Riches and Disaster in theNew World

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Riches and Disaster in theNew World
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• Questions of the Day
• How did the Spanish under Hernán Cortés defeat
  the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán?

• Outline
• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
• Hernán Cortés in Mexico (1519-1521)
• Psychological Warfare
• Technology and War Strategy
• Disease (smallpox)
• Indian Allies
• Naturalizing Conquest

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1. Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494
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2. Hernán Cortés, Conquistador
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Tenochtitlán under Montezumas rule
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Indian groups in North America
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3. Psychological Warfare using legends of
Quetzalcoatl, the Toltec God
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4. Technology and War Strategy
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5. Disease. 16th-century image of Smallpox
victims
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Modern-day victim of smallpox
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6. Indian Allies

• Some 75,000 allies joined Cortés

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How did the Spanish conquer Tenochtitlán?

• They didnt. Not by themselves.
• Tens of thousands of Indian allies
• Smallpox
• Still took two years

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7. Naturalizing Conquest

• False conquest is a natural phenomenon, like
  melting snow or a flood
• False Superior technology automatically leads to
  conquest
• Counter-example 15th-century China
• False its human nature (hardwired)
• Conquest requires cultural sanction
  (justification)