Condemn It Or Accept It?

Carrasco, David and Scot Sessions. Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998.

The Aztecs were a well known civilization that was very advanced for their time but should people emphasize their gruesome sacrifices or their well known agriculture. Before the Aztecs established Tenochtitlan, in June 20, 1325, they were hunters and gatherers that served as mercenaries for more powerful groups. Soon the Aztecs built Tenochtitlan on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. With this established, the Aztecs were allowed to focus more on religion and agriculture as well as conquering other tribes and growing their population. So which should we emphasize more, Aztec agriculture or human sacrifices. In my opinion we should emphasize Aztec agriculture for three main reasons, it’s large scale, clever construction, and how it was

It was clear through the human sacrifice that the Aztecs practiced that they had no regard for the quality of human life and did it for the benefit of their society. First of all, they would kill thousands of people at a time, and then they ate the arms, thighs, and heads leaving the bodies to feed to the wild animals (Document G). This shows that the Aztecs did not care about the people that they were killing, only about sacrificing to the gods. Secondly, many say that the Aztecs sacrificed human beings for the sole purpose of pleasing the gods. In the eyes of the Aztec religion, if then gods were happy with the Aztecs, then that they would be blessed. It is clear the Aztecs sacrificed to make their civilization the most successful of their time. In contrast, it is also a popular belief that the reason for human sacrifice was for cannibalism. It is a possible that since they had no animals such as cattle or lamb, they had to resort to eating human beings (Document J). This theory demonstrates that the Aztecs valued the well- being of their society over human life. Regardless of what approach regarding human

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.

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

The Aztecs should also be remembered for their strong army and expert tactics. Aztec warriors were some of the most “fierce fighters” in Mesoamerica, conquering almost all of southern Mexico in a span of about 100 years (Doc. 1). This extraordinary success came from not only the Aztecs’ expert fighting skills, but the fear they instilled within their enemy. As previously stated, the Aztecs are most known for their human sacrifices; most of which were captured enemies. In The History of the Indies of New Spain, Friar Diego Duran describes a sacrificial ritual he witnessed where 2,300 prisoners from Teuclepec were killed in the name of the Aztec religion (Doc. 6). However, some historians believe that these sacrifices were not performed for

Religion played a very important role in the Aztec and Inca culture. Religious rituals consisted of human sacrifice and polytheism. Their deities were inspired by nature and the earth’s physical makeup. Both appear to be similar but peel back the onion and notable differences reveal themselves. It is difficult for modern day society to understand how human sacrifice can exist in such advanced civilizations.

The ancient Aztec civilization is usually thought of as a barbaric, unintelligent people throughout modern society. This could be an ideal carried down from the Spaniards that concord the native lands or even something as simple as today’s society creating overblown stereotypes because of conjoined lack of understanding and overall knowledge. But, because of the extensive research and studies done by Miguel León-Portilla we are able to discover the true nature of the Aztec peoples way of life. Within the book “Aztec Thought and Culture” the author explains the develop of the Aztec civilization through education and philosophy as well as describing the Aztec people as an advanced society rather than the popular belief of a savage people and culture.

The Aztecs were a ancient civilization who ruled an empire in the region of mesoamerica between 1325 A.D and 1521 . From their capital city of tenochtitlan, presently the site of modern - day Mexico City, the Aztecs had many achievements. Two things they were most know for is Agriculture and Human sacrifice, which was very unique. However, historians should emphasize the role of Human Sacrifice in Aztec culture."

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

The defeat of the Native Mexicans (or Aztecs) can be believed to have verified the Spanish that they had political and social superiority over all Indigenous Americans. However, the idea of superiority is subjective and the views of both parties involved about the colonisation of New Mexico will be noted. Although the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan were conquered by Hernando Cortes and his Spanish army there is a great amount of evidence to support the idea that it was not a simple feat. In the case of Cortes’ conquest we are offered the opinion that the Spanish were justified in colonizing and dominating Mexico. In saying that, the views of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan and other surrounding Aztec societies should be taken into consideration when assessing the validity of the previous statement.

There were many different methods the Aztecs used to sacrifice their victims but most sacrifices centered on the method of heart extraction. The victims were, “thrust onto the stone, where a temple priest cut through their chest wall with a ritual flint knife,” and the heart was, “[offered] to the sun for vitality and nourishment,” (“Aztec Human Sacrifices”). There was also the act of burning the victim alive in the sacrificial fire but before they reached death they were taken out and their heart would be taken out (Callery 33). Victims were not the only ones that were sacrificed; priests also conducted a method of sacrifice called bloodletting. The priest would begin by punctuating his tongue or any other body part and then proceeding to letting blood flow out (“Aztec Human Sacrifices”). A torture method of the Aztecs that might be

The Aztecs and Incas possessed different ideological and intellectual values or developments throughout their powers. For instance, an image of the Aztecs shows their practice of human sacrifice through a ceremony and the building of large temples to honor the gods (Fefferman, “Human Sacrifice Mendoza”). Ideology was a major interest of the Aztecs for they sacrificed themselves for their many deities and cared more about them, unlike the Incas who did not practice sacrifice for their gods. Aztec

The religion of the Aztecs was made up of mainly three gods: Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Below these three main gods were four creating gods. Below these four gods were many other gods, however the most important were Tlaloc, the rain god, Chalchihuitlicue, the god of growth and Xipe, the god of spring. The main thing that captures the attention of Aztec religion is their human sacrifice made to the different gods. Although human sacrifice was practiced around Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice in a large scale never seen before to date. The idea of human sacrifice was that Gods gave things to humans like food, rain, wealth, and other goods only if they were given human beings in return. The Aztecs believed that the goods liked best the living hearths of sacrificed captives. If the captive was a well skilled soldier and very brave then the Gods would return better goods to his people. This idea lead to wars were the Aztecs fought with other indians and capture their bravest men for sacrifice. As we can imagine,

Bartolme De Las Casas is an interesting character. His passion for people who at the time were seen as a sub species of humans (if even human at all) is remarkable. De Las Casas came from a modest family and was well educated. He was brought into the world of the America's through his father Pedro De Las Casas who was an encomiendo himself. His travels through the New World prior to 1510 when he became an ordained priest shaped his crusade to defend the Natives.