Research Paper on:
Spanish Conquest and The Sword and the Cross

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the ultimate of human struggles such as the Spanish Conquest brought about for the indigenous peoples of Meso-America. Though the hows and whys may not ever be known in their  entirety, there is some indication of motive for the Spanish Inquisition and its brutality, and of the subsequent blame placed on La Malinche. La Malinche, called Dona Marina by  her friends, may very well be one of the ultimate victims in this whole sordid ordeal. Historians would have most believe that she was the Indian translator who single-handedly served  up her countrymen to a Spanish death. To this day the home where she lived in Mexico is shunned by the locals and a curse has been formally laid on  anyone entering the premises. But is she to blame for it all? It would be a very handy concept and a convenient one at best. However, the evidence does not  point at a traitorous woman who sold out her country for her own motives, but rather a woman who was as used and abused and ironically stood, symbolically, for all  that was to happen to the Aztec nation. As the story is told in the streets, Marina agreed to translate for Cortes. In her initial translation she told Cortes  that chief Montezuma welcomed them with open arms, welcomed them as gods. Cortes accepted the accolades, the gold, the fine clothes. Celebrations were ordered in the guests honor and during  the celebration Cortes and his men began a slaughterhouse rampage that by all accounts lasted for hours, though none of the people who had come to the celebration were armed.  Whether Marina had any knowledge of Cortes plans is mere speculation, but considering how females were viewed in that day and age, she was more than likely not privy to