We know the earliest name given to the Spanish was Castilteca, meaning 'people from Castile'. - The Spanish thought that the Aztecs had great wealth, although they were disgusted with the ritual sacrifices, they thought it was uncivilised and wanted to convert the to Christianity. People tell us that all classes in Aztec society the parents taught their children until the age three, then later expected them to be obedient, if they did not listen they were harshly punished. It is also important to remember that the Spanish conquerors did everything they could to destroy the Aztec religion, which they believed was created by the devil. The Aztecs believed in many gods. Montezuma II tried to keep Cortés from getting all the way to Tenochtitlan, but Cortés continued his march. (he was the God of Rain and Water) dropsy, leprosy and rheumatism . of the gods. No Aztec thought they were gods, but there was a strong feeling of unease, and some of them interpreted them as divine emissaries or sorcerors or semihuman monsters. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 16th century, the conventional narrative declares that the native Aztecs (properly: the Mexica) mistook the conquistadors for gods. Aztecs sacrificing to the gods: Codex Tudela, folio 76 (Click on image to enlarge) 1. But, in the 1500s, when the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, entered Aztec territory with a small band of his men, the Aztec misunderstood why they were there. The Mexica did not believe in people becoming gods, or in gods coming to earth only in one particular year, or in anybody having a preordained right to conquer them. Montezuma, the ruler at that time, believed that the Spanish military leader, Hernán Cortés, was the great god Quetzalcoatl. The Aztec gods represented the most important things in Aztec life. The Aztecs did many things to keep the gods happy. The native belief that the Spaniards were gods is a bit lame in light of the fact that the Spaniards considered the Aztecs to be satanic heretics... One group confused the cross for … They built large pyramid temples which were like their churches on which innocent people were sacrificed to the gods! “He who surpasses or subdues mankind, / Must look down on the hate of those below.” —, When Coca-Cola Made ‘White Coke’ For A Soviet War Hero, The Difference Between The Leviathan and Kraken, In the Hall of Maat: Burying the White Gods, The Snack Food That Once Honored An Aztec God, The Tree So Deadly It Was Used As A Torture Instrument, We Use Way More Than 10 Percent Of Our Brains, The Pueblo Revolt Was The First American Revolution, The 16th-Century Myth Of Giants In South America, Ponce De Leon Didn’t Search For A Fountain Of Youth. It might be debatable that Catholicism worships more than one god if you analyze the trinity, being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This granted the Spanish further justification for the annexation of these new territories. Is there a way to search all eBay sites for different countries at once? So, the conjecture written 50 years later was based upon that quote and some remarks by Cortez to the Spanish Crown as to the naiveté of the Aztecs. This also tends to suggest that the Aztecs saw the Spanish as people not gods because they rendered them using the same forms as they would any other new people group they encountered. Tens of thousands of native auxiliaries aided the Spanish conquest and in battle often served as the vanguard of a conquistador-native army. That's how the Aztecs did things. I'm doing my R.E home work and i need to know how the aztecs worshiped their gods. the aztecs thought the Spanish were gods collecting debt so they gave them gold and silver. There was a prophecy that lead them to believe this. There are a lot of good books and documentaries on the subject. Which is the Spanish conquest of the Mexica was made possible thanks largely to the Mexica’s oppression of subject peoples. The legend can be dated to 1552: Francisco López de Gómara was the first person to say that the Spaniards conquered Mexico because the conquistadors had been seen as gods by the indigenous people. Well, the Spanish told them, Castile. The Spanish took advantage of this Aztec belief and conquered Mexico within two years. For some time, they had been wondering how to escape alive. Blood was a common theme - the sacrifice that the gods required (see Aztec religion for more on Aztec sacrifice).So, animals would be sacrificed, as well as humans. 