What impact did colonization have on the Aztecs?

Answer 1

Disastrous- the Aztec and Inca peoples were first colonised by the Spanish, the first expeditionary force being led by conquistadore Herman Cortes. The Aztecs were astonished by the Westerners, their ships and their guns- even by their cavalry, as they themselves never used horses for riding and thought that a horseman was half-man, half beast! The Aztec King Montezuma believed Cortes to be the incarnation of their god Quetzaloatl, whom his astrologers and priests had foretold would arrive from the East, 'dark-skinned and in a strange vehicle'.

Montezuma and the Aztec race thus worshipped the Spaniards as living deities, affording them every hospitality and showering them with rich gifts. Cortes returned to Spain laden with Aztec gold, but once the Spanish Government realised what wealth there was to be had from the Inca lands, they sent large military taskforces to overrun and conquer the people. The poor Aztecs couldn't believe that their former friends and heroes were turning against them- often being too astonished to retaliate, they were slaughtered in their thousands. Others fought back bravely, but their spears and archers were no match for the Spanish cannon and matchlocks, and many Aztec and Inca tribes were all but annihilated (even when using captured Spanish guns). Others fled Northwards to re-settle in Southern Mexico, where for a while they were unmolested, but as the Americas became colonised in the following decades many interbred with South American Spanish, until in the end their gene pool was very diluted and the pure Aztec race was all but gone.

Some Latin American tribes are able to claim more direct descent from the aztecs than other South American peoples, most especially those from the Central nations of Peru and Bolivia.

Answer 2

Many Aztecs died from diseases brought by Spanish!