Custom «The Conquest of the Aztec Empire » Essay Paper Sample

Outline

The contest of Aztec was a landmark happening in the history in the Latin America. Historically this conquest has been captured in various sources. Two great sources of this conquest are: five letters of Cortes to the Emperor and the Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. The paper goes through comparing major differences and similarities between the two accounts of the conquest. With connection, we come in to the understanding of how the Spaniards result to overthrowing the Aztecs territory with the aid the advanced technology which they apply in their battles. In the course of the paper, major viewpoints from the different authors of the primary and secondary sources are analyzed appropriately.

Introduction

This piece of paper precisely forms basic through which the Spanish and Indigenous sources in the Historical study of the Conquest of the Aztec Empire are compared and examined accordingly. In this case, the Aztecs are commonly the indigenous population. The comparison is hence based on the five letters of Cortez and Broken Spears. In order to come up with good comparison between the two sources or books, the paper first examines on the Five Letters of Cortez firstly and lastly on the book of Broken Spears. The paper further tries to shed light on the major differences and similarities which existed between the two accounts of the conquest. Further, it extends to analyzing the major view points of the different authors existing from the primary and secondary sources, hence evaluating the reliability of each of the sources. Based on the comparison made from the study of the sources, the paper finally ends by answering the final question concerning whether one can explain the conquest of the Aztec empire through the use of evidence and narratives of one or the other type of source.

Comparison between the two Sources in the Historical Study of the Conquest of the Aztec Empire

Firstly, the five letters of Cortez is the book which describes the letters that were written to the king of Spain by Cortes. The five letters which were written by Cortes to Charles who was the emperor of Spain clearly illustrates the ancient findings of the mainland, the capture of the Aztec resources and the expansion of Cortes authority all the way through Mexico (Townsend, 2003). In this case, the sources provide an account which is original. This particularly involves all the remarkable explorations and how he over thrown authoritative empire in the globe. According to study, it is evident that the Corte's first and fifth letters ended up getting lost until they were founded by a Scholar from French. During that time, Powers that be were having conflict over the Nahuas Spanish adoption which could help them turn into written language hence resulting to production of their own written accounts of the conquest. History proves that, the Spaniards were fighting indigenous people with the aim of eliminating their prehistoric beliefs which they were possessing. The Spaniards used the tactics of destroying what the indigenous owned after their realization of the codices which they authored (Townsend, 2003).

According to this source, the Spaniards are seen to have believed that, evangelization and language were the solution to which the inhabitants could have better understanding of the world. With connection, Spaniards resulted to forcing the indigenous populations to start practicing the Spanish Language, unfortunately, their efforts were all unfruitful. Secondly, Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico generally provides indigenous Aztec influential of the Conquest of Spanish under the lead of Cortez. The book provides information which is interesting concerning Aztec response and their first consciousness about the new arrivals. Hence the book forms a good primary foundation of information which was founded on the basis of Aztecs perspective (Hernan, 1908). Through the book, we get clear picture concerning how the natives were defeated. This is well achieved from the good picture and the basic narratives which facilitate good reading and understanding of learners to compare it with other sources.  

Generally, there are two elevations towards every story. Historically, the book examines on how the Spanish Conquest of Mexico with the lead of Cortes with help of his soldiers resulted to conquering the Aztec territory which was considered powerful. It is evident that, this book clearly tells us that the Spaniards were not good competent vanquishers. This point proves that, their win over the battle resulted from the help which they acquired from the natives. From time memorial, the natives were great opponents of the Aztec hence this being the reason, they had to support one side. This book clearly proves that the soldiers who fought the war were not driven by valor of religion. Instead, it clearly shows that they were moved by the gluttony of gold. Therefore, this book forms an important opening to the indigenous view of the actions which were of significance (Hernan, 1908). Through the reading of this account equips us with adequate awareness of both phases of the story from where we can draw the conclusion from.

It is evident that, the common clarification for conquest one would argue is technology. With connection to this, the Spaniards had an added advantage which resulted from their technological advancement. This included advanced weapons and skilled tactics which they applied during the battles hence standing in position of winning victory over their opponents. The Spaniards revolved around the use of canons and guns as compared to the Aztecs who relied on bows and arrows. Having this advantage contributed greatly to handling and winning their battles against their opponents. In addition to this, Spaniards advanced technology didn't only involve weapons only, but it also involved the use of horses, use of ships which posed more danger to their enemies who were not in position of applying such tactics (Townsend, 2003).

