The Origins Of Aztec And New Spain

The Mayan calendars and people were genius. In order to create accurate calendars, the Mayans built observatories, “... to use in studying the sun and moon, planets, and the stars” (Document D) and “... collected information over many years in order to make their predictions and develop their systems” (Document D). This shows the brilliance of the Mayan people. No other accomplishment required this much intelligence in order to be accomplished.

For over 2,000 years, the Mayan civilization was a very developed and complex culture with many major advancements that caused its nation to thrive in then Mesoamerica. The Mayan society had an extremely sophisticated method of constructing massive buildings without the use of beasts of burden. They also invented their own Number system, basing it off of the number twenty, unlike our own number system. Another one of their achievements was their calendars, which predicted religious events and even the beginning of a rainy season. The Mayan society built their powerful civilization using these three major accomplishments. In these next few paragraphs, I will provide more detailed explanations to why I believe these three Mayan standards

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 Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th century. They were a civilization with a rich mythology and cultural heritage. Their capital was Tenochtitlan on the shore of Lake Texcoco. From their magnificent capital city, Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs emerged as the dominant force in central Mexico, developing an intricate religious.

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.

What was the Mayan’s most remarkable achievement? In my opinion, the Mayan’s most remarkable achievement would be their number system. The reason being, because they had to find and create numbers never seen before and not only make symbols for them but keep track of the symbols. Even though they weren’t taught by Albert Einstein or by anybody else. Yet the Mayans had to think of symbols easy to remember and easy to relate to. The numbers weren’t just random numbers, but real number, just like the ones we use. None of the world taught them to base their number system off of 20, they thought of it themselves. It’s almost like they could see the future, but modified their system.

The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human

Once central Mexico was taken over by the Spaniards, the use of the Aztec language, Nahuatl, was quickly put to an end. The Spaniards saw that the two different languages kept a separation between the two cultures and decided to force everyone under the Spanish rule to speak Spanish. Spanish is still the language spoken in Mexico even after all of the different attacks and takeovers. The Aztec’s did not like this idea of taking away their language. Most of them were grown adults and had all they had known was

Although the Aztecs have an unknown origin, by legend they are believed to have originated from the northern part of modern day Mexico. A nomadic tribe known as the Mexica

The events that occurred between the Aztecs and Spanish Conquistadors have many sides and opportunities for debate. One of the most debated topics being; Who was more savage and who was more Civil? Both the Aztecs and Spanish had powerful and thriving empires. These empires displayed their dominance through their advanced technology and flourishing military. Though it may seem that the Spanish were more advanced than the Aztecs, the Aztecs and Spanish were actually quite close to being equal in technological advancements.

The Aztec Empire has the history of a fast-growing empire destined to dominate Mesoamerica’s empires. Although their exact origins are unclear, experts believe the Aztecs evolved from a tribe of nomadic hunters (History 1). They conquered nearly all of Mesoamerica, creating an empire stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and south to present day Guatemala (Mcdowell 726).

     The ancient Mayans were a very well developed society with a very accurate calendar, skilled architects, artisans, extensive traders and hunters. They are known to have developed medicine and astronomy as well. All of this was developed while the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages.

The ancient Mayan civilization settled in the Yucatan Peninsula in around 900 AD. This civilizations was one of the most advanced of its times. They created their own religion, language, mathematical structure, a very precise calendar, and many other things.

     The Mayans created many things to affect the world. They created a 365 day calendar. They also made great strides in mathematics and astronomy. They used the number zero, which was very advanced for their time period. The astronomers were able to tell what day of the week a date would fall on in future years (Encarta). And they were able to calculate the length of years of other planets with remarkable precision given the instruments they had to work with (Mexico).

The Aztecs were one of the last tribes to arrive in Mexico, in 1195 CE, when they arrived in the Valley of Mexico other tribes had taken the best land so the Aztecs were left with the swampy shores. They soon adapted and began to conquer their neighboring tribes. They continued to expand until they had their very own empire. The empire continued to thrive, until the Spanish arrived and had a fixed mind set on wanting the empires region of land.