BF+APPARTS+method+Primary+Source

Bill Fell Mr. Rowells AP US History 26 August 2009 A - The author was explorer, Hernán Cortés, who had conquered the powerful Aztec tribe. Cortés’ point of view about the scenario is that the local tribe thinks that he is a god. P- The letter was sent from Segura de la Frontera on October 30, 1520. P- Cortés is considered a god when he is acquainted with the Aztec tribe. Ancient history has said that a god would come one day with the ability to shoot fire (gun), shining body (armor) and big dogs (horses). Since Cortés fits all of these descriptions, he was considered as a god. A-This letter was sent to Segura de la Frontera. This does affect the point of view because Cortés might have been stretching the truth of how great he was to impress de la Frontera. R-This letter was sent to give news on how the look for gold was doing for Cortés and his men. T-The main idea of this letter was for Cortés to brag about his greatness and to tell de la Frontera about how the Aztecs think he is a god. S-This source is important because it was one of the first letters to tell the people of Spain how great the city that the Aztecs live in is and how Cortés is a god. A-One of Bernardino de Sahagún’s witnesses, an Aztec informant who tell Cortés’ story in the way the Aztecs saw it. P-This passage was written in Mexico in 1519. P-Cortés has already came to Mexico and Moctezuma thinks Cortés is god. A-This passage was written to Sahagún, who wanted all of the information of the Aztecs history. R-The informant made this passage to tell the recent history of what had happened to the Aztecs. T- The source is trying to show how terrible Cortés’ troops were to the Aztecs which contradicts with Cortés explanation of what happened in Mexico. S- This source is important because it interferes with Cortés’ explanation on what happened in Mexico with the Aztecs. Hernán Cortés discovered the Aztec tribe and right away the tribe thought Cortés was a god. In both the Aztec and Cortés explanation, Moctezuma showers Cortés with gifts and announces his immortality. Cortés says that the tribe gave everything to him peacefully and he had no problems with the people. The Aztec informant said that Cortés was very forceful and actually massacres his people. This shows that there is error in Cortés letter to the Emperor, showing that Cortés was stretching the truth of him becoming a god. Thus, the letter that Cortés wrote is not reliable for the contradiction that the Aztec informant made.