The Conquest of Mexico brought tremendous grief to the Aztec people.  Mexica nobility, famous for their eloquent poetry, composed laments commemorating the tragic loss of their city of great beauty, the seat of their spectacular culture.

A Song by Nezahualcoyotl (Mexica-Azteca)

"The sweet-voiced quetzal there, ruling the earth, has intoxicated my soul.  I am like the quetzal bird, I am created in the one and only God; I sing sweet songs among the flowers; I chant songs and rejoice in my heart.  The fuming dewdrops from the flowers in the fields intoxicate my soul.

I grieve to myself that ever this dwelling on earth should end.

I foresaw, being a Mexican, that our rule began to be destroyed, I went forth weeping that it was to bow down and be destroyed.  Let me not be angry that the grandeur of Mexico is to be destroyed.  The smoking stars gather against it; the one who cares for flowers is about to be destroyed.  He who cared for books wept, he wept for the beginning of the destruction."

They were not able to do this alone, however.  Their success was achieved through an alliance made between them and three other Indian groups, the Tlaxcalans, the Tarascans, and the Tabascans.  Moreover, Cortés was quite familiar with Native American beliefs and practices, having by the time of the Conquest, spent 15 years in America.  In the end the Spanish introduction of smallpox likely had more to do with the final defeat of the powerful Aztec Empire.  The Spaniards were also advantaged by their possession of foreign technologies which, like their appearance, which fit into Aztec mythology, superstition, and what has been called a “doomsday ideology” that foretold the destruction of the Mexíca empire in 1519.  It is first important to understand a little about the rather shrewd man that was Cortés.

HERNÁN CORTÉS (1485–1547):

Born in 1485 in the Estremadura region of central Spain and educated in his early teens at the university of Salamanca, Cortés chose not to follow his peers into military service in the Italian Wars.  Instead he chose to hang out in the Spanish port cities of Cádiz (on the southern tip of Spain) and Seville (up the Guadalquivir River, half way between Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Córdoba in Andalucia).  Seville, though upriver from the coast, became an important import-export center in southern Spain and contained a premier school of navigation, founded by Amerigo Vespucci.

At these locations, Cortés became familiar with Portuguese and Spanish explorations to distant lands away from Europe.  With the support of his father in 1504, the 19-year-old Cortez, working as a public scribe aboard a merchant vessel, left the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda (downriver from Seville) for Hispañola (the second largest of the islands of the West Indies, between Cuba and Puerto Rico).  Seven years later (1511), Cortés joined Diego de Velasquez in his excursion to the island of Cuba.

DIEGO DE VELÁSQUEZ (1460-1524?) and PANFILO DE NARVAEZ (1470-1528):

In 1493, Diego de Velásquez accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World (at Hispañola).  In 1504, Diego Columbus (Christopher’s son) became governor and viceroy of the West Indies.  In 1511, Diego Columbus sent Velásquez (under License of conquísta) to the island of Cuba, which he occupied completely by 1514, to become the island’s first adelantado (or civil and military governor) in 1518 (at first by self-appointment, which was later confirmed by the King of Spain).  Hernán Cortés served the expedition as the Velásquez’s secretary and treasurer.  Velásquez was also aided in the conquest of Cuba by his friend and chief lieutenant Panfilo de Narvaez (c. 1470-1528).

With the Yucatán only 500 miles from Cuba, Velásquez ordered reconnaissance missions (entrada) to examine the coast of the Yucatán in 1517 (led by Fernández de Córdoba) and again in 1518 (led by Juán de Grijalva).  Later entradas (both peaceful and confrontative) followed these first coastal surveys.  One such later reconnaissance mission was that led by Cuban colonial administrator Hernán Cortés.  Departing the Cuban port of Santiago de Cuba (on the south shore of the east end of the island) with 6 ships in late 1518, and again departing from Havana (with additional ships, men, and supplies) in February 1519.

