Analysis of Microsoft Financial Statements - 1924 Words

Analysis of Financial Statements Financial statements are frequently a key source of information for financial decisions and taking a look at Microsoft’s financial statements can help us decide certain things about the company. There are three different types of statements that will be discussed in this section. These include: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows. They are discussed here in either the sense of quarterly or yearly statements and will be noted as so. All information has been derived from Yahoo Finance. (http://finance.yahoo.com) The first statement that will be analyzed for Microsoft is the balance sheet. The balance sheet is essentially a snapshot of what the firm owns†¦show more content†¦The final section of the statement of cash flows is the financing section, which shows the dividends paid, the purchases of stock, the net borrowings, and other possible cash flows from financing activities. A positive trend for investors is the fact that d ividends paid has increased (even though it is negative to the firm) as well as sale purchase of stock, from 2009 to 2011 and even increased quarterly in 2011. The net borrowings is off an on from 2009 to 2011 possibly because of certain funds needed in particular years. In 2009, it was $5,746,000,000 and in 2010, it was $190,000,000. It shot back up again in 2011, with $5,960,000,000. The three statements that were provided in this section provide possible investors, competitors, and even those within the company with useful information to make important decisions that could affect their livelihood or the livelihood of Microsoft. Keep in mind that even though financial statements are a solid indicator of how a company is performing, one key principle about must be known when viewing them to make decisions. They do not always provide all of the information that you may need. There are usually underlying topics that could affect the company that are not necessarily showing up o n their financial statements. These topics are discussed in other sections of this report on Microsoft. We feel it important to compare Microsoft’s ratios not only to other companies and industry norms,Show MoreRelatedFinancial Statement Analysis of Microsoft2220 Words   |  9 Pagesâ…   Introduction Microsoft is a company that is famous for its various products such as the Windows series. The firm is well known and is frequently cited as an example of good management. However, how good is it? As of December 1st, 2007, one share of Microsoft was approximately $33. Every investor would be curious if that price is reasonable. Also, it is too dangerous to rely completely on intuition or rumor when you buy stocks. 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Statements: The Income Statement for any company is a statement that shows the year-to-dateRead MoreMicrosoft : An American Multinational Corporation Company1542 Words   |  7 PagesI did my research on Microsoft of how they were formed and how the technology is always in competition with Apple, and Sony. I have always used Microsoft product to know about the real reason I enjoy using them. I actually believe that they are one of the most inspiring products on earth. I am starting to see more Microsoft items in stores and I haven’t really heard much about them. Whereas companies such as Apples are always being talked about and you often see people walking around with some typeRead MoreBusiness Analysis Part Ii: Apple, Inc.1450 Words   |  6 PagesBusiness Analysis Part II: Apple, Inc. MGT/Management 521 February 27, 2012 Apple, Inc. is appears to be a successful billion-dollar corporation, this analysis will focus on the financial health of this organization. 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Further, it shows the financial of the company on a particular date and â€Å"it provides a snapshot of a business’ health at a point in time† (Bond, n.d. p. 4). However, the fact that the balance sheet is a snapshot denotes that it is only valid at the time it was createdRead MoreMicrosoft Accounting Strategy1073 Words   |  5 PagesMicrosoft’s Financial Reporting Strategy The case at hand is primarily to discuss the financial reporting strategy adopted by Microsoft Inc. for the period 1996-1999 and the subsequent litigation that arose out of the accounting practice followed by Microsoft. Microsoft’s primary operations has been developing and manufacturing of the software products. As a company, it has shown a very stable growth in terms of revenues and profits, thus enabling better than industry share price increase over

Moving From The United States - 1671 Words

Moving to the United States A crowd of young rebellious men, loud voices shouting for freedom, shells, bombs, grenades, blood, and death; this is where my story started from. There are many changes that can happen in a person’s life. Some changes are very tiny and would not affect your life very much. However, other events could be very important and could change a person’s whole life, such as mine. These big events can cause a change in our lifestyle, personality, and the way we look at things. It can also make us realize the value of things that we did not care about before. My life changing event is when I moved with my family to the United States. I grew up at a city in Syria called Homs. It was a nice small city with very lovely and generous people who got each other backs. We did not have many places to have fun at, but we created the fun for ourselves. I could visit one of my grandparents’ houses and have a sleepover there with my cousins. I could go for a walk with my friends in the great crowded streets, have some desserts and pastries from the most delicious bakery I have ever tried, shop some clothes from the stores that are lined up next to each other, or just sit in a cafà © and have a drink. I had a simple normal life, but many other people did not. A lot of the Syrians suffered from poverty and did not have jobs, but I did not know about these people. We also had a bad regime that was based on bribe and corruption, but I was not aware of it. It all started onShow MoreRelatedMoving To Another Country Essay722 Words   |  3 PagesFive Things to Know About Moving Your Belongings to Another Country If you are moving from the United States to a foreign country with your family, there are several things you need to know about the process. You may have moved before, but leaving the country you reside in to live in another nation is a big move. The following are a few things you need to consider in advance. 