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A Mat of Serpents: Aztec Strategies of Control from an Empire in Decline
A Mat of Serpents: Aztec Strategies of Control from an Empire in Decline Jerónimo Reyes On my honor, Professors Andrea Lepage and Elliot King mark the only aid to this thesis. “… the ruler sits on the serpent mat, and the crown and the skull in front of him indicate… that if he maintained his place on the mat, the reward was rulership, and if he lost control, the result was death.” - Aztec rulership metaphor1 1 Emily Umberger, " The Metaphorical Underpinnings of Aztec History: The Case of the 1473 Civil War," Ancient Mesoamerica 18, 1 (2007): 18. I dedicate this thesis to my mom, my sister, and my brother for teaching me what family is, to Professor Andrea Lepage for helping me learn about my people, to Professors George Bent, and Melissa Kerin for giving me the words necessary to find my voice, and to everyone and anyone finding their identity within the self and the other. Table of Contents List of Illustrations ………………………………………………………………… page 5 Introduction: Threads Become Tapestry ………………………………………… page 6 Chapter I: The Sum of its Parts ………………………………………………… page 15 Chapter II: Commodification ………………………………………………… page 25 Commodification of History ………………………………………… page 28 Commodification of Religion ………………………………………… page 34 Commodification of the People ………………………………………… page 44 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………... page 53 Illustrations ……………………………………………………………………... page 54 Appendices ……………………………………………………………………... page 58 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………... page 60 …. List of Illustrations Figure 1: Statue of Coatlicue, Late Period, 1439 (disputed) Figure 2: Peasant Ritual Figurines, Date Unknown Figure 3: Tula Warrior Figure Figure 4: Mexica copy of Tula Warrior Figure, Late Aztec Period Figure 5: Coyolxauhqui Stone, Late Aztec Period, 1473 Figure 6: Male Coyolxauhqui, carving on greenstone pendant, found in cache beneath the Coyolxauhqui Stone, Date Unknown Figure 7: Vessel with Tezcatlipoca Relief, Late Aztec Period, ca. -
Cannibalism and Aztec Human Sacrifice Stephanie Zink May, 2008 a Senior Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Require
CANNIBALISM AND AZTEC HUMAN SACRIFICE STEPHANIE ZINK MAY, 2008 A SENIOR PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- LA CROSSE Abstract As the nature of Aztec cannibalism is poorly known, this paper examines the extent to which it was practiced and the motives behind it. Using the methodology of documentary research I have determined that the Aztecs did in fact engage in cannibalism, specifically ritual and gustatory cannibalism, however, the extent of it is indefinite. The analysis that I have conducted suggests that, while several hypotheses exist, there is only one that is backed by the evidence: Aztec cannibalism was practiced for religious reasons. In order to better understand this issue, other hypotheses must be examined. 2 Introduction Cannibalism is mostly considered a taboo in western culture, with the exception of sacraments in Christianity, which involve the symbolic eating of the body of Christ and the drinking of Christ’s blood. The general public, in western societies, is disgusted by the thought of humans eating each other, and yet it still seems to fascinate them. Accounts of cannibalism can be found throughout the history of the world from the United States and the Amazon Basin to New Zealand and Indonesia. A few fairly well documented instances of cannibalism include the Aztecs; the Donner Party, a group of pioneers who were trapped while trying to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter of 1846-1847; the Uruguayan soccer team that crashed in Chile in 1972 in the Andes Mountains (Hefner, http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/cannibalism.html). -
Rethinking the Conquest : an Exploration of the Similarities Between Pre-Contact Spanish and Mexica Society, Culture, and Royalty
University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Dissertations and Theses @ UNI Student Work 2015 Rethinking the Conquest : an exploration of the similarities between pre-contact Spanish and Mexica society, culture, and royalty Samantha Billing University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2015 Samantha Billing Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd Part of the Latin American History Commons Recommended Citation Billing, Samantha, "Rethinking the Conquest : an exploration of the similarities between pre-contact Spanish and Mexica society, culture, and royalty" (2015). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 155. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/155 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses @ UNI by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright by SAMANTHA BILLING 2015 All Rights Reserved RETHINKING THE CONQUEST: AN EXPLORATION OF THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PRE‐CONTACT SPANISH AND MEXICA SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND ROYALTY An Abstract of a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Samantha Billing University of Northern Iowa May 2015 ABSTRACT The Spanish Conquest has been historically marked by the year 1521 and is popularly thought of as an absolute and complete process of indigenous subjugation in the New World. Alongside this idea comes the widespread narrative that describes a barbaric, uncivilized group of indigenous people being conquered and subjugated by a more sophisticated and superior group of Europeans. -