 

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1) 11 ships

2) 553 soldiers, including:

a) 32 archers (using crossbows)

b) 13 gunmen (using arquebuses)

c) 110 sailors

3) 16 horses

4) 14 canon

5) 1 notary (to legally make claims for the King of Spain)

6) 2 Catholic priests:

a) Juán Días

b) Bartolomé de Olmedo

7) 1 astrologer named Botello

8) 2 Native American language interpreters (Melchor and Julian)

9) 1 musician (playing the lute and the violin, named Orthiz)

10) several women for domestic chores

11) military officers included Pedro de Alvarado (1486–1541; later the conqueror of Guatemala and El Salvador) and Francisco de Montejo (1479–1548; later the governor of Honduras and the Yucatán and the would-be conqueror of the Yucatán Mayas)

His planned route ran from Santiago de Cuba, to Trinidad (southern-middle Cuba), then Havana, then on to Cozumel, off the Yucatán, and Tabasco (between the modern states of Veracruz and Campeche in the Yucatán), and finally to San Juán de Ulua (an Indian town on the Mexican coast).  As with the earlier reconnaissance expeditions, the focus (as directed by Velásquez was the Yucatán, with the hope of finding great wealth in precious metals and gems among the Indians.

Velásquez and Cortés corresponded frequently as the expedition progressed, and from the perspective of the Velásquez, his admiral became increasingly condescending and rebellious.  Rather than follow strict orders, Cortés pursued his own agenda (affirming his allegiance directly to the King Charles V).  Using a legal loophole Cortés founded the settlement of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Veracruz) in the summer of 1519, and after establishing a town government, he had the mayor appoint him captain of a new expedition that nullified his earlier orders.  A declarative letter was then sent to King Charles V with a small gift of gold (as proof of his achievements), and Cortés ordered the destruction of all but one of his ships, thus forcing the commitment of all his men to the new goal that he set.

 

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Unaware that they might find an Indian empire, the Cortés expedition ran into an unexpected boon: The Mayan- and Najuatl-speaking girl the Spaniards came to call “La Malinche.”  Soon realizing the expedition’s interpreters to be ineffective on the mainland, Cortés came across Geronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, two surviving Spaniards from a failed 1511 expedition who lived in the company of Mayan Indians.

Guerrero had been made a war captain by a Mayan chieftain; he lived, dressed (with long hair and piercings), and painted himself in the same manner as the Indians, while Aguilar became a slave of the Mayans.  At the sight of the Cortés expedition, Guerrero fled while the Mayan-speaking Aguilar was eager to be rescued from his enslavement.  A girl (named Malintzín/ La Malinche) the captive daughter of Aztec nobles, was rescued as well at another location.  Thus, Cortés received the means for successful intelligence gathering.

It is interesting to note, however, that even with the presence of translators who could speak two of the most important Indian languages of México, the expedition ran into linguistic problems repeatedly as they encountered dozens of languages in a small region – sometimes as many as three languages were spoken in a single Indian town.  16-year-old Malinche became the greatest source of information for Cortés, as well as his mistress (she bore him a son and after Cortés married her off to one of his men she gave birth to another child before her death at the age of 24.

Malinche also learned Spanish, though Cortés never leaned Najuatl).  Later known as “Doña Marina” (the patroness of pregnant women), Malintzín became Cortes’ guide and adviser, often gathering intelligence about Indian plots against the Spaniards, and informing him about the tremendous wealth of Teotihuacán.  She also informed Cortés about Aztec mythology and the supposed return of a bearded white god-king.  Malinche is often regarded as the betrayer of her people, but since her own family had sold her to Mayan people as part of an arrangement benefiting her younger brother, she was perhaps more of one who had been betrayed than a traitor herself.

