THINKING PAPERS

Essay

This article is a thinking paper of different material that got utilized to cover the unit and offers the recommended readings. The thinking includes two materials that are “The Cholula Massacre: Factional histories and Archaeology of the Spanish Conquest” by Geoffrey McCafferty and “The Conquest of Mexico: An Annotated Bibliography” by the author Dr. Nancy Fitch. These materials are masterpiece articles that tell the story of how the Mexicas conquered much of what now gets referred to as modern-day Mexico. The author adds that those that conquered the region spoke their language, Nahuatl, and not all Nahuatl-speaking natives were Mexicas. The author of the article “The Conquest of Mexico: An Annotated Bibliography” makes use of different writing styles and follows language writing guidelines that enhance the quality of the article. The article documents critical thinking regarding personal opinions, insights and thoughts of the scenes entailed in the unit and how they get narrated.

I think the material in this unit is informative enough and significantly contributes to the increase of the knowledge of Latin America. My opinion gets attributed to the aspect that various resources get contained in “The Conquest of Mexico: An Annotated Bibliography” provide different information concerning Latin America. It includes both print and electronic media that is rich in Latin American studies. The resources provide varied information regarding the topic and the period in which they got written about Latin America. They include the book Historia de Tlaxcala that got drafted in the late sixteenth century and is useful in understanding the documents from Tlaxcala. The book Nahuas and Spaniards: Postconquest Central Mexican History and Philology by Lockhart, James is significant in understanding the Latin America since it contains a collection of essays and documents that examine the Spanish reconstruction of the Mexican state from an indigenous view.

The paper “The Cholula Massacre: Factional histories and archaeology of the Spanish conquest" aim at understanding the factional competition of early colonial Mexico as various groups sought to manipulate history for self-interest. The paper is extremely informative about Latin America as it covers a wide range of topics about Latin America. The paper considers the Spanish conquest of Mexico to be among the dramatic and violent culture contact instances in the history of humankind. The Spanish conquest of Mexico took place from 1519 – 1521. It occurred after a small band of mercenaries under the command of Don Hernán Cortés sailed from Cuba, around the coast of the Yucatan peninsula and landed near the modern city of Veracruz (McCafferty, Geoffrey G, 347-359). The paper does not only cover the war dimension of the conquest but also attributes its expansion to gold and glory. The paper states that Cortes and his army got driven to occupy the highlands of the Mexican altiplano due to their gold and glory. This information is significant in understanding the minerals available in Latin America. The paper also entails a description of Cholula as the largest cities in Mexico during the conquest of Mexico. I think this particular information concerning Cholula was critical in understanding the demographics of Latin America in the time of the Conquest of Mexica. Also contained in the paper was the structure of the armies.  I think this information is also crucial in knowing the political structure of kingdoms and societies in Mexico. The conquest massacre has been significant in the history of Latin America since there are numerous archaeological investigations for over 100 years. It has been a significant source of historical information.

The article is accurate and reliable as its content gets obtained from reliable sources. The author quotes sources that contained information that can get trusted. This aspect of the article enhances its quality. There are, however, only a handful of primary sources available on the topic and all have got tainted in some manner. The available genuine primary sources of the article are the Don Hernán Cortés’s letters to King Charles V as they got written by the Spanish conqueror in his native language during the fighting of the Mexicas. The author, however, states that the first and fifth letters got lost and later discovered in Vienna in the eighteenth century. The letters got interpreted to be an attempt to justify Don Hernán Cortés’s failure to respect and obey Diego Velázquez de Cellar, the Spanish governor of Cuba who was the reason for his expedition. An excellent source of Corte’s letters was the “Cartas y Relaciones de Hernán Cortés al Emperador (1866)”. The letters also provided a clear description of the Valley of Mexico especially Tenochtitlan hence assists in knowing about the landscape of Latin America. “The Despatches of Hernando Cortés” was a translation of the Corte’s letters and gave detailed information concerning civilization and wealth in the Valley of Mexico, especially in Tenochtitlan. The evidence used by the author increases the reliability of the content in the article narrative.

Readings and articles in the unit had different perspectives concerning Latin America. The items viewed various topics or events at different periods. I recommend any persons intending to obtain an in-depth understanding of Latin America studies to get the readings and articles of this unit. The resources cover different perspectives ranging from the information of the Conquest of Mexico to the songs documenting the defeat of the Mexicas, to a collection of books and essays about Mexican history. 

References

McCafferty, Geoffrey G. "The Cholula Massacre: Factional histories and archaeology of the Spanish conquest." The Entangled Past: Integrating History and Archaeology (2000): 347-359

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