2007-09-30 14:32:12 · 8 answers · asked by ICM8 1 in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
You know, people give a lot of credit to the Spainards, but it wasn't just 300 Spainards that marched into Teotihuacan. It was a force composed of Spanish and local non-Aztec native groups. Why? Because everyone hated the Aztecs. They were the ruling class and imposed some pretty heavy taxes. When Cortes and his men showed up, they saw this as a good opportunity to rise up.
Furthermore, Cortes had the power of language on his side. While sailing around the Yucatan Peninsula, his grup ended up in La Isla de Mujeres where they picked up a shipwrecked Spainard who learned a Mayan dialect. They took this guy and sialed back around the peininsula, camped on the beach, and were attacked by the Maya. The Spainish won and as part of a treaty were given a woman that knew Spanish and some Mixtec? This linguistic chain allowed the Spaniards to communicate with the native populations and find out that the Azrecs were in control and ultimately allow them to amass a force capable of taking them down.
2007-09-30 18:17:04 · answer #1 · answered by sisyphus_stumbled 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Element of surprise. The Spaniards had more of an idea of what was going on, and the Natives were caught off guard. As to how the Spaniards got to be in that position in the first place, different societies have their ebbs and flows in terms of their technological advances. The meeting of the two societies took place at a time when the Spaniards were in the more advanced position.
2007-09-30 22:32:52 · answer #2 · answered by Dan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A more stable population, with more diverse industries. Superior knowledge and applications of metalurgy and chemistry, and the tactics that come with the use thereof. If you read the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" you will get a larger picture of WHY the dominant cultures today ARE the dominant cultures.
2007-10-01 16:29:38 · answer #3 · answered by Stephen H 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cortes landed in Mexico with 3 ships and around 500 men.
He burned his ships--making his men understand that they would go forward only, no retreats.
He faced an empire of millions and brought it to its knees.
That's power.
Knowledge? His men had the benefits of metal armor and weapons, the ability to build and use ships, and domesticated horses to use as attack platforms. He also had cannons and other firearms at his disposal.
The Aztecs were a stone-age society. They had weapons made of sharpened obsidian glass attached to wooden handles--deadly, but no match for a Damascus steel sword and metal body armor. The had no concept of armor, and no defense against Cortes' guns.
His men also carried smallpox virus, which spread among native populations with no immune defenses against it, and killed millions of natives by itself. But thats not the point of your question, is it??
2007-09-30 21:48:49 · answer #4 · answered by chocolahoma 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
basically guns, cannons and horses. and immunity, most of the natives actually died of small pox and other things that their population had no immunity to since the diseases had never been seen on their continent
2007-09-30 21:35:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
they had horses, and the natives had never seen a horse. not native to this continent. thet also brought along diseases , which were fatal to the natives. and dont forget greed and dishonesty.
2007-10-04 21:35:02 · answer #6 · answered by oldtimer 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
read victor davis hansons carnage and culture. it has a chapter about that.
2007-09-30 21:43:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I must've fallen alseep in my history class... Who says they were?
2007-09-30 21:35:25 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