Broken spears book. Broken spears or La visión de los vencidos in nahuatl, more info in the comments. : aztec 2022-10-28
Broken spears book Rating:
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The book "Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico" is a fascinating and thought-provoking work that offers a unique perspective on the events of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It is a compilation of indigenous accounts of the conquest, translated and edited by Miguel León-Portilla, and provides a valuable counterpoint to the traditional European accounts of the period.
One of the key themes of the book is the devastating impact of the conquest on the Aztec civilization. León-Portilla's translations reveal the Aztecs' own perspectives on the events of the conquest, and the resulting narrative is one of tragedy and loss. The Aztecs describe the arrival of the Spanish as a disaster, and their accounts are filled with stories of death, destruction, and betrayal.
One of the most striking aspects of the book is the way in which it challenges the traditional narrative of the conquest as a triumphant victory for the Spanish. While European accounts of the period often portray the Spanish as heroic conquerors, the Aztec accounts reveal a different story. They depict the Spanish as ruthless and cruel, and the Aztecs as brave and determined in the face of overwhelming odds.
Another theme of the book is the role of religion in the conquest. The Aztecs were deeply religious people, and their accounts of the conquest are infused with religious themes and imagery. They describe the arrival of the Spanish as a divine punishment, and the destruction of their civilization as a result of their own religious failings. This highlights the cultural differences between the Aztecs and the Spanish, and the ways in which religion played a central role in shaping their respective worldviews.
In conclusion, "Broken Spears" is a powerful and thought-provoking book that offers a unique perspective on the events of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It challenges the traditional narrative of the conquest as a triumphant victory for the Spanish, and instead reveals a story of tragedy and loss from the perspective of the Aztecs. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of the Americas, and the ways in which religion, culture, and power intersected during this tumultuous period.
Book Review Example: The Broken Spears
This book was released on 15 November 2006 with total pages 201. Mexico has a long history prior to the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest, none more fascinating than that of the Aztecs. Explore this book A vivid account of life in the Aztec world and the tragic Aztec-Spanish War told by Indigenous scribes writing in Nahuatl during the decades following these events and the transformation to colonial New Spain. Miguel Leon-Portilla prefaces the sources that he used in compiling the book by looking at the background on the events, as well as descriptions and background information about the sources themselves. Gilbert's work is a valuable contribution to the honorable photographic tradition of tribal studies. As callous as it sounds, especially after reading these accounts, I find that I have never really thought about the Aztec Empire.
Initial Review October 2017: This book provides a detailed account of the destruction of the Nahuatl culture as witnessed by a few of its survivors. Initially, I thought that the leader of the Spanish group Cortes was a powerful leader having a great army. This book utilizes Fray Bernardino de Sahagun more than all other sources combined. Under this perspective, this book is not a story of the "defeated" but a story of survivors. In recent years, academic studies have been more inclined to also address "cultural adaptations" which certainly allowed these voices to be reproduced and heard for many centuries after the Conquest. They were powerful warriors that conquered and raided neighbouring cities.
He has written a great deal on the Aztecs, particularly on their religion, and his depth of knowledge shows—but is not showy. . She was sold into slavery as a child, and eventually… show more. The Coyotes want us to work for them, they want us to abandon our communal lands, our labor, our endeavors and language, our ways of dressing and living, our forms of thinking. Apart from the many advantages that they possess, the Spanish also took advantage of their cultural differences and exploited them. And how did they interpret their own downfall? Good primer for thinking about all the fun historical questions, the poetry at the end is super interesting, a lot of the repetition or even sometimes mundane description of almost otherworldly events can hurt my enjoyment.
The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
I thought that the victory in conquering Mexico was an easy task. . Know I know differently. But before all of that, these texts paint a fascinating anthropological portrait of a culture utterly alien in orientation and organization to that of the arriving Spanish, and indeed to our own modern one. The Aztec Empire accepted the Spanish with festivities and gifts, giving the Spanish a total control of the people. In the book the Broken Spears, he gives account to the different factors apart from Spanish power that led to the defeat of the Aztecs. The main difference, of course, is the emotional reaction to those events, seeing the events through the eyes of the conquered rather than the conquerors.
Broken spears or La visión de los vencidos in nahuatl, more info in the comments. : aztec
Just a few perspectives and best read with a textbook or more thorough descriptions of the Encounter era. On the Spaniard 's side they had power by killing Atahualpa and Montezuma they could create colonies and take riched back to their country. And we never once spoke about this in four years though we read Herodotus about a hundred times. For hundreds of years, the history of the conquest of Mexico and the defeat of the Aztecs has been told in the words of the Spanish victors. Indeed, up until his death Monteczuma was willing to suspend any amount of disbelief to peaceably submit to Cortez, long after his people and his military leaders deserted him and launched a too-late effort to exterminate the hostile invaders. Besides, the author of this book is a scholar on the subject, so his commentary is worth contemplating.
Finally, we review a select sampling of those military engagements in which Amerindian forces won decisive military contests against European belligerents in the Americas. In fact, conquistador accounts are full of inventions and distortions. On 22 April 1519, Spaniard Don Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico, and on 13 August 1521, the Aztecs, one of the greatest civilisations of South America, fell. In this new and… show more. The toll taken on the Aztecs was so tremendous that no matter when or who or how waged war against them, they were doomed. In the subtitle of her book Aztecs: An Interpretation, she boldly asserted her method for approaching history.
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I feel like it should be read more. But the "other side" story is much more fascinating than the one we're taught at school. Second read review April 2020: "We are crushed to the ground; we lie in ruins. The Spanish people were more advanced with more power and better equipped as compared to their Aztecs counterparts. With all of this virtually new information on the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, there can still be only one way that chips fall in regards to the outcome. For a couple of decades, Restall has been at the vanguard of a group of historians developing what is known as the New Conquest History, an effort to balance the Eurocentrism of earlier histories of the Aztec-Spanish War and its aftermath.
In stark contrast, the Aztecs humanized the "gods" stating in the nahuatl passages how greed consumed the barbarian's eyes at the sight of gold. Found this book in my last vacation to Mexico city, it's been translated into English, Japanese, French and other languages, this one it's in nahuatl, the ancient language of the aztecs. This book builds on that and narrows the focus to how the historic encounter between Moctezuma, the Great Speaker of Tenochtitlan and the most powerful individual in Mesoamerica, and Cortés on November 8, 1519 has been reinterpreted in the years since. The enigmatic and very religious man makes a little more sense with the additional stories. The renowned novelist Carlos Fuentes has crafted a unique history of the social, political, and economic forces that created the remarkable culture which stretches from the mysterious cave drawings at Altamira to the explosive graffiti on the walls of East Los Angeles. David Carrasco looks beyond Spanish accounts that have colored much of the Western narrative to let Aztec voices speak about their origin stories, the cosmic significance of their capital city, their methods of child rearing, and the contributions women made to daily life and the empire. Before read this book, I did not understand why Mexico still has a significant number of citizens who still speak native languages as either their first or their only language.
