¶ … Broken Spears and Requerimiento, addressing in particular the common cosmological and social systems in the Spanish and Aztec civilizations (and the reasons behind this), the importance of religion in the Conquest, and the religious practices of both the Spaniards and the Aztecs, in terms of their similarities and differences. In terms of religion, both the Spaniards and the Aztecs were highly religious people, with the Spaniards believing in one God, through a catholic tradition, and the Aztecs believing in polytheism, with many gods and goddesses being worshipped regularly. Each god and goddess ruled one facet of human actions, or of nature, and the Aztecs believed that to ensure the balance of the world, these gods and goddesses had to be pacified. This led to the origin and practice of human sacrifice, as the...

The Aztecs are known to have two calendar systems, the xiuhpohualli which had 365 days, and which described the passing of the days accurately. This calendar was used to record the seasons, and as such was used by the Aztecs to define the solar/agricultural year. The other calendar in use by the Aztecs was the tonalpohualli which was a much more spiritually-oriented, sacred, calendar, and was used by the Aztecs in a divinatory capacity, which divided the days and…