Comments on: The Aztec Empire of Central America

By: Ol' Tom the Gardener

Ol' Tom the Gardener — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:12:35 +0000

I visited the B.M. Aztec exhibition yesterday and for what you get,the £12 entrance fee is way too expensive.

You’d be better off viewing for free,the other exhibits of native American civilisations.

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By: Deckard

Deckard — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:12:35 +0000

Wow what a strange piece of writing – it feels very much like a product of nineteenth century thinking.

‘Primitive’ peoples?

Do you really think the Aztec people were better off enslaved and robbed of their culture in a continent wide genocide?

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By: Libertad individual frente a indigenismo: Lituma en los Andes, de Mario Vargas Llosa « El violento matiz de la amapola

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:55:04 +0000

[...] Léase, a este respecto, el artículo que publicó Boris Johnson recientemente en el Daily Telegraph. Si bien su elección como alcalde [...]

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By: Mel

Mel — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:44:54 +0000

@raincoaster: love the idea of a time capsule!

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By: Mel

Mel — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:43:37 +0000

@Nathan: Emperor Moctezuma allegedly drank 50 (yes 5 0 !) goblets of chocolate drink every day – that must have caused a somewhat psychotic mental state. See http://www.chocolate.org/

I wonder why the indigenous South Americans adapted so much better to the influx of foreigners than the Aztecs did in Central America? Was it the effect of chocolate? Was it the hostility of Cortes and his entourage? Many other arguments could be posited in favour or against.

I blame the chocolate myself.

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By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:19:06 +0000

Dave Hill today reported that Boris sealed a time capsule, something particularly appropriate because he always seems to have just stepped out of one, himself.

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By: Philipa

Philipa — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:52:56 +0000

Nathan – “just as European crusaders could justify eating human flesh because it was flesh of heathen Arabs, not Christians” eh??

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By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:41:53 +0000

“You may be right about the Aztec civilisation being far beyond the Stone Age in sophistication but you miss the point that is made here: the Aztecs, with their skulls hanging around the place and primitive dress, would no doubt have come across as primitive to the Conquistadores. Granted, the Spanish may have been bullies but the article is not about justifying imperialism – it is about inviting readers to consider for themselves these two radically different cultures and to bring some moral justice to the final deadly outcome.”

1)Depends how you define stone age. But neolithic usually refers to a pre-civilised stage of development. Also, the Mesoamerican and Andean civilisations certainly were in possesion of metallurgical technology.

2)Johnson explicitly states that the line of reasoning in his article should be taken as a justification for imperialism. He actually states this. Go back and read it.

3)I’m not so sure that the Spanish necessarily would have viewed the natives, with their densely populated cities and advanced beurocracy, as primitive just because they wore silly clothes. What they did view them as was morally inferior, alien, heathen. That was how they could justify their actions in their own minds, just as European crusaders could justify eating human flesh because it was flesh of heathen Arabs, not Christians.

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By: Philipa

Philipa — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:57:49 +0000

Guy – very funny, thanks.

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By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:41:01 +0000

@Guy: He is an endangered species!

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