Essay About Spanish Colonial Effects And Aztec Empire

Were the Spanish Colonial Effects on South America Harmful?
[pic 1]Table of ContentsCover Page1Table of Contents2Essay3-9References10        Colonialism is when a country dominates another countrys territories, and they have power over their politics and economy. “Exploitation by a stronger country of weaker one; the use of the weaker countrys resources to strengthen and enrich the stronger country” is the definition of colonialism (World Web, 2014). Another way to define colonialism is ” the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2014). South America was colonized by the Spanish people exclusively the Aztec empire. The Aztec were also called Maxica. They lived in Mesoamerican, which is called now Central America. Aztec means the place of seven legendary caves and Maxica remember it as the home of their ancestors. Aztec empire were all around the place none wanted them around, because they had a bad reputation, and eventually rested in region of lake Texcoco in 1345. The capital of the Aztec empire is Tenochtitlan. Maxica spoke Nahuatl language. Aztec religion was based on human sacrifice. Moreover, it was essential for world to keep going. Maxica started to conquest the areas surrounding, and they demanded those areas for tributes in order to have peace and truce. Tributes were the something that is popular in that area, so they subjected the other tribes to pay their tribute. Consequently, that caused many issues that let them stood by the side of Spanish people to fail the Aztec empire. Spaniards had some beneficial traits that allowed them to be stronger and tougher than Maxica, and they didn not even realize it. When Spain dominated Maxica the population dramatically fell down from 25 million to 1 million as a result of brutal treatment (Fiero, 2005). Spaniards had a harmful effect on South America specifically the Aztec empire. Spanish colonial influenced South America destructively in several ways such as people, religion and lifestyle.                People in South America were treated in barbarous way by the Spanish colonialists. Firstly, the Spanish got the help from other tribes in South America to fade the Aztec. In 1519 the Spaniards arrived to Maxica. The Aztec had many tribes, and most of them did not really liked Maxica, because of the tributes that they demanded them. Tributes were something that is popular in that area, so these tribes were left without anything valuable. One of these tribes were the Tlaxcalans, and they played a huge role in conquering the Aztec empire. The colonialist defeated other tribes that the Tlaxcalans thought that they are unbeatable. For instance, Tlaxcalans were always losing against Otomis. On the hand, when the Spaniards fought against Otomis they won over them. Tlaxcalans were impressed by their power and in the same time they were afraid of them, because they could kill them all easily. Tlaxcalans decide to build an alliance with the Spanish to avoid the war and get revenge on Maxica for the tributes (Fiero, 2005). Secondly, According to Lambert (2012), even though the Spaniards were only 600, but they defeated the Aztec easily because of several reasons. For instance, the Aztec thought that Hernan Cortez the leader of the Spanish army was their god, because their god promised that he will get back as a white bearded man, and that matched Cortez look. Thirdly, the Spaniards brought disease to Aztec empire like smallpox. It killed most of the Native Americans. Therefore, Maxica population fall from 25 million to 1 million people. It was also the way that the Spaniards treated Maxicas people; they treated in inhuman ways they made them their labors and slaves. As a result, many people died (Fiero, 2005).