During the 1500s, there arose challenges to existing religious and philosophical beliefs in Europe, Asia and Mexico. Based on historical information in college history class, this article will explain which place saw the most significant change and why?
During the 1500s, there were many religious transformations. The three areas of the world that had the most change were Mexico, Europe and Asia. The most drastic change in culture and religion was Mexico. This was due to their previous history of multi-gods and sacrifices to the gods that became Christianity after the Europeans took the land and the people. In Europe and Asia there were many different transformations, but none so fast and drastic as the Mexican culture.
Huitzilopochtli was the sun god and one of the main gods of the Aztec culture before the age of exploration lead to Europeans invading their societies and culture. Before the Europeans came to America, the Emperor of the Aztecs, Huehue Moteczoma (Moctezuma I), spoke to all peoples of Mexico saying, “You well know you are obliged to him [Huitzilopochtli] and I command you…” to create an understanding that all of the societies of Mexico must obey him (RT 29). This and the flower wars that were conflicts started by the Aztecs to find people to be sacrificed to the god, Huitzilopochtli, were the reasons why so many other societies of Mexico wanted to revolt against the Aztec rule.
Once the Europeans, specifically the Spanish, came to the Americas, such as Herman Cortes, these frustrated communities joined forces with them and lead a revolt against the Aztecs. Once dominated by Europeans, all of the societies of Mexico had to drastically change their culture of polytheism to the monotheism of Christianity. The influence of the European culture onto Mexico is exhibited in the primary source “Diego Duran” as the writer, gives the simile, Moctezuma I “determined to build the temple to his god Huitzilopochtli, like the great king Solomon…” (RT 28).
The Mexican people had no other cultures than those that surrounded the gods Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcuatl and others. The smallpox introduction to the Native Americans was also devastating to their culture as their civilizations were destroyed and forgotten. The writings that provide their history are from the Spanish and other Europeans that came and changed their culture so they are not completely accurate accounts.
Once the Age of Exploration came to Mexico the European nations were attempting to spread their beliefs, but they too had some difficult times attempting to solidify their beliefs. The Reformation, for example, lead to rifts in the Catholic Church and some new religious ideas about God were sprouting such as Calvinism and Lutheranism. The Protestant faiths founded by John Calvin and Martin Luther focused on the Bible is the only source of truth but these beliefs did not differ in who the Lord was because each of the sprouting faiths was focused on God unlike the religious transformations in Mexico.
One difference in the beliefs of John Calvin was the belief in Predestination, which Martin Luther and the Catholic Church did not believe was true. Luther and Calvin believed that the Bible should be read by all and in their own languages, “One thing, and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom.
That one thing is the holiest Word of God, the gospel of Christ” (RT 59). The older, Catholic beliefs were still strong in the civilization and the church went through a reformation period where the council of Trent decided on more affirmed beliefs such as the Bible being a source of truth for the religion but also stating that trained clergy was also a strong source of truth for the religion. These small differences in the beliefs of Europe lead to multiple religions but did not lead to as radical a change in religion as in Mexico.
In other areas of the world such as Asia, there was widespread Confucianism with the government enforcing the hierarchies of the time period. After Wang Yangming, a government official and scholar, defeated the Prince of Ning’s rebellion he had to decide the fates of over 60,000 rebellions. This capture of rebels leads to a new policy being implemented by Wang Yangming that was based on forgiveness. Wang had ideas that differed from the Confucian government, but it did not differ too far from the Confucianism that the government even cared.
Wang’s ideas mainly consisted of innate knowing of kindness and avoiding selfish behavior. He believed the government was for the people and the main part of his ideas that differed from the government was that he had fewer class distinctions. In the Mughal Empire, there comprised of a variety of religious traditions but the government did not understand how to control all of these kinds of people. After Bubur, the first ruler of the Mughal Empire died, his decedents split up the empire to rule since there was no clear chain of command.
Akbar’s section of the Mughal Empire became a nation of the “Divine Religion” as he created debates of a variety of religions from across the world. The neutral ground for religious debate opened up the gates to more writings on the different religions, but although the nobles were upset that the kingdom could be spreading these different religions, the different faiths did not travel very far in the empire. There did become a now split southern Asia because of the religious debates, but there continued to be Muslim traditions and people across the world. Like in Europe the fundamental ideas continued and there were some parts of each area that continued the original belief to this day, unlike Mexico.
The most transformed society of the 1500s was Mexico for there drastic change in religious traditions. This transformation was due to the Europeans coming to Mexico during the Age of Exploration and taking the Mexican beliefs and turning them into Christian beliefs. This change was the most drastic of any other areas of the world in that time period because Europe and Asia both had the splitting of beliefs, but they did not abandon the original belief like in Mexico. To this day people cannot completely understand the full religion of the Aztecs because there is only documentation from after the Europeans entered the civilization. Europe and Asia had one belief and there were interdictions of other beliefs, but they did not destroy and forget the old religion such as what the explorers to Mexico made the Native Americans do to their old religious beliefs.The information used for this article was ascertained through a college history class. I had never learned about this kind of information while in high school or younger as the school taught me nationalism for the United States over and over again. This is some insight into what transformation took place around the world before the United States even existed.
RT refers to the book Religious Transformations of the Early Modern Period