Articulos El Sueño Del Conquistador
ARTICULOS EL SUEÑO DEL CONQUISTADOR * J ea n M a m e G. L e C le z io El Colegio de Michoacán El sueño empieza pues el 8 de febrero de 1517, cuan do Bernal Díaz del Castillo vislumbra por primera vez, desde la cubierta del barco, la gran ciudad blanca de los mayas que los españoles nombrarán “El Gran Cairo”. Y luego, el 4 de marzo de 1517, cuando ve venir hacia la nave “diez canoas muy grandes, que se dicen piraguas, lle nas de indios naturales de aquella poblazón, y venían a remo y vela” (p. 29). Es el primer encuentro del soldado Bernal Díaz con el mundo mexicano. El sueño puede empezar, libre aún de todo miedo, de todo odio. “ . .sin temor ninguno vinieron, y entraron en la nao capitana sobre treinta dellos, y les dimos a cada uno un sartalejo de cuentas verdes, y estuvieron mirando por un buen rato los navios” (p. 30). El asombro brota entonces de los dos lados. Bernal Díaz y sus compañeros se asombran del tamaño de las ciu dades, de la belleza de los templos y de la fealdad de los ídolos mayas. Los indios, por su parte, se asombran del aspecto de los extranjeros. Les preguntan si vienen “de la parte don de nace el sol” y cuentan entonces por primera vez aque lla leyenda de la que el capitán Cortés y sus hombres sa * Versión castellana de Tomás Segovia. brán más tarde sacar provecho— leyenda según la cual “les habían dicho sus antepasados que habían de venir gentes de hacia donde sale el sol, con barbas, que los habían de señorear' (p. -
Read Book Aztec
AZTEC PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Gary Jennings | 754 pages | 16 May 2006 | St Martin's Press | 9780765317506 | English | New York, United States Aztec PDF Book The high productivity gained by those methods made for a rich and populous state. There was an appeal process, with appellate courts standing between local, typically market-place courts, on the provincial level and a supreme court and two special higher appellate courts at Tenochtitlan. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. The Aztec ruling dynasty continued to govern the indigenous polity of San Juan Tenochtitlan, a division of the Spanish capital of Mexico City, but the subsequent indigenous rulers were mostly puppets installed by the Spanish. MacLeod, Murdo The main deities worshipped by the Aztecs were Tlaloc , a rain and storm deity , Huitzilopochtli a solar and martial deity and the tutelary deity of the Mexica tribe, Quetzalcoatl , a wind , sky and star deity and cultural hero, Tezcatlipoca , a deity of the night, magic, prophecy and fate. Witton, M. Aztec I is characterized by floral designs and day- name glyphs; Aztec II is characterized by a stylized grass design above calligraphic designs such as s-curves or loops; Aztec III is characterized by very simple line designs; Aztec four continues some pre-Columbian designs but adds European influenced floral designs. For example, the southern peripheral zones of Xoconochco were not in immediate contact with the central part of the empire. These feathers were obtained through trade and tribute. The Cihuacoatl was always a close relative of the Huey tlatoani; Tlacaelel , for example, was the brother of Moctezuma I. -
Rewriting Native Imperial History in New Spain: the Excot Can Dynasty Alena Johnson
University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Spanish and Portuguese ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2-1-2016 Rewriting Native Imperial History in New Spain: The excoT can Dynasty Alena Johnson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/span_etds Recommended Citation Johnson, Alena. "Rewriting Native Imperial History in New Spain: The excT ocan Dynasty." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/span_etds/24 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spanish and Portuguese ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Alena Johnson Candidate Spanish and Portuguese Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Miguel López, Chairperson Kimberle López Ray Hernández-Durán Enrique Lamadrid ii REWRITING NATIVE IMPERIAL HISTORY IN NEW SPAIN: THE TEXCOCAN DYNASTY by ALENA JOHNSON B.A., Spanish, Kent State University, 2002 M.A., Spanish Literature, Kent State University, 2004 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Spanish and Portuguese The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2015 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express much gratitude to each of my committee members for their mentorship, honorable support, and friendship: Miguel López, Associate Professor of Latin American Literature, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of New Mexico; Kimberle López, Associate Professor of Latin American Literature, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of New Mexico; Ray Hernández-Durán, Associate Professor of Early Modern Ibero-American Colonial Arts and Architecture, Department of Art and Art History, University of New Mexico; and Enrique Lamadrid, Professor Emeritus, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of New Mexico. -
