Apparently the Aztecs may have been even more vicious than the Spanish:
Skeletons found at an unearthed site in Mexico show Aztecs captured, ritually sacrificed and partially ate several hundred people traveling with invading Spanish forces in 1520.
Skulls and bones from the Tecuaque archeological site near Mexico City show 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.
The findings support accounts of Aztecs capturing and killing a caravan of Spanish conquistadors and local men, women and children traveling with them in revenge for the murder of Cacamatzin, king of the Aztec empire’s No. 2 city of Texcoco.
Experts say the discovery proves some Aztecs did resist the conquistadors led by explorer Hernan Cortes, even though history books say most welcomed the white-skinned horsemen in the belief they were returning Aztec gods….
“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.
“You can only imagine what it was like for the last ones, who were left six months before being chosen, their anguish.”
The priests and town elders, who performed the rituals on the steps of temples cut off by a perimeter wall, sometimes ate their victims’ raw and bloody hearts or cooked flesh from their arms and legs once it dropped off the boiling bones.
Knife cuts and even teeth marks on the bones show which ones had meat stripped off to be eaten, Martinez said.
Some pregnant women in the group had their unborn babies stabbed inside their bellies as part of the ritual.
In Aztec times the site was called Zultepec, a town of white-stucco temples and homes where some 5,000 people grew maize and beans and produced pulque to sell to traders.
Priests had to be brought in for the ritual killings because human sacrifices had never before taken place there, Martinez said.
On hearing of the months-long massacre, Cortes renamed the town Tecuaque — meaning “where people were eaten” in the indigenous Nahuatl language — and sent an army to wipe out its people.
This helps explain some of why the Spaniards were also vicious in their attack on the Aztecs. The full article can be found here.
I find it somewhat disturbing that you always bring this issue up. Do you actively search for proof that the Aztecs were not very nice people? It seems to me that you are either seeking to justify the ensuing genocide of the native Mexicans (90% eradicated within the first 100 years of the conquest) (which would be purposefully “politically ‘incorrect’”) or seeking to distance yourself from any allegations that you, the “Hispanic Pundit”, may be a descendent of these “blood-thirsty Aztecs”. Either way, you should stop. We don’t see 50th generation Saxons passionately defending the brutal murder of Angles that led to their eventual mestizaje. Nor do we hear the descendents of the Vikings justifying atrocities their ancestors may or may not have perpetrated against the ungodly Visigoths. Fact is, their was a genocide in America and it was jacked up. Punto. You fan the flames of anti-Mexican haterism by implying that our ancestors were cannibals who deserved to die.
I always bring this up? Where else have I done so? I could think of two, maybe three other posts related to this in the full 2.5 years I have had my blog.
Me thinks it is you with the agenda, not me. I just post them as I see them.
I agree with dude up there. You do post about it more than any other Latino blogger. And the Chicana/o and Latina/o bloggers I know about don’t really talk about colonization or the invasion of the Americas all that much. Either way you cut it, colonization is a painful topic and I’ve learned through my “waste of time” Chicana/o Studies classes that historians have used research similar to this to stereotype Chicanos as vicious killers because we have Aztec blood running through this (see: Sleepy Lagoon Trial).
So, when are we going to read about atrocities committed during the Spanish Inquisition?
I stand behind my statement above, two, maybe three posts in a 2.5 year blogging period is in no way ‘excessive’. It may be to those who tend towards the more ‘Chicano’ side of Mexican-American, but then again, to them mentioning anything negative about Aztecs is tantamount to treason. So I take their (yes, yours) criticism very lightly (who listens to Chicano Studies majors anyway?).
With that said, I don’t want to give the impression that I am in anyway a European sympathizer - just click on the link to the right that says ‘Europe’ and you will see that I trash Europeans far more than I do Aztecs. Sure, I mainly talk about modern Europe, but ‘old Europe’ is something everybody knows - you get that on every other blog. I am trying to give a more fair and balanced view here.
For the record, as a person of Mexican heritage, I don’t consider myself Aztec nor Spanish, but both merged together. In other words, I can criticize both for their errors and appreciate both for their cultural value, and feel equally Mexican.
For the record, as a person of Mexican heritage, I don’t consider myself Aztec nor Spanish, but both merged together. In other words, I can criticize both for their errors and appreciate both for their cultural value, and feel equally Mexican.
