In the sources recorded by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán in the mid to late sixteenth century, there are accounts of events that were interpreted as supernatural omens of the conquest. Capturing the cacique or indigenous ruler was a standard operating procedure for Spaniards in their expansion in the Caribbean, so capturing Motecuhzoma had considerable precedent but modern scholars are skeptical that Cortes and his countrymen took Motecuhzoma captive at this time. Anyone willing to make a financial contribution could potentially gain even more wealth and power. One by one they took over most of the cities under Aztec control, some in battle, others by diplomacy. Accounts by the Spanish conquerors exist from the first landfall at Veracruz, Mexico (on Good Friday, 22 April 1519) to the final victory over the Mexica in Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521. Tales of the massacre convinced the other cities in the Aztec Empire to entertain seriously Cortés' proposals rather than risk the same fate. The Broken Spears of Miguel León Portilla, describes the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the struggle of the Aztecs to protect their cultural space in those times. [47]:82 Until Cortes's marriage to his second wife, a union which produced a legitimate son whom he also named Martin, Cortés's natural son with Marina was the heir of his envisaged fortunes. Cortés had more ambitious plans, however, and after landing on the coast of Veracruz, in 1521, made his way to Tenochtitlán—today, ruins of the Templo Mayor archaeology site in the center of Mexico City—the then center of power of the Aztec empire, which was built in the middle of a lake. According to Diaz, Moctezuma said to Cortés, "As for your great King, I am in his debt and will give him of what I possess. Thus, as the preparations for departure drew to a close, the governor became suspicious that Cortés would be disloyal to him and try to commandeer the expedition for his own purposes,[59] namely to establish himself as governor of the colony, independent of Velázquez's control. According to some other sources Tangaxuan II was dragged behind a horse and then burned. The first contact with Mexico occurred in 1517, when explorer Francisco Hernández de Córdoba landed on the Yucatan coast. This is what has been told by our rulers, those of whom governed this city, ruled this city. [47]:359, 368, Despite the stubborn Aztec resistance organized by their new emperor, Cuauhtémoc, the cousin of Moctezuma II, Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco fell on 13 August 1521, during which the Emperor was captured trying to escape the city in a canoe. Moctezuma then brought Cortés to the shrine of the goddess Toci, where he gave him a more private greeting, in which he practically gave the Aztec Empire to Cortés,[46] as he reportedly said that it was his "desire to serve. A number of lower rank Spanish conquerors wrote benemérito petitions to the Spanish Crown, requesting rewards for their services in the conquest, including Juan Díaz, Andrés de Tapia, García del Pilar, and Fray Francisco de Aguilar. The other discovery that perpetuated this system of indigenous forced labor were the extensive silver mines discovered at Potosi, in Higher Peru (now Bolivia) and other places in the Spanish empire in the New World that were worked for hundreds of years by forced native labor and contributed most of the wealth that flowed to Spain. Notably, the accounts of the conquest, Spanish and indigenous alike, have biases and exaggerations. Pánfilo de Narváez had been sent by Governor Velázquez from Cuba to kill or capture Cortés, who had defied Velazquez's orders. [47]:265 Moctezuma told his caciques that "their ancestral tradition, set down in their books of records,[clarification needed] that men would come from the direction of the sunrise to rule these lands" and that "He believed...we were these men. Nevertheless, Cortés set sail, beginning his expedition with the legal status of a mutineer. [46], Additionally, the Tlaxcala saw a "radiance that shone in the east every morning three hours before sunrise", and a "whirlwind of dust" from the volcano Matlalcueye. Over time, "La Malinche" (the modern Spanish cognate of Malintzin) became a term for a traitor to one's people. Here, Cortés is represented as a merciless and ambitious villain, leading a quest to find El Dorado, the legendary city of gold in the New World. Xicotencatl the Elder's daughter was baptized as Doña Luisa, and Maxixcatzin's daughter as Doña Elvira. Largely because he wanted to present the city to his king and emperor, Cortés had made several attempts to end the siege through diplomacy, but all offers were rejected. File:Salta-Cabildo1.jpg Spain's administration of its colonies in the Americas was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain 1535 (capital, México City), and the Viceroyalty of Peru 1542 (capital, Lima). According to West, "slavery