Spain Builds An American EmpireChapter 20 Section 1

 Cortez the Killer- Neil

Young 1975

He came dancing across the water

With his galleons and guns

Looking for the new worldIn that palace in the sun

On the shore lay MontezumaWith his coca leaves and pearlsIn his halls he often wonderedWith the secrets of the worlds

Montezuma- Ruler of Tenochtitlan (capital of the Aztec Empire)

Paradise?

And his subjectsGathered ‘round him Like the leaves around a treeIn their clothes of many colorsFor the angry gods to see.

Deals with Cortes' first arrival in Tenochtitlan, when the Aztecs believed that he was the god Quetzalcoatl (the god of light, mercy and wind).

"Montezuma came down the middle of this street with two chiefs, one on his right hand and the other on his left. When we met I dismounted and stepped forward to embrace him, but the two lords who were with him stopped me with their hands so that I should not touch him; and they likewise all performed the ceremony of kissing the earth. When at last I came to speak to Montezuma himself I took off a necklace of pearls and cut glass that I was wearing and placed it round his neck; after we had walked a little way up the street a servant of his came with two necklaces, wrapped in a cloth, made from red snails' shells, which they hold in great esteem; and from each necklace hung eight shrimps of refined gold almost a span in length. And after he had given me these things he sat on another throne which they placed there next to the one on which I was sitting.”- Cortez

And the women were all beautifulAnd the men stoodStraight and strongThey offered life in sacrificeSo that others could go on.

"The romanticizing of the Aztecs begins in the

opening lines, when Young claims that all of these native peoples were beautiful and healthy, a condition which has probably

never prevailed in any civilization at any time.

From the article American Educator - Cultural Literacy Rocks by Matthew Davis

The next verse deals with the struggle between the Aztecs and the Spaniards. Young also glides over the subject of human sacrifice. It is true that the Aztecs "offered life in sacrifice / So that others could go on." They believed that such sacrifices would appease the gods. But the lives they sacrificed were human lives: sacrificial victims were tied to an altar, whereupon their chests were sliced open and their still-beating hearts offered to "the angry gods." By avoiding the fact that the Aztecs killed human beings and emphasizing the unselfish motives behind these sacrifices, Young puts a cheerful face on a terrible practice and presents a one-sided view of the Aztecs.

Hate was just a legendAnd war was never knownThe people worked togetherAnd lifted many stones.

This verse shows the great Aztec civilization that existed before the arrival of Cortes. These verses bring about the idea that violence and conflict were just a thing of myth amongst the Aztec people until Cortes brought those qualities out in them in the lines, "Hate was just a legend/And war was never known."

They carried themTo the flatlandsAnd they died along the wayBut they built upWith their bare handsWhat we still can’t do today.

These verses also suggest that the Aztec civilization was one of the greatest in history that has yet to be surpassed

And I know she’s living thereAnd she loves me to this dayI still can’t remember whenOr how I lost my way.

Hernando Cortés?Killer or good man?

Write everything you know about Christopher Columbus.

The Voyages of Columbus1492- Caribbean

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

Los indios

San Salvador- “Holy Savior”Interest?“it was my wish to bypass no island without taking claim”Colonies- lands controlled by other nations

The Voyages of Columbus cont.

Portuguese- Pedro Alvares Cabral- Brazil

Italian-Amerigo Vespucci-

“America”

Magellan- southernmost tip of South America

Circumnavigate

Balboa- first European to see Pacific Ocean

Spanish Conquests in Mexico

Hernando Cortés-Mexico (American mainland)Conquistadors-Spanish explorersGOLD AND SILVER!Mexico, South America and the United StatesSpanish-first to settle

Result?

Spanish Conquests in Mexico…cont.

Montezuma-agreed to give away some of remaining gold supply“disease of the heart that only gold can cure”Killed Aztec warriors during religious festival

Cortez Conquers the Aztecs

Key factors:Key factors:

1. superior weaponry2. native groups (Malinche)3. disease