Spanish colonization of the Americas

the Tlaxcala people had on Tenochtitlan. To begin our observations, we will delve into the life of a man named “Hernan Cortés”. Hernan Cortés was a Spanish Conquistador, and one of the driving forces in the fall of the Aztec Empire through the capture of Tenochtitlan and of the then leader Motecuhzoma II. Our…

California experienced oppression at the hands of the Spanish, who abused and exploited them in order to build their wealth and power. In Pablo Tac’s account “Indian Life at San Luis Rey”, he depicts the way the Spanish dictate every aspect of the indigenous lives, presented under the guise of religion and leadership from genté de razón. In contrasts to Tac’s observations is Maria Ruiz de Burton’s novel The Squatter and The Don. Burton’s novel exalts Spanish-Americans as morally righteous and…

Colonial Spanish America was a racially and ethnically stratified hierarchy because of the Casta system. The distinctions were between the ‘races’ and ‘ethnicities’ of Spaniards, Creoles, Blacks, and Native Americans with multiple mixtures of these races creating mestizos, and mulatos among others. This racial and ethnic hierarchy was maintained and perpetuated by the Casta system. The Casta system does not turn one race or ethnicity against another, instead it sub-groups people within a race or…

Hernando Cortes Many know the Name Hernando Cortez, but few know the story of how he conquered South America. He was born in megalin, Spain in 1485. Cortes was conceived into a wealthy noble Spanish family. He was plagued with illness as an adolescent, but was healthy after the age of 18. He first served as a soldier under Diego Velázquez in 1511, but he ignored orders and traveled to Mexico with 500 men in 1519. He had his eyes set on overthrowing the wealthy Aztec empire. Spain would…

Aztecs reign of blood & Splendor Summary . The book I have decided to read is Dale Brown’s “Lost Civilizations Aztecs: Reign of blood & Splendor”. Dale’s book Aztecs; Reign of Blood and Splendor takes place in many different time periods because the book takes place from ancient Aztec civilizations through modern times or twentieth century. Like during the BC period and twentieth century. Also, Dale’s book is a nonfiction about ancient Aztec civilizations. The book begins with Hernan Cortes…

with a few men and set up a Spanish perch in South America that was suppose to last for several centuries to come.Pizarro was not very royal. He was moved by the motive for fame, fortune, and adventure. He desired that he would try to make the dreams a reality. But he would make them come true in the New World. In 1528, Pizarro went back to Spain and managed to obtain a task from Emperor Charles V. Pizarro was to conquer the southern territory and establish a new Spanish territory there. In…

the reason for the creation and publishing of this book: to shed light on the real history of the natives of the New World, one that displays the grotesque horrors committed against them by the Spanish—though the Spanish are often painted as heroes who conquered all odds . Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Aztec people saw several bad and confusing omens . The Spaniards then arrive . Motecuhzoma sent out gifts to them, as he thought them gods , and messengers brought them to him, which also…

emerged into their mission of changing the way they associated themselves with one another. 2. The Spaniards tried “civilizing” the Indians from their clothing to their religious practices. They altered their lives by the Castilian variety of the Spanish language, adobe homes, loyalty and obedience to the King of Spain, and their religious values of Christianity. 3. Mexicans shared the…

book called “The disappearing Mestizo” by the author Joanne Rappaport. The structure of the book, each chapter follow to narrate the stories of sixteenth and seventeenth century mestizos and mulattos. Actually, Joanne Rappaport is a professor of Spanish and Race and Mestizaje at Georgetown University. She tries to examine with this book what it meant to be mestizo in the early colonial era. In general, the central question is not “Who is a mestizo?” or “What is a mestizo?”. This focus in…

Aztec Empire in the 1500s was brought about by a very bloody and ruthless conquest orchestrated by Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. Central America was devastated by the aggression of the European invaders who were ransacking every town for their valuables and subjugating the populace. Much of what is known about the events that unfolded comes from primary sources written by the Spanish participants or the stories written by the native Nahua people a generation or two after the whole…