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Conquest in Christian Religious Terms

INSTRUCTIONS:

Read the following primary sources (posted as additional material). Then, write a paper(1000 - 1500 words) with a thesis statement and argument backed up with evidence from the primary sources. Your paper will be a response to one of the questions provided, with your answer serving as your thesis statement.Question #1:There are things that are obviously untrue in each of these documents. Identify one element that is untrue or highly exaggerated in both documents (that is, one exaggeration you find in BOTH documents). Why is there this similarity in the texts? That is, what does this exaggeration or false information tell us about what Europeans believed to be beyond Europe?HINT: You want your answer to address the what (was exaggerated or untrue in both documents) and the why (was this false information included in both documents). So your thesis will look something like: Both Mandeville and Cortes mention purple monsters in their text because Europeans believed that purple monsters represented the opposite of humanity. Question #2Europeans, and especially the Spanish, justified conquest in Christian religious terms, arguing that conquest was intended to spread Christianity or unite Christians. Look at how both texts discuss religion and look for similarities and differences. Is religion the primary motivating factor? If not, what is the motivating factor and what role did religion play?HINT: You may argue that it is, that it was a factor but that something else was the primary factor, that something else far outweighed religion, or any number of things. DO mention religion, and why it was included, but it doesn’t need to be the main focus of the paper if you think something else is more important.Remember that both texts are substantially imaginary. Mandeville is a work of fiction based on travel accounts of others and Cortes’s letter is meant to impress Charles more than it is meant to accurately describe a place. Both became bestsellers to a general audience in Early Modern Europe. As such, both texts say more about the desires and fears of Europeans than about places beyond Europe.
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