How European Viruses Toppled The Aztec And Inca Empires Allen lane. £30. l ike conspiracy theories and fake news, the winners’ history dies hard. people still wonder why europeans found america first, or how small bands of spaniards toppled mighty empires at a stroke. the conquistadors’ letters and reports, shaped for their king’s ear, framed history for centuries. Conquistadores. 491pp. allen lane. £30. like conspiracy theories and fake news, the winners’ history dies hard. people still wonder why europeans found america first, or how small bands of spaniards toppled mighty empires at a stroke. the conquistadors’ letters and reports, shaped for their king’s ear, framed history for centuries.
Silent Killer Of The Aztecs The Gruesome Epidemic That Toppled An The aztec empire, once a beacon of power, sophistication, and cultural richness in the heart of mesoamerica, met an abrupt and tragic end in the 16th century. while the spanish conquest led by hernán cortés is often credited for the empire's downfall, a silent and invisible enemy played an equally, if not more devastating, role in this historical narrative. this enemy was disease. Two months later, spanish troops entered the capital of the aztec empire, tenochtitlán (shown above), and by mid october the virus was sweeping through the city (depicted above in images from the florentine codex, a document written by a 16th century spanish friar), killing nearly half of the population, which scholars today estimate at 50,000. The inca. in south america, the most highly developed and complex society was that of the inca, which means “lord” or “ruler” in the andean language called quechua. at its height in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the inca empire, located on the pacific coast and straddling the andes mountains, extended some 2,500 miles. Many explanations suggest themselves: the advantage of steel over stone, of cannon and firearms over bows and arrows and slings; the terrorizing effect of horses on foot soldiers who had never seen such beasts before; the lack of unity in the aztec and incan empires; the prophecies in indian mythology about the arrival of white gods.
How European Viruses Toppled The Aztec And Inca Empires The inca. in south america, the most highly developed and complex society was that of the inca, which means “lord” or “ruler” in the andean language called quechua. at its height in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the inca empire, located on the pacific coast and straddling the andes mountains, extended some 2,500 miles. Many explanations suggest themselves: the advantage of steel over stone, of cannon and firearms over bows and arrows and slings; the terrorizing effect of horses on foot soldiers who had never seen such beasts before; the lack of unity in the aztec and incan empires; the prophecies in indian mythology about the arrival of white gods. By converting the americas to god, they believed they would receive eternal blessings. the discovery of the inca civilization in peru proved to be a huge downfall for the natives. in what would be their first contact with europeans, nearly 5,000 were killed in just over 30 minutes. The aztecs could not have known that smallpox was endemic in europe at this time and that many in spain exposed to smallpox earlier were resistant or immune to subsequent infection by this virus. the stricken aztecs interpreted the death of their people while the spaniards went untouched as a clear indication that the christian god held.
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