Good thing Cortez conquered aztecs?

miller8966miller8966 Posts: 1,450
edited August 2006 in A Moving Train
SOme people are skeptical of cortez and his actions, just look at the Neil Young song "cortez the killer". But i think what he did was actually superb and should be rewarded with a holiday.

ALPULALPAN, Mexico — Skeletons found at an archeological site show that Aztecs captured, sacrificed and partially ate several hundred people traveling with invading Spanish forces in 1520.

The condition of skulls and bones from the Tecuaque site east of Mexico City offers evidence that about 550 victims had their hearts ripped out by Aztec priests in ritual offerings, and were dismembered or had their bones boiled or scraped clean, experts say.

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The findings support accounts of Aztecs capturing and killing a caravan led by Spanish conquistadors in revenge for the murder of Cacamatzin, king of the Aztec city of Texcoco. Experts said the discovery proved that some Aztecs did resist the conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes before they attacked the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City.

History books say many indigenous Mexicans initially welcomed the white-skinned horsemen, thinking they were returning gods, but turned against them once they tried to take over the Aztec seat of power in a conflict that ended in 1521.

"This is the first place that has so much evidence there was resistance to the conquest," said archeologist Enrique Martinez, director of the dig here. "It shows it wasn't all submission."

The prisoners were kept in cages for months while Aztec priests selected a few each day, cut out their hearts and offered them up to various Aztec gods, Martinez said.

"It was a continuous sacrifice over six months. While the prisoners were listening to their companions being sacrificed, the next ones were being selected," Martinez said, standing in his lab amid boxes of bones, some of young children.

The priests and town elders sometimes ate their victims' hearts or cooked flesh from their arms and legs, Martinez said. Knife cuts and even teeth marks on the bones show which ones had meat stripped off to be eaten, he said.

In Aztec times, the site was called Zultepec, a town of white-stucco temples and homes where 5,000 people grew maize and beans. Upon hearing of the massacre, Cortes renamed the town Tecuaque — "where people were eaten" in the indigenous Nahuatl language — and sent an army to wipe out its people.

When they heard the Spanish were coming, the Zultepec Aztecs threw their victims' possessions down wells, unwittingly preserving buttons and jewelry for archeologists.

"They hid all the evidence," Martinez said. "Thanks to that act, we have been allowed to discover a chapter we were unaware of in the conquest of Mexico."
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Comments

  • KatKat Posts: 4,878
    A fairly primitive culture who ate their invaders and you feel we need a cannibal holiday?

    Not sure how we would celebrate the grotesque, but you could always write to your congressperson and suggest it. I'll be interested in hearing their reply.

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    Kat
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  • VictoryGinVictoryGin Posts: 1,207
    Wow miller, that's a great idea! I suggest we assemble a commission to put together a list of all conquistadors and colonizers that we should honor with holidays. Although, we may need to add more days to the calendar. It's too bad those Aztecs only used 365 days.
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  • WindNoSailWindNoSail Posts: 580
    I think he means the holiday should be for Cortez who annihilated the cannibal Aztecs.
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  • WindNoSail wrote:
    I think he means the holiday should be for Cortez who annihilated the cannibal Aztecs.
    While you are at may a well celbrate the American calvary trying to eliminate the NAtive Americans.....damn savages hey......for me it is sometimes hard to differentiate who really is the savage.....
  • caifan82caifan82 Mexico City Posts: 321
    miller8966 wrote:
    SOme people are skeptical of cortez and his actions, just look at the Neil Young song "cortez the killer". But i think what he did was actually superb and should be rewarded with a holiday.

    What he did was superb? Wow, I guess you don't know much about pre-hispanic history. I'm guessing you don't know what kind of tortures did Cortés and his followers inflict on the natives. Having the hearts ripped off of a few hundred INVADERS and eaten sounds like nothing in comparison. Specially since for the Aztecs being sacrificed to the gods was an honor (much like killing dirty Muslim terrorists is to some people nowadays).
    According to you, what country should celebrate the Cortés day?
    Mexico City - July 17th 2003
    Mexico City - July 18th 2003
    Mexico City - July 19th 2003
    Monterrey - December 7th 2005
    Mexico City - December 9th 2005
    Mexico City - December 10th 2005
    Mexico City - November 24th 2011
  • You said that for shock value, didn't you?



