| Subject: #1-#7 |
Author:
Diana Albarran
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 22:20:21 05/21/02 Tue
In reply to:
Dylan
's message, "ID Stuff" on 08:09:51 05/11/02 Sat
Latin America as a "living museum" - Contemporary Latin America politics is something of a living museum, in which all forms of political authority of the Western historic experience continue to exist and operate, interacting one with another in ways that seem to violate all the rules of sequence and chaned involved in our understanding of the growth of Wetern Civilization. Politically pragmatic, democratic movements, devoted to the constitutional and welfare-state ideals of te mid-twentieth century, stand side by side with a traditional and virtually semi-feudal landed aristocracy. Examples: democratic movements alonside a semi-feudal landed aristocracy, moder economic planners alongside an institutional and politically active Church with a Medieval outlook, and extraordinary wealth alongside massive poverty.
The Conquest - The Conquest was not a single event. It was much "easier" in some areas and much more complete in others. The Conquest of the different countries in Latin America had different cultural, economical, and political consequences based on their the conquerors were. In Argentina and Uruguay the indigenous population was either exterminated or herded onto reservations, much like the U.S. and Canada. In Central Mexico, local indigenous elites intermarried with Spaniards, forming new hierarchies. In Peru, intact indegenous royal lines remained, sometimes leading revolts against Spanish authority. Religion became one of the biggest cultural legacies of The Conquest. Religin in Latin America is now predominantly Catholic, but often quite nominal; religious practice is a blend of Roman and pagan rituals. In Brazil religion has become more of a mixture of Christianity and African spiritualism. Some of th Economic legacies of The Conquest are as follows: In Mexico the Spaniards established the encomiendas and then proceeded to establish the latifundio; started of the dependency on foreign investment(at first dependency on England then U.S).
Hernan Cortes- On August 13, 1521, Cuahtemoc, the last Aztec emperor-and modern Mexico's hero- surrendered to Hernan Cortes. The key to the Spanish vitory was Cortes' ability to find allies among the Aztecs' oppressed subjects and traditional rivals, whose support offset the Aztec's numerical superiority and sustained the Spanish in the hard fighting that followed Moctezuma's, the Aztec emperor at the time of the Conquest, death. Cortes's invisible allies-the disease microbes his men brought with them- played an equally important role in his triumph. There was a massive destruction of Indian population and the Aztec population dropped from 10 millian to 3 million. Spanish viceroys ruled where the Aztecs emperors had reigned, part of an imposition of European political institutions that has characterized the region ever since.
Aztecs- The Aztecs(most properly the Mexicas) were the native American people who dominated northern Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest led by Hernan Cortes in the early 16th centry. They originated from Aztlan and referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca. They were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking aggregation of tribal peoples living on the margins of Mesoamerica. They finally founded the town of Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City)in 1325. Fearless warriors and pragmatic builders, the Aztecs created an empire during the 15th century that was surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Incas in Peru. Accomplishmennts: formation of a highly specialized and stratisfied society and an imperial administration; expansion of a trading network as well as tribute system; development and maintenance of a sophisticated agricultural economy, carefully adjusted to the land; and the cultivation of an intellectual and religious outlook that made society an integral part of the cosmos.
Mexica- The term, Aztec, is an imprecise term used to describe the culture that dominated the Valley of Mexico in the 15th and 16th centuries. All the Nahuatl-speaking people in the Valley of Mexico were Aztecs, while the culture that dominated the Valley of Mexico was a tribe of the Mexica called Tenochca. The Mexica adopted the cultural patterns called Mixteca that originated in Teotihucan which later became Tenochtitlan.
Nahuatl - Language of the Mexica.
Machu Picchu - While the Inca utilized the Andean mountain top (9060 feet elevation), erecting massive stone structres from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quencha language) was thought of as a sacred place long before that. The Inca turned the site into a small, but extraordinary city. The city was completely self-contained, surrounded by the agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population,and watered by natural springs and seems to have been utilized as a secret ceremonial city. Machu Picchu's primary function was that of astronomical observatory. The Intihuatama stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the winter solstice and other significant celestial periods.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 