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Anthony Chu

This version was saved 16 years, 7 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by PBworks
on August 13, 2007 at 12:33:55 pm
 

 ~UNDER CONSTRUCTION~

 

DISCLAIMER:

I, Anthony Chu,( 'the author') of this page, will in no way accept any

liabilities regarding personal injury or loss of life due to this website.

While this site may describe human sacrifice, putting into action any

procedures as described by this site may be fatal in regards to one's

health and general wellbeing.

 

 

Aztec Religion and Human Sacrifice:

AZTEC SACRIFICE.doc (Full version)

 

  1. Reasons for sacrifice:

              i: To appease the gods: ‘as the gods gave life they would be happy to receive a life in return’

              ii: To ask the gods to prevent natural disasters               

  1. Sacrifices were usually dedicated to gods. Prominent examples of gods who had sacrifices dedicated to them are Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. 
  2. The Aztecs sacrificed victims as they believed that by doing so, they were nourishing the sun. ‘Blood offering was intrinsic to Aztec thought, both as a remembrance of the original acts of the gods and, more practically, as continual nourishment for the Sun’
  3.    i: The victim was cut open by a priest wielding an obsidian knife

 ii: The heart was torn out of the victim’s ribcage while it was still beating

 iii: The skulls of those who were sacrificed were preserved by being impaled onto poles and used as decorations in temples.

iv: The victims were sacrificed at the top of the pyramids, on a sacrificial stone.    

  1. Inca sacrifices were similar to Aztec sacrifices in that they also involved killing the victim as an offering to the gods. They were different from Aztec sacrifices in the method of killing, as the Incas usually walled in the victims and buried them alive. Also, the victims typically suffered less violent deaths, as they were knocked unconscious beforehand.                                                                         

 Example 1: Juanita, the ‘Ice Maiden’, was a young girl found at the peak of Ampato, a mountain near the Incan capital of Cuzco. She had a skull fracture on the back of her head, presumably made when she was knocked unconscious. Like most other Incan sacrifices, she was dressed in rich clothing.

 

Example 2: Tanta Carhua, a 10-year old Incan girl, was offered by her father to the Emperor. She was taken to Cuzco, where she was ‘honoured by feasts’ then returned to her village, where she was placed in a tomb and sealed in alive.

   6.   The Aztecs usually engaged in cannibalism as they believed they would take on the traits of the victim they were consuming. Therefore, captured warriors and noblemen were often eaten. According to Wikipedia and http://www.latinamericanstudies.org, they also ate victims as their diets did not have enough protein and thus had to eat human flesh (they had no domesticated livestock). Proof of cannibalism is shown in several codices, as well as an account of the conquistador Bernal Diaz: ‘Then they kicked the bodies down the steps, and the Indian butchers who were waiting below cut off their arms and legs and flayed their faces, which they afterwards prepared like glove leather, with their beards on, and kept for their drunken festivals. Then they ate their flesh with a sauce of peppers and tomatoes.’

 

 


 

Aztec Mythology:

 

 The Aztecs had a polytheistic religion, and worshipped multiple gods whom governed an aspect of nature or Aztec life. Each god also ruled over a specific day of the Aztec calendar.

For more information about both the Aztec calendar and the Aztec gods, refer to these sites: [1] Aztec Calendar, [2] Indians.org and [3] Mexconnect.

 

 


 

The Human Settlement and Occupation of North America and Mexico:

It is believed that humans first migrated to North America from Asia about 50,000 years ago. This was during the Ice Age, when a land bridge known as the Bering Land Bridge existed between the two continents. According to the Bering Land Bridge theory, humans were able to simply walk to North America. As mammoth remains have been discovered in the region of the land bridge, it is likely that there was more than sufficient food for the migration. For a more detailed description of this migration, see this site: [1] University of Calgary.

Another theory states that humans ended up in North America after following game from Asia, and is supposedly supported by the similiarity of design in artifacts. This is known as the Clovis theory, which is both described and disproved in detail in the following links: [1] Wikipedia, [2] The University of Texas and [3], Florida State University.

Around 9000 years ago, humans began to cultivate crops in Mexico, and by 500 A.D, a variety of crops like maize, corn, squash and beans were being harvested. A lively agricultural community was formed around the Valley of Mexico, and eventually became the basis of the Aztec Empire.

 

 

An animation showing the development of the Bering Land Bridge. Sourced from Paleoenvironmental Atlas of Beringia. The Land Bridge can be clearly seen in the center of the animation.

 

 

The location of the Aztec Empire prior to its destruction. Sourced from Wikipedia.
 


 

Aztec Architecture and Temples:

 

 

 

 

 


 

The City of Tenochtitlan:

 

 

 

 


 

Aztec Warfare:

 

The Aztec military was divided into several tiers. The commoners were divided into tlameme (porters), telpochcalli, yaoquizqueh, and the most revered of the common soldiers, the tlamani, men who had captured enemies in combat. The Aztec nobility were also split into several castes, the most feared and common being the Jaguar (ocelomeh) and Eagle (quauhtin) warriors. The warriors of these castes dressed as their namesakes, with either pelts or feathers used as decorations.  The Eagle and Jaguar  warriors were reputedly the most talented, brave and deadly soldiers within the Aztec military. As with other soldiers, these warriors also wielded a macuahuitl (an obsidian-edged wooden club), bows, clubs or wooden lances. The blades on such Aztec weapons were made of obsidian. Compared to the native tribes of the Americas, the Aztecs were the most advanced people of their civilisation. However, with the arrival of the Spaniards, and the subsequent advent of horses and gunpowder (both previously unknown), their largely wooden amour and weaponry were rendered redundant. The Spaniards had brought a new level of sophistication to the battlefield, and despite the Aztecs' high degree of knowledge in metallurgy, steel would remain out of their grasp.