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Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away are both moving, feel-good, fantasy movies with quite the following behind them, but Howl’s Moving Castle shows more character development on both the protagonist and antagonist side, sold more at the box office in the United States, and has a more compelling storyline. Howl’s Moving Castle was originally a book written by Diana Wynne Jones. The book and movie are about aRead MoreWhy Is It So Difficult For People?1310 Words   |  6 Pages and moving it halfway across the world. You don’t speak their language, don’t know their cultures, and frankly look different. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet a young lady who did this. She picked up her life, along with her family and moved to the United States. I interviewed a girl who moved to the United States at the age of 17, from Puerto Rico to Wisconsin. Although Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, it’s a completely different culture and it scared her. 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Integrated Marketing Communications Plan Free Essays

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN A. ADVERTISING Advertising refers to the paid promotion of goods and services through a sponsoring organization or company. While marketing has the objective to choose markets that have the capacity to purchase a product, Â  advertising, on the other hand, is the paid communication through which relevant information about the product is conveyed to potential consumers (2001). We will write a custom essay sample on Integrated Marketing Communications Plan or any similar topic only for you Order Now In a general sense, the author plans to use advertising in order to be able to impart to interested Christian women aged 13-45 the availability of slots in the Virtuous Woman Pageant. In a way, advertising will also be able to provide critical information regarding the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The author believes that when the advertising campaign for the Virtuous Woman Pageant is achieved effectively, this can lead to an increased interest for Christian women to join the pageant. There are commonly three main objectives of advertisements: (1) conveying relevant information regarding a particular product or service; (2) persuading consumers to purchase the advertised product; and, (3) keep the company under the watchful eyes of the public (2002). But in this particular case, the author plans to mix the elements of all three objectives. Since the Virtuous Woman Pageant is a relatively new event, then it must be supported with informative and persuasive ads. Evaluation of Advertising 1) Advantages The existence of Internet and the continued revolution in the world of Information Technology are certainly positive signs for the successful advertising campaign for the Virtuous Woman Pageant. For instance, the author plans to use Popup ads and email ads as a form of online advertisement. ) Disadvantages In recent years, the public opinion regarding advertising has become very negative. They view it as a medium that only promotes lies. This is of course contrary to the purpose of advertisements to encourage the target market to patronize a particular product or service. Nowadays, most advertisements are either perceived as merely stating opinions or portraying a product or service in a totally distorted idea away from reality. It is his alarming situation regarding the true objectives of advertising that could lead to an increase in the responsibilities that the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant would face. B. PUBLICITY Publicity is a term that is closely related to public relations. While public relations refers to the proper management of all means of communication among the companies and the people involved, publicity, on the other hand, is the careful management of a product or service’s means of communication between the company and the general public. Therefore, it is basically an informative process. However, its main objective is the promotion of products and services being offered by a company. Thus, a publicity plan is being made along the process in order to obtain excellent press coverage for the company’s products (2003). The author and the organizers plan to issue a press release regarding the launching of the Virtuous Woman Pageant, but other methods including Internet releases are in the author’s options. However, in order for these tools and techniques to be effectively utilized by the media, they must be able to generate a great interest from the public. For this to happen, the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant plans to manipulate the press release in order to be a perfect match to the Christian women. The author believes that the most successful publicity releases are often related to topics that the general public can easily relate to. Evaluation of Publicity 1) Advantages