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Western Civilization--European History, Empire

Customized guides to research for specific courses in Western civilization and European history

I, a quetzal feather, a bird of the flowering water, I flow in celebration. I am a song. In the wide wall of the water, my heart walks on the lips of the men. TEPONAZTLI DRUM SONG. Cantares Mexicanos #50

Comprehensive

[R] Encyclopedia of American History:
vol. 1 Three Worlds Meet. Facts on File, 2003.
E 174 .E53 2003 Reference Fl. 1

[R] Seaman, Rebecca M.
Conflict in the Early Americas: an Encyclopedia of the Spanish Empire's Aztec, Incan, and Mayan Conquests. 2013.
E123 .C729 2013 Reference Fl. 1

[R] Encyclopedia Britannica Online Edition

[R] Carrasco, David. The Civilizations of Mexico
and Central America.
Oxford University Press, 2001. F 1218.6 .O95 2000 vols. 1-3 Reference Fl. 1

Aztec Society

Headrick, Annabeth. The Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient
Mesoamerican City
. University of Texas Press, 2007.

Video

In Search of History: The Aztec Empire

Why Ahuacatls Shouldn't Exist (i.e. no Aztecs=no ahuacatls) by SciShow

Visual History

Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Stories in Red and Black Pictorial Histories of the
Aztecs and Mixtecs
. University of Texas Press, 2000.

From Aztec Original Sources

[P] Sahagún, Bernardino de. General History of the Things of New Spain: Florentine Codex.
(Translated from Aztec into English-searchable)

     Book 1 The gods

     Book 2 The Ceremonies

     Book 3 The Origin of the gods

     Book 9 The Merchants-Artisans

[P] Complete Facsimiles of the Twelve Books of the Florentine Codex 
(use especially for images)

León Portilla, Miguel. Native Mesoamerican Spirituality. Paulist Press, 1980.
F1219.3 .R38 N37 Fl. 2

Aztec Cosmology (View of Universe)/Seasons

Headrick, Annabeth. The Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient
Mesoamerican City
. University of Texas Press, 2007.

Aztec Mythology (Ask an Expert)

Carrasco, David. Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
F 1219.76.R45 C37 1992 Fl. 2

Carrasco, Davíd. "Cosmic Jaws: We Eat the Gods and the Gods Eat Us." Journal of The American Academy of Religion 63, no. 3 (1995): 429-463.

Further Reading  Additional Sources by David Carrasco

Miller, Mary Ellen. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. Thames
and Hudson, 1993. F1435.3 .R3 M55 1993 Reference Fl. 1

Further Reading  Additional Sources Aztec religion

Aztec Versions (Mexica)

[P] León Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico.
Beacon Press, 1992. F 1230 .V5713 1992 Fl. 2
(SHC has both print and eBook)

[P] Chimalpahin's Conquest: a Nahua Historian's Rewriting of de Gómara's La conquista de México.
Stanford University Press, 2010. Ebook
(search names: "Xicotencatl", for example)

*[P] Sahagún, Bernardino, de.

Excerpts from vol. 12, Conquest of Mexico in English (Translated from Aztec into English)

Historia general de las cosas de nueva Espana, 1575.
[scan of the 16th century original source-use for images]

[P] Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. History of the Conquest of New Spain. Ed. Carrasco. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2009.

Video

Carrasco, David. What Did the Aztecs Make of the Spanish?
Mexicolore. 20 Dec. 2011. YouTube. Accessed 6 Oct. 2015.

[P] Nahuatl Manuscripts Held by Burke Library
(Print and digital facsimiles and transcriptions)

Detailed Contents of Bernardino Sahagún

pt. 1. Introduction and indices --
pt. 2. Book 1, The gods --
pt. 3. Book 2, The ceremonies --
pt. 4. Book 3, The origin of the gods --
pt. 5. Book 4, The soothsayers --
pt. 6. Book 5, The omens --
pt. 7. Book 6, Rhetoric and moral philosophy --
pt. 8. Book 7, The sun, moon, and stars, and the binding of the years --
pt. 9. Book 8, Kings and lords --
pt. 10. Book 9, The merchants --
pt. 11. Book 10, The people --
pt. 12. Book 11, Earthly things --
pt. 13. Book 12, The conquest of Mexico.

• JSTOR: Arts & Sciences I Collection, Arts & Science VII Collection, Languages & Literature Collection

• ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

• Academic Search Premier

Sample search: Diego Munoz Camargo

Sample search: "Noche triste"

Search tip:  ITER is a project of the Renaissance Society of America.

