Picture 1596 Spanish America

The picture describes life in the early Americas and the first contact with Spanish explorers. This single portrait reflects three different images, illustrating three stories about the Americas. Starting with the initial image, it shows us the mighty Indian emperor with his army. The second image shows Spanish explorers’ conflict with the natives, and the last appearance shows people working in the mines.

The image at the bottom of the portrait shows the procession of the Indian Emperor. He is sitting on his throne, carried by his servant and followed by his warrior, holding bows and arrows. These images reflect the life of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. The picture displays the mighty emperor Moctezuma visiting the mines in his kingdom and anxious to meet Spanish Explorers. Here Moctezuma is keeping watch on foreigners. His spies inform him of the movement of Spanish explorers. Aztec emperor Moctezuma is curious and eager to meet these foreigners. The portrait conveys Moctezuma welcoming the Spanish  explorer Hernan Cortez. Like Moctezuma, the picture shows the king wearing the crown with the scepter. The warriors follow him to receive the Spanish explorer. As Montezuma, the emperor, through his procession, conveys the message that Spaniards  were guests in his capital. “Each one performed a ceremony which they practice among themselves; each placed his hand on the ground and kissed it,” [1] wrote Cortes. This way, Montezuma welcomes Hernan Cortes to his empire. 

The second image shows the Spanish explorer coming ashore where they face suspicious native Americans. There seems to be a physical conflict between the Spainards and the natives. There are lives lost on both sides. The natives believed the arrival of Spanish explorers would threaten their survival. However, the native with a bow and arrow is no match for the Spanish explorer’s advanced firearm. Just as ,”In 1519, a small group of Spaniards under the leadership of Hernan Corte’s landed on the Caribbean coast of what is now Mexico, in the territory of the Aztec Empire” [2]. This picture conveys two messages. First, it was the beginning of the end of the Aztec empire under Montezuma, and the second message the arrival of Spanish explorers in the new world, followed by the arrival of European settlers in the Americas.

The third image shows people in hundreds working in the mines. Yet again, it is not clear what they are digging. The picture does not confirm whether they are indigenous people fulfilling their Mita or enslaved people from other Americas. This portrait could mean two things. The first description is that these are enslaved people working in the mines, and the second is that indigenous peoples of the Aztec empire or colonial Latin America fulfilled their colonial Mita. Historian Kris Lane defines Mita as” a Hispanicized revival of the Inka corvee, or mit’a (literally ‘turn’).[3] .Either way, people get exploited, whether they are indigenous or enslaved people

The portrait shows us the past of Latin America. The various kingdoms of the Americas. The mighty Aztec and Inca empires. Their unique culture and tradition of the indigenous people of America. The arrival of Europeans on the shore of this great continent. The destruction of the native empire and its culture. Here Spaniards brought their culture, beliefs, and faith. This new land became a multicultural and multi-racial land of Spaniards, Mestizos, and Black and Indigenous people. Latin America has created its unique culture and tradition mixed with African, Indian and Spanish. Thus, making Modern Latin American.

Works Cited:

Camila Townssend “World Collide in Tenochtitlan” Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood and Anna Rose Alexander, 3-7. 5th ed. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.

Lane, Kris. “Assessing Indian Labor in Quito.” In Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood and Anna Rose Alexander, 7-12. 5th ed. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019

Work Cited

[1]  Townsend, “Worlds Collide in Tenochtitlan, “4

[2]  Townsend, “Worlds Collide in Tenochtitlan, “3

[3]   Lane, “Assessing Indian Labor in Quito,” 11.