R, Jan 27

Thursday, January 27, 2011 Important Dates:

3:05 PM 

Today's Topics: Important People:

  Bernal Diaz

Lecture Topic:
During the lecture, take notes here.
-Diaz's account may be biased, but that doesn’t mean readers can't gain anything worthwhile from
his account

-Cortes, going against his orders, established the first Spanish settlement in Mexico at Veracruz
-was trying to subvert Valasquez (governor of Cuba) and become a leader through his own
merit
-Gomara, the "official" biographer of Cortes, is challenger by Diaz on many grounds
-where the initiative came from for the founding of Veracruz
-suggests that Cortes was a very thorough individual and extremely cautious before
making a final decision
-the logic of capturing Montezuma
-the Spaniards find translators, such as Malinche / Dona Marina and Aguilar
-she had been cast out of her original tribe and transferred between many groups, and
eventually given to the Spaniards as part of a peace offering of 20 women
-she speaks Nahuatl and Maya
-he had been shipwrecked off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula, escaped from human
sacrifice, and became a slave but sold to the Spaniards
-he speaks Maya and Spanish

-the Otomi people (somewhat subordinate to the Tlaxcala)

-the Spanish had something of a military advantage due to both the horses and the cannons
-Cortes uses these as part of a campaign of psychological warfare
-the weapons used by the Mexica are hardly useless, and indeed quite useful in close
combat

-though in the time of Bernal Diaz it could have been seen in such a way, there was hardly
anything miraculous about a handful of Spaniards overthrowing this massive empire
-native alliances
-disease (smallpox, apparently)
-technology
-guns / cannons
-steel weapons / armor
-probably more important than long-range weapons
-horses
-mode of warfare
-the approaches of combat differ between the Spaniards and Mexica
-the latter go to war to CAPTURE the enemy and return him to be sacrificed
-the former go to war to KILL the enemy

-the role of religion

-for the Spanish:

HIST 3135I Page 1

 -for the Spanish:
-the Requerimiento (a document read in Spanish to the natives justifying the
conquest of the native population)--more used in Central America and the
surrounding islands
-religion seemed to be used as a common justification for what the Spaniards were
going to do anyway

-Montezuma once mentioned the 3 gods and cross of Christianity-- very hard to deal
with for a strictly monotheistic society

Summary
After the lecture, summarize the main points of this lecture topic.
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HIST 3135I Page 2