    The Aztecs had their traditions and rituals which to our culture is barbaric, but what the Spanish did to the Aztecs was deplorable.
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  • JaneNYJaneNY Posts: 4,438
    Maybe if Cortez and all the people with him had *stayed home* it wouldn't have happened to them.
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  • hailhailkchailhailkc Posts: 582
    caifan82 wrote:
    What he did was superb? Wow, I guess you don't know much about pre-hispanic history. I'm guessing you don't know what kind of tortures did Cortés and his followers inflict on the natives. Having the hearts ripped off of a few hundred INVADERS and eaten sounds like nothing in comparison. Specially since for the Aztecs being sacrificed to the gods was an honor (much like killing dirty Muslim terrorists is to some people nowadays).
    According to you, what country should celebrate the Cortés day?

    I thought it was the dirty Muslim terrorists who killed innocent people in the hopes of pleasing Allah and going to paradise.
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  • melodiousmelodious Posts: 1,719
    JaneNY wrote:
    Maybe if Cortez and all the people with him had *stayed home* it wouldn't have happened to them.
    I read somewheres or saw on tv that an english expedition up in cannada back in history also ate their dead. if you're starving and have no other means, what does one do? if there's no protein n envirionment surrounding ya, what do you do? i mean, can anyone here say they wouldn't do the same when confronted with a hopeless situation...england denied the deed, but it happened. and i'm just so excited that the board is up, i can't even remember the name of the captain of the ship.

    people beware: u.s. wants mexico. look for civil war in mexico come 9/1. the viewing public will watch an innauguration while there will be death in the street of la ciudad de mexico.....mexico pumps out number 8 in world oil production. forget wars about religion; forget jon bonet and figure that if you are in the way of big machine called progress, you will be consumed as well....smell the coffee.

    http://www.victorianweb.org/history/franklin/franklin.html

    franklin party cannabilism....article
    all insanity:
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  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,319
    hey, when motherfuckers come to take over your land, you gotta do what you gotta do.
  • JaneNY wrote:
    Maybe if Cortez and all the people with him had *stayed home* it wouldn't have happened to them.

    Exactly!
    I was bitten, must have been the devil.....
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  • melodiousmelodious Posts: 1,719
    all insanity:
    a derivitive of nature.
    nature is god
    god is love
    love is light
  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,319
    melodious wrote:
    what does this mean k/o?

    It means the conquest is being undone.
  • brain of cbrain of c Posts: 5,213
    really weird thread.

    down with disease.
  • melodiousmelodious Posts: 1,719
    brain of c wrote:
    really weird thread.

    down with disease.
    excellent analogy to the photo sent by k/o.....down with the disease of corporate over kill....
    all insanity:
    a derivitive of nature.
    nature is god
    god is love
    love is light
  • CollinCollin Posts: 4,931
    Why was what Cortés did superb? And do you really think he deserves a holiday or do you just want another holiday?
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  • miller8966 wrote:
    SOme people are skeptical of cortez and his actions, just look at the Neil Young song "cortez the killer". But i think what he did was actually superb and should be rewarded with a holiday.

    Your posts are so edgy and in my face... so provacative! *yawns*

    So, I assume you'll be moving to Mexico in order to petition the government for a national Cortez holiday?

    If you stay here, maybe you can push for a holiday commemorating the Trail of Tears.
    "Of course it hurts. You're getting fucked by an elephant."
  • tybirdtybird Posts: 17,388
    If you stay here, maybe you can push for a holiday commemorating the Trail of Tears.
    How about Andrew Jackson's Birthday as a holiday???? ;)
    All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
  • tybird wrote:
    How about Andrew Jackson's Birthday as a holiday???? ;)

