One of the most fascinating things I found about the Mesoamerican Empire that existed before the Spaniards arrived was how similar the Spanish reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula was to the conquests of the Aztecs in Mesoamerica. Both of these conquests were fueled by religious and political ideologies of their peoples. The Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella wanted their Catholic imperialist ideology to dominate the Iberian Peninsula kicking out Jews and Muslims. The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon united with one another to achieve this goal. This unification mirrors the formation of the Triple Alliance in Mesoamerica which would become the Aztec Empire in 1428, not much time before the Spanish reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. “This ‘Triple Alliance’ of Tenochititlan-Texcoco-Tacuba defeated the Tepanecs in 1428, falling heir to Tezozomoc’s realm”, (Conrad and Demarest 31). The Council of Castile which was a class of lower nobles who advised the monarchy of Spain was similar to a noble class of the Aztecs. The Aztec noble class was known as the pipiltins and the tlatoani who were nobles and warriors who were given certain privileges in Aztec society. “They concentrated wealth, social privilege, and political power in the hands of the ruling tlatoani, his warrior knights and the noble pipiltin class. The religious reforms consolidated and legitimized these changes, forming an ideological context for the new institutions and the inspiration for the state’s continued expansion”, (Conrad and Demarest 33). The religious and political reforms of the Aztecs mirrored the Spanish edict which forced Muslims and Jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion in 1492. Both of these policies strictly enforced cultural and political solidarity within these societies. The Aztecs forced the conquered peoples of Mesoamerica to conform to their beliefs and ideology just like the Spanish did in the Iberian Peninsula.
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