History 1510

Having watched the movie, "1492: Conquest of Paradise" Dir. Ridley Scott (1992), and having thoroughly researched the history it discusses, I have opened my mind to new and exciting truths about early maritime exploration.  This assignment stretched me to dive deeply into the subject of the voyages of Christopher Columbus, and really made me think about his motives.  I grew from this assignment because I learned how to study a representation of events in history and analyze how historically accurate it may be.  

After having read this book, I have had my eyes opened to the intricacies of war and conquest.  I learned a lot of new facts that I had never before supposed, and I had many of my preconceived notions altered.  Hernán Cortés was not thought of as a god (Quetzalcoalt) like I had previously supposed.  He was merely thought of as possibly being one because the timing of his arrival coincided with the prophecy of the return of the Aztec god according to their calendar.  Hernán Cortés was entirely dependent upon La Malinche (Doña Marina) and Jerónimo de Aguilar for translation, but many accounts masque over their importance in the conquest.  Finally, I learned that Cortés was dependent upon the native Mexicans who lived in the valley.  Without their sheer numbers, he would not have been able to have conquered the city of Tenochtitlán and subsequently demolished to ruins the great Aztec empire. This was a great book!