    I'm betting that most people would be down with the idea. Hell, they'd even celebrate a Trail of Tears holiday if it meant a 3 day weekend. "Trail of Tears Day" would probably have to be renamed, though. We'd need something less "downer". "The Day Commemorating the Magical Westward Indian Journey", perhaps.
    "Of course it hurts. You're getting fucked by an elephant."
  • tybirdtybird Posts: 17,388
    I'm betting that most people would be down with the idea. Hell, they'd even celebrate a Trail of Tears holiday if it meant a 3 day weekend. "Trail of Tears Day" would probably have to be renamed, though. We'd need something less "downer". "The Day Commemorating the Magical Westward Indian Journey", perhaps.
    Over the years, the Alabama state government has created its fair share of odd holidays.............Jefferson Davis' Birthday and such............with the sole purpose of giving state government employees extra paid holidays in place of pay raises.

    I do like your happy-feel good name for the new holiday. :cool:
    All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
  • I'm betting that most people would be down with the idea. Hell, they'd even celebrate a Trail of Tears holiday if it meant a 3 day weekend. "Trail of Tears Day" would probably have to be renamed, though. We'd need something less "downer". "The Day Commemorating the Magical Westward Indian Journey", perhaps.
    "Whitey's fresh, new mountain land for building that summer cabin you always wanted" day.
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

    http://www.wishlistfoundation.org

    Oh my, they dropped the leash.



    Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!

    "Make our day"
  • rebornFixerrebornFixer Posts: 4,901
    The Aztecs may have had it coming ... They were already warlike cannibals for much longer than Cortez was on planet Earth. Rome fell too, after it became too decadent. But a national holiday might be a bit much.
  • This thread is creepy.
  • caifan82caifan82 Mexico City Posts: 321
    The Aztecs may have had it coming ... They were already warlike cannibals for much longer than Cortez was on planet Earth. Rome fell too, after it became too decadent. But a national holiday might be a bit much.

    A bit much? Do you know what Hernán Cortés and the Spanish crown did to the tens of civilizations that lived in what now is known as Mexico? What they did to all those people even after the territory was invaded and the people put into servitude? The inquisition? How they stole the land of it's natural ressources and treasures? Sure, the Aztecs were at war with many other civilizations... just like the native americans at the north. That doesn't justify the slaughter the conquistadores inflicted.
    Yes, you are right... A national holiday may be "a bit" too much.
    Mexico City - July 17th 2003
    Mexico City - July 18th 2003
    Mexico City - July 19th 2003
    Monterrey - December 7th 2005
    Mexico City - December 9th 2005
    Mexico City - December 10th 2005
    Mexico City - November 24th 2011
  • rebornFixerrebornFixer Posts: 4,901
    caifan82 wrote:
    A bit much? Do you know what Hernán Cortés and the Spanish crown did to the tens of civilizations that lived in what now is known as Mexico? What they did to all those people even after the territory was invaded and the people put into servitude? The inquisition? How they stole the land of it's natural ressources and treasures? Sure, the Aztecs were at war with many other civilizations... just like the native americans at the north. That doesn't justify the slaughter the conquistadores inflicted.
    Yes, you are right... A national holiday may be "a bit" too much.

    Yes, I am aware, and I wasn't justifying the Spanish actions in Mexico.
  • caifan82caifan82 Mexico City Posts: 321
    Yes, I am aware, and I wasn't justifying the Spanish actions in Mexico.

    Ok, cool. Sorry if i got a little bit too carried away ;) .
    Mexico City - July 17th 2003
    Mexico City - July 18th 2003
    Mexico City - July 19th 2003
    Monterrey - December 7th 2005
    Mexico City - December 9th 2005
    Mexico City - December 10th 2005
    Mexico City - November 24th 2011
  • miller8966miller8966 Posts: 1,450
    caifan82 wrote:
    Ok, cool. Sorry if i got a little bit too carried away ;) .

    Cortez is the man though..you gotta give the man props.
    America...the greatest Country in the world.
  • miller8966 wrote:
    Cortez is the man though..you gotta give the man props.

    Props for what? Conquering a pathetically weaker enemy? Killing his wife? Constantly begging pathetic politicians for money? Wow, what an accomplishment.
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    miller8966 wrote:
    Cortez is the man though..you gotta give the man props.

    Yep. We got a great Neil Young album out of it. :rolleyes:
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