Aztec Empire: the dominant force in the pre-historic Columbia Mexico (Annotated Bibliography Sample)

Aztec Annotated Bibliography Student Name Institutional Affiliation Aztec Annotated Bibliography Baquedano, E., & Zabé, M. (2012). Aztec. New York: DK Pub., Inc. Baquedano and Zabé’s book is an important read that is significant in providing elaborate information about the development/origin of Aztec and Inca as major cities established in Mesoamerica. Through various illustrations and photographs based on real-life objects, this book offers a better means of coming up with a clear picture about the rise of Aztec and Inca from a point of view of data gathered from scholars and natives. Designed for young readers of geography, the book comes out as an outstanding source that uses a simple to understand language in offering the much needed information about Aztec. The source is also credible when considered through the realms of the authors’ level of experience and expertise in geographic research. In this sense, Baquedano and Zabé have a vast experience in presenting information about mysterious worlds and ancient people. Their expertise also span to the understanding of rituals and beliefs as held by various civilizations across the globe. As such, this source would be an important tool for conducting research about Inca and Aztec. Every researcher of these ancient civilizations would definitely find Aztec a useful source of data and information concerning the establishment of Aztec as an ancient civilization. Greek, J. (2017). Hernán Cortés: Conquistador, colonizer, and destroyer of the Aztec Empire. New York: Rosen Publishing. The major objective of this book by Greek is to examine the history of Aztec empire through the legacy of Hernn Corts. This legacy lives on several years after Corts conqured the strongest empire of its time (Aztec). Although the book traces Corts’ eventual life, there are specific ideas about major figures that played various roles in the establishment of Aztec as a formidable empire and those that took part in contributing towards is fall. Readers of the book would learn about alliances made by Corts with key enemies of Aztec and the deterioration in the relationship between the empire and the Spanish. Although Corts was apologetic in later years after the conquest, the book goes deeper into examining the many controversies that surrounded his life and deeds. With detailed information about the development and fall of Aztec empire, Greek manages to use credible sources of information as a means of validating the findings of the study. Therefore, the book can be a significant resource for research targeting the understanding of the Aztec empire history. King, T. B. (2015). The case for the Aztec goldsmith. Ancient Mesoamerica, 26, 2, 313-327. The analysis of the Aztec case of goldsmith is another important approach utilized by scholars as a major approach of assessing the rise of Aztec empire. Some gold ornaments found around the Basin of Mexico point to the artwork of Aztec goldsmiths as opposed to earlier link with artisans from Mixtec (King, 2015). Analysis of these ornaments shed more light into an insightful understanding of the manner with which Aztec rulers used to gift provincial leaders with precious items as a strategy for maintaining good diplomatic relations and the creation of a sustainable political patronage system. Through these realizations, readers of this journal article are able to come up with a better understanding of Aztec empire by evaluating artistic styles of goldsmiths and the attached concept of the empire’s political system. King’s article provides a good source of reference for every researcher focusing on Mesoamerican history. In fact, being a journal article, this source is effective in being both reliable and credible. The research methodology and presentation of data also enhance the reader’s ability to evaluate Aztec culture, history, political development, social structures, and economic milestones throughout the empire’s rise to its downfall. Therefore, using the information from this source is an important measure for ensuring that research findings meet the necessary levels of validity. Long, E. (2016). Aztec. New York: Rosen Publishing Group. According to Long (2016), the origins of Aztec are hard to describe since they are uncertain. In this book, Aztec was the dominant force that ruled throughout the pre-historic Columbia Mexico. However, Aztec had a complex and highly complicated system of political, economic, and social form of a society. Despite this complexity, Aztec rose into being one of the greatest civilizations in the Central America region. From this point of view, readers of this book are able to learn about the fascinating history attached to the Aztec people. The knowledge acquired from this reading supports elementary social studies as well as enabling students of higher learning to have basic information about Aztec. Long’s book is an important source of research about Aztec considering the fact that the presentation of data and ideas takes the form of artwork and photographs of historical artifacts related to Aztec. This approach is useful in enabling readers to absorb and come into terms with the Aztec culture. Therefore, with this important information, this source is useful in supporting a research project aimed at bringing forth the understanding of the various factors that led to the establishment and fall of Aztec. Maffie, J. (2015). Aztec philosophy: Understanding a world in motion. Colorado: Boulder University Press of Colorado. In this book, James Maffie illustrates that Aztec advanced in a sophisticated and coherent philosophy that is worth for consideration alongside other philosophies that have been studied across the globe. The author brings together a comparative world of philosophy as well as aspects related to the study of the history of Mesoamerican world. In doing so, Maffie becomes successful in excavating the most intrinsic philosophical aspects related to the Aztec thought. This philosophical aspect examines the rise of Aztec through the civilization’s metaphysics and thinking about concepts related to wisdom, ethics, and religious practices. Additionally, Maffie’s book takes into concern philosophical factors that might have led to both the rise and fall of the Aztec civilization. Through a philosophical point of view, this source is credible in the sense that there is an elaborate of scholarly sources of information as a means of ascertaining every argument about the Aztec philosophy. At the same time, a comparative approach of analyzing and assessing the philosophies of ancient civilizations enables the reader of the book to understand specific issues that are characteristic of such civilizations and the manner with which such philosophies influenced their establishment. As such, it is important to note that this resource is an important source of information for every researcher seeking to have an explicit exploration of Aztec development through its philosophy. Minc, L. D. (2009). Style and Substance: Evidence for Regionalism within the Aztec Market System. Latin American Antiquity, 20, 2, 343-374. In Minc’s article, the emergence of Aztec empire and the accompanying consolidation of power along the Basin of Mexico had a high level of economic integration realized from regional market exchange. Although there is a significant amount of literature trying to dispute the concept of market system during the development of Aztec relied heavily on commercial and political forces, Minc examines that ‘pax ezteca’ and its assumption led to a dominant basin-wide exchange system that eventually resulted in the stability of Aztec. Through a candid analysis of Aztec Red Wares ceramics, Minc’s article demonstrates the strengths of economic divisions and boundaries within the Basin of Mexico as the major factors that resulted in the establishment of empires such as Aztec. Published in Latin American Antiquity, it is difficult to question the authenticity and credibility of this article. The rationale for this judgment is that the journal article went through a rigorous review by various scholars before its publication. As such, this article is one of the most reliable sources of information that would support research concerning Aztec and Mesoamerican history. Therefore, for this research, it would be significantly important to consider the use of this source as a means of attaining information through the realms of Aztec’s market system and the eventual rise of the empire.Top of Form Morehart, C. T. (2012). What if the Aztec empire never existed?: The prerequisites of empire and the politics of plausible alternative histories. American Anthropologist, 114, 2, 267-281. According to Morehart (2012), studying the past is useful in providing a better understanding of ethnic and national identity. Communities usually glorify a specific town such as Aztec for various reasons. However, in the Mexican community and the Mesoamerican region at large, communities consider Aztec as a descendant of an ancient empire with a rich history that define the development of an empire and a nation. Using archeological knowledge, the author of this article comes up with the conclusion that Aztec played an important role in leading the way to the success of social, political, and economic structures of the Mesoamerican region. However, the greatest concern for the author is the history of the establishment of the empire and the analysis of its rise to glory and its final fate upon falling. Morehart’s research article is precise in offering succinct information about the process that defines the establishment of Aztec. By considering various historical events that took place in the Mesoamerican region, the author comes up with a better understanding of how studying the past would eventually lead to a better position for evaluating the present situation. ...