Why were spaniards able to maintain control over the vast aztec empire? how did they unintentionally weaken the aztec empire?
1 answer:
Cortés' army besieged Tenochtitlan for 93 days before capturing the city thanks to superior weaponry and a devastating smallpox outbreak. Cortés' victory destroyed the Aztec empire, and the Spanish began to consolidate control over what became the colony of New Spain.
<h3>What impact did Spanish colonization have on the Aztecs?</h3>Negative Impact: Empire Destruction
- Cortes defeated the Aztec Empire's capital city, Tenochtitlan, after three months of fighting. The emperor Cuauhtémoc was captured and executed later that year, and Cortes became ruler of the vast empire. The Aztecs who survived were extremely vulnerable to European diseases that were previously unknown to their culture, such as smallpox and typhus. Smallpox wiped out Tenochtitlan's population in 1521.
- According to the New World Encyclopedia, two subsequent epidemics killed 75 percent of the remaining population. Surviving Aztecs were forbidden from learning about their indigenous culture and were forced to read and write in Spanish. Many aspects of Aztec culture were lost for good.
Positive Impact: Lifestyle Enhancements
- Because they helped modernize the Aztec society, the Spanish had a positive impact on Aztec civilization. They introduced domestic animals, sugar, grains, and European farming practices to the Aztecs.
- Most notably, the Spanish abolished the Aztec practice of human sacrifice. According to the New World Encyclopedia, the Aztecs sacrificed human victims at each of their 18 annual festivals. Torture, such as shooting victims with arrows, burning them, or drowning them, was frequently used in human sacrifice rituals.
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