1) Here you will find a description by Cortés of his conquest of the Mexican capitol; here you will find a painting of the 16th-century conquest done in the 20th century by the Mexican nationalist Diego Rivera; and here is a native Mexican’s rendition of the same event, this time drawn from the oral traditions of native Mexicans in the 16th century.
Fill out the following chart comparing these three interpretations of the conquest.
(DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE AS AN MS-WORD DOCUMENT)
| Interpretation | The basis or reason, according to the interpretation, for perceived Spanish superiority and/or the reason for the military success of the Spanish | Nature of Spanish relative to the natives, according to the interpretation |
Nature
of Indians (e.g., unified? |
| Cortés | |||
| Rivera |
hint: what object takes up most of the image? |
hint: WHO IS ON WHICH SIDE? | |
| Native Mexican, 16th century | hint: WHO IS ON WHICH SIDE? |
(DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE AS AN MS-WORD DOCUMENT)
2) Which of the above interpretations comes closest to the portrayal of the conquest by the historian Matthew Restal that you read this week and why? Be sure to think about it carefully — it’s likely not quite what you thought it was before reading the chapter. Organize your argument around the familiar claim/evidence/warrant format using specific evidence. If your source is a document, be sure to use direct quotations. When using direct quotations, be sure to use method 3 or 4 for introducing quotations (-5% if you don’t) and also be sure to reduce your quotations to ten for fewer words. See here on how to reduce quotations.
3) Matthew Restal in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest and Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel present very different–if sometimes overlapping–perspectives on the Spanish conquest.
Which of their perspectives best takes into consideration all of the evidence you have read for this week and why?
In order to make the necessary direct quotes possible, you can find transcripts here: episode one;episode two.
| Hint: Thinking of Restal’s arguments and the native Mexican’s rendition of the conquest, WHO is missing in Diamond’s explanations of the conquest? Who gets left out of his accounts? |
- Length: 675-850 words
2. You will want to organize around your essay around a concise thesis statement that appears near the beginning of your paper.
3. Be sure to underline your thesis statement (5 points off if you do not).
4. Be sure to have at least 10 direct quotations from the readings and videos; at least 5 of your direct quotations must come from the reading.
5. When using direct quotations, be sure to use method 3 or 4 for introducing quotations (-5% if you don’t) and also be sure to reduce your quotations to ten for fewer words. See here on how to reduce quotations.
6. When making your arguments, be sure to ground those arguments in specific evidence.
7. Be sure in those paragraphs where you make points from evidence to organize those paragraph in the familiar cl/ev/wa format and that you put a (CL) in front of your paragraph’s claim, an (EV) before the evidence, and a (WA) in front of the warrant. (Keep in mind (A) not all paragraphs should be in cl/ev/wa format–just those that make a point from evidence. Also keep in mind (B) that the cl/ev/wa format is for organizing individual paragraphs rather than for organizing whole papers. A strong paper will likely have a series of cl/ev/wa paragraphs as well as a number of paragraphs that are not in that format.)
END OF ASSIGNMENT
