Download Title: What Impact Did the Conquest Have on Aztec Society?

Name __________________________________
Title: What Impact Did the Conquest Have on Aztec Society?
Date __________________________________
Author: Levin, Moline and Redhead
Source: Our Worldviews: Explore, Understand, Connect
Pages: 322-327
I can statement: I can explain the impact that Spanish conquest had on the Aztec.
5 Key Words/Concepts
Hacienda: Estate, plantation
Indigenous: Original or natural inhabitants of an area
Razed: to destroy utterly
From the Words of the Participants

Spanish Treatment of the Aztec After the Conquest
75 Day siege, Spanish saw “dangers, hardships
and misfortunes”
 Aztec suffered great harm at hands of the
Spanish as many were killed, and the city was
Conversion
burned.
The Aztec acknowledged their suffering but,
The Spanish
sought to convert the Aztec as
resolved to endure it until the Spanish were
quickly as possible by building churches and
destroyed. They calculated that if 25 000 of
throughthem
thedied
use
religious
Starting
for of
every
Spaniard,icons.
they would
their conversion
withfaced
thedisease
remaining
Aztec
prevail. They also
and starvation.
As a reward, the Spanish conquistadors were elevated to the
noble class in New Spain and given control over vast tracts of
land utilizing the Indigenous population as slave labour.
Becoming aware of these slaves mistreatment, Queen
Isabella’s
dying decree
ensure slaves did not receive
Father
Bartolome
Dewas
Lasto
Casas
“any offense”. In support of his wife’s views, King Ferdinand
enacted
for the fair treatment
of thebecame
Indigenousknown
He
waslaws
a Dominican
friar that
populations. The laws would frequently be ignored as the
as the “Protector of the Indies” for his efforts
Spanish continued to destroy Aztec culture by wiping out
to
workingFinally
andthe
living
conditions
theirimprove
religion, artthe
and sciences.
Spanish
razed
for
the Indigenous
Through
Tenochtitlan
to ground and populations.
built Mexico City in
its place. his
nobility, they also established schools and
hospitals to serve the community. The Spanish
created small villages each with a church and
a local Franciscan or Dominican priest. The
Aztec first adopted Christ as one of the many
gods but soon became devout Roman
Catholics.
efforts, Spain enacted the “New Laws of the
Indies for the Good Treatment and
Preservations of the Indians” in 1542. These
laws proved to be unpopular with landowners
however; they saw the abolishment of slavery.
Looked down upon in his own time, De Las
Casas is admired today for preserving Aztec
culture in his book, The History of the Indies in
New Spain and for his work in the areas of antiimperialism and anti-racism.
Adaptation to a New Society
Aztec nobility adapted to the new institutions by becoming merchants where they would sell
Spanish goods to the Indigenous population. They learned to read and write Spanish allowing
them to chronicle the Aztec history and culture, both before and after their conquest. Many of
the Spanish married Aztec wives and their children became the mestizos, the people of modern
day Mexico.