“Broken Spears” Miguel Leon-Portilla

While reading “Broken Spears”, written by , I’ve had a small view of what Mexican culture was like back in those times. They are sort of different from America’s traditions and societies. Broken Spears is unlike others written about the loss of the empire because it was written from the point of the Aztecs and not the Spanish. As the book goes on, Miguel Leon-Portilla describes how the Spanish were successful in taking over the solid empire. The book really starts out by giving a clear background of the beliefs and culture. Motecuhzoma is seen as scary because he made his people surrender. I respect the Indians and Aztecs because their morals and customs were Christian like and seemed as if they did the right thing all the time. That showed they had character. But again when you are being taken advantage of or you are being pushed around, eventually there will be some retaliation, and that’s what I felt they did. Aztecs had God like characteristics and that’s what kept them on the nice track. At first the Aztecs thought that the Spanish were gods and did what they said to please them. Montezuma, who was the ruler of the Aztecs, had a funny feeling about them. Not too long after they arrived, the Aztecs realized that the Spanish could be killed just like their other enemies, so they went to war. They caught some of the Spanish, killed some of them, even ate some. The Spanish won out because of their preparation, and because they brought so many diseases with them, it killed some of the Aztecs as well.

The Spanish came to the Aztecs land, and the Aztecs thought that this was the ‘God’ that they had been waiting for. They treated the Spanish with riches and lavish food, as they would a God. They only treated them to the finest of treasures because they were sure this was what they were looking for. The Spanish reported that they ‘were sickened by the people’s shocking routines’, which was mentioning toward the sacrifice they saw. Then, when the Spanish tried to take advantage of what the Aztecs had given them, they realized they weren’t the Gods they thought they were looking for. So they cut them off. Conversely, the Spaniards had the horses, firearms, and they had most of the people of the Aztec society on their side. With that being said, the Spaniards didn’t like how the Aztec land was being run. With these people and the Spanish’s knowledge expansions, they overthrew the Aztec Empire. After the Aztecs were conquered by the Spaniards, they were turned into slaves and treated harshly as well. This source is reliable because it gives a good understand of what is being read. It has a concept that is well put together.