The advantages of publicity include having low costs, and its credibility. New technologies such as web cameras and convergence are gradually changing the cost-structure. ) Disadvantages The disadvantages include the lack of control over how the releases will be used, and the accumulation of frustration regarding the low percentage of releases that are being accepted by the media. C. PERSONAL SELLING Sales are an important part of any commercial transaction. The most common approach to personal selling pertains to a systematic process of continuous yet measurable methods in which the person selling describes his offered products or services in such a way that the buyer will be able to visualize ow to benefit from the offered products or services in an economic way. Selling is basically a part of the implementation procedures of marketing. It often forms a particular grouping within a corporate structure, employing independent specialist operatives known as salesmen (2003). The continued interrogation in order to understand a consumer’s goal as well as the establishment of a set of feasible solutions by conveying the necessary information that convinces a buyer to achieve his goal at a reasonable cost is the main responsibility of the sales person. On the other hand, the main objective of professional sales is to be able to know the needs and satisfy the wants of consumers effectively, and therefore convert possible customers into actual and reliable ones (2002). Evaluation of Personal Selling 1) Advantages Some of the distinct advantages that the author sees in the use of personal selling as an IMC tool for the Virtuous Woman Pageant include the immediate access to feedback, the persuasive nature of the endeavor, the option of choosing a target audience for the sales person, and its capability to give detailed information. ) Disadvantages Personal selling may have the tendency to become extremely expensive per exposure, and the gathered information may be different among the sales persons involved. It is a well-known fact that the main objective of selling is to help a consumer achieve his / her goals in a reasonable way. However, this is not always the case. For instance, Christian women can easily be persuaded by outside fac tors to join the Virtuous Woman Pageant that normally does not have any interest to them. Some sales people are being commanded by their mother companies to sell to consumers odd products that they don’t necessarily need. This anomalous behavior is being supported by incentives of sales personnel to increase their total number of sales, incentives from the companies of service providers to sales personnel to sell their products where other similar products offered by competitors are offered, and the incentive to sell a consumer a product that is in need of being wiped out. CONCLUSION The results of the analysis carried out on the proposed IMC tools that would be used for the Virtuous Woman Pageant indicated very significant effects, even amidst the threats of unrest. Therefore, we could conclude that the IMC tools could still be expected to contribute to the successful launching of the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The review of the capabilities and resources of the IMC tools revealed very little inconsistencies regarding the overall strategies. This is coherent with the traditional inside-out approach. However, the need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in approaches becomes imperative now for the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant. The analysis among the environment as well as the capabilities of the IMC tools revealed certain gaps, most of which are biased towards the environment. However, these gaps paved the way towards determining a number of recommended strategic options to secure the competitiveness of the IMC tools. Also, the author and the organizers of the Virtuous Woman Pageant has to find a balance between adherence to internal forces within the management and to the changing forces of the environment in order to implement such strategic options Read more: http://ivythesis. typepad. com/term_paper_topics/2009/11/integrated-marketing-communications-plan. html#ixzz29wJi0bUf How to cite Integrated Marketing Communications Plan, Essay examples

The Year 1000 by Lacy and Danziger

Table of Contents Introduction The Authors The Julius Work Calendar Life in the Year 1000 Conclusion Works Cited Introduction The extent of the primitiveness in the first millennium is quite incomprehensible to the current mind. The mind and the environment have radically evolved to the extent that primitive history seems to be very incredible. This essay is going to analyze how life was at the turn of the first millennium in England as portrayed by Lacy and Danziger. The essay will specifically analyze the cultural, religious, economic and social aspects of the Anglo Saxons during the first millennium.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Year 1000 by Lacy and Danziger specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Authors Robert Lacey is a British historian while Danny Danziger is a journalist. Robert Lacy knowledge in history and archeology combined with the literary skills of the Danny Danziger forms a good combinat ion for them to qualify to write about the history of the people of England in the first millennium. The Julius Work Calendar This calendar shows the monthly activities of the Anglo Saxons in a period of one year. The calendar depicts economic and religious activities that were strictly observed by the priests and farmers. Lacey and Danziger described the lifestyles of the Anglo Saxons in the format of the Julius Work Calendar by having twelve chapters in the book related to the twelve labor months. Life in the Year 1000 The people