COL155 Week 2 Spanish-Aztec Encounters: The Spanish in the Americas; The aftermath of conquest Jonathan Fulton Spring 2014

The Conquistadores Spanish adventurers who followed Columbus Realized that they weren’t dealing with Indians Saw the Americas as potential for great wealth and fortune

The Conquistadores Hernan Cortes: took a force of 600 soldiers and 20 horses and defeated the Aztecs in 1521 Vastly outnumbered, but horses and technology – gunpowder and muskets – lead to destruction of Tenochtitlan

Cortes’s 2 nd Letter to Spain Offers a detailed picture of Aztec cultural achievement Lead to ‘conflicted reactions’ of Europeans’ to their initial encounters with the Americans

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain Excerpt begins by explaining the design of Tenochtitlan, trade and the market, products and businesses. Lines start discussing religion. Interesting. Priests lifestyles. “…and no woman is granted entry nor permitted inside these places of worship” (p.463)

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain “Amongst these temples there is one, the principal one, whose great size and magnificence no human tongue could describe, for it is so large that within the precincts, which are surrounded by a very large wall, a town of some five hundred inhabitants could easily be built.” (463)

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain Describes the temples in detail Rooms dedicated to specific idols “which are of remarkable size and stature and decorated with many designs and sculptures” Is clearly impressed

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain And yet…

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain “The most important of these idols, and the ones in whom they have the most faith, I had taken from their places and thrown doen the steps; and I had those chapels where they were cleaned, for they were full of the blood of sacrifices; and I had images of Our Lady and of other saints put in there, which cased Mutezuma and the others natives some sorrow.” (463)

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain “They must know that there was only one God, Lord of all things, who had created heaven and earth and all else and who made all of us; and He was without beginning or end, and they must adore and worship only Him, not any other creature or thing.”

Cortes’ 2 nd Letter to Spain Concluding sentence: “I will say only that these people live almost like those in Spain, and in as much harmony and order as there, and considering that they are barbarous and so far from the knowledge of God and cut off from all civilized nations, it is truly remarkable to see what they have achieved in all things.” (464)

The aftermath of the conquest Mexican gold and silver initial source of wealth for conquistadores New source: slaves – “the Spanish soon turned to the ruthless exploitation of the native populations, enslaving them for use as miners and field laborers.” (464) Mexico’s population went from 25,000,000 to 1 million in 80 years

The aftermath of the conquest In Hispaniola, a town in Mexico: “the natives, finding themselves intolerably oppressed and overworked, with no chance of regaining their liberty, with sighs and tears longed for death.” “out of two million inhabitants, through suicides and other deaths occasioned by the excessive labour and cruelties imposed by the Spaniards, there are not a hundred and fifty now to be found.”

The Columbian Exchange Not all negative. Some 2-way exchange of goods and products. Europeans to Americans: horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, wheat, barley, oats, onions, lettuce, sugar cane, fruit. Americans to Europeans: corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, avocados, peanuts, pineapples, pumpkins, beans