The History of Freedom: Native Americans


Figure 1.--The Aztec believed that they owed everything to the gods who created themselves--in esence a blood debt. The Aztec god of war, Huitzilopochtli, was especially blood thirsty. This 16th century Codex depiction by native scribes shows Aztec human sacrifice in some of its grisly details. The sacrifice was done by heart-extraction using razor sharp obsedian blades. It was both a political act demonstrating imperial power as well as a public religious ceremony. Heart extraction was seen as 'liberating' the istli and reuniting it with the Sun. Note the depiction of the victim's transformed heart flying Sun-ward on a trail of blood. What the Codex does not depict in the magnitude of these ceremonies. Here there are only two victims shown, but these sessions could involve thousands. There is no accurate accounting of the numbers of people sacrificed. Some accounts reports thouands sacrificed in a single session. Many archeologists suspect that this may be an exageration, but there is general agreement that thousands were sacrified annually Some claim as many as 20,000 victims annually. Source: Codex Magliabechiano, Folio 70.

History is the experimental testing grounds for humanity. Proto Indians arrived in the New World milennia before the Neolitic Revolution and the advent of civilization. And as in the Old World, the Neolithic or Agriculturl revolution which occured indepebently in the New World created great civilizations in both Meso-America and the Andes. Some of the cultures which developed are some of the most violent and bloody societies known to mankind. No societies have ever come close to the levels of human scarifies conducted publically and on a massive scale by the Aztecs. And many other Native American civilizations practiced human sacrifice. Even on a smaller scale than the Aztecs, it was an important part of their culture. The Spanish friars accompsnying the Conquistadores had good reason to be horrified. These civilizations also made important cutural achievements. But at the time of contact with the Europens they were still largely stone age societies which had not even mastered the concept of the wheel or metalury beyond gold and silver, metals with low melting points and thus requiring limited technology. Thus they were conquered by small bands of European Conquistadores. The question thus rises as to why the New World lagged so far behind the Old World in cultural and technological development. There have been many theories offered. The north-south axis of the mountain ranges impeded communication and contact while the east-west axis of Eurasian mountaints promoted communication and contact. This is a strong argument because the relative isolation of the New World. This may have been an important factor. The lack of important load-bearing animals like oxen, horses, and cammels may also been a factor. [Diamond] Of course the development of corn amd potatoes were more valuable food crops than the crops developed in the Old World. A factor rarely considered is the failure of the great Native American civilizations to develop the concept of freedom. This is interesting because Native americans during the Enligtenment and today in popular culture are often seen as the embodiment of freedom.

Sources

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (W.W. Norton & Co.: 1997). Also published with the title "Guns, germs and steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years".









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Created: 4:14 AM 5/29/2015
Last updated: 4:14 AM 5/29/2015