who lived in England in first millennium were Anglo Saxons who originated from Germany and they spoke Anglo Saxon, the primitive English. The Anglo Saxons lived a simple daily life since their lives were still under primitive evolution. Lacey and Danziger describes their clothing as â€Å"†¦ they wore the simple, sack-like tunics with leggings that we laugh at in the Monty Python movies, though in colors that was rather less muddy (10). Their clothe s were very simple necessary give them minimal privacy with a range of colors obtained from the vegetables. The Anglo Saxons crudely fasten their clothes with thongs and clasps, since the improvised buttons were yet to be invented and this fastening made their clothes to be relatively heavy. The Anglo Saxons had a very short life span due to high prevalence of the diseases. â€Å"A boy of twelve was considered old enough to swear an oath of allegiance to the king, while girls got married in their early teens, often to men who were significantly older than they were. Most adults died in their forties, and fifty-year-olds were considered venerable indeed† (Lacey Danziger 20). Their short life span explains why girls get married at their teen ages of twelve years while boys went to war as kids was considered to become adults at the ages of twelve years.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn Mor e In making their living, Anglo Saxons worked very hard in their agricultural activities so that they can have enough food to feed their increasing population. Archeologically, â€Å"†¦the evidence of arthritis in the bones excavated from Anglo-Saxon graves indicates that most people endured a lifetime of hard manual labor and the Julius Work Calendar shows the different forms which that labor could take† (Lacey Danziger 25). Farming was the major economic activity of the Anglo Saxons because England had appropriate farming landscape and the Julius Work Calendar discretely depicts how the activities of the farming were done all year round. These people tilled their land using a wheeled plough that was drawn by oxen. Lacey and Danziger describes the cultivation process as â€Å"one man to hold the plough, one to walk with the oxen, coaxing and singing and, when necessary, goading the animals forward with a stick: and this created furrows of freshly turned earth, the s ecret of how the soil had been tamed in the course of the previous centuries (30). This formed part of the agrarian revolution in the medieval times. In the matters of sexuality and marriage, sex outside marriage was considered sin. The priests and monks stressed that sex was for procreation only. According to Kleiner and Fenyvesi, â€Å"The band of natural, acceptable sex was very narrow. Sex was to take place in marriage for procreative purposes alone-and always in the missionary position. Too much desire was a sin, as was sex in daylight hours; conjugal relations were also forbidden during menstruation and pregnancy, as well as on Sundays and certain holidays† (5). The sexual lifestyles of Christians were very limited and restricted to the stipulations of the priests and monks. Christians and paganism differed in their perception of sex; hence, women had different roles to play in the matters of sexuality and marriage. For instance, â€Å"a woman whose mate was inattentiv e could take matters into her own hands and whip up a batch of love potion. The sex-starved lass would undress, cover her body with honey, and roll around in a pile of wheat; then she would pick off the grains and grind them into flour used for a bread dough, to be kneaded between her thighs and then baked† (Lacey Danziger 126). The practice shows how women play their role of in sexuality in the making of the medieval aphrodisiac that was used to enhance the sexual ability of the men.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Year 1000 by Lacy and Danziger specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The religion of the Anglo Saxons had the elements of Christian and pagan origin. They greatly revere the portraits and figures of the saints. They draw and relate to the experiences of the saints such as â€Å"Simeon Stylites, the fifth-century hermit who spent much of his life living naked on top of increasingly high pillars , or learning from the life of Mary of Egypt, the patron saint of fallen women† (Lacey Danziger 150). Every morning, people go to their respective monasteries and offer supplication of according the saints’ figures that are assigned each day and they believed that they could attend to their worries and troubles. The monks spend their lives in the monasteries preaching according to the Julius Work Calendar by reciting the monthly festivals of the saints. The eating habits of the Anglo Saxons were still primitive as â€Å"a dinner guest was expected to bring own carving knife† (Kleiner and Fenyvesi 8) to the festival where the main meals were mutton, beef, poultry and pork supplemented with the greens and honey. They also fed on snails to improve their health status. The kinds of the diets that they took reflect their health status that lead to the rapid population growth during the medieval times. Conclusion The human existence today is based on the primitive evo lution of the lifestyles from time immemorial. The lifestyles of the Anglo Saxons in the first millennium as depicted by Lacey and Danziger were too primitive as compared to the present British people and even the world population. Humanity has endured the harsh conditions of life but has evolved with time with the objective of attaining the perfection in terms of the quality of life and living. The wisdom, knowledge and skills we have today will enable us face future challenges as the Anglo Saxons did during the first millennium.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Kleiner, Carolyn Fenyvesi, Charles. â€Å"Life Culture† U.S. News World Report, 1999. Web. Lacey, Robert Danziger, Danny. â€Å"The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium: An Englishman’s World.† 2000. Web. This essay on The Year 1000 by Lacy and Danziger was written and submitted by user Aden Terrell to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

