Changing a Worldview

1. Changing a Worldview

2. Today, Mexico City, the site where Tenochtitlan once stood, is one of the largest and busiest cities in the world. Imagine you are visiting the bustling centre of Mexico City with a Spanish-speaking friend. You have visited many excavated Aztec ruins, but all day you have not seen a single monument honouring the conquistador Hernan Cortes. Then late in the day, you come to a small square with a grassy area that is kept neat and clean. There, something catches your eye – a metal plaque, an historical marker, set into a stone wall. You ask your friend to tell you what the writing on the plaque says. “The place where the slavery began,” she reads. “Here the Emperor was made prisoner in the afternoon of 13 August 1521.” You realize you are standing on the very spot, 500 years ago, where Cortes' men captured the last Aztec emperor.. You have discovered one of the few monuments in the city referring to the defeat of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish. Q: From which perspective is the text on the historical marker written? Q: What does this suggest about Mexico's society today? Q: Why do you think there are few monuments about the fall of the Aztecs?

3. Introduction • Think-Pair-Share: Can you think of a person or event that has changed your worldview? Who? What? How? • What can cause a whole society to make substantial changes to its worldview? • The conquest of the Aztecs was a huge catastrophe which forced them to rethink the way they looked at the world • How can losing a war affect a conquered people's worldview? How so?

4. Abandoned and Disillusioned We are crushed to the ground; we lie in ruins. There is nothing but grief and suffering in Mexico and Tlatelolco, where once we saw Beauty and valour. Have you grown weary of your servants? Are you angry with your servants, O Giver of Life? Q: How does this poem show a change in worldview for the Aztecs? • During the siege of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs prayed and sacrificed to their gods • They were hoping the gods would bring them victory • Ultimately, the Aztecs lost and suffered greatly – many felt the gods had abandoned them

5. A New Religion • After the conquest of Tenochtitlan, Cortes wrote to King Carlos • Send “religious persons of goodly life and character.” • Three years later, Franciscan monks arrived in Veracruz • Vowed to live in poverty, to never marry and always obey superiors • They began the long trek to Mexico City on foot • They were barefoot and incredibly thin • It was a 500km march • Upon their arrival, Cortes knelt on the ground and kissed the hem of their robes • The Aztecs were astonished at this action

6. Conversion and Destruction We took the children of the caciques (Aztec Chiefs) into our schools, where we taught them to read, write, and to chant. The children of the poorer natives were brought together in the courtyard and instructed there in the Christian faith. After our teaching, one or two brethren took the pupils to some neighbouring temple, and, by working at it for a few days, they levelled it to the ground. In this way they demolished, in a short time, all the Aztec temples, great and small, so that not a vestige of them remained. - Bernardino Sahagun, Franciscan priest • Over time, the Franciscans and others began to convert the Aztecs to Catholicism • They also destroyed Aztec temples, calendars and burned any codices they could find Q: Why do you think this was necessary from the Franciscan perspective? Q: How might this destruction have affected Aztec sense of identity?

7. New Economy • The Aztecs were also forced to be part of a new economic system • What elements were in the Aztec economy before contact? • The encomienda system was introduced • It was used in all of the Spanish colonies • Each settler was allotted a piece of land and some Aztec workers • These workers were not paid, but they were supposed to have legal rights • Education and fair treatment • However, many workers (i.e. slaves) were treated horribly

8. Encomienda • Laws were passed in Spain to stop mistreatment, but the colonies were so far away that it was hard to enforce Q: Who do you think this system benefitted? Q: What effect(s) did this arrangement have on Aztec identity and their ability to create wealth for themselves? The Spanish Crown Receives the “king's fifth” Governor or Viceroy Collects taxes, leader in the colony Spanish Conquistadors And Settlers Given land with Aztec workers, they keep the remainder of their profits. The Aztec People They do all the actual work on the farms and in the mines. They only receive basic necessities.