 

 A Jaguar warrior, dressed in a pelt. He is wielding a Macuahuitl, an obsidian-edged wooden club.

An ACTUAL Jaguar warrior, dressed in a pelt and wielding a macuahuitl. An Eagle warrior, adorned with feathers.               

 

 


 

 

Spanish accounts and quotes of the conquest of Mexico -->Possibly Part 1 of Q.1. of Essay

                                                                                                         [TEXT ONLY] 

Curiously enough, there are few sources of information regarding the Spanish view of the conquest on the internet. Many websites refer to the dreadful slaughter and ‘conversion’ etc of the Aztecs, and how they were seen as uncivilized savages by the Spanish. However, some of the few Spanish sources show that this may have been far from the truth.

 

Take, for example, the conquistadors’ amazement at their first sighting of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan: ‘… we arrived at a broad Causeway and continued our march towards Iztapalapa, and when we saw so many cities and villages built in the water and other great towns on dry land and that straight and level Causeway going towards Mexico, we were amazed…on account of the great towers…and buildings rising from the water, and all built of masonry. And some of our soldiers even asked whether the things we saw were not a dream’ (quoted from conquistador Bernal Diaz, sourced from the Aztec booklet). This source clearly shows the conquistadors’ reactions to their first real meeting with Aztec civilisation was not disgust at the ‘barbarous savages’ but rather astonishment at the level of architecture behind this marvel. However, this does not explain why Cortés and retinue would eventually return home as heroes detailing a wild world of blood-thirsty sacrificing ferals.

 

Other Spanish sources describing the world of the Aztecs in a positive light:

‘When we arrived at the great market place we were astounded at the number of people…and the quantity of merchandise and the good order and control that was maintained…There is a street of game (partridges, turkeys, quail, pigeons, parrots, owls, kestrel)…There is a street of herb sellers…medicinal herbs…There are barber shops where you may have your hair washed and cut…traders…who sold great pieces of cotton…and articles of twisted thread…dealers in gold…and precious stones, feathers and feather mantles.’

(Bernal Diaz)

 

‘…for never was there seen, nor heard, nor even dreamt, anything like that which we then observed.)

(Bernal Diaz) [This comment could be negative as well, but as the text preceding this describes amazement, thus it is likely that this is positive]

 

'The divine drink which builds up resistance & fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits man to walk for a whole day without food'

(Hernando Cortés himself referring to chocolate (Xocolatl, sourced from here: [1])

Spanish sources with a negative view of the Aztecs

Strangely enough, however, the same conquistadors later adopted a more aggressive stance against the Aztecs. The most supported theory behind this change of outlook is that the Spanish were in need of a reason to justify their vicious conquest of the Aztecs, and their subsequent enslavement and slaughter of the majority of the America’s inhabitants.Later accounts by Diaz had a darker view of the Aztecs, several of which are written below.

 

'They wore black cloaks... and long gowns reaching to their feet. Some had hoods...and they wore their hair very long, right down to the waist, and some had it even reaching...to their ankles. Their hair was covered with blood, and so matted together that it could not be seperated, and their ears were cut to pieces by way of penance. They stank like sulphur... The nails on their fingers were very long, and we heard it said that these priests were very pious and led good lives.' 

 

The accompanying text says that the conquistadors were shocked by their appearance, which, considering the source, is quite likely. 

 

 'Many of [the warriors] carried standards and gold shields, and other insignia...giving them an appearance of great ferocity. They...had their faces stained, and grimaced horribly. These put such fear in us that many... asked for confession' 

 

[~TO BE CONTINUED~]

 

 


  Section 2 Evidence

The Conquistadors left an indelible scar on the native cultures of the Americas

The conquest of the Americas imparted both ill and positive impacts upon the Spaniards and the natives. They exchanged various diseases, livestock and food, in what is now known as the Columbian Exchange, described in further detail on these sites: [1] Wikipedia, [2] Palomar College, [3] Georgetown College, [4] National Humanities Center and [5] suite101.

 The Spanish profited greatly from the conquest. According to the book Europe: A History by N.Davies, 'By 1600, 200 ships a year entered Seville [in Spain] from the New World. In the peak decade of 1591-1600, 19 million grams of gold and nearly 3 billion grams of silver came with them ... As overseas trade expanded, Europe received a wide range of new staple foods [like potatoes and maize] as well as exotic colonial products including pepper, coffee, cocoa, sugar and tobacco... The haricot bean, which was first recorded in France in 1542, the tomato, which spread far and wide via Italy, and the capsicum pepper... were all American in origin.'

This quote describes the enormous profit made by the Spanish conquest, which resulted in Spain becoming the most powerful country in the world for the next 150 years.

 

           ~UNDER CONSTRUCTION~

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