My Little Bit Of Country Essay Essays

My Little Bit Of Country Essay Essays My Little Bit Of Country Essay Essay My Little Bit Of Country Essay Essay My Little Bit of Country As humans we are always haunting the feeling of belonging. Not only the feeling of belonging to someone we love, but also figuring out the place where we feel home and safe. The feeling of belonging clarifies the ideal lifestyle for every individual. Some people find the feeling of belonging in a small suburb surrounded by an untamed nature. Others belong to a life surrounded by millions of people and skyscrapers. Once again, the feeling of belonging is a mindset that makes us value different kinds of lifestyles a feeling that makes us diverge from each other. In the essay My Little of Country (2012) written by Susan Cheaper, the thoughts about living and belonging to the city-life are being divulged to the reader. The essayist is arguing from her point of view of living her ideal life in the big city. Throughout, the essay is composed from a strict personal point of view. The personal point view and form of argumentation is being clarified from the beginning by the title My Little Bit of Country. The essay is following a chronological structure and is composed of two sections. The first section is representing the past where Cheaper is recalling old memories from her holding in New York City. The old memories of New York City are loaded with positive feelings, which appeals to the readers emotions. My earliest memories are of summer mornings in Central Park with my father after he came home from fighting World War II (P. L -l. 1-4). By the use of this as an opening line, and the mentioning of her father fighting in World War II it clarifies her feelings, and the strong importance of the memories from the big city creates sympathy from the beginning. Susan Cheaper starts off in the first section by comparing herself with a yak rapped in the Central park Zoo. Something about him suggested a great acceptance of the world in which he found himself so far from his snowy native mountains and bubbling brooks (p 1. I. 24-27). By using the yak as an example to amplify her feelings and the situation when she is forced to go living on the country with her parents her feeling of belonging in the city gets clarified. The use of an animal that is locked up in a place it does not belong to, appeals again to the readers emotions. Susan Achievers argumentation is build up with a unilateral positive opinion f the city-life supported by the use of negatively and positively loaded contrasts. The contrasts illustrate her strong opinion of her ideal life in the city and the differences between the life in the country and in the city. The city is stated as a place Of dreams -? a safe place to be a place where pieces Of nature also exist. Later in my life I heard Andy Warhol say that it was better to live in the city than the country because in the city he could find a little bit of country, but in the country there was no little bit of city (p. 3 -? l. 40 -149). Susan Cheaper arguments that the city contains the best of both sides, and by that she refers to Central park and The Central Park Zoo as the pieces of nature. In the same time this quotation also amplifies the meaning of the essays title, and how she feels that the city contains everything she needs to contain a successful life. People often associate the nature with an idyllic and peaceful place where people escape to when things get rough, but in Susan Cheaper s essay nature and country are depicted with an ironic attitude. When we went to visit my parents friends who had already made the move to Westchester or New Jersey, the so-called idyll of suburbia seemed a shabby comedown from Central Park (p. 2- l. 105-110). In the same way Cheaper uses negatively loaded adjectives to depict the country as a dangerous and rough place to be contrasting to the city. Why would want to scrape around the rough, dangerous ice of a country lake when I could glide around the smooth ice (p. 2- I. 115-117). The last section is representing the present. The use of both memories from the past and experiences from the present, amplifies her strong opinions and feelings toward the life on the country and in the city. In the last section Susan Cheaper mentions how great an importance Central Park has had during her life, and how the park has turned into a tradition for special and memorable occasions. For the past fifteen years, on New Years Eve we have we have gone to the Central park Our summer traditions happens on or around my birthday at the end of July (p. 4- l. 142-44 / 159-161). Her use of contrast, her unilateral opinions and experience-argumentation that appeals to the readers feelings, depicts the mindset Of most modern people who lives their lives in the big city. In todays socio most modern people no longer associate the country and the nature with a place where the human being belong. Still belonging to either the lifestyle in the city or on the country is an individual feeling and choice. Furthermore it is a statement that the modern society a result of the arbitration has made great changes to the human mindset and values in life. The modern people have now adapted to the life in the big cities surrounded by millions of people and grey skyscrapers that either makes us feel more powerful and successful or small, alienated and alone in a big city as New York.

