The Broken Spears the Aztec Account of the Conquest of...

Perspective on the Columbian Exchange and Effect on Information Conveyance While most of what has happened historically is clouded by speculation and wonder, some events have been well-documented. The Conquest of the Americas by the Spanish was an event in which many aspects were recorded, which has helped historians tremendously. The Broken Spears is a historical outlook on the Spanish Conquest of the Americas that includes several different texts written by many different indigenous people. Numerous texts are written in such a way that show the fear that the people experienced while having their towns overtaken, while other texts simply explain what was happening at the time. In Traditions and Encounters, a more factual approach is†¦show more content†¦Throughout the book, writers mention that Aztec governments did everything that they could to give the Spanish everything that they needed, and that the Spanish took advantage of them. â€Å"†¦he took the Spaniards to be gods; he believed in them and worshiped them as deities.† The peop le of Mexico were loyal to those that they believed to be gods and â€Å"when they conquered the Mexica and all belonging to them, we never abandoned them or left them behind in it.† Under Spanish rule many men, women and children were exploited, tortured and murdered. The Broken Spears captured this in great detail while Traditions and Encounters skims over a lot of these details. This seems to create a gap between the two texts, making the differences between the authors more apparent. Cortes played a large role in the conquering of the Americas, and both Traditions and Encounters and The Broken Spears document his actions. In Traditions and Encounters, Cortes’s role as captain of Spanish expeditions was detailed. The advantage that theShow MoreRelatedBroken Spears Bernal Diaz1295 Words   |  6 PagesTwo Accounts: Broken Spears and Bernal Diaz In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides, each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. These statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc. When two cultures interact for the first time there is bound to be some discrepancies over what truly occurred. These discrepancies are portrayed quite well through Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of New SpainRead MoreBroken Spears Essay1473 Words   |  6 PagesThe Broken Spears â€Å"The Broken Spears† is a collection of many accounts of the destruction of Mexico by Cortes and the conquistadors in their invasion. 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