was a well-established institution among the Aztecs and their neighbors." A whole generation of Spaniards later participated in expeditions in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme (Central America), learning strategy and tactics of successful enterprises. [55] Licenses for expeditions allowed the Crown to retain sovereignty over newly conquered lands while not risking its own assets in the enterprise. As of 14 November 1519, Moctezuma was Cortés' prisoner as insurance against any further resistance, until the end of May 1520, Moctezuma lived with Cortés in the palace of Axayácatl. A number of modern scholars cast doubt on whether such omens occurred or whether they were ex post facto (retrospective) creations to help the Mexica explain their defeat. To this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family. She would then translate from Mayan to Nahuatl. [47]:203, Cortés then sent emissaries to Moctezuma with the message that the people of Cholula had treated him with trickery and had therefore been punished. Maxixcatzin, Xicotencatl the Elder and Chichimecatecle told Cortés's men: "Consider yourselves at home. The crown asserted is authority and sovereignty of the territory and vassals it claimed, collected taxes, maintained public or… Timeline of Hernan Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs, Levy, Buddy. Cortés seems to have won the true friendship and loyalty of the senior leaders of Tlaxcala, among them Maxixcatzin and Xicotencatl the Elder, although he could not win the heart of Xicotencatl the Younger. [55] Hernán Cortés, then one of Velázquez's favorites and brother-in-law, was named as the commander, which created envy and resentment among the Spanish contingent in the Spanish colony. Spanish Colonization of New Mexico, 1598-1700 Please purchase the book before starting the lesson. By 1598, Juan de Oñate, the first Spanish governor of New Mexico, and his entourage of Spanish settlers traveled the Rio Grande as a northern extension of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the Royal Road of the Interior Land) to colonize the Santa Fe … A major work that utilizes colonial-era indigenous texts as its main source is James Lockhart's The Nahuas After the Conquest: Postconquest Central Mexican History and Philology. [47]:128–30, There is a popular misconception that the ships were burned rather than sunk. Thomas, Hugh.Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), 528–529. Captain from Castile (1947) is about early Cortés and the Aztec. This, despite Moctezuma's chieftains, nephews and relations suggesting they should attack the Spanish.[47]:243–49. Obrador, who is seen as a nationalist, is planning a series of commemorations to mark the Spanish conquest in 1521. [101] Unlike the English-speaking colonists of North America, the majority of the Spanish colonists were single men who married or made concubines of the natives,[citation needed] and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization. Cortés, who had not yet decided to start a war with the Aztec Empire, decided to offer a compromise. Maxixcatzin, Xicotencatl the Elder, Citalpopocatzin, and Temiloltecutl received the names of Don Lorenzo, Don Vicente, Don Bartolomé, and Don Gonzalo. Garibay. (He may have been walking on the bodies of those soldiers and attackers who had preceded him, given the shallowness of the lake. Spain spent enormous amounts of this wealth hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation and to halt the Turkish invasions of Europe. Other city-states also joined, including Cempoala and Huexotzinco and polities bordering Lake Texcoco, the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico. In addition to the Spaniards, Cortés force now included 40 Cempoalan warrior chiefs and at least 200 other natives whose task was to drag the cannon and carry supplies. The Aztecs had already conquered most of the territory around Tlaxcala, and waged war on them every year. Moctezuma was later implicated by Qualpopoca and his captains, who had killed the Spanish soldiers. The Chichimeca resisted the intrusions on their ancestral lands by attacking travelers and merchants along the "silver roads." Although modern usage often calls the European participants "soldiers", the term was never used by these men themselves in any context, something that James Lockhart realized when analyzing sixteenth-century legal records from conquest-era Peru.[61]. In the end, only Tenochtitlan and the neighboring city of Tlatelolco remained unconquered or not allied with the Spaniards. [47]:277, Finally, the Aztec gods allegedly told the Mexican papas, or priests, they would not stay unless the Spaniards were killed and driven back across the sea. The Spaniards agreed to respect parts of the city, like the temples, and reportedly took only the things that were offered to them freely. Nezahualpilli warned Moctezuma that he must be on guard, for in a few years Aztec cities would be destroyed. Moctezuma had apparently decided to resist with force the advance of Cortés and his troops, and it seems that Moctezuma ordered the leaders of Cholula to try to stop the Spanish. Since the conquest of Mexico, this region became the principal destination of Spanish colonial settlers in the 16th century. [9]Alvarado ordered his army to attack the unarmed crowd; he later claims that the Aztec's had used the celebration to cover up a counterattack. Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2003. An exchange of gifts was made and thus began the highly significant and effective alliance between Cortés and Tlaxcala. Mexico is part of the colony of New Spain. On the rainy night of 10 July 1520, the Spaniards and their allies set out for the mainland via the causeway to Tlacopan. A few of the indigenous nobility learned Spanish. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico. Daniel, Douglas A. The two powers vied for domination through the acquisition of new lands. In 1554, the Chichimecas inflicted a great loss upon the Spanish when they attacked a train of sixty wagons and captured more than 30,000 pesos worth of valuables. In any case, they apparently had no problems in adding the Christian "Dios" (God in Spanish), the lord of the heavens, to their already complex pantheon of gods. That you would come to ask for your throne, your place, that you would come here. Spanish leadership was soon established over many small independent communities that … The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is the subject of an opera, La Conquista (2005) and of a set of six symphonic poems, La Nueva España (1992–99) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero. Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico. Cortés sent messengers to these reported Spaniards, who turned out to be the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck that had occurred in 1511, Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero. [47]:302, 305–06, The Spanish were able to complete their escape to Tlaxcala. Preparations for war began in their capital. This policy of "peace by purchase" finally brought an end to the Chichimeca War.[89]l. "[78], A fragment of the greetings of Moctezuma says: "My lord, you have become fatigued, you have become tired: to the land you have arrived. By the 1580s, thousands had died and Spanish mining settlements in Chichimeca territory were continually under threat. In addition, aside from the Infantry and the ally's role in the Spanish conquest, cavalry was the "arm of decision in the conquest" and "the key ingredient in the Spanish forces". Las Casas later repented when he saw the even worse treatment given to the black slaves.[98]. According to Bernal Diaz, he sent more than ten thousand warriors under the command of Chichimecatecle as Cortés marched on the day after Christmas 1520. No sooner had the Spanish conquistadores vanquished the Aztec Empire militarily, than the spiritual conquest of Indian Mexico began.The Spaniards were devoutly Roman Catholic. Retrieved 2012-04-08. Even before Juan de Grijalva returned to Spain, Velázquez decided to send a third and even larger expedition to explore the Mexican coast. The expeditions under Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán were particularly harsh on the Chichimeca population, causing them to rebel under the leadership of Tenamaxtli and thus launch the Mixton War. Late May – Cortés forces attack Narvárez's forces at Cempoala; incorporation of those Spaniards into Cortés's forces, 24 June – Spanish forces return to Tenochtitlan, Late June – Uprising in Tenochtitlan; the death of Moctezuma in unclear circumstances, perhaps killed by the Spaniards, perhaps by his own people; deaths of other leaders of the Triple Alliance. Particularly important to the Spanish success was a multilingual (Nahuatl, a Maya dialect, and Spanish) indigenous slave woman, known to the Spanish conquistadors as Doña Marina, and generally as La Malinche. ", This page was last edited on 11 December 2020, at 04:53. After almost a century of fighting the Flower Wars, a great deal of hatred and bitterness had developed between the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs. [47]:127–28, Cortés learned of an indigenous settlement called Cempoala and marched his forces there. "[42]:64[81], Moctezuma had the royal palace of Axayácatl, Moctezuma's father, prepared for Cortés. [47]:326–52, Cortés then approached Tenochtitlan and mounted a siege of the city that involved cutting the causeways from the mainland and controlling the lake with armed brigantines constructed by the Spanish and transported overland to the lake. Spanish priests outlawed local religion and culture and burned written histories, leaving a cultural vacuum. Tenochtitlan). 