3 years ago. In the Aztecs, children were educated at home until it was estimated when they age 10 to 15. After the Spanish Conquest, many Spanish priests and friars learned enough of the Aztec’s language to talk with Aztec survivors of the battles and diseases. They did not like the Incas siding with the Spanish. The Aztecs, the Late Postclassic civilization that the Spanish conquistadors met in Mexico in the 16h century, believed in a complex and diversified pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Spanish were horrified by the idea that the Aztecs believed in deities that frequently expected blood and hearts from their worshippers, especially when these were obtained in such a brutal way. The Aztecs were Native American people who lived in Mesoamerica.They ruled the Aztec Empire from the 14th century to the 16th century.. Gold and conversions to the Catholic church. Enguerarrard. 1 decade ago. To get a better understanding of how this myth came to permeate both European and Mesoamerican histories of the conquest, we need to examine the works of prominent thinkers in post … They had never seen them before. The foreigners couldn’t possibly be worse than the Mexica, right? 1. The Spanish played their part later on in the myth-making. KnowledgeNuts © 2021. Through the re-examination of the word ‘teotl’ and closer look at the actions we know the Aztecs took in regards to the Spanish presence , we can say with certainty they did not view Cortes as a god. The Aztecs called themselves the "People of the Sun". Tēixiptla was a pysical manifestation of Aztec God. We only have the interaction recorded in Spanish, so there’s no way to know. The Spanish did not act like gods. By 1521, the Aztec culture was officially eradicated and a new culture, consisting of a combination of Aztec and Spanish elements, emerged. They felt that in order for the sun to rise each day the Aztecs needed to perform rituals and sacrifices to give the sun strength. This was an aztec sun god and patron of tenochtitlan. They did not believe they had control over their own destiny. The Spanish religion was Catholicism which preaches only one supreme god being our lord Jesus Christ. Main Gods Despite worshiping many gods, there were certain gods that the Aztecs considered more important and powerful than the others. . Except no one, not even the Spanish, initially suggested there was any case of mistaken identity. p. 8. How do you explain the conquest of an impressive civilization like that of the Mexica by mere hundreds of conquistadors? Their empire was composed of bustling cities that were… Either way, the Spanish thought that the natives thought they were gods and they began claiming divinity. The Aztecs through they were sent by their god, Quetzalcoatl. They felt that in order for the sun to rise each day the Aztecs needed to perform rituals and sacrifices to give the sun strength. Although Montezuma II did not trust Cortés, he also was worried that Cortés was the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Though the human sacrifice is the most talked about, there were actually many types of sacrifices in the empire. The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350s. It was, of course, the warrior class which had been responsible for Mexica ascendancy and later for its demise when the Spanish could not be defeated. What was the Aztec Calender? It was mistaken identity and religious devotion which crippled the Mexica response to invasion. The greatest empire to rule over Mexico, the Aztecs were a phenomenal indigenous civilization which ruled far and wide for over 300 years.Brought to a grounding halt in the 1400s by invading Spanish conquistadores, the last great Mesoamerican empire has left an impressive legacy behind, overshadowing that of the Toltecs from whom the ruling crown was snatched in the early 13th century. At this point Cortés became fearful that Moctezuma II may order his death and in response he took the Aztec leader captive in the palace that Moctezuma II had prepared for the Spanish in Tenochtitlan. One of their gods was light-skinned with a beard who was … At the heart of the Aztec universe was a great temple called the Huey Teocalli. Disease like smallpox (lack of Aztec immunity). Subscribe here! The Aztecs believed that 13 heavens radiated above it, while below were … The conquistadors defeated the Aztecs, took their empire, and made it into a Spanish colony. Tēōtl represented the so called "Aztec God", the impersonal force, the power behind the world. Why did the Aztecs think the spanish were gods . How did the Aztec create farmland within lake Texcoco. Except no one, not even the Spanish, initially suggested there was any case of mistaken identity. The story was likely an apocryphal invention of the conquered Mexica to recast their defeat as a result of religious symbols, not military failings. The sources for this account of the conquest were likely aging former warriors who had battled the Spanish. Although due to the abundance in tribes and civilisations around the Mexico and Southern American … They were then surprised when the Spaniards took their leader Montezuma as a prisoner, along