-HP
I dunno, you still sound like a sell-out to me. A puny, tiny, short, li’l sell-out, who’s always lookin’ up to the Iberians.
Hey O,
Awwww. Your making me blush. Stop it already. You know how much that disturbs me.
I have little doubt that the readers of your blog, both casual as well as avid, are acutely acquainted with your self-loathing, and your insatiable desire to paint the indigenous peoples of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as barbarous cannibals. Perhaps, your longing (metaphorically spiking, of course) to look up to the “white-man” is spurred on by some shortcoming (real or imaginary) by which you are troubled.
In any case, that article seems packed with mere conjecture.
LOL. Fucker.
(PS: Observer is my friend, all kidding aside)
I think the reactions witnessed in the comment section may come from the fact that the quote you pull only speaks about a topic that is already oversensationalized. You’d expect to see this in some tabloid newspaper but not a serious forum from people who dedicate themselves to bigger issues on Aztec civilization.
I always ask what the motive for every action might be and I know you seem to have a lot of contempt for “Chicano Studies” types as well as possibly a need to reenforce the idea that Western Imperialism is perfect, justifyable, and beyond criticism. I’m not going to argue that the Aztecs, or any group of people, were immune from inhumanities. I will point out, however, that the Aztecs are an extinct race and their descendents are diluted culturally and racially. We also don’t base our actions and justify our acts of terror on their heritage as we do beliefs of Western Imperialism on the images of people such as Columbus who decimated entire groups of people such as the Arawaks.
Me thinks you are all too sensitive and I won’t succumb to your subtle pushes for censorship. If it’s good enough for CNN, it’s good enough for HP.com. I’ve stated my reasons above.
Come on, HP, just give us the girl’s name. Who was the Chicano/a Studies student that broke your heart? Or was it the professora? Ahhh, me thinks me onto something…
Interesting:
say what you like, and as often as you like. you’re right you shouldn’t censor yourself. however, me thinks you’ve also been reading too much gary jennings.
LOL - comments. They got you good HP
SG,
I know who broke his heart and why he’s so bitter. She’s probably dating an indigenista type now. See why he’s mad?
SG,
I don’t want to talk about it. LOL.
irasali,
I don’t read too much fiction, but when I do, Gary Jennings is certainly not among them. Besides, who wants to read about a bunch of vicious killers anyway? LOL. I kid…
Julissa,
Aw, you can’t be serious. Surely you knew that I was cutting them some slack. Come on now, these are Chicano Studies type Mexicans, they demand to be given slack - you know, like affirmative action….Okay, that was mean, I kid…Sorta
cindylu,
Well, if that’s the case, then she got what she deserved. I couldn’t think of a more sweeter revenge.
Whoever wrote this article, SHOULD give references. Everthing is biassed and, by the way, who is “Martinez”?
Good post, HP.
Thanks for shedding light on this situation. This is a subject that isn’t discussed enough.
You are right, the Aztecs and the Spanish were vicious fighters. My read and studies of the Aztec Empire is that they believed in prophetic messages and certainly many ‘prophetic’ signs led the Aztecs to believe that Cortez was Quetzalcoatl.
That was the demise of the Aztec Empire, truly, in my humble opinion. Their belief in what was prophecized to them as written in the Codices.
Futhermore, the Aztecs made enemies with other tribes because they would take from them…..people to sacrifice to the Aztec gods. Other tribes did not want to sacrifice their own people, yet they had to submit the leadership of the Aztecs. The Aztecs were feared in that era…..and I believe ‘karma’ played a role and this backfired when their Empire came tumbling down.
It’s a good idea to study and remember history, particularly when it is a difficult subject and many seem to be misled. There is a lot of information regarding this subject….and it is tedious to study this subject.
In any event……good work.
You are right…..the Aztecs were ‘more vicious’ than the Spaniards because of the thousands of innocent blood shed that was performed. There was more blood shed performed by their own people than what the Spaniards shed.
Besides……..the Aztecs were warned by Quetzalcoatl to stop the human sacrifices, and they did not heed the warning. In fact, legends support that the former ruler, Quetzalcoatl was kicked out of the community because of his strong stance against the human sacrifices.