It was the largest city of the time, with many advancements such as the highly specialized Aztec calendar, and many remarkable forms of medicines. During the 1400’s, the Spanish conquistadors set out for new lands and a shorter passageway to India, in hopes of becoming more powerful and gain control of the large market for spice trading. In 1521, the Spanish had discovered the Aztec…
When Moctezuma met Cortes he was very nervous and did not really know who Cortes was. He thought he was the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, returning to take over the land. Moctezuma did not know whether to attack him and take him prisoner or to welcome him into his palace. Moctezuma ends up welcoming Cortes to the palace and inviting him to stay. As the Spanish stay at the palace, they discover their different gods and see the many sacrifices.…
After he received reinforcements, Cortés retook Tenochtitlan by cutting off their supplies and later destroying the city. It helped him quite a bit in the position that he was in. his career was pretty much over and he had died a little later. Although he was most famous for capturing the aztec empire. People like him mostly and hate him mostly for that…
Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition to the Aztecs. He landed on the coast of Mexico in 1519 with an army of around 600 men, 16 horses and a few cannons. Cortes and his men made their way inland to the capital of the Aztecs, capturing cities and gaining extra soldiers from the people who were left after his men took over. He spoke to the natives through his translator Malinche, a young Indian woman. They made their way to Tenochtitlan, where Aztecs were conquering and sacrificing living humans.…
Cortes’ ardent determination to bring back wealth, gold, and conquer the Aztecs’ most sacred land, Tenochtitlan, wasn’t enough to defeat them in a hard fought battle. Determination was just one of the many factors that helped the Spaniards defeat the pious Aztecs. The main five factors consist of the, Spanish Worldview, Aztec Worldview, Military Technology, Military Strategy, Spread of Disease. However, out of all of these factors, the most important would be Military Technology due to all the advantages it gave the Spaniards and Cortes. Just some few examples can explain the incredible benefits they gained.…
Montezuma refused initially; never had an Emperor, who was seen as the closest being to God in the Aztec world, been reduced to the status of a prisoner; he said21: “My person is not such that can be made a prisoner of. Even if I would like it, my people would not suffer it.” Ultimately, Montezuma agreed to accompany Cortes, his decision clearly influenced by a mixture of fear and fascination of Cortes, a sentiment that would last until his death. This was an example of Cortes’ supreme dexterity and the psychological power he wielded over his captives. The ‘kidnapping’ allowed Cortes indirectly to rule the Aztecs. Cortes would allow Montezuma to continue to govern the Empire; but Cortes himself would govern…
The Spaniards allied with the Tlaxcalan indians and marched into Tenochtitlan. Montezuma welcomed in Quetzalcoatl’s men with open arms, but Hernan Cortes seized power of the empire by using Montezuma as a figurehead against his will, while Cortes made all the real decisions. Cortes acted as a secret leader until 1520, when events caused tension to escalate, and Cortes demanded Montezuma command his people obey the Spaniards. The Indians didn’t like this at all, and showered their leader in stones, he then went on to die days later in June of 1520. The spanish originally went to Mexico to search for land and gold, or other plunders because they had no prosperity back home in Spain. When they reached Mexico, they discovered the Aztec people and the native indians of the land, and decided to try to eliminate them and their ways (cannibalism, human sacrifices, etc. didn’t appeal to the Spanish, and they didn’t want people like that inhabiting the same land as…
Cortés was born in 1485 in Medellín, Spain. He died on December 2nd, 1547 in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Spain. He wasn’t born wealthy despite being born into an upper-class family.…
Cortes came to this new land with weapons and soldiers therefore they didn’t come to make friends they came for conquest and war. A man coming with an army is coming looking for war not looking for peace. The Spanish have also had a horrible record of violence against the Aztecs one being the Massacre at the festival of Toxcatl. One Aztec wrote of the account of what took place “Once they had done this, they entered the Sacred Patio to kill people. They came on foot, carrying swords and wooden and metal shields. Immediately, they surrounded those who danced, then rushed to the place where the drums were played. They attacked the man who was drumming and cut off both his arms. Then they cut off his head [with such a force] that it flew off, falling far away. At that moment, they then attacked all the people, stabbing them, spearing them, wounding them with their swords. They struck some from behind, who fell instantly to the ground with their entrails hanging out [of their bodies]. They cut off the heads of some and smashed the heads of others into little pieces” (Aztec Account of Massacre at the Festival of Toxcatl)…
The Aztec empire was of immense population and size which benefited from a central control. Cortes had discovered that his conquest of Mexico would not be as easy as Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas. The process the leadership being killed after gradual trade would not be possible in Mexico. It was the religious beliefs of the Aztecs that gave Cortes and his men the opportunities necessary for conquest. Thesis.…
Hernán Cortés is probably one of the most infamous (more well-known in common knowledge) of the Spanish conquistadores who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the Spanish Crown. He is mentioned by Zinn in chapter 1 as an example of the brutality of the conquistadores as well as the motivation and mindset towards their work. In August 1521, the Aztec Empire subjugated to Spanish control, and Cortés was able to claim it for Spain, renaming it as Mexico City. At the start of the expedition, Cortés explored and secured the interior of Mexico for colonization, using a woman Malinche (Doña Marina) as a translator. Cortés is significant in history for his part in the downfall of great civilization and start of Spanish colonization of…
The relationship between Cortes and the Aztecs was fake. The Aztecs thought Cortes was a god who came to fulfill a promise. Tenochtitlan (the Ancient capital city of the Aztec empire) was a very wealthy city. They had tons of gold and silver. Cortes and his soldiers wanted to have all the gold.…
Many of men were killed. Soon after many of the Tlaxcala were killed, the leaders along with a few other men finally said that they were enemies with the Aztecs and they would join in with the Spanish to help take them down. They then set out to the Aztec Empire and when they went through the gates, Cortes never had to fight to get in. The aztecs let him in right away and never second guessed themselves about it.…
The aztecs thought it was a warning that their empire was going to fall. In 1519, a spanish explorer (Hernando Cortes) arrived at the east coast of mexico. He defeated the local tribes and set off for the Aztecs. When he arrived at the city, the spaniards captured the emperor, took him as a prisoner, and killed him.…
In reward for taking part in the conquest he received an encomienda, he, soon noticed that he wasn't on the right side of the story. He thought that the treatment given to the natives wasn't fair. He fought against the abuse of Native Americans, earning the title “Protector of the Indians”. Although some didn't approve the treatment given to the indigenous people most people did. It is actually ironic that the Aztecs used to force other smaller communities to pay taxes and tributes to them, when the situation was…