Effects of the Differences of Technology and Leadership Have On the Conflict in Mesoamerica - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This essay will discuss the effects of the differences in technology and leadership to the different indigenous groups after the arrival and conquest of Mexico by the Spanish and how well they adapted.
Prior to the conquest of Mexico, imperial states already existed, with their own culture, tradition and skills in agriculture, mathematics and astronomy, architecture and sculpture. The existing civilization even drew wonders among the Spaniards who came to conquer them. As narrated in “Victors and Vanquished”,
Bernal Diaz, the young soldier who saw the city in 1519 gave voice to the awe that many of his companions felt: ‘Gazing on such wonderful sights, we did not know what to say, or whether what appeared before us was real, for or one side, on the land there were great cities, and in the lake, there were so many more, and the lake was crowded with canoes, and in the causeway were many bridges at intervals, and in front of us stood the great city of Mexico.’

There even was a complex writing system. Political organization, as the conquerors found out was composed of a series of small, city-state-like groups with its own internal differentiation of status and power, but powerful just the same. Different city-states competed for power. But after the series of formations and dissolutions, the rise and falls of cities and empires, there was no loss of traditions, culture and skills. Instead, their influence in religion, art, politics and technology were spread to other regional centers through conquests, trades and other missionary activities. The Spanish encountered a great civilization.

The book Victors and Vanquished Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico, featured both the conquerors’ and the conquered’s sides but one thing remains true. Even after the fall of Tenochtitlan, even though the peoples of Mexico did not form a single political entity that led to the success of the Spanish conquest, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures were intact. They never disappeared at the time of the decline of the Classic period or the arrival of the Spanish. But after years of colonialism, the Mexicans were dispossessed of their lands, languages and heritage which resulted in human suffering and cultural destruction. The introduction of technology and change in leadership only intensified the conflicts between indigenous groups and the aim of breaking free from those in control. These, together with political conflicts between them helped weaken the empire as a whole.

They were welcomed as guests; as gods even because of their skin color. Little did they know that it would be the start of the downfall of a great civilization. Heavy exploitation followed the initial shock of the conquest. The natives were suffering and adapting to the destructive effects of the colonization in their way of life. The existing system of a great civilization was swept aside for the conquerors’ traditional, cultural and political standards. They created a community in the Spanish style. A civil government was created to be run by a Spaniard. The establishment of a new political standard resulted in the people relatively becoming rural peasants. The change was inevitable. The greatest change perhaps is the introduction of iron and steel. Indigenous peoples were technologically primitive, with weapons such as bows and arrows and wooden swords set with obsidian blades and so they introduced new tools such as the functional wheel, mill and gunpowder and weapons such as artillery, firearms, steel weapons and crossbows which left them in awe.

Even though there were relocations from rural to urban areas, most of the natives remained in their communities. Some who relocated retained their identities but the adoption of cultures and traditions can not be stopped as a form of adaptation to the prevailing circumstances. In the rural areas, the colonizers became the owners of the lands originally being cultivated by the indigenous populace. The natives learned to use tools of European origin, which were introduced to them, such as weapons, in order to survive. ...Download file to see next pages Read More