Land, Water, and Government in Santiago Tlatelolco
ABSTRACT This dissertation discusses conflicts over land and water in Santiago Tlatelolco, an indigenous community located in Mexico City, in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The specific purpose of this study is to analyze the strategies that the indigenous government and indigenous people in general followed in the defense of their natural resources in order to distinguish patterns of continuity and innovation. The analysis covers several topics; first, a comparison and contrast between Mesoamerican and colonial times of the adaptation to the lacustrine environment in which Santiago Tlatelolco was located. This is followed by an examination of the conflicts that Santiago Tlatelolco had with neighboring indigenous communities and individuals who allied themselves with Spaniards. The objective of this analysis is to discern how indigenous communities in the basin of central Mexico used the Spanish legal system to create a shift in power that benefitted their communities. The next part of the dissertation focuses on the conflicts over land and water experienced by a particular group: women. This perspective provides insight into the specific life experience of the inhabitants of Santiago Tlatelolco during Mesoamerican and colonial times. It also highlights the impact that indigenous people had in the Spanish colonial organization and the response of Spanish authorities to the increasing indigenous use of the legal system. The final part discusses the evolution of indigenous government in Santiago Tlatelolco from Mesoamerican to colonial rulership. This section focuses on the role of indigenous rulers in Mexico City public works, especially the hydraulic system, in the recollection of tribute, and, above all, in the legal conflicts over land and water. -
Eclipses in the Aztec Codices Event Was Actually Perceived
IN ORIGINAL FORM PUBLISHED IN: arXiv: 0000.00000 [physics.hist-ph] Habilitation at the University of Heidelberg Date: 20th August 2020 Eclipses in the Aztec Codices Emil Khalisi D–69126 Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: ekhalisi[at]khalisi[dot]com Abstract. This paper centers on the collection of accounts on solar eclipses from the era of the Aztecs in Mesoamerica, about 1300 to 1550 AD. We present a list of all eclipse events complying with the topological visibility from the capital Tenochtitlan. Forty records of 23 eclipses entered the various Aztec manuscripts (codices), usually those of large magnitude. Each event is discussed with regard to its historical context, as we try to comprehend the importance the Aztecs gave to the phenomenon. It seems that this culture paid noticeably less attention to eclipses than the civilisations in the “Old World”. People did not understand the cause of it and did not care as much about astronomy as in Babylonia and ancient China. Furthermore, we discuss the legend on the comet of Moctezuma II. It turns out that the post-conquest writers misconceived what the sighting was meant to be. Keywords: Solar eclipse, Aztec, Mesoamerica, Astronomical dating, Moctezuma’s Comet. 1 Introduction necessity, because the belief was interlocked with some re- peating phenomena, for instance, the end of the calendrical The Mesoamerican peoples developed their culture inde- cycle, rebirth of the sun, or re-appearances of the planet pendent from the civilisations in the Euro-Asian domain. Venus. Among the tribes on both American continents only the Most reliable information about natural phenomena Maya achieved an advanced level of worldwide recognition. -
Náhuatl De Cuentepec, Morelos
SERIE TENOCHTITLÁN 1521-2021 EL ENCUENTRO DEL GRAN MOCTEZUMA Y EL CONQUISTADOR Versión español-náhuatl Ma. Guadalupe Flores Rodríguez / Blanca Ramírez Chávez Ilustraciones por Michelle Ramírez Terán Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas. México Lic. Adelfo Regino Montes Director General del Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas Mtra. Bertha Dimas Huacuz Coordinadora General de Patrimonio Cultural y Educación Indígena Itzel Maritza García Licona Directora de Comunicación Social SERIE “TENOCHTITLÁN 1521-2021” El encuentro del Gran Moctezuma y el Conquistador Versión español - náhuatl de Cuentepec, Morelos Investigación María Guadalupe Flores Rodríguez Blanca Ramírez Chávez Traducción a la lengua náhuatl Gerardo Coloxtitla Nava Ilustraciones Michelle Ramírez Terán Corrección de estilo Katya Vite Delgadillo Diseño editorial Ana Karen Isalde Grégor Coordinación Norberto Zamora Pérez México, 2021 LLEGADA DE CORTÉS A VERACRUZ Y SU CAMINO RUMBO A TENOCHTITLÁN Kuak asiki non Cortés ipan non weyialtepetl Veracruz wan kuak nenemis katlak non weyi altepetl Tenochtitlán En los últimos días del mes de abril de 1519, arriba a las cos- tas de Veracruz, Hernán Cortés un español que cambiaría el destino de los pueblos y, sobre todo, el de Tenochtitlán. Un total de 11 embarcaciones llegaron, la tripulación de las naves desembarcó hasta al día siguiente. Bernal Díaz del Castillo en Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España des- cribe la llegada a estas nuevas tierras: En Jueves Santo de la Cena de mil quinientos y diez y nueve años, -