Search tip: When using Academic Search Premier, limit your results to "scholarly journals"

Digital Archives

Hathi Trust Digital Library

Archive.org

Complete Facsimiles of the Twelve Books of the Florentine Codex

 

Sample Articles

Hispanic American Historical Review

Carman, Glen. "The Means and Ends of Empire in Hernán Cortés's 'Cartas de relación'. " Modern Language Studies 27 (1997): 113-137.
(Cortes fabricates the truth?!)

Morales, Francisco. "The Native Encounter with Christianity: Franciscans and Nahuas in Sixteenth-Century Mexico." The Americas 65 (2008): 137-159.

Chipman, Donald E. "New Light on the Career of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán." The Americas 19 (1963): 341-348.

Daniel, Douglas A. "Tactical Factors in the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs." Anthropological Quarterly 65 (1992): 187-194. (Noche triste)

Godayol, Pilar. "Malintzin/La Malinche/Doña Marina: Re-reading the Myth of the Treacherous Translator." Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 18 (2012): 61-76.

Hicks, Frederic. " 'Flowery War' in Aztec History." American Ethnologist 6, no. 1 (1979): 87-92.

 

The Arrival of Cortes

Materials Available at SHC (comprehensive)

Spanish Conquest of Mexico, etc. (click the link)

Conquistador Perspective - Comprehensive

[R] Seaman, Rebecca M. Conflict in the Early Americas: An Encyclopedia
of the Spanish Empire's Aztec, Incan, and Mayan Conquests.
2013.
E123 .C729 2013 Reference Fl. 1

Schwartz, Stuart B. Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000.
F1230 .V53 2000 Fl. 2

First-Person Accounts

[P] Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. History of the Conquest of New Spain. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2009.

[P] Fuentes, Patricia de. The Conquistadors: First-Person Accounts
of the Conquest of Mexico.
Orion Press, 1963. F1230 .F9 1993 Fl. 2
(Chronicles and letters by Juan Diaz, Andres de Tapia, Francisco de Aguilar, Pedro de
Alvarado, and Garcia de Pilar)

Historical Problems (Historiography)

*Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford University Press,
2003. Ebook. (highly critical of the views of William Prescott)

Greene, Paul E. “The Conquest of Mexico: The Views of the Chroniclers.”  The Americas 31 (1974): 164-171.
(Discusses problems and approaches to working with accounts of conquistadors Tapia, Aguilar, Cortes, etc.)

Prescott, William H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. Modern library, 1936.  Hathi Trust.

Recommended Reading

Thomas, Hugh. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico.
Simon & Schuster, 1995. F 1230 .T48 1995 Fl. 2

Gibson, Charles. The Aztecs under Spanish Rule. Stanford University Press,
1964. F 1219.1 .M53 G5 Fl. 2 

Documentary Film

The Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Films Media Group, 1999 [2006].

RESEARCH NOTE
It it unlikely that entire books exist about many of the people you will investigate. Check for names in  back-of-book indices.

Tenochtitlan
Rojas, José Luis de. Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire. University Press of Florida, 2012.

Further Reading  (click the link)

 Tenochtitlan

Quetzalcoatl

Nicholson, H. B. Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs. University Press of Colorado, 2001.

Moctezuma, et al

Documentary Film

Montezuma: Twilight God of the Aztecs. BBC Films, 2009

Chipman, Donald E. Moctezuma's Children: Aztec Royalty  
Under Spanish Rule, 1520-1700. University of Texas Press,
2005. F1230.M6 C48 2005 Fl. 2  (Isabel Moctezuma, Mariana and
  Pedro Moctezuma)

Romero, Rolando. Feminism, Nation and Myth: La Malinche. Arte
Público Press, 2005. F 1230 .M373 F46 2005 Fl. 2

La Malinche/Malintzin/Doña Marina

Townsend, Camilla. Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico. University of New Mexico, 2006.

Diego Velázquez de Cuellar (first governor of Cuba)

Fuente, Alejandro, et al. Havana and the Atlantic in the Sixteenth Century. University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

Juan Diego (Cuauhtlatoatzin)

Poole, Stafford. Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol,
1531-1797
. University of Arizona Press, 1995. BT 660 .G8 P66 1995  Fl. 2

Hernán Cortés

[P] Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. The History of the Conquest of New Spain. Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press, 2008. Ebook. (Edited by David Carrasco, a foremost authority)

[P] López de Gómara, Francisco. Cortés: the Life of the Conqueror by his Secretary. University of
California Press, 1966. F 1230 .C9216 1996 Fl. 2

[P] Cortés, Hernán. Fernando Cortes: His Five Letters of Relation to the Emperor Charles V. Edited by Francis MacNutt. A. H. Clark, 1908.

Volume I

Volume II

[P] Cortés, Hernán. Letters from Hernán Cortés to Charles V

Our Lady of Guadelupe (video)