QUETZALCOATL AND AZTEC “DOOMSDAY” IDEOLOGIES

This story centered on the Toltec and Aztec god-king Quetzalcoatl, a mytho-historic god-ruler of the Toltecs at Tula suffered defeat through the deceit of his brother Texcatlipoca (the “Smoking Mirror” that conveys visions).  Later, when Texcatlipoca displayed a mirror before Quetzalcoatl, the latter individual realized that he was not really a god, but a man, and an ugly one at that!  After an incestuous relationship with their sister, Quetzalcoatl fled Tula in shame (this event coincided with the setting of the Toltec culture), promising to return in one acatl, or 600 years, in 1519.  Cortez seemed to fit the bill of the returning Quetzalcoatl.  At first the Aztec ruler Moctezuma believed this notion when word of the Spaniard’s presence at San Juan de Ulua reached him.

It was well understood by everyone that a god couldn’t be defeated.  Thus, Moctezuma sent large amounts of gold and jewels to Cortez in April 1519, with the hope of appeasing the supposed god.  Already lusting for gold, the Spaniards readily sought to possess all of the Aztec’s wealth.  In addition to this Aztec belief, the Spanish held numerous advantages over the Aztecs that they fully understood and took advantage of.  Firstly there were material and military advantages, as well as the advantage that the appearance that the Spaniards presented to the Indians.

A) sailing ships “people who live on the water.”

B) metal armor and weapons.

C) canon and gunpowder.

D) relatively tall European physical stature.

E) the use of horses and ferocious mastiffs (attack dogs).

 

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From Veracruz, after burning his ships, Cortés took a little-used route (in order to avoid Indian resistance), moving steadily toward the Aztec capital.  Through information supplied to him by Malintzín/ La Malinche, he realized the factionalism present among the Indians, and succeeded in achieving alliances with the Tlaxcalans and Totonacs who were subordinate to Aztec domination.  With their help in October 1519, Cortes defeated the Aztec sacred city of Cholula, slaughtering the Cholulan people by the thousands with superior weaponry and Indian allies.  Shortly after the defeat of Cholula, Cortés and 10 of his men climbed to the summit of Popocatépetl (the Mexican volcano: elevation 17,887 feet), a feat that was not repeated (at least not by Europeans) until 1827.  Stunned by his repeated military successes, Moctezuma continued to send offerings of gold and women.

Finally, in a frustrated attempt to appease the aggressors, Moctezuma invited them to Tenochtitlán.  Approaching Lake Texcoco from its southern shore on November 7, 1519, Cortés refused the final entreaties of Aztec ambassadors, requesting their immediate departure.  At the Aztec capital, Cortez and Moctezuma embraced and exchanged gifts.  The Aztec leader presented solid gold symbols of Quetzalcoatl to Cortes, proclaiming:

“You have come to your city, Mexico.  You have come here to sit on your throne.”

Cortes declared it “the most beautiful city in the world.”  As one soldier stated:

“These great buildings rising from the water seemed like an enchanted vision.”

Nevertheless, sacrifices were the norm at Tenochtitlán, as the Aztec gods were fed by human sacrifice, three times each day.  Cortez invited Moctezuma to his residence, where he took him hostage, and later publicly displayed the captive ruler from atop a pyramid.  In an expression of personal ambition as well as a developing rivalry between the colonies of Cuba and Mexico, Diego de Velásquez sent Panfilo de Narvaez to arrest Cortes in 1520 for violating the terms of his license.

Meanwhile, Cortes learned that Narvaez with a force of 800 Spaniards had landed at Veracruz, intent on carrying out the orders of Panfilo de Narvaez to arrest Cortes for violating the terms of his license.  With most of his men, Cortes swiftly attacked the forces at Veracruz, where he defeated Narvaez, imprisoned him, and convinced Narvaez’ men to join forces with his own.  Narvaez’ forces were defeated by Cortes, and his men joined forces with Cortes. Panfilo de Narvaez served as stated in Cuba after having served first at Jamaica.  After his defeat in Mexico by Cortés, Narvaez was imprisoned by him until 1521.

