I have revised my research idea to encompass the general history of yerba maté in colonial Latin America, rather than just in Argentina because I think that might have been too specific (I was struggling to find good sources). It seems to be something that was adopted by the colonizers and I think that will lead to interesting accounts and findings on the role of maté in colonial society.

Primary source:

I can not find the actual letter, but according to Adalberto López, in “The Economics of Yerba Mate in Seventeenth-Century South America”,

Secondary Sources:

Folch, Christine. “Stimulating Consumption: Yerba Mate Myths, Markets, and Meanings from Conquest to Present.” Comparative Studies in Society and History52, no. 1 (2009): 6–36. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0010417509990314.

Joyce, T. A. “Use and Origin of Yerba Maté.” Nature134, no. 3394 (1934): 760–62. https://doi.org/10.1038/134760a0.

López, Adalberto. “The Economics of Yerba Mate in Seventeenth-Century South America.” Agricultural History 48, no. 4 (1974): 493-509. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3741386.

Rodríguez‐Alegría, Enrique. “Eating Like an Indian.” Current Anthropology46, no. 4 (2005): 551–73. https://doi.org/10.1086/431526.

Often when reading the Europeans reports of the Aztecs, they are betrayed as kind people. Until the idea of religion is brought in to play, where the Aztecs are viewed as “horrible and abominable” people. Often the view of what truly happened is lost about the new world, with the Europeans reports. I am interested in researching the Aztec religion and how they worshiped their gods or god. I think it is very fascinating learning more about the religions of the indigenous group’s religion and how it compares to modern-day catholicism. With bringing the idea of sacrificial practices and the idea of cannibalism can’t help but spark my entrance.

Primary Source:
An Image of human sacrifice from the Aztec codex, 16th century from Victors and Vanquished

Secondary Source:
Bošković, Aleksandar. “In the Age of the Fifth Sun: Jacques Soustelle’s Studies of Aztec Religion.” Anthropos, vol. 87, no. 4/6, 1992, pp. 533–537. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40462662.Read, Kay A. “The Fleeting Moment: Cosmogony,

Eschatology, and Ethics in Aztec Religion and Society.” The Journal of Religious Ethics, vol. 14, no. 1, 1986, pp. 113–138. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40015027.

Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. “Aztec Religion and Warfare: Past and Present Perspectives.” Latin American Research Review, vol. 25, no. 2, 1990, pp. 248–259. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2503790.

HIGGINS, LILY. “Sculpting Nature: An Aztec Rattlesnake in Stone.” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 2017, pp. 78–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26378752.

BARRERA, JOEL ANDRÉS. “Aztec Civilization: Second Prize, Adler Book Collecting Contest, 1985.” The Princeton University Library Chronicle, vol. 47, no. 1, 1985, pp. 79–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26404243.

Sanders, William T. American Antiquity, vol. 31, no. 5, 1966, pp. 759–760. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2694518.

My research will focus on the independence movements in the viceroyalties of New Granada and Peru leading up to, during and following the Napoleonic Wars and the invasion of Spain in Europe. I want to mostly focus on the movements led by Simon Bolivar that resulted in the creation of Gran Colombia, and examine what caused his independence movements to be so successful, at least in their goal of separating these regions from the authority of the Spanish crown. I plan to examine the cultural background of the area that would soon become Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, explore the revolutionary sentiment that arose there, and discuss Bolivar’s role and motivation in leading those goals of independence to fruition.

Primary source:

https://archive.org/details/memoirssimonbol00holsgoog/page/n77

‘Memoirs of Simon Bolivar, President Liberator of the Republic of Colombia’ by H.L.V. Ducoudray Holstein.

Secondary sources:

LYNCH, JOHN. Simón Bolívar (Simon Bolivar): A Life. Yale University Press, 2006. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1npnhh.

Simon, Joshua. “SIMÓN BOLÍVAR’S REPUBLICAN IMPERIALISM: ANOTHER IDEOLOGY OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION.” History of Political Thought 33, no. 2 (2012): 280-304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26225770.

Roberts, W. Adolphe. “Great Men of the Caribbean 2. Simón Bolívar.” Caribbean Quarterly 1, no. 3 (1949): 4-8. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40652462.

Bushnell, David. “The Gran Colombian Experiment (1819–1830).” In The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself, 50-73. University of California Press, 1993. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt4cgf7g.6.

For my research, I think I would like to research Aztec birth and midwifery. This is a topic that has fascinated me for a long time and something that I think will be interesting as well as being something more in-depth in their culture. I hope to learn about what their traditions were at birth and their reasoning behind their practices. I also hope to learn how the colonization may have changed their practices. I would also like to learn about how European women gave birth and were helped early on where there were not many women in the new world from Europe.

Primary source: http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/305 this primary source is an image from the Codex Mendoza. It depicts birth rituals, in particular, the bathing and the naming ceremonies.

Secondary sources:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/01-02/aztec-midwife-practical-pregnancy-care/   This is a good overview of Aztec midwifery by the National Geographic.

https://www.eiu.edu/historia/Thoele.pdf This is a nice article on how Aztec children were birthed and treated.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/nourishing-gods-birth-and-personhood-in-highland-mexican-codices/D66156688021248E8F99BA45CC9A5FCE This looks like it will offer a great insight into th relationship between birthing and children to the gods.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325493181_Aztec_Pregnancy_Archaeological_and_Cultural_Foundations_for_Motherhood_and_Childbearing_in_Ancient_Mesoamerica This article offers a look at rituals, the roles of people, and complications during birth.

Previously I was interested in trade connections between Aztec and Mayan society. However, my main focus has now changed to investigating the city of Tenochtitlan and how it became the center of commerce and an important symbol in prehispanic Mesoamerica. Sticking with a comparative study, I want to understand why it is impossible to understand Mesoamerican trade without Tenochtitlan. To do this, I will also look at other Aztec cities, such as Chiconaulta, for comparisons. The Mesoamerican metropolis established in the minds of the Europeans that the Aztecs were sophisticated people who shared many of the same societal qualities seen in Europe. From Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs were able to spread their influence across Mesoamerica by inviting outside tribes and ethnic groups to sell their products, creating a multicultural center of commerce.

Primary Source: https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-of-mexico/letters-from-hernan-cortes/cortes-describes-tenochtitlan

Secondary Sources:

For my revised research topic, I plan to analyze the cosmological ideas of late medieval Europeans and the Inca pre-contact, focusing on how these peoples interpreted the universe. This subject is important because it highlights the ways in which people from different parts of the globe attempted to order the universe, demonstrating that all humans—even those whom Europeans considered to be different and separate from their own society—contemplate about the universe and their place within it. No matter their culture, the universe was something that many people thought about, yet Europeans considered their own perspectives and modes of understanding to be superior to those of the Inca. This demonstrates the Eurocentric worldview of Europeans both pre- and post-contact

Primary sources:

1. Bernabe Cobo’s History of the Inca Empire, translated by Roland Hamilton. This is a Spanish Jesuit’s perspective on Incan culture from the seventeenth century, which therefore reflects a colonial point of view.
2. Artistotle’s On the Heavens, a text that was written around 350 BC. Aristotle’s ideas about the universe provided an extensive foundation for later medieval European cosmology.

Secondary sources:

1. Clive Ruggels – Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth
2. Bryan E. Penprase – The Power of Stars
3. Edward Grant – “The Medieval Cosmos: Its Structure and Operation”
4. Susan Elizabeth – To Feed and Be Fed: The Cosmological Bases of Authority and Identity in the Andes
5. Johan Reinhard – Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center
6. Anthony F. Aveni – Stairways to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures