Cortés' Conquistadors: The Fall of the Aztec (500 Nations)

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• published: 24 Jan 2016
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In 1519, Cortés’ ships reached the Mexican coast at Yucatan. Mexico had been discovered by the Spanish just a year prior, and they were eager to settle it. At Tabasco, Cortés was met with resistance from natives. He quickly overpowered them, and the natives surrendered. They provided the Europeans with food, supplies and 20 women, including an interpreter called Malintzin (also known as La Malinche or Doña Marina). She became Cortés’s intermediary with the natives and eventually his mistress, eventually mothering his son, Martin. After a few months, Cortés set sail from Yucatan, heading west. On the southeastern coast he founded Veracruz, where he dismissed the authority of Velasquez and declared himself under orders from King Charles I of Spain. He disciplined his men and trained them to act as a cohesive unit of soldiers. He also burned his ships to make retreat impossible. Cortés had heard of the Aztecs and knew that they, and their leader Montezuma II, were a primary force in Mexico. Cortés set out to rule them. During the march through Mexico, he encountered a group of natives called the Tlaxcalans, who were enemies of the Aztecs. They became an important ally for Cortés during his siege of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital city. Unbeknownst to Cortés, his arrival coincided with an important Aztec prophecy. The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, whom they credited with the creation of humans among other notable feats, was set to return to Earth. Thinking that Cortés could be Quetzalcoatl, Montezuma greeted the party with great honor. Montezuma sent out envoys to meet the conquistador as he neared. The Aztecs were fascinated by the Spaniards’ light skin and the sight of men on horseback, which they described as beasts with two heads and six legs. The Spanish fired shots, which stunned the natives and further intimidated them. Cortés entered the city. The Spanish soldiers and the Tlaxcalans sacked it, while Cortés took Montezuma hostage. With the help of Doña Marina, Cortés manipulated Montezuma and ruled Tenochtitlán through him. While Cortés held Tenochtitlán through Montezuma, a Spanish force from Cuba landed on the coast of Mexico. They had been sent by Diego Velasquez to unseat Cortés. When Cortés heard of this, he took a garrison of Spanish and Tlaxcalan soldiers and marched on the Spanish. Cortés defeated the Spanish force, but when he returned to Tenochtitlán he was met with a shock. The Aztecs were in the midst of a full rebellion. Cortés and his men fled the city. They were there long enough to start a smallpox epidemic in Tenochtitlán, however. One of Cortés’ men contracted smallpox from a member of the force from Cuba. That soldier died during the Aztec rebellion, and when his body was looted, an Aztec caught the disease, which spread like wildfire because the Aztec people had no immunity to it. Cortés regrouped and attacked Tenochtitlán in full force in 1521. At that time, the city’s society had crumpled. The Aztecs no longer trusted Montezuma, they were short on food, and the smallpox epidemic was under way. More than 3 million Aztecs died from smallpox, and with such a severely weakened population, it was easy for the Spanish to take Tenochtitlán. It is uncertain how Montezuma died. Some scholars state that, disgusted with him, the Aztecs stoned him to death. Others, including indigenous scholars, assert that the Spanish killed him. Once the city had fallen, Cortés began building Mexico City on the ruins. It quickly became a pre-eminent city in the Spanish colonies and many Europeans came to live there. As a result of his success, King Charles I of Spain appointed Cortés as governor of New Spain. http://www.livescience.com/39238-hernan-cortes-conqueror-of-the-aztecs.html http://web.archive.org/web/20080714052109/www.500nations.tv/home.htm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111868/