The Death of Emperor Montezuma

The Death of Emperor Montezuma In November of 1519, Spanish invaders led by Hernan Cortes arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Mexica (Aztecs). They were welcomed by Montezuma, the mighty Tlatoani (emperor) of his people. Seven months later, Montezuma was dead, possibly at the hands of his own people. What happened to the Emperor of the Aztecs? Montezuma II Xocoyotzà ­n, Emperor of the Aztecs Montezuma had been selected to be Tlatoani (the word means speaker) in 1502, the maximum leader of his people: his grandfather, father and two uncles had also been tlatoque (plural of tlatoani). From 1502 to 1519, Montezuma had proven himself to be an able leader in war, politics, religion, and diplomacy. He had maintained and expanded the empire and was lord of lands stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Hundreds of conquered vassal tribes sent the Aztecs goods, food, weapons, and even slaves and captured warriors for sacrifice. Cortes and the Invasion of Mexico In 1519, Hernan Cortes and 600 Spanish conquistadors landed on Mexicos Gulf coast, establishing a base near the present-day city of Veracruz. They began slowly making their way inland, collecting intelligence through Cortes interpreter/mistress Doà ±a Marina (Malinche). They befriended disgruntled vassals of the Mexica and made an important alliance with the Tlaxcalans, bitter enemies of the Aztecs. They arrived in Tenochtitlan in November and were initially welcomed by Montezuma and his top officials. Capture of Montezuma The wealth of Tenochtitlan was astounding, and Cortes and his lieutenants began plotting how to take the city. Most of their plans involved capturing Montezuma and holding him until more reinforcements could arrive to secure the city. On November 14, 1519, they got the excuse they needed. A Spanish garrison left on the coast had been attacked by some representatives of the Mexica and several of them were killed. Cortes arranged a meeting with Montezuma, accused him of planning the attack, and took him into custody. Amazingly, Montezuma agreed, provided he be able to tell the story that he had voluntarily accompanied the Spanish back to the palace where they were lodged. Montezuma Captive Montezuma was still allowed to see his advisors and participate in his religious duties, but only with Cortes permission. He taught Cortes and his lieutenants to play traditional Mexica games and even took them hunting outside of the city. Montezuma seemed to develop a sort of Stockholm Syndrome, in which he befriended and sympathized with his captor, Cortes: when his nephew Cacama, lord of Texcoco, plotted against the Spanish, Montezuma heard of it and informed Cortes, who took Cacama prisoner. Meanwhile, the Spanish continually badgered Montezuma for more and more gold. The Mexica generally valued brilliant feathers more than gold, so much of the gold in the city was handed over to the Spanish. Montezuma even ordered the vassal states of the Mexica to send gold, and the Spaniards amassed an unheard-of fortune: it is estimated that by May they had collected eight tons of gold and silver. Massacre of Toxcatl and Return of Cortes In May of 1520, Cortes had to go to the coast with as many soldiers as he could spare to deal with an army led by Panfilo de Narvaez. Unbeknownst to Cortes, Montezuma had entered into a secret correspondence with Narvez and had ordered his coastal vassals to support him. When Cortes found out, he was furious, greatly straining his relationship with Montezuma. Cortes left his lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado in charge of Montezuma, other royal captives and the city of Tenochtitlan. Once Cortes was gone, the people of Tenochtitlan became restless, and Alvarado heard of a plot to murder the Spanish. He ordered his men to attack during the festival of Toxcatl on May 20, 1520. Thousands of unarmed Mexica, most of the members of the nobility, were slaughtered. Alvarado also ordered the murder of several important lords held in captivity, including Cacama. The people of Tenochtitlan were furious and attacked the Spaniards, forcing them to barricade themselves inside the Palace of Axaycatl. Cortes defeated Narvaez in battle and added his men to his own. On