Chapter 12: The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century

Its interesting how the chapter begins by saying "Columbus was a perpetrator of genocide..., a slave trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero. To celebrate Columbus is to congratulate the process and history of the invasion". With this said it is ironic that we still celebrate Columbus, when we all know that he was never a hero he was a terrible person with the people that they were conquering. I personally feel that he should not be celebrated because we are celebrating him for all the terrible things he did. Another part of this reading that I found interesting was the Aztec Empire, the Aztec state was the work of the Mexica people, a semi-nomatic group from northern Mexico. The conquered people and cities had to deliver to their Aztec rulers impressive quantities of textiles and clothing, military supplies, jewelry and luxuries, foodstuff, animal products and many other things. This empire is very impressive, it had palaces, temples, pyramids, canals, dikes, causeways, and bridges. The Aztec people seemed very prosperous with their food and their structures. One thing that surprised me the most was that among the "goods" that the pochteca obtained were slaves, many of whom were destined for sacrifice in bloody rituals so central to Aztec religious life. I found this terrifying because I do not understand how their religion would ask them to sacrifice other people.