexico. Cortes started exploring in the early 1500’s. He explored to find riches and conquered by being observant of the natives. With a small army, he conquered the Aztec Empire. Cortes went to the university in Salamanca, Spain. He attended the university to study Latin and Law. Unfortunately, Cortes completed only two years of school. He returned to his family in Medellin, Spain. However, life became boring for him. Nevertheless, Christopher Columbus inspired Cortes to explore the New World. Finally, Cortes was able to