The Aztecs - The Arrival of the Spanish

Introduction

The Aztec Empire was large and powerful.  We have seen that Montezuma was a leader who expanded his empire by winning many battles and demanding exorbitant tributaries from the communities.  The Aztecs took the occasional practice of human sacrifice from their ancestors and turned it into a weapon of state terror, oppression and murder. Montezuma wielded this weapon with great ferocity.

So if Montezuma was so powerful and had won so many battles, what happened to the Aztec Empire?  How did it fall so quickly?

In this WebQuest, you will find out!



Task

Congratulations! You have just been employed by the Western Australian Museum.  The museum has an upcoming Aztec exhibition and want to include artefacts relating to the Spanish Conquest. Your employers want visitors to the museum to have information about how was the Aztec Empire taken down by the Spanish.

Your task is to view a variety of sources (primary and secondary) compare them, consider their perspectives, sequence the events – beginning with the arrival of the Spanish – and create an information pamphlet for museum visitors to the exhibit.

Over the next 6 lessons, you will complete tasks that will help you create your pamphlet.

Process

1.

You have been asked to look at both PRIMARY  and SECONDARY sources in your research.  So what is a primary source and what is a secondary source?

A 'source' is something that we use as evidence to understand past events. For example, to find information about the Aztec people, we can look in history text books and websites that have been written by historians.  We can also read diary entries written by the Spanish Conquistadors who wrote about what they saw.  These are all sources of information. The diary entry is a primary source - it is first-hand information. The text books and web sites are secondary sources because they were created at a later date.

To help you understand sources, go to this website to read about primary and secondary sources and play the Rags to Riches game on the site for practice:

http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/ttravis/social_studies_class.cfm?subpage=788062

After you have played, complete the primary and secondary sources worksheet and hand to your teacher.

2.

Credits