The Aztec empire’s collapse shows why ruling through coercion and force fails

By Jay Silverstein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Forensics, Nottingham Trent University

When Aztec emissaries arrived in 1520 to Tzintzuntzan, the capital of the Tarascan Kingdom in what is now the Mexican state of Michoacán, they carried a warning from the Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc.

They cautioned that strange foreigners – the Spaniards – had invaded the land and posed a grave threat. The emissaries requested an audience with the Tarascan ruler, known as the Cazonci, King Zuanga. But Zuanga had recently died, most likely from smallpox brought by the Spaniards.

Relations between the…

Read complete article

~	The public wants police to show up and care – will new reforms in England and Wales do this?

~	Allergic to the cold? It’s a real thing and it can even kill

~	Four early medieval swords found in Kent – child graves reveal they were more than just weapons

~	The record gold price reflects a deeper problem than recent global instability

~	Mock the Week’s return can’t compete with memes in the new age of political satire

~	Routine medical procedures can feel harder for women – here’s why

~	Why Xi purged China’s top military general

~	Animals might be sentient in the law’s eyes, but how they’re treated still varies hugely

~	Facial recognition technology used by police is now very accurate – but public understanding lags behind

~	ICE at the Winter Olympics and the reshaping of intelligence and security in Europe