Hernan Cortes Research Paper

The Aztecs, part of modern day Mexico, were once the epitome of fine culture. They began their rule of southern and central Mexico during the 14th century and practiced an incredibly wealthy lifestyle. Nonetheless, this rule began to deteriorate when Spanish explorers disembarked at Tabasco and Vera Cruz on April 21st 1519. When the Spanish voyagers first arrived, they were welcomed warmly, respectfully and received Godlike treatment. Montezuma, the ruler at that time, believed that the Spanish military leader, Hernán Cortés, was the great god Quetzalcoatl. The Spanish took advantage of this Aztec belief and conquered Mexico within two years. By 1521, the Aztec culture was officially eradicated and a new culture, consisting of a

This was made clear in document 5 when “The sick were so helpless that they could only lie on their beds like corpses, unable to move their limbs or even their heads…a great many died from this plague, and many others died of hunger.”( Bernardino, 1545). This evidence shows how the smallpox affected the Aztecs. It affected them by not being able to move so this means they couldn’t get up to find food or fight. Many died because of the disease and others by hunger. This is important to our understanding of how tenochtitlan fell because the Aztecs were weak and they could not train to fight. They couldn’t even get up their bed because they were so sick and they could not move. A lot of them died because no one could take care of them. Since they were not able to fight Cortes had a chance of going again and destroying them with not problem. This was also made clear in in document 6 when “200,000 died of the disease, and twice that number were seriously sickened.…..It also robbed the Aztecs of the will (determination) to fight because they were convinced the disease was the wrath of the white man’s god or a form of witchcraft.”(Weir, 2009). This evidence shows how many people died and how many people got sick. It also says that they were weak to fight. The disease killed many people. This is important to our understanding of how Tenochtitlan fell because they were not able to fight. Also 200,000 die and 400,000 got sick which meant there will be less people in the empire. In summary disease led to the fall of Tenochtitlan because the Aztecs were weak and couldn’t train. With the death of all those people the empire turn smaller. Therefore the Spanish got the chance to

Cortés was there long enough to cause an outbreak of smallpox. The death of 3 million Aztecs and Montezuma made it easy for Cortés to take back control of Tenochtitlan upon his return. Here, he began the building of Mexico City upon its

During 1428, Itzcoatl the current Aztec leader formed a three-way alliance with the Tacubans and Texcocans. Consequently, they were able to defeat their rival the Tepanec and conquer its capital Azcapotzalco. Montezuma the successor of Itzcoatl was a famous warrior that would become known as the father of the Aztec empire. For instance, during Montezuma’s reign the Aztec empire became consolidated through expansion. Among the three alliances, Tenochtitlan became the most dominant civilization. As a result, the Aztecs had dominion over 500 small states through conquest or commerce by the early 16th

Among many things given to the Spaniards during the first few days of contact with the Aztecs was a large chest of gold figures along many other expensive things. This gesture of good will by the Aztecs would eventually lead to their downfall. The moment Cortez started receiving all these wonderful items his mind was most likely made up that he would do whatever it took to plunder every valuable item of the Aztec kingdom. As Cortez gradually moved deeper into Aztec territory he steadily received more gifts from the Aztecs and from other city-states that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Each time Montezuma requested for Cortez and the Spaniards to return back to the coast and conduct meetings and trade from there. However, with each gift received just gave Cortez additional incentive to move towards Tenochtitlan. By the time the Spaniards were in Tenochtitlan the Aztecs saw their true colors and it was too late.

Cortez and his force arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8th, 1519. Tenochtitlan was the capital of what we know today as Mexico. Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world at that time. Tenochtitlan was run by the Aztecs. Cortes then met Montezuma, the Aztecs’s emperor. Montezuma and the Aztecs thought Hernan Cortes was a god. They thought he was Quetzalcoatl. Cortez was there at the right time because the god was supposed to arrive the same year Cortes was there. Since they thought he was a god they would do anything for his command. Later on Montezuma suspected Cortez not to be the god. He gave him gold and jewels to try and get him to leave. It had the opposite affect and increased the Spaniards greed. Cortez then captured Montezuma as hostage to prevent the Aztecs attacking.

- Cortes actions played a vital role in helping establish Spanish settlement in the new world. He and his fleet of about 600 men traveled into Mexico in hopes of finding gold as well as glory. During his time in Mexico he persuaded Indian societies who were rivals of the Aztec Empire, to join his force to take over this mighty empire. He used terror and intimidation to do so along the way. After a few years he took down the Aztec Empire, which opened the door for other explorers to invade the new world as well in their hopes of finding gold as well.

In order to gain control of the whole of New Spain, Cortés must manipulate the hierarchal traditions of the Aztec people as well. As in wealth, Castillo makes no lapse of detail here as well. He documents the way Montezuma his treated and revered by those who are under him. "Not one of these chieftains dared even to think of looking him in the face, but kept their eyes lowered with great reverence…" (World History: Castillo, 247). Montezuma

persuaded Velazquez to give him the command of an expedition to Mexico. And this is the beginning of Cortes’ legacy.