A Quick History of the Aztecs in Pictures
A Quick History of the Aztecs in pictures They created floating gardens for growing food. They As the land had already been created more land for taken by other tribes, they agriculture by filling in the They built canoes, so they Around 1300 AD,The Aztec tribe had to settle in the swampy marshes. They built dikes to could fish and hunt birds that wandered into Mexico. banks of Lake Texcoco. hold back the water. lived near the water. With the help of trained They were very religious and engineers, builders, and After they settled in, they believed that they had to offer traders, the Aztec capital of began to conquer the They expanded quickly and human sacrifices to appease Tenochtitlan became a great neighbouring tribes. built their empire. and honour their many gods. city. The Aztecs had an emperor, a king who ruled over all the people. The emperor lived in the imperial palace in the capital city of Tenochtitlan. In 1519, the Spanish The palace was huge. It even conquistador, Hernan Cortes, The Spanish brought disease had its own zoo. The ground sailed from Europe to land in They were allowed to enter and eventually death and floor of the palace housed what is now Mexico. After a the city, and welcomed as destruction to the Aztec government offices and the difficult journey inland, Cortes valued guests, all because of empire with their superior shops of the most talented and his men entered the Aztec an old legend. – and weapons like guns and craftsman in the Aztec capital city and met , the consequently the arriving cannons and their use of empire. -
Aztec Empire JCC Background Guide
Aztec Empire JCC Background Guide April 13th Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Table of Contents 1 | Page Welcoming Letter from Chair……………………..………………………………. 3 Background ……………. ………………………………………………………………. 4-10 Topic at Hand………………………………………………………………………….. 11 What is Crisis ………………….…………………………………………….……… 12-14 Character List ………………….…………………………………………….……… 14-16 Welcoming Letter From Chair 2 | Page Staff Welcome Letter Dear Delegates, Welcome to KUMUNC XI! My name is Angel Rodriguez and I’m a junior from Reading, PA, majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Forensic Science. I have been part of Model UN since September 2017 and this is my first time as a chair. From 2017 until now I have been part of big conferences such as NMUN, McMUN and several others. In my spare time, I love playing basketball and recording myself playing my guitar too, later on, submit it to social media. I have a passion for Forensic Sciences and CSI fascinates me (not the TV show though). Fun facts about me, I cannot do horror movies under any circumstances, I speak two languages, English and Spanish, and a third one but partially which is Italian. The Aztecs culture is best known for the chocolate, amazing architecture, and their sometimes questionable religious ceremonies. Get ready to learn more this April… it is going to be amazing! I want everyone here to have a good time and a fun experience at KUMUNC XI. Although I am a first-time Chair, I know we will have a great time. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions that come to mind. Best of luck, Angel Rodriguez ([email protected]) 3 | Page History Early Mexica The Mexica or Aztlan migrants arrived in the basin area of central Mexico in the mid 13th century. -
The City on the Lake 1470–1518
3 The City on the Lake 1470–1518 Outside, the bright sun seared the stones of the patio; inside the thick adobe walls, all was coolness and shadow. One afternoon in 1479, Quecholcohuatl (Ke-chol- CO-wat), a young Chalcan nobleman, paused on the threshold of the Mexican tlatoani’s palace, letting his eyes adjust. “He was considering what judgment would come forth from the king,” a man from his altepetl explained many years later.1 Never had Quecholcohuatl felt such fear in his very gut, for he could tell from the looks passing between his compatriots that they thought he had been sum- moned inside to face a brutal punishment. They thought he would be escorted to one of the dreaded wooden cages the capital city was famous for; from there he would be taken to be burned to death. “Will we all be burned to death?” his friends wondered. Quecholcohuatl found it almost impossible to move forward, following the signals of the servants. But he did so. His name meant “Flamingo Snake”; it was a chosen name, in keeping with the gorgeously colored, finely embroidered clothing he wore when giving a musical performance before the king, as he had just dared to do.2 The tassels swayed as he walked. Here in Tenochtitlan, he rep- resented the greater altepetl of Chalco. He did not want these Mexica people to see his fear, only his pride. He steeled his nerves and put one foot in front of the other. *** Copyright © 2019. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved. All rights Press, Incorporated.