The Broken Spears facts for kids

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The Broken Spears

First edition
Author	Miguel León-Portilla
Original title	Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista
Country	Mexico
Language	Spanish
Subject	Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Publisher	UNAM
Publication date	1959
Published in English	1962

The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Spanish title: Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista; lit. "Vision of the Defeated: Indigenous relations of the conquest") is a book by Mexican historian Miguel León-Portilla, translating selections of Nahuatl-language accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It was first published in Spanish in 1959, and in English in 1962. The most recent English edition was published in 2007 (ISBN: 978-0807055007).

The English-language title, "The Broken Spears", comes from a phrase in one version (BnF MS 22^bis) of the Annals of Tlatelolco, xaxama[n]toc omitl. According to historian James Lockhart, this is a mistranslation resulting from confusion between the Nahuatl words mitl "arrow", "dart" or "spear", and omitl "bone"; an alternative translation is thus "broken bones".

Synopsis

The monograph Broken Spears is structured through three distinct sections: the first is the overall introduction that León-Portilla uses to provide background for the content of the book. He describes Aztec cultural life amongst the Nahua peoples, the importance of translators that spoke Nahuatl, and the struggle of accounts that were written by eyewitnesses well after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. León-Portilla prefaces the sources he chose for the book with not only background on the events but descriptions and background information on the sources themselves. While the second and third sections follow chronologically, the first section depicts the Azteca and their initial reactions to the omens that are attributed to local Aztec mystics after the conquest that heralded the Spanish arrival.

The following sections break down the role of the proceeding war, then the effect of disease and war upon the Aztecs. León-Portilla's concise historical context and Ángel María Garibay's translations of Nahuatl passages lead into the second section of the monograph: the Aztec’s campaign against the Spanish and their defeat by a wide variety of causes, from both military conquest and disease, that is portrayed from the point of view of the natives. A notable example of Broken Spears' narrative is the exclusion of native forces allied with the Spanish Conquistadores in Mexico, as well as the influence and importance of translators, such as La Malinche.

Following these accounts, the monograph and its translated work concludes in the Aftermath, where León-Portilla highlights the "difficult relations that have always existed between the descendants of the Aztecs and their "others" – the colonial Spaniards and contemporary Mexicans." These relations are marked by letters written to the Spanish Crown, notably Philip II of Spain, directly from native individuals. The accounts vary from pleading to King Philip II for audiences, to fears manifesting in later centuries for Nahua identity clashing with colonial Spain.

Translations

Due to the popularity and influence of The Broken Spears, several translations were made and released well after the original publication:

See also

In Spanish: Visión de los vencidos para niños