 

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Meanwhile, back at Tenochtitlan, things quickly began to unravel without the leadership of Cortes.  Pedro de Alvarado, the man left in charge of the Spanish forces, attended the annual festival of Huitzilopochtli, (the god of war).  Alvarado and the other Spaniards became frightened by a great display of dancing warriors, and panicked, starting a battle in which thousands of Aztecs, and many Spaniards, were killed.  Alvarado then had nearly 1,000 of the highest Aztec nobles murdered for supposedly conspiring against the Spaniards.

On June 24, 1519 Cortés and 1,100 Spanish soldiers arrived during the “revolution.”  He ordered Moctezuma to end the disturbance, but the king was stoned to death by his own people (another story describes the Alvarado and his men strangling Moctezuma and throwing his body into Lake Texcoco).

Before dying, Moctezuma entrusted his sons to the care of Cortés.  Cortés, Alvarado and their men thus were forced to flee on foot, with as much gold as they could carry (which slowed them down terribly), dropping much of it from the causeways leading out of Tenochtitlan, into Lake Texcoco.  Many men tried to swim across the lake, only to be dragged under by the weight of the treasure they attempted to steal.  Almost all of their Indian allies and about 700 Spaniards died in the melee that became known as "la noche triste" or the Night of Sadness, as expressed by the tears that Cortez wept beneath a great tree nat far from Tenochtitlan.

Pursued by unstoppable Aztec warriors, the fighting continued until they reached Tlaxcala.  Cortes took refuge for one year among his Indian allies, the Tlaxcalans, Totonacs, and Texcocos, who sought an advantage of their own against the Aztecs.  During the final six months of his departure from Tenochtitlan, he successfully interrupted all trade to and from the city.

Under the direction of master ship builder Martín Lopez, Cortes and his men built 13 wooden boats at Tlaxcala, complete with sails and swivel guns mounted on each prow.  Transporting the disassembled boats overland to Lake Texcoco, they reassembled them for an assault on the city of Tenochtitlan.  The siege of Tenochtitlán began on May 20, 1521.  The city finally fell to the combined Spanish and allied Indian forces on August 13, 1521, with Native American casualties mounting to over 150,000 people (on both sides), with small numbers of Spaniards having been killed.

 

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“Sir, I have done what I had to do to defend my city and my people; I cannot do more, and since fate has made me your prisoner and placed me in your power, take the dagger that you wear in your belt and kill me.”  Subsequently imprisoned, enchained and enslaved, Cuauhtémoc was forced to take part in the dismantling of his city, clearing debris and corpses from the ruined Tenochtitlán.

Using cultural interpretations of sexual themes and marriage customs as the means to measure cultural change, Ramón Gutiérrez observes in his book, When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away (1991):

"The conquest of America was not a monologue, but a dialogue between cultures, each of which had many voices that often spoke in unison, but just as often were diverse and divisive.  The power dynamics of conquest clearly favored the Spanish in the contest of cultures that began in 1492 and that continues to this day.  Each side of that discourse was hard-pressed to prove its superiority.  As such, the historical process that unfolds . . .is a story of contestation [and conquest], of mediation and negotiation between cultures and between social groups . . .all of whom fundamentally depended on the other for their own self-definition."

". . .every society is a system of inequality.  The task is not to explain why inequality exists, but rather to expose the different forms it has taken during a period of rapid social change."

Gutierrez writes of the new, imposed cultural attitude, which was decidedly patriarchal, as opposed to aboriginal bilateral and matrilineal systems and patterns of decent:  "Conquest, domination, and protection were [deemed by the Spaniards, to be] marks of human excellence; they were qualities that maintained the patrimony and perpetuated an honored image of the self over time."  In contrast, indigenous cultural systems valued community over individual needs and behaviors.  The imposed European systems often emphasized individual expression dictated by paternalistic codes of honor.

 

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