 The indigenous allies contributed greatly towards the win of battles. They supported the Spaniards towards their win over the Aztecs. The population of the indigenous allies was high hence that meant, their opponents had to look for extra reinforcement in order to be in position of winning the Spaniards. This was not possible since the Aztecs were less in population of their soldiers. The rise of endemic diseases on the other hand had negative impacts on both the empires. In addition to these, the Aztecs were more affected by the diseases more often than the Spaniards since they had poor meditation measures as compared to the Spaniards (Huntington, 2001).  

Major differences and similarities between both accounts of the conquest

The two accounts of the Conquest had some differences which defined them. To start with, Aztec account of the conquest experienced some omens which didn't happen to the other account of conquest. For instance, they experienced the following omens which defined their differences. To start with, the Aztec account of conquest experienced; fire dropping from the above and the same destroying places of worship. The account further experienced a lighting run off which demolished other places of worship (Miguel, 2006). Overflow and boiling of water was observed and finally, strange images of men fighting were seen. These omens were not observed in the other account of the conquest hence it marked major differences between the two accounts. According to the Aztec account of conquest, they believed that the omens had significance meanings to their territory and prosperity of their battles in the future. Omens and myths critically marked a major difference between the two accounts.

The two accounts of the conquest on the other hand had some similarities in the way of their administration. Their administration was similar since through the interaction which they had, resulted to borrowing and exchanging of cultural behaviors and practices. From the above two accounts of conquest discussed, it is evident that the Aztec account of conquest can be termed as the most version which is historically accurate. This is proved from the fact that, Aztec account of conquest is founded as the original source of history concerning the conquering of territories.   

Major viewpoints of the different authors of primary or secondary sources

The different authors of the various books are perceived with some perceptions which can be understood through the viewing of the sources as either primary or secondary. To begin with, the primary sources are entailed with the following attributes which defines them accordingly (Miguel, 2006). The publication of the primary sources contains motivating descriptions from the codices hence; this is inclusive of ancient manuscript which involved the picture depicted by the indigenous people. The primary source publication further entails the translation of Corte's five letters which he had written to Charles in his explanation to the civilization he found in Mexico. Further, this source entails information concerning the activities which occurred between the two accounts of conquest (Huntington, 2001).

On the other hand, the secondary source publications clearly compares between the Spanish and indigenous accounts of the conquest. In addition, they provide cultural learning   as to why the Aztecs didn't win their battle. Further, through this source, the examining of how the indigenous population assembled their narratives. From the above different sources of publication, one can barely agree that they both play significant roles in the understanding of the two accounts of conquest. Although every source has its major specification, they both have similarities hence the information they both provide is essential for learning and understanding the ancient history (Huntington, 2001).

The five letters which were written by Cortes to Charles who was the emperor of Spain clearly illustrates the ancient findings of the mainland, the capture of the Aztec resources and the expansion of Cortes authority all the way through Mexico (Huntington, 2001). The Spaniards are seen to have believed that, evangelization and language were the solution to which the inhabitants could have better understanding of the world. With connection, Spaniards resulted to forcing the indigenous populations to start practicing the Spanish Language, unfortunately, their efforts were all unfruitful. Based on the two comparison made from the above study, it is evident that one can explicate the conquest of the Aztec empire using the evidence and narratives of one or the other type of source. This fact can be supported by the idea that both the sources contain information which has similarities towards the accounts of the conquest. This paper forms basis from where learners can compare, analyze and examine their history hence get clear picture of what happened during those times. The history of these two accounts represents other ancient occurrences and events which occurred during those ancient days, hence this forms a benchmark from where historical happening concerning territories, religion and battles could be understood better.

Conclusion

The study tries to shed light on how different learners can compare historical events and examine how they both relate to each other. The different authors of the various books are perceived with some perceptions which can be understood through the viewing of the sources as either primary or secondary. The study further educates on the importance of fighting for freedom and rights. The piece of paper goes to an extent of illustrating how different territories can have some similarities and differences in the manner they carry out their administration and activities. From the above research, we can conclude that, one party can be improved in the technical field while at the same time, not being well prepared ethically and rationally. Therefore, individual's advancement in machinery is not essential role of their brainpower.