The Broken Spears Paper

The Broken Spears Paper

  • Submitted By: lilly8
  • Date Submitted: 03/22/2013 5:33 PM
  • Category: History Other
  • Words: 1597
  • Page: 7
  • Views: 147

The Broken Spears Paper
The novel, The Broken Spears, is the retelling of the Spanish conquer over the Aztecs' empire.However, the book was based off the indigenous survivor's stories instead of the story the Spanish conquistadors claimed to be history. The book opens with the eight evil omens, which had very confusing reasons for being. The indians later concluded that the omens must have been a foretelling of the Spaniards arrival, which came much sooner than history tells. When Montechzuma, the king of the Aztecs, was told of the strange people with very light faces (pg. 13) he ordered messengers and gifts for them. Because of the Spaniards appearance, Montechzuma believed that they were the god Quetzalcoatl and other divinities returning to Mexico as tradition promised they would.(pg. 13) Nonetheless, these strangers were no gods, they were the Spanish lead by Hernando Cortez. Cortez came to the new world supposedly for innocent exploration and trade.(Hernan Cortez, letter to Charles) Yet, after being greeted by the Aztecs with the gifts of the finest treasures, quetzal feathers, gold, and pearls; Cortez's greed for power and riches lead to the conquering of the Aztecs and all the riches their lad had to offer. He first allied with the enemies of the Aztecs, which included the Tlaxcalticans. The Tlaxcaltions hated the Aztecs because for years their hierarchies were being sacrificed in order to be used as fertilizer for the Aztecs maize. (Tenochteland) In order to gain the Tlaxcalticans trust, Cortes had their rivals the Chulcloqus killed. The Chulcloqus were allies to the Aztecs so with them out of the picture it was easier for the Spaniards to take over. Cortes thought he was going to have significant facility beating the Aztecs, not only because of his new allies, but also because of his weapon superiority and military combat style. Even so, the Aztecs did not go down quietly. After the brutal massacre in the temple, the Aztecs grew furious and began to...

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