1810 - The Mexican War of Independence begins led by Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo. Cortés spent some time at the island of Cozumel, on the east coast of Yucatán, trying to convert the locals to Christianity, something that provided mixed results. The Spanish population grew during that time. Conquerors' accounts exaggerate individual contributions to the Conquest at the expense of their comrades, while indigenous allies' accounts stress their loyalty and importance to victory for the Spanish. [60], Velázquez arrived at the dock in Santiago de Cuba in person, "he and Cortés again embraced, with a great exchange of compliments", before Cortes set sail for Trinidad, Cuba. This name is the closest approximation possible in Nahuatl to the sound of Spanish Marina. Due to a commercial blockade by the Aztecs, Tlaxcala was poor, lacking, among other things, salt and cotton cloths, so they could only offer Cortés and his men food and slaves. However, fighting did not completely come to a halt in the ensuing years. Testing Military Superiority as a Cause of Europe's Pre-Industrial Colonial Conquests." [32], Two lengthy accounts from the defeated indigenous viewpoint were created under the direction of Spanish friars, Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán, using indigenous informants. The famous conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, coming to the aid of acting governor Cristóbal de Oñate, led an attack on Nochistlán. The first mendicants in central Mexico, particularly the Franciscans and Dominicans learned the indigenous language of Nahuatl, in order to evangelize to the indigenous people in their native tongue. [35], The chronicle of the so-called "Anonymous Conqueror" was written sometime in the sixteenth century, entitled in an early twentieth-century translation to English as Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan (i.e. V. 1550). 16th-century Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica, Significant events in the conquest of Mesoamerica. Those polities now came under Spanish rule, also retaining their internal structures of ruling elites, tribute paying commoners, and land holding and other economic structures largely intact. In fact, "Cortes owned several hundred, used mainly in gold placering." The structure of governance of its overseas empire was significantly reformed in … In the colonial era, the indigenous nobility were largely recognized as nobles by the Spanish colonial regime, with privileges including the noble Spanish title don for noblemen and doña for noblewomen. [47]:218 On the same day that the Spanish expedition and their allies entered Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma came to visit Cortés and his men. After Cortés continued to release prisoners with messages of peace, and realizing the Spanish were enemies of Montezuma, Xicotencatl the Elder and Maxixcatzin persuaded the Tlaxcalan warleader, Xicotencatl the Younger, that it would be better to ally with the newcomers than to kill them. Much of the wealth the Spaniards had acquired in Tenochtitlan was lost. You have come to your city: Mexico, here you have come to sit on your place, on your throne. These include two 16th-century sources: an excerpt from Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and a passage from fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s collection of Nahua accounts called The Florentine Codex. Bernard Grunberg, "La folle aventure d'Hernan Cortés", in L'Histoire n°322, July–August 2007: states that Cortes arrived in Mexico with 15 cannons, Townsend, Camilla. The Azteca and Tlaxcalteca histories of the events leading up to the massacre vary; the Tlaxcalteca claimed that their ambassador Patlahuatzin was sent to Cholula and had been tortured by the Cholula. The conquest of Mexico, the initial destruction of the great pre-Columbian civilizations, is a significant event in world history. [47]:299–300, 306, The channel is now a street in Mexico City, called "Puente de Alvarado" (Alvarado's Bridge), because it seemed Alvarado escaped across an invisible bridge. To ensure the legality of this action, several members of his expedition, including Francisco Montejo and Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero, returned to Spain to seek acceptance of the cabildo's declaration with King Charles. The papers that Medina had been carrying were sent to Cortés. Mendoza was entirely loyal to the Spanish crown, unlike the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés, who had demonstrated that he was independent-minded and defied official orders when he threw off the authority of Governor Velázquez in Cuba. But the advantage these gave a few hundred Spanish soldiers was not overwhelming". [12] According to an indigenous account, the Spanish killed Moctezuma. In the 18th century the additional Viceroyalty of New Granada 1717 (capital, Bogotá), and Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata1776 (capital, Buenos Aires) were established from portions of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Cortes then made a rapid return to Tenochtitlan, to