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Notes:

1. On November 8, 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and a battalion of four hundred soldiers entered and seized Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital of the emperor Montezuma.
2. Although contact with the Europeans devastated the cultures of the Native American groups, efforts were also made to preserve Aztec verbal arts.
3. Though many Aztec and Mayan works were translated into European languages, they were not made available in native languages for fear of encouraging native religious practices.
4. Much of the literary work in Native American cultures belongs to three basic genres of the oral tradition—song, narrative, and oratory.
5. How is it possible for "outsiders" to appreciate fully the complexity of literary works that are inextricably linked to indigenous cultural practices and mores?

Text:
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1. On November 8, 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and a battalion of four hundred soldiers entered and seized Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital of the emperor Montezuma. The Aztecs, who had been forewarned about the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, viewed them as spirits from the stories of fabled hero Quetzalcoatl (Plumed serpent). According to legend, Quetzalcoatl had fled to the east in disgrace but promised to return; the Aztecs apparently viewed CortÈs as Quetzalcoatl. The conquest of Tenochtitlán in 1521 inspired a generation of intruders to conquer and colonize other areas in the Americas. Francisco Pizarro eventually destroyed the Inca empire by 1533; within a century, European nations, including Britain and Portugal, established colonial outposts in the eastern parts of the Americas.
2. The conquest of the Americas precipitated economic exchanges between the "New World" and Europe. European commodities (wheat, livestock, firearms, horses) were "exchanged" for tomatoes, chilies, chocolate, tobacco, corn, potatoes, silver, and gold. Clergy and missionaries also learned Nahuatl, while teaching the Aztecs Spanish primarily through religious scriptures and writings about the lives of saints. Although contact with the Europeans devastated the cultures of the native American groups, efforts were also made to preserve Aztec verbal arts. Franciscan missionary-ethnographer Bernardino de SahagTn compiled the first modern work of anthropology, The Florentine Codex. Working with Aztec elders and scribes, SahagTn aimed to produce a comprehensive record of Aztec culture. The Cantares Mexicanos (Songs of the Aztecs) was compiled in the late sixteenth century and is considered the most extensive surviving source of Aztec poetry. Similar efforts were made to preserve Mayan artistic traditions. The Popol Vuh of the Quiché Maya of Guatemala is a cherished collection containing stories of creation and the origins of the universe.
3. Though many Aztec and Mayan works were translated into European languages, they were not made available in native languages for fear of encouraging native religious practices. Very few individuals were willing to cooperate with missionaries and anthropologists intent on learning about their religious and cultural practices. But from the earliest times, intellectuals from within the respective traditions worked to compile and record their own stories without involving missionaries and anthropologists.
4. Much of the literary work in Native American cultures belongs to three basic genres of the oral—song, narrative, and oratory. While the boundaries between each are not always clear, narrative, unlike song, is highly improvisational. Rarely accompanied by music, the text of songs varies very little. Narrative is the most extensive genre and includes tales that relate the heroic exploits of gods and other heroes. Located between song and narrative, oratory is a wide, encompassing genre, including prayers, monologues, colloquy, and magical formulas.
5. Perhaps the most important questions to explore when studying oral native American literatures relates to methodology. How is it possible for "outsiders" to appreciate fully the complexity of literary works that are inextricably linked to indigenous cultural practices and mores? The fact that missionaries and anthropologists compiled many of the works suggests that questions about power, colonialism, and cultural barriers are crucially important to understanding the ways in which European/ Western culture has received the literary works of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.