The Conquistadors

There are many sides and differences to the first meeting of Moctezuma and Cortes. However, what really happened, and what was meant is much different than what was recorded in textbooks, and many other documents written by historians. We, as a class, read 4 passages--a textbook passage, and 3 documents written by professional historians. First, the textbook excerpt gives an excerpt on the document on the arrival of Cortes. In class, we read a set of questions determining what the document was about, and what it was stating had happened. We then looked at the other three documents, and it was clear that the textbook document was very different from the other three documents, written by professional historians and first-hand sources.

Upon the arrival of the Spanish, according to the textbook edition, the Aztec, apparently very much Moctezuma, greeted Cortes with great respect, great honor, and believed him to be a god. They offered him lots of gold, and even the throne. They told him he resembled their god Quetzalcoatl, and  told him he was their true, indisputable leader. However, this is not really what happened. When the Spanish and Cortes arrived, Moctezuma did welcome them with warmth, and gave them gold and all those things, but this was not his true intention. It was a part of the Aztec culture to say the opposite of what you actually mean when meeting new people, as a way of respecting them. Cortes misinterpreted this, as he had no way of knowing that this was their custom.

Reading these different documents and learning the differences in the documents, I learned the severe importance of knowing the perspective and bias of each story. I learned that without doing research on the author or the background of that author, you may be given either false or biased information. For example, when reading the textbook’s document, I, at first, believed the information I was reading. I thought it was a bit weird, almost crazy, that Moctezuma would believe him to be their God and true ruler. Once doing more research and reading the other documents, I learned that the textbook information was either biased or false, and that I should always do research to answer my questions.

The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of ideas, foods, crops, people, animals, and cultures between the New World and the Old World after the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It started after Columbus’ first expedition to America in 1492. From then on, each expedition was working bringing more newer ideas to the country at a time.

Throughout this whole exchange, there were moments of suffering, but also benefits. Many benefits. Mostly, the benefits were towards the Old World, or Europe and the African allies. One of the great benefits was the transfer of cash crops such as tobacco and cacao beans. They also enslaved lots of people, and brought them back to the Old World.

Although there was success for the Old World, there was unfortunately more suffering for the New World. So much disease was spread so quickly that an estimated 90% of the population was killed. The rest were unable to help themselves, so they suffered. The Europeans, unknowing that it was their diseases that spread to the Americas, called the Natives weak, and incompetent.

The Columbian Exchange, although it seemed to be a success for all, was really an “unequal exchange”. It was an unequal exchange because, although the Old World and the New World both received very good crops and items, the Old World receiving tobacco, cacao beans, tomatoes, and turkey, and the New World receiving livestock, citrus fruits, sugar cane, and the honeybee, the Old World gave the New World something worse: Disease. Horrible diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and malaria infected and killed an estimated 90% of the population. The remaining were unable to help themselves. So, although it may seem otherwise, the Columbian Exchange was certainly the Unequal Exchange.