The essay is specifically about the impacts of the European Colonization on the Aztecs specifically in the colonial period. The “Aztec” translates in the Aztec language (Nahuatl) for people of Aztlan. Aztlan is thus a mythical region where the Aztecs migrated from. The Aztecs originated from Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City, “with the guidance of Huitzilopochtli, the God of War” according to the signs they were looking for. Aztecs leaders knew that Tenochtitlan would make a great area for settlement because they witnessed, “an eagle with a writhing serpent in its beak perched on a cactus.” The essay seeks to explore our current understandings on how the Aztec culture and Empire emerge and consolidated 1 . More specifically, it is aimed at exploring the birth of a new cultural developed by deep roots of the Mexican culture within and beyond Mexico. Perhaps the most important questions are that Mestizaje understood as the lasting effects that colonization had on the people of the Valley of Anahuac (land between the waters), effects that have had a prolonged impact on the populations of Mexico. Cultural hegemony can be used to understand the concept of the colonization of Mexico by the Spanish. The idea of cultural hegemony, developed by Antonio Gramsci, will help explain the issues raised in question. Missionaries relied on Native Mexicans to help them create bilingual religious texts in Spanish and Nahuatl. It implies that preaching the word of Christ in Nahuatl allowed the Padres to convert Native Mexicans in a proper fashion. Colonizers viewed Natives as primitive but by baptism and conversion, it would enable them to become “civilized”. In the case of this capstone, the indigenous peoples of Mexico portrayed Cortes as a God mistaken for Quetzalcoatl.
What are the methods that Spanish employed to colonize Aztecs” What was the Aztecs response to the colonization process? In 1502, Motecuhzoma took power of the Aztec empire. With 200,000 people, Tenochtitlan was the most populous city in the Americas. On February 1519, the first Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortes, invaded the city of Tenochtitlan with six hundred Spaniards along with Native allies. Before the Conquest, Tenochtitlan grew wealthy and powerful, with its temples, palaces, markets, and beautiful gardens. The Spanish conquistadors were so amazed by the magnificent city that they gazed in astonishment. Bernal Diaz del Castillo described Motecuhzoma as he followed Hernan Cortes in 1519 when the Spanish entered the city. The obvious reasons the Spanish had the advantage over the indigenous was due to the technology the Spanish had equipped. The conquistadores entered the Valley of Mexico to seek wealth, territory, and to enslave the indigenous population 2 . To illustrate their superiority, the Spanish often murdered entire Indian groups. The Spanish displayed their greed for gold when they were presented gifts of gold. The growing conflict between the Spanish and the Aztecs would soon reach its climax when the Spaniards arrived in Tenochtitlan. The destruction of the city occurred when Cortes travelled to Vera Cruz. The Spanish were enforcing their power over the Aztecs through violence.
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Before the conquest, class status and social were necessary for the benefit of the community. The Calpulli system incorporated certain levels of equality disbursing based off battlefield achievements macequals (commoners) made up 85% of the population. The mayeques and tlacotin (the slave like class) making up about 10% of the population and the pipltin (the noble elite and natural leaders) who form the rest of society 3 . The Calpulli system was a socioeconomic unit based upon blood and social relations, composed of families with similar ancestry, and organized to share and distribute, land, water, irrigation and hunting privileges. This system created structure, boundaries, and a sense of order. The land and other rights were commonly distributed based on battlefield victories and achievements 4 . Through the cultural hegemony allowing the blending of Spanish and Indian culture, there came a unique Mexican culture where both cultures mutually picked, chosen and retained syncretic changes. Aztec religion was highly complicated and somewhat confusing, and they sought to preserve the life of the Sun with ceremonial warfare and human sacrifice. Furthermore, human sacrifice was an honor to the Sun God, to ensure his daily return and keep the people of the Aztec Empire from the darkness. It was a high duty most people saw as a necessary way to serve a greater purpose and move to the beyond. The Aztec religion was highly developed and sophisticated, praising deities and temples. However, the Spanish intended their religion by creating parishes in Nahua territory in the 1520s, and it would be complete by 1540. Together, cities and Catholicism had served as important weapons in the cultural hegemony 5 .
The essay has tackled the Aztecs during the colonization period at the hand of the Spanish. It was overall an eye opener into history. Examining what took place during pre-contact, contact, conquest and post-conquest was extremely helpful to understand the cultural hegemony that took place for the Spanish to dominate over the Aztecs. With The Broken Spears, it was a clear story-telling book that was fascinating to read. One major learning outcome from this research is that the Aztecs were highly sophisticated people with intelligence and brilliance. Unfortunately, only a few missionaries recognized the uniqueness of the Aztec culture. Through this research, it brings to mind what if the Aztecs and the Spanish coexisted together? The contact between the two different worlds was like no other, but with cultural hegemony, it brings out clash that does not settle well with the oppressed. It is highly impressive that some traditions were preserved with all the destruction that took place. The Aztecs had a desire for complex poetry, mathematical skills, philosophy, art, architecture and the cosmos. Colonizers wrote the history of first Native, and Spanish encounters as very one sided to push their agenda. According to Leon-Portilla, the attraction to beauty, the stars, and poetry may have been the primary cause for their obliteration in the Spanish Conquest. With metaphors and numbers being a huge part of their culture, unfortunately, weapons of steel and fire overthrew them. The beautiful world in which they visualized, along with divine and truth was gone when the wise men were alienated, documents burned, temples and statues destroyed into pieces. Regarding conflict, there were many sources of it between the Spanish and the Aztecs as established in the essay. Therefore, hegemony is consistent in the capstone research as the colonizers wrote the history of first Native and Spanish encounters as very one sided to push their agenda.
Bibliography
Collier, George Allen, Renato Rosaldo, and John D. Wirth. The Inca and Aztec states, 1400-1800: anthropology and history . Academic Pr, 1982.
Empire, Aztec, Moctezuma II, and Pedro de Alvarado. "Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire edit." Chiapas 1523: 1695.
Vigil, James Diego. From Indians to Chicanos: the dynamics of Mexican-American culture . Waveland Press, Inc., PO Box 400, Prospect Heights, IL 60070, 1998.
1 Collier, George Allen, Renato Rosaldo, and John D. Wirth. The Inca and Aztec states, 1400-1800: anthropology and history . Academic Pr, 1982.
2 Empire, Aztec, Moctezuma II, and Pedro de Alvarado. "Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire edit." Chiapas 1523: 1695.
3 Vigil, James Diego. From Indians to Chicanos: the dynamics of Mexican-American culture . Waveland Press, Inc., PO Box 400, Prospect Heights, IL 60070, 1998.
4 Collier, George Allen, Renato Rosaldo, and John D. Wirth. The Inca and Aztec states, 1400-1800: anthropology and history . Academic Pr, 1982.
5 Empire, Aztec, Moctezuma II, and Pedro de Alvarado. "Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire edit." Chiapas 1523: 1695.
