Spanish Conquistadors Research Paper

Every artist's dream is to create something that leaves a lasting impression. The Last Conquistador follows the story of a sculptor who does exactly that. John Houser spent nearly a decade painstakingly crafted a 34-foot tall equestrian statue featuring the infamous Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate y Salazar. Following in the footsteps of his father who assisted in the carving of Mount Rushmore, Houser's fantasy of leaving his mark in one of the largest bronze equestrian statues in the world finally became a reality (Valadez). However, what an artist attempts to express and what message is truly received may not be one and the same. While the Hispanic elite of El Paso praised (and funded) the magnificent piece, the Acoma were horrified by the towering symbol of oppression and genocide looming overhead. This film not only provides a window into the conflict and controversy surrounding Houser's work, but also showcases several aspects of Texas political culture and highlights the dismissive attitude toward Native American culture that is still prevalent today.

Conquistadors Hernán Cortés conquered Aztec kingdom in 1521 and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in 1532. These conquests have opened the world to greater knowledge, and become important basis of geographical studies. Moreover, the exploitation of the gold and other resources from these conquered territories were sent home to Spain and eventually it became one of the most powerful empires in the world. However, there is a dark side hidden under all these pompous achievements. The Spanish in a matter of months annihilated both the Civilizations of the Inca and the Aztec that took hundreds and thousands of yeas to establish. This left the descendants of the Inca and the Aztec without remnants of the proper history of their ancestors. Moreover, one of the most important reasons why the Spanish won these battle of Conquest was because these natives had been debilitated by diseases which were brought in by the Spanish. Diseases like small pox caused the population to quickly deplete. Moreover, the Spanish deemed themselves as superiority and coerced the people of Mexico to convert to Christianity. After having been blatantly looted and tyrannized by the Spanish, the people of Mexico were deprived of the only thing they have left: their beliefs. Spanish Priests destroyed Aztec books, written documents demolished temples in an attempt to impose

The Spanish colonisation of the Aztecs brought pain, death and devastation to their civilisation. It destroyed their way of life and

Maybe too much credit is given to Cortés as one of the greatest Spanish conquerors who developed effective strategy to defeat the Aztecs. Restall see this as somewhat of a myth accounting for the failure of historians to look at history before the 1519 (Restall, 19). Restall says “However, too often, without any direct evidence, the actions of Conquistadors after the 1519– 21 invasion of Mexico are taken as deliberately imitating Cortés, while pre-1519 patterns are ignored.” Whatever the case for whom should be given the credit for the strategy used to defeat the Aztecs; one must admit Cortés was able the win the trust of the people and use the Aztecs’ fear of him to control their empire. Cortés harbored fear of his own. Elliott says, “Cortés felt some uneasiness, when he reflected that it was in the power of the Indians, at any time, to cut off his communications with the surrounding country, and hold him a prisoner in the capital.” The Omens of the Aztecs betrayed them and caused them to see the arriving settlers as gods. They were not prepared to defend themselves against the advanced weapons of the Spanish. Much like the Aztecs, the Mayans faced hard times at the hands of the Spanish conquerors, but their defeat came much easier to the Spanish.

For thousands of years mankind has felt an insatiable desire to explore. Many people groups from around the world have discovered and conquered new lands. The Spanish Conquistadors are among these. In the 1500s, there were many compelling incentives luring them to gain control of the Aztec Empire in New Spain (Mexico). What impelled the Conquistadors to conquer the Aztecs was a desire to spread the teachings of the Christian church, to gain wealth allowing them to establish roots in New Spain, and to develop relationships between the Aztecs and the continental Spaniards.

Representation” by Michael Schreffler argues that “ . . . early modern rhetoric and iconography . . . constructed a distorted view of painting in Aztec Mexico and entangled it in the conventions of colonial historiography” (407). This essay is effective because of its thorough examination of the accounts that explain a painting made by the Aztec’s at San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday of 1519.

