HUMN1059 - Week 3 - The Spanish Empire by Mirela Cufurovic

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mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 03:08:17 UTC

The meeting of Cortés and Moctezuma is shown in this image from a Tlaxcalan mural. The mural was completed by 1560, nearly 40 years after the Spanish conquest. Cortés’ interpreter, a Native American woman known as Malinche or Doña Marina, stands behind him.

This image comes from an Aztec perspective.

What does this image tell us about the meeting between Monctezuma and Cortés? What can you see?

Moctezuma's impressions of Cortés and the arrival of the Spaniards.

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 04:03:44 UTC

This is an excerpt taken from Hernán Cortés's Second Letter. Full citation: Cortés, Hernán. Cartas y relaciones de Hernan Cortés al emperador Carlos V. Edited by Pascual de Gayangos. Paris: A. Chaix, 1866, p. 185-9.

This account is from a Spanish perspective.

What does this account by Moctezuma tell us about how the Aztecs viewed the Spanish?

How might have Cortés’s European background influenced his narration of what Moctezuma told him? What motivations lie behind this account?

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mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 04:07:08 UTC

In the first three weeks of May, the Aztecs traditionally celebrated the Festival of Toxcatl. This long festival was dedicated to the Aztec god, Huitzilopochtli. The purpose of the festival was to ask for the rains which would water the Aztec crops for another year, and it involved dancing, prayers, and human sacrifice.

This image comes from an Aztec perspective.

What does this image tell us about Spanish control and power over the Aztecs? What can you see?

Crotés learns of revolt in Tenochtitlan.

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 10:54:23 UTC

This account is from a Spanish perspective.

What does this account by Cortés reveal about European domination? What is Cortés most worried about in his letter to King Charles V?

What is omitted from this account? If you were King Charles V reading this letter, what reaction might you have? What steps might you take next?

Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa's observations on silver mining operations in Potosí.

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 11:27:11 UTC

Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa was a Spanish Carmelite friar who abandoned his academic ambitions in order to serve as a priest in the Americas. After his retirement, Espinosa wrote several books about his work in Spanish America. This excerpt from his best known work records his observations on the Potosí silver mine in Peru and the Spanish system of Indian forced labor referred to as the mita. Full citation: Vazquez de Espinosa, Antonio. Description of the Indies, c 1620, trans. by Charles Upson Clark, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968.

This account is from a Spanish perspective.

What does this account by Vazquez reveal about the importance of silver to the Spanish?

What are the working conditions and the consequences the natives faced while working on this mine?

If Spain had gained so much wealth in the form of silver from Potosí, why is it not one of the richest countries today? Who did Spain trade with and what might over mining of silver do to the world economy?

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mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 11:33:57 UTC

The city of Potosí, Bolivia, stands on a barren terrace on the northern slope of the Cerro Garda de Potosí. The foundation of the city dates from 1547, two years after the discovery of silver on the Cerro. This view of Potosí dates from ca. 1585 - one of the earliest depictions of this site.

This image comes from a Spanish perspective, the artist of this image is unknown.

What does this Spanish depiction of Potosí tell us about how silver was mined and the working conditions on this site?

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mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:22:00 UTC

The phrase “the Columbian Exchange” is taken from the title of Alfred W. Crosby’s 1972 book, which divided the exchange into three categories: diseases, animals, and plants.

Examine the image. In what ways did the New and Old Worlds change as a result of the Columbian Exchange? Was it more positive or negative?

Understanding the Spanish Empire

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:24:36 UTC

Using the information you've read from this article and the primary and secondary sources you have analysed today, how would you answer the portfolio question for the week:

How did the Spanish empire become the dominant force in the Americas?

Galeano Reading

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:29:03 UTC

In small groups, read the section of your text and answer the question on the side. We will discuss each group's response and make sense of Galeano’s thesis as a class.

Q1: The Sign of the Cross on the Hilt of the Sword

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:30:01 UTC

Explain what Cortés meant by the statement that the Spanish had “arrived in America to serve god and his majesty and also to get riches”.

pages 11 - 15

Q2: The Gods Return with Secret Weapons

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:31:23 UTC

What do you think was the more important to Spanish Conquest – the canon or the disease?

pages 15 - 17

Q3: They Crave Gold Like Hungry Swine

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:33:30 UTC

Why were the Spanish obsessed with Gold? How did that make them destroy the civilizations they encountered?

pages 18 - 20

Q4: The Silver Cycle: The Splendours of Potosi

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:34:18 UTC

Explain the rise of Potosi as a global city in the 1500s. How may this compare to the Bolivian tin mines of the 20th century?

pages 20 - 22

Q5: Spain Owned the Cow, Others Drank the Milk

mcufurovic — 2023-07-16 12:35:20 UTC

How did Spain waste a lot of their wealth, and in doing so, finance the age of European conquest?

pages 22 - 27