relieve the besieged Alvarado and the other invaders. [96] A major project by the Franciscans in Mexico was the compilation of knowledge on Nahua religious beliefs and culture that friar Bernardino de Sahagún oversaw using indigenous informants, resulting in a number of important texts and culminating in a 12 volume text, The General History of the Things of New Spain published in English as the Florentine Codex. American Historical Association. The most important of these are the pictorial Lienzo de Tlaxcala and the Historia de Tlaxcala by Diego Muñoz Camargo. [47]:134 The Cempoalans were accustomed to the hot climate of the coast, but they suffered immensely from the cold of the mountains, the rain, and the hail as they marched towards Tenochtitlan. In 1517, Cuban governor Diego Velázquez commissioned a fleet of three ships under the command of Hernández de Córdoba to sail west and explore the Yucatán peninsula. The indigenous were not slaves under this system, chattel bought and sold or removed from their home community, but the system was still one of forced labor. According to Hassig, "It is true that cannons, guns, crossbows, steel blades, horses and war dogs were advanced on the Aztecs' weaponry. These accounts are similar to Spanish conquerors' accounts contained in petitions for rewards, known as benemérito petitions. A text from the Nahua point of view, the Anales de Tlatelolco, an early indigenous account in Nahuatl, perhaps from 1540, remained in indigenous hands until it was published.[when?] The silver was used to purchase commercial goods abroad, as European manufactured goods were not in demand in Asia and the Middle East. Spanish Colonization: Previous: Next: Digital History ID 3573 . Raudzens, George. This made it easier to conquer the remaining Aztecs.[14]. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, then president of the first Audiencia decided, to march on northwestern Mexico with a force of 5,000–8,000 men in search for new populations to subdue, and when he arrived in Michoacán and found out that Tangaxuan was still de facto ruler of his empire he allied himself with a Tarascan noble Don Pedro Panza Cuinierángari against the Cazonci. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs. [62] Although Guerrero's later fate is somewhat uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; it is speculated that he may have been killed in a later battle. "Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico" University of New Mexico Press, 2006. p, 36. II cap. Unlike other scattered indigenous populations of Mesoamerica, the Maya were centered in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states o… Later accounts were written in the native tongue of the Aztec and other native peoples of central Mexico, Nahuatl. Aguilar petitioned his Maya chieftain to be allowed to join his former countrymen, and he was released and made his way to Cortés's ships. "A direct attack on a city as mighty as Tenochtitlan was unlikely and unexpected" from the enemy empires. Cortes realized that the defeat was imminent and decided to escape yet, the Aztecs attacked. The legally constituted "town council of Villa Rica" then promptly offered him the position of adelantado, or Chief Justice and Captain-General. The Great Temple was central to the Aztec's cosmological views; the temple served as a burial ground for the offerings made to different gods, such as the gods of fertility, mountains, rain, and earth. On 14 July 1520, the Aztecs attempted to destroy the Spanish for good at the Battle of Otumba. 1811 - Miguel Hidalgo is executed by the Spanish. Cortés confronted the city leaders in the main temple alleging that they were planning to attack his men. The Santa Fe Trail opens as a group of American traders from Independence, Missouri, led by William Becknell, reaches the Spanish city. [66], Cortés landed his expedition force on the coast of the modern day state of Veracruz in April 1519. They were surprised Cortés had stayed in Tlaxcala so long "among a poor and ill-bred people". The end of this latter campaign is generally marked by the downfall of the Maya state based at Tayasal in the Petén region, in 1697. [34] Cortés's right-hand man, Pedro de Alvarado did not write at any length about his actions in the New World, and died as a man of action in the Mixtón War in 1542. They combined forces to defeat the Mexica of Tenochtitlan over a two-year period. Subscribe to our Mexico Newsletter - It's Free, See Also: Essential Skills for Expats Series, See Also: Articles about Learning Spanish, See Also: Articles about Mexican Beverages. With this pair of translators, Cortés could now communicate to the Aztecs. In 1540, the Chichimecas fortified Mixtón, Nochistlán, and other mountain towns then besieged the Spanish settlement in Guadalajara. Cortés stayed twenty days in Tlaxcala, giving his men time to recover from their wounds from the battles. 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