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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
After the Broken Spears: The Aztecs in the Wake of Conquest

After the Broken Spears: The Aztecs in the Wake of Conquest

Anthony, Josh
Townsend, Camilla

Hardcover

Central American HistoryGeneral World HistorySouth American History

ISBN10: 0197776175
ISBN13: 9780197776179
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: Dec 29 2025
Pages: 272
Weight: 1.28
Height: 0.81 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Following Hernando Cortés's conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521, the Aztec empire became the center of the largest European colony in the Americas. It has long been assumed that Indigenous people's personal experiences of this cataclysmic era are inaccessible. Spanish records do not reflect how Nahuas and other Indigenous peoples spoke privately about the great changes, and accounts written in Indigenous languages mostly date from the latter half of the sixteenth century.

Through close readings of Nahuatl sources, the contributors to After the Broken Spears illustrate that records of Indigenous experiences of the early colonial period are both more abundant than first appear and more richly detailed than ever imagined. Nahuatl songs, annals, tall tales, and legal documents offer a comprehensive vision of how Mexico's Indigenous people lived through the years after the conquest and negotiated the creation of their new world. Often originally circulated as oral accounts, these stories were later copied into Nahuatl script by those determined to preserve their people's history. Interspersed between the main chapters are commentaries written by contemporary Indigenous Mexican scholars, highlighting how historical themes relate to the present day. Just as their ancestors did five hundred years ago, these writers negotiate the ramifications of the Spanish conquest for their communities. After the Broken Spears offers fresh perspectives on a critical transition period in Mesoamerican, Mexican, and colonial history.

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