with all his royal household and noblemen. Some arguments in favor of Montezuma’s belief that Cortez was the god Quetzalcoatl begin with the god’s promise to return after he died in a pyre or sailed off in a boat traveling east. The Spanish were helped by the Tlaxcala, a Mesoamerican civilisation rival of the Aztecs, and other native tribes which allied with them to defeat the Aztecs, especially in the siege of Tenochtitlan because the Spanish falsely promised them territories and a tax-free partnership in the post-conquest rule of Mexico. Just think not going to a real school till your 15! Many experts have identified at least 200 different gods/goddesses, divided into three groups: the heaven or the sky; the rain, fertility and agriculture; and, finally, war and sacrifice. So could someone please tell me!!!!! Lv 7. Yes they thought he was a God because they had beards and horses. The prophecy spoke of Quetzalcoatl’s arrival at the same time as the Spanish, and Quetzalcoatl was said to have white skin. NOBODY liked the Aztecs. Then they went from one place to the other wearing on top of their heads a little pot that has never been used for cooking. The Aztecs decided it was time for the Spanish to leave. Aztec cosmology and religion was central to Aztec life, and is also central to the way the exhibition is organised. The rituals were horrific. Why don't libraries smell like bookstores? gods themselves, they may have been messengers from the gods. Any mention of being hailed as a god is conspicuously absent from Cortes’s letters and memoirs. He was one of the most human-loving of the gods in the Aztec pantheon. What comes to mind for a lot of people is their practice of human sacrifice. They wanted to avert disaster by paying the endless debt. Montezuma II sent Cortés gifts of gold and chocolate to welcome the Spanish. - The Aztecs thought that the Spanish were Gods with advanced technology, although they thought that the punishment of burning someone on the stake and the effectiveness of steel swords equally as horrifying. The Aztects had never seen those type of things These things included human sacrifices. The people believed that these gods were not satisfied until they received an offering of the blood of innocent people. the spanish then knew the aztecs were rich. Accepting for a minute the dubious story of the aztecs assuming the spainarda were gods, they were different cultures a continent and a century apart. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1521, they described witnessing a grisly ceremony. The disease killed thousands of Aztecs. Like other Mesoamerican religions, it also has practices such as human sacrifice in connection with many religious festivals which are in the Aztec calendar. If they were not The Aztecs (/ ˈ æ z t ɛ k s /) were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. Looking for our newsletter? We know the earliest name given to the Spanish was Castilteca, meaning 'people from Castile'. Why did the Aztecs think the spanish were gods. Everyday items as well as colors, animals’ numbers and dates of the calendar had special meanings because each was associated with a deity – a rattlesnake, for example, was thought to represent the Aztec creator God, Quetzalcoatl. You really think a few hundred Spanish could conquer the entire Aztec Empire? Quetzacoatl was supposed to come back teh same year to distroy the land . Quetzalcoatl was also the patron god of arts and knowledge. Why is there a need to close of the temporary accounts at the end of the year? Doña Marina quickly learned Spanish, and became Cortés's primary interpreter, confidant, consort, cultural translator, and the mother of his first son, Martin. To get a better understanding of how this myth came to permeate both European and Mesoamerican histories of the conquest, we need to examine the works of prominent thinkers in post … Another important god was Quetzalcoatl (feathered snake), the god of learning and civilization. What are the Advantages and disadvantages of null curriculum? As much as they may have wanted to celebrate their military prowess, the Spanish used the god-myth to confer a quasi-divine right to rule upon themselves. When the Spanish returned, … The most important gods in Aztec culture were Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun) and Tlaloc (god of rain). And as the conquistadors made their way inland toward the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan, the Spanish solicited native allies. The were told by the God Huitzilopochtli told the Aztecs to search for an Eagle on a Cactus. What illnesses could be caused by Tlaloc? After all they had “welcomed” Cortes as one of their gods. The Mexica were not the most benevolent or interested of rulers; aside from the crippling demand for a third of all produced goods and crops from subject peoples, the Mexica were mostly content to allow the conquered to govern themselves. The closest his and other conquistadors’ accounts get to the “god-myth” is describing the natives as awe-struck at the display of Spanish firearms. They continually referred to themselves as ‘teules.’ There is evidence the Aztecs did view the Spanish as sent from god when they first arrived. The Aztecs under Spanish rule were not allowed to practice their old religion and were expected, under penalty of law, to adopt the dominant Spanish Catholic religion. The name "Aztec" comes from the phrase "people from Aztlan". All Rights Reserved. The Spanish took advantage of this Aztec belief and conquered Mexico within two years. Even though all of the people that they were sacrificing were prisoners, it seemed that the Aztecs put a relatively low value on human life in comparison to that of the gods. In the Hall of Maat: Burying the White Gods. They did not attend the sacrifice ceremonies that were given in their honor. Pre-Columbian civilizations - Pre-Columbian civilizations - Aztec culture to the time of the Spanish conquest: At the time of the Spanish conquest the dominant people of Meso-America were the Aztec. Xipe Totec, God of Fertility and Sacrifice. Two of the most important gods they worshipped were Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun, and Tlaloc, the rain god. Female Echidnas Sleep Right Through The Mating Ritual, The ‘Great Escape’ That Happened On US Soil, The Horrifying History Of The Pregnancy Test, The Popular Pesticide That Makes Frogs Hermaphrodites, The Worst (And Most Dangerous) Movie Idea In Cinema History. He was the god who met with an ant to provide humans with their first maize to plant, and he was responsible for saving all humanity at the beginning of the Fifth Sun. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, by Matthew Restall Answer Save. In class, we learned a lot about the civilizations of the Maya and the Inca but not much about the Maya. Some historians think the "gods" thing was invented as a rationalization for that. What would you say the qualities deeply esteemed by the people of those time? then when the spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan, the aztecs saw horses and guns and thought they were from the sky. Xipe Totec (pronounced Shee-peh Toh-tek) … The Aztecs believed that their gods had a direct influence on their own fate. The Aztec religion originated from the indigenous Aztecs of central Mexico. So, the conjecture written 50 years later was based upon that quote and some remarks by Cortez to the Spanish Crown as to the naiveté of the Aztecs. López de Gómara had never been to Mexico, but he was chaplain and secretary to the retired Hernando Cortés, who had led the conquistadors. Still, we can’t help but think that many didn’t wish to die, but accepted it as inevitable. When the Spanish arrived, they seemed as appealing an alternative as any other to the current system of tribute bondage. The story was … This is where they should settle. The Conquistadors: A Very Short Introduction, by Matthew Restall, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Aztec Gods Tlaloc The Aztecs named and worshiped nearly 1000 Aztec gods. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1521, they described witnessing a grisly ceremony. This description is based primarily on written documents from the 16th century but also includes some archaeological data. Between 1519 and 1521, the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, allied with Tlaxcala and other enemies of the Aztecs. By dying as a sacrifice, they honored the gods. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés and his men landed on the Mexican coast on April of 1519. The Aztecs (/ ˈ æ z t ɛ k s /) were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. Second, where did the Aztecs think they came from. Montezuma and the Aztec people did not understand the intentions of the Spanish troupes when they reached Tenochtitlan. What the Spanish thought:-. Learn about the greatest empire to rule over Mexico, the Aztecs Ataxalpa knew that the Spaniards were not gods. The Aztecs were terrified of the horses the Spanish brought with them. Then they went from one place to the other wearing on top of their heads a little pot that has never been used for cooking. : 181 Some accounts would claim that this idol or deity was Quetzalcoatl, and that the Aztecs were defeated because they believed the Spanish were supernatural and didn't know how to react, although whether or not the Aztecs really believed that is debatable. The Mexica empire which Hernan Cortes encountered in 1519 was actually a confederation of several disparate Native American peoples brought together under the Mexica yoke.

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