Rob Bishop: “Thank you. Tom Nevins, who is actually a social archaeologist, gave an interesting discussion about Ancient Central…”

“Thank you. Tom Nevins, who is actually a social archaeologist, gave an interesting discussion about Ancient Central America in which he said, in 1521, Cortez led a group of Spanish soldiers to what is today Mexico City. There he found an Aztec society and an Aztec capital with 15 million inhabitants. Cortez gave simple instructions to Montezuma, II, who was in charge at that time, which was, either give us your gold or I'll kill you. For whatever reason, Montezuma gave him the gold, and then he proceeded to kill him. In fact, in the siege of what is today Mexico City, approximately a quarter of a million Aztecs died from starvation in that siege, and within 2 years the Aztec empire was totally controlled by the Spanish. A decade later, the Inca civilization had the same thing happen to them, led by Pizarro, who, once again, said, Give us your gold or we'll kill you. They got the gold, and they proceeded to kill him. Also, within 2 years, the Inca civilization was totally dominated by the Spanish, which meant that both the Aztecs and the Incas were a highly centralized government, a highly centralized society, a highly centralized economic system, and because of that they were easy prey for a smaller but a very well-trained and well-organized Spanish Army. By the 1680s, the Spanish moved into the deserts of New Mexico where they moved against the Apaches. There are two things that are different about the Spanish efforts with the Apaches in New Mexico.…”