World Views in Conflict

Chapter 11

Ideology

What is it? A set of values or beliefs Ideology can effect how we think,

behave, and see the world

What are some examples of ideology?

To What extent was the identity affected by the

conquest? What did their identity consists of before the

conquest?

What happens after the war? Do the “winners” make the “losers” give up their traditions and beliefs? OR do both sides adopt parts of the others worldview?

What happened? Did the Spanish worldview compeltely take over?

Changes to the Aztecs Worldview

Religion After the battle, many Aztecs felt their

gods had abandoned them Cortes asked the Spanish king to send

priests When the priests arrived, Cortes knelt

and kissed the hem’s of their robes– What do you think the Aztecs thought of

this?

Religion Missionaries slowly converted many of the

Aztecs to Catholicism They destroyed Aztec temples and burned

all signs of their religion

In your journals: You know how important religion was to the

Aztecs. How might the destruction of their temples have affected their sense of identity?

Worldview

How is the Aztec worldview changing?

They are slowly becoming Christian, they no longer have their traditional religious beliefs.

They know share the same religion as Cortes?

Economy What was the Aztecs old economy

like? The Spanish quickly changed their

economic system Introduced the encomienda system Spanish settlers were given a piece of

land Each piece of land came with a certain

number of workers

Economy

The workers were not paid, they were slaves

Landowners were supposed to treat them well and educate them

However, many slaves were abused

Spanish Crown

Governor or Viceroy

Spanish conquistadors and Settlers

The Aztec people

Takes 20% of all wealth from New Spain

Collects taxes to support himself, gov’t, and King

After paying taxes, they keep the rest

Do all the work (mining, farming). Are given basic needs (food and shelter)

Economy

In your journals What effect would such changes to

their economy have the Aztecs identity? The way they thought of themselves, and their position in the world?

Page 245

Lets read it together!

What happened in Mexico has happened hundreds of times throughout history

Canada being a major example The Canada we live into today is the

result of a very similar conquest

Setting up the colony

Cortes men were promised a great amount of wealth

They had been fighting for years with no pay

Cortes had a solution…

Setting up the colony

The first solution was the encomienda The second was the “Marriage Law” Every Spaniard had to bring his wife to

Mexico or marry an Aztec woman A man who did not have a wife within 6

months lost his land

Why would Cortes do this?What was he trying to

accomplish? 1: He shifted the focus from short term goals

(finding gold and going home) to long term goals (colonizing new spain)

2: Marriages would strengthen their ties with the colony

These marriages produced a new generation of children. A mixed race of Spanish and Aztec

This was the beginning of the Mestizo The Mestizo now make the majority of the

population in Mexio

Mexico Population 2006

Mestizo 60% Indigenous 30% European 9% Other 1%

What kind of worldview would the Mestizo have?

Would it be mainly Aztec, Spanish or a combination of the two?

You may be surprised that the Spanish had some major changes in their thinking after the conquest

Read page 248

Answer questions in your journal

The Independence Movement

Shortly after the conquest, a man named Mendoza was made the first Viceroy of New Spain

Why not Cortes? The king feared Cortes would proclaim

himself king of New Spain Or he would put his interests above

that of the kings

Independence Movement Spain had direct control over Mexico Extracting the majority of the wealth Mexico had a shortage of roads,

housing, schools, hospitals etc. Everyone, including the Spanish

settlers became angry All groups in Mexico (Indigenous,

Mestizo, Creoles) rebel and fight for independence

Mexico achieves independence in 1821

How was independence possible? After hundreds of years as colony, two

distinct cultures and worldviews came together to form a new ones

Mexico grew to have its own culture and own distinctive world view– A combination of the Spanish and Aztec

worldview

Mexican Culture Today

Today Mexico is a fusion of Aztec, Mestizo, and Spanish traditions

Family Altar The day before Nov. 1 The day of the dead Nov. 2

Aztec and Spanish Mixture

Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo

Famous Mexican painter Painted a mixture of modern Mexican

and traditional Aztec Is and excellent example of the mixture

of Spanish and Aztec cutlures

Frida Kahto