Hernán Cortés and Spanish Colonization of Mexico Essay Sample

In the 15th century, Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, conquered the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain. His first interactions with the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan were pleasant and civil, he was greeted by the monarch himself Montezuma and welcomed into their city. Later on, unfortunately, miscommunications between the Spanish and the Aztecs resulted in warfare. Which helped achieve one of the key events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Spanish accomplished victory with their advantages throughout the fight between the Aztecs and Spanish. The conquistadors established alliances and overall had much more powerful weaponry that they used towards the accomplishment of taking control of Tenochtitlan. However, when they arrived and intruded on the amazing city the Spanish affected the Aztecs to a large extent, they had a great influence on their religion, values and beliefs. While also crucially benefiting themselves. 

The conquistadors largely influenced and changed the Aztecs religion in a negative way, the Spanish who intended to modify many aspects of their beliefs were horrified by their practises in their religious beliefs. As shown by BBC n.d, the Aztecs believed human sacrifice played an essential role in the religious system, with every ounce of blood and water given, the gods could be pleased, and the sun would rise (British museum, n.d) In other words, not being able to practise human sacrifice would have been a negative affect for the Aztecs, their farming systems would have been severely impacted if the gods were not pleased. There would o been no good fertile and no crops would grow. The Spanish who was too appalled to care, soon began establishing Christian churches and sculptures in place of sacred Aztec gods and temples. (n.d n.a) Regardless of the fact that the Spanish felt they were doing the Aztecs a favour, they lost much of what made them special, forcing the Aztecs to be obliged to live as the Spanish. They lost their sense of self-identity and culture, resulting in a negative impact for the Aztec Empire overall. 

Regarding to how the Spanish conquistadors negatively impacted the Aztecs, they also largely effected the Aztec Empires population. When the Spanish took control over Tenochtitlan, they brought many different types of diseases to the Aztec empire, these were illnesses like smallpox, influenza or measles. The Aztecs who lacked the immunity to survive the diseases ended up suffering greatly, leading to millions of death across the Empire. As evidenced by Florentine Codex, 1585. The illnesses that Tenochtitlan carried within it caused desolation on the Aztec Empire. The spread of the diseases, primarily smallpox spread throughout the city of Tenochtitlan severely weakening the Aztecs and enabled the Spanish in their final battles against the Aztec Empire to perform better. Many individuals were unable to move and compelled to lie down in their housing and sleeping areas, pustules covered their bodies, even their faces. Which frequently resulted in blindness and death. Others were unable to tend to their crops, leading to widespread starvation and severely weakening the immune systems of survivors and overall decreasing the Aztecs population to a large extent.  

Although the Spanish conquistadors negatively affected the Aztecs, they also beneficially impacted themselves during and after the conquer of Tenochtitlan. Following the end of the Aztec-Spanish warfare, a system known as the Columbian exchange, or "the great exchange," began. As shown in source 8, the Spanish received items like copper, cloth, guns, ammunition and trinkets. Livestock such as horse, mule’s sheep and cattle. Europeans, on the other hand, were exposed to new foods including potatoes, beans, cocoa, tomatoes, corn, and tobacco. Greer V, 2012. Europe’s average life expectancy even grew significantly soon after the beginning of trade (Gaille, n.d.)9 ‘9 Due to a population rise, colonisation attempts eventually led to the founding of the United States of America.