Two of the world s leading scholars of the Aztec language and culture have translated Sahagun s monumental and encyclopedic study of native life in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. This immense undertaking is the first complete translation into any language of Sahagun s Nahuatl text, and represents one of the most distinguished contributions in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics.
Written between 1540 and 1585, the "Florentine Codex" (so named because the manuscript has been part of the Laurentian Library s collections since at least 1791) is the most...

Two of the world s leading scholars of the Aztec language and culture have translated Sahagun s monumental and encyclopedic study of native life in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. This immense undertaking is the first complete translation into any language of Sahagun s Nahuatl text, and represents one of the most distinguished contributions in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics.
Written between 1540 and 1585, the "Florentine Codex" (so named because the manuscript has been part of the Laurentian Library s collections since at least 1791) is the most...

How is it possible that in 1521 five-hundred Spanish soldiers defeated the most powerful military force in Middle America? The answer lies not in western firearms, as we have been taught, but rather in the differences between the Aztec and Spanish cultures. Differing concepts of warfare and diplomacy, reinforced by tensions and stresses within the Aztec political system and its supporting religious beliefs, allowed Cortes to systematically gain and hold the military and diplomatic advantages that gave the Spaniards the day, the war, and the continent.