header by Emerson Taymor, 2005


1. Pre-Columbian Mexico

2. The Conquest

3. Colonial Mexico

4. The Nineteenth Century

5. The Revolution

6. Mexico Since 1920

7. Theories of Mexicanidad

8. Borderlands and comparative history

 

 

 

Chapter 2: The Conquest

Section A: European Context

  1. European map of the New World, 1500
  2. Carr on the Spanish background: “Victors”
  3. Map of the Treaty of Tordesillas
  4. A sample of the requerimiento
  5. Stearns, “Christianity in the Americas”
  6. Restall and Fernández-Armesto, map of the conquistadors' New World
  7. Amy Chua, "The 'Purification' of Medieval Spain"
  8. John Charles Chasteen, "Birth of a Crusading Mentality," from Born in Blood and Fire

Section B: Cortes and the Conquest of the Aztecs

  1. Kamen, "A New World"
  2. Carrasco on the Spaniards' impressions of Tenochtitlán
  3. Carrasco on the fall of Tenochtitlán
  4. Biography of Cortés
  5. Restall and Fernández-Armesto, short biography of Cortés
  6. Images of Cortés and Malinche
  7. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on understanding conquistador portraits
  8. Letters from Cortés to the King
  9. a fuller set of excerpts from Cortes's letters
  10. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on how to read conquistadors' letters
  11. Bernal Díaz, “The True History of the Conquest”
  12. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on de las Casas and his critics
  13. Galeano, “The Fall of the Aztecs”
  14. Aztec account of the meeting of Cortés and Motecuhzoma
  15. “Montezuma goes out to meet Cortés” from the Florentine Codex
  16. The Story of the Conquest as told by the anonymous authors of Tlatelolco
  17. native priests respond to the Spanish and explain their own beliefs
  18. The Heroic Defense of Mexiko-Tenochtitlan, from Aztec sources
  19. Map of the conquistadors' route
  20. Chasteen on the fall of the Aztecs and the Incas
  21. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on the conquistadors' "chain of conquest" in Central America
  22. Hanson, "Aztec war"
  23. Chasteen, “Chronicles of the Encounter,” a collection of primary sources
  24. map of the Columbian Exchange; syphilis and the Columbian exchange
  25. Samantha Schmidt, "Scientists Find Possible Cause for Mystery Epidemic that Wiped Out Mexico 500 Years Ago," Washington Post (Jan. 16, 2018)
  26. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on female and African-American conquistadors
  27. Nicholas St. Fleur, "3 Africans in Mexico City Grave Tell Stories of Slavery's Toll," New York Times (May 1, 2020)

Section C: Analysis of the Conquest

  1. Kamen, “Why the Spanish won”
  2. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on conquistadors' weaponry and how they really were militarily superior
  3. Restall and Fernández-Armesto on Aztec hospitality and why the Aztecs were not particularly superstitious
  4. Matthew Restall, "Apes and Men: The Myth of Superiority," from Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
  5. Restall, "How Complete was the Context?"
  6. Mann, “Assigning Blame”
  7. Cocker, "The Kidnap"
  8. The Problem of Columbus
  9. An Aztec legend: "The Possum and the Jaguar"
  10. Pilcher, "The Conquests of Wheat"
  11. Steve Hendrix, "Christopher Columbus and the Potato that Changed the World," Washington Post (Oct. 2018)