June 24, this larger army returned to Tenochtitlan and was able to reinforce Alvarado and his embattled men. Death of Montezuma Cortes returned to a palace under siege. Cortes could not restore order, and the Spanish were starving, as the market had closed. Cortes ordered Montezuma to reopen the market, but the emperor said that he could not because he was a captive and no one listened to his orders anymore. He suggested that if Cortes freed his brother Cuitlahuac, also held prisoner, he might be able to get the markets to reopen. Cortes let Cuitlahuac go, but instead of reopening the market, the warlike prince organized an even fiercer attack on the barricaded Spaniards.   Unable to restore order, Cortes had a reluctant Montezuma hauled to the roof of the palace, where he pleaded with his people to stop attacking the Spanish. Enraged, the people of Tenochtitlan threw stones and spears at Montezuma, who was badly wounded before the Spanish were able to bring him back inside the palace. According to Spanish accounts, two or three days later, on June 29, Montezuma died of his wounds. He spoke to Cortes before dying and asked him to take care of his surviving children. According to native accounts, Montezuma survived his wounds but was murdered by the Spanish when it became clear that he was of no further use to them. It is impossible to determine today exactly how Montezuma died. Aftermath of Montezuma's Death With Montezuma dead, Cortes realized that there was no way he could hold the city. On June 30, 1520, Cortes and his men tried to sneak out of Tenochtitlan under cover of darkness. They were spotted, however, and wave after wave of fierce Mexica warriors attacked the Spaniards fleeing over the Tacuba causeway. About six hundred Spaniards (roughly half of Cortes army) were killed, along with most of his horses. Two of Montezumas children - which Cortes had just promised to protect - were slain alongside the Spaniards.  Some Spaniards were captured alive and sacrificed to the Aztec gods. Nearly all of the treasure was gone as well. The Spanish referred to this disastrous retreat as the Night of Sorrows. A few months later, reinforced by more conquistadors and Tlaxcalans, the Spanish would re-take the city, this time for good. Five centuries after his death, many modern Mexicans still blame Montezuma for poor leadership which led to the fall of the Aztec Empire. The circumstances of his captivity and death have much to do with this. Had Montezuma refused to allow himself to be taken captive, history would most likely have been very different. Most modern Mexicans have little respect for Montezuma, preferring the two leaders who came after him, Cuitlahuac and Cuauhtà ©moc, both of whom fought the Spanish fiercely. Sources Diaz del Castillo, Bernal. . Trans., ed. J.M. Cohen. 1576. London, Penguin Books, 1963. Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Levy, Buddy. New York: Bantam, 2008. Thomas, Hugh . New York: Touchstone, 1993.

Reaction paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 46

Reaction paper - Essay Example They had cultural loyalty and were considered as underclass (Gonzalez 98). Puerto Ricans, on the other hand, went mainstream. They fully assimilated into the Central American culture. However, they were also considered as underclass. The government policies in Central America made it easy for the Puerto Ricans to adapt to their culture since they were their protectorate (Gonzalez 114). However, the policies in the Caribbean were much harder for them to adapt because of harsh government policies. The population profile and community structure of the Caribbean population was that they lived in isolation. This is due to the fact that they chose to remain loyal to their culture (Gonzalez 116). The population profile and community structure of the Central American population was that they lived in harmony. The reception of the Caribbean migration made them economically marginalized and politically disenfranchised. They were also considered as underclass individuals, who did everything that the underclass did (Gonzalez 120). The Puerto Ricans maintained their class since the United States declared them a protectorate, unlike the Caribbean population who where detached from the labor