The Conquest of Mexico began with rumors in Spain about an island in the new world that where streets were built on water and filled castles with filled with gold. The city at the root of the rumors was Tenochtitlan, ruled by Moctezuma II. Cortés begins his journey to conquer Mexica in February 1519. The first major Battle was the Cholula Massacre, where Cortés along with translator Dona Marina and the Tlaxcalans he had persuaded to join him defeated the Cholulans; As Cortés sets his sights on the city surrounded by water, Tenochtitlan, word of his arrival had reached Moctezuma, who prepared for the arrival of what he believed was the sovereign God of Tenochtitlan; Moctezuma realized far too late the grave mistake he made in welcoming Cortés

Rodeos are full of energy. They can be very dangerous in the process of having fun. Protective gear is recommended for some of the events. There are many different competitions that can suit all ages. There is also a lot of history behind each of the events.

Conquistadors descended on America with hopes of bringing Catholicism to new lands while extracting great riches. Religion and self-interest combined to create a potent mixture that drew hundreds of thousands of Spaniards across the ocean with hopes of finding riches and winning souls for God. Along with the Spaniards came diseases to which the New World natives had no immunities. What followed was one of the greatest tragedies in human history as smallpox, influenza, and other communicable diseases ravaged the native populations, killing millions. Spanish conquistadors, who were primarily poor nobles from the impoverished west and south of Spain, were able to conquer the huge empires of the New World with the help of superior military technology,

In order to answer this question you have to look at the Spanish conquistadors they were oppressed by. The Aztec invasion was conducted by a conquistador names Hernan Cortes. The Aztecs did not fully resist the Spanish in every possible way for several different reasons. To begin, the Aztecs condoned sacrificing their neighbours and their own as a tribute to their gods; this was not popular among many people of Mexico. This savage tribute system permitted Cortes to act as an emancipator. Furthermore, the Spaniards also brought with them several diseases mainly polio and small pox into Mexico in which the Spanish had grown resistance to, but the Aztecs have not been in contact with the diseases before. The Aztec population was rapidly reduced

The Spanish conquistadors emphasized all the negative aspects of the Aztec culture to justify their means to satisfy their own greed. The Spanish wanted gold and wanted to negatively envision the Aztecs as a whole. The Aztecs ignorance lead to their barbaric ways and the Spanish used this to their advantage. The Spanish taught the Europeans back home to hate and fear the Aztecs for their cruel actions.

Every revolution, from the American revolution of 1776 to the Mexican one of 1910, to current ones, share one thing in common: they start with an idea. This idea calls for some kind of change and seeks to overturn the current method of running things. It does this by protesting or fighting, and even though most people see rebellion as a fight for control of the government, my students need to see that all revolutions start with a thought.

When Cortes and his men arrived in Tenochtitlan, they were well received. The Moctezuma could have ordered their death as soon as they arrived but instead the provided them with servants to meet their every need. The believed that the arrival of the Spanish, especially Cortes and his men was an omen. The god Quetzalcoatl was supposed to return to destroy the Aztecs and that’s why Moctezuma sent gifts to the spanish when they arrived in Veracruz. They felt the need to show respect. Other leaders encouraged Moctezuma to kill outside yet they refused to.

Aztec civilization was at its peak when it was conquered and destroyed by Spaniards, this essay will seek out reasons as to why the Aztec civilization got destroyed. Aztec history lays out as a civilization of rising innovation, religion, culture, and eventual downfall. The term Aztec refers to the civilization that was advanced, the people referred to themselves as Mexica. The Aztecs came to rise by conquering rival tribes which allowed them to create an empire that stretched between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Their empire of the Aztecs consisted of about 489 city-states under the rule of Montezuma II from the capital Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs were an agricultural society that relied on the system of tributes from their city-states

The Aztec and Mesoamerican indigenous societies were some of the most well developed pre-industrial civilizations with populations that averaged out approximately a twenty million prior to Spanish conquest (Marr and Kiracoffe 2000). These civilizations were also onlookers to one of the worst demographic tragedies in history seeing population losses of almost ninety percent, down to one million occupants a century after conquest (Marr and Kiracoffe 2000). These demographic tragedies were in the form of epidemics of both New and Old World origin and as a result of and major contributing factors to the success of the Spanish Conquest of the region. As the Spaniards infiltrated the region, introducing new cultural, political and socioeconomic