Maybe too much credit is given to Cortés as one of the greatest Spanish conquerors who developed effective strategy to defeat the Aztecs. Restall see this as somewhat of a myth accounting for the failure of historians to look at history before the 1519 (Restall, 19). Restall says “However, too often, without any direct evidence, the actions of Conquistadors after the 1519– 21 invasion of Mexico are taken as deliberately imitating Cortés, while pre-1519 patterns are ignored.” Whatever the case for whom should be given the credit for the strategy used to defeat the Aztecs; one must admit Cortés was able the win the trust of the people and use the Aztecs’ fear of him to control their empire. Cortés harbored fear of his own. Elliott says, “Cortés felt some uneasiness, when he reflected that it was in the power of the Indians, at any time, to cut off his communications with the surrounding country, and hold him a prisoner in the capital.” The Omens of the Aztecs betrayed them and caused them to see the arriving settlers as gods. They were not prepared to defend themselves against the advanced weapons of the Spanish. Much like the Aztecs, the Mayans faced hard times at the hands of the Spanish conquerors, but their defeat came much easier to the Spanish.

Conquistadors Hernán Cortés conquered Aztec kingdom in 1521 and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in 1532. These conquests have opened the world to greater knowledge, and become important basis of geographical studies. Moreover, the exploitation of the gold and other resources from these conquered territories were sent home to Spain and eventually it became one of the most powerful empires in the world. However, there is a dark side hidden under all these pompous achievements. The Spanish in a matter of months annihilated both the Civilizations of the Inca and the Aztec that took hundreds and thousands of yeas to establish. This left the descendants of the Inca and the Aztec without remnants of the proper history of their ancestors. Moreover, one of the most important reasons why the Spanish won these battle of Conquest was because these natives had been debilitated by diseases which were brought in by the Spanish. Diseases like small pox caused the population to quickly deplete. Moreover, the Spanish deemed themselves as superiority and coerced the people of Mexico to convert to Christianity. After having been blatantly looted and tyrannized by the Spanish, the people of Mexico were deprived of the only thing they have left: their beliefs. Spanish Priests destroyed Aztec books, written documents demolished temples in an attempt to impose

After one eventually comes the other. Cortes did not only focus on killing the Aztecs he is still remembered for the battles of “La matanza de Cholula” and “La matanza del templo mayor”. Cortes needed men to help him finish the Aztec empire. “La matanza de Cholula” was an attack by military forces of the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortes in his path to the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in the year 1519.(12) According to writings of Cortes it was a preventing action because there was a rumor that there was going to be a possible ambush inside the city of Cholula. The result was the death of 5 000 or 6 000 Cholula, mostly unarmed civilians in a period not exceeding six hours. (12) The other battle “La matanza del templo mayor” also known as the night of tears was the night that Cortes lost half of his men trying to escape from the city of Tenochtitlan were also many Aztecs died; this was the 20 of May 1520. (13) The 27 of June 3 days before the night of tears happened Montezuma was killed by his own people, this will lead to the first confusion; days later Cuauhtémoc will be the next leader of the Aztecs being recognized for a more aggressive leader. (14) Cuauhtémoc knowing that Cortes was trying to empower

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who owned land in Cuba. He soon heard of Spanish expeditions being repelled by Indians, and as a result, he set out to do what others could not. In 1519 Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with 600 men, 16 horses, and several cannons. He then began a trek towards the inland of Mexico where the heart of the Aztec Empire was located. Shortly after beginning his voyage, Cortés met a young Indian woman named Malinche. She served as Cortés’s advisor and translator and later helped him form alliances with local Native American tribes. Cortés made it to the Aztec capital and soon captured Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor. After forcing Moctezuma into many contracts, Cortés and his army were driven from the

Cortes prepared for this expedition. However, Velasquez became regretful of his decision. He thought Cortes wanted to conquer the Mayans for his own personal gains. Velasquez attempted to change his orders, but it was too late. Cortes set sail and continued to put his fleet together. In 1519, Cortes explored the Yucatan coastline. Landing in Tabasco, Cortes captured the natives. Although, Tabasco people possessed little of value, they told Cortes of the great treasures of the Aztec Empire. Cortes moved his troops northward and conquered the port of Vera Cruz. In addition to, Cortes was making plans to advance against the Aztecs. He took a Tabasco woman and enlisted her help to supplement his army. Cortes used her to translate the native language to Aguilar. Aguilar was another Spaniard that had been shipped wreck at the port of Vera Cruz. He had learned the language of the natives. Aguilar translated the language to Cortes troops. They learned about the traditions of the Aztec people in Tenochtitlan. Cortes used this information he gathered to defeat the Aztecs. Finally, he convinced the native tribes to fight with him against the Aztecs. He knew he needed these allies to conquer the Aztec empire. With the knowledge of a myth about a white god, he was able to betray Montezuma II. “Quetzalcoatl was an Aztecan god. His name means “the feathered serpent” in the Nahuatl language. Quetzalcoatl was the patron of priests and the inventor of

Eventually one of Cortes’ men led a massacre of the Mexican nobles, and murdered Montezuma. These conquests led to other conquests with the motivation of more gold and more land. Another conqueror, Francisco Pizarro, also led his men to capture an emperor, Atahualpa of the Incans, and held him for a ransom of silver and gold. With this gold and silver, as well as land, they executed Atahualpa. These violent raids proved beneficial to the Spanish, helping them spread their conquered land further south in the Americas. This quest made the Spanish not only rich in silver and gold, but in land and with slaves, by use of violent force.