Compare And Contrast The Spanish Conquest Of The Aztecs

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Being known as the milestone victory, the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs by Hernán Cortez in 1521 was critical for the development of America and led to many opportunities for the Spanish monarch. Consequently, the conquest of the Aztec Empire has been the historical subject of many debates. The Aztec Empire was grown from Tenochtitlán founded in 1325 A.D. by a tribe of hunters and gatherers wandering on islands in Lake Texcoco. Thanks to the advanced agricultural system, the empire developed to be an influential center of Mexico and reached its greatest extent to the south in 1502. Hernán Cortez is a Spanish conquistador. Being born around 1485, he was the only son of a noble family in Spain. When he was a young boy studying law at the University of Salamanca, he was interested in the New World exploration stories of Christopher Columbus. To seek the fortune in the New …show more content…

After several years of serving as a notary in Azúa, he joined Diego Veláxquez’s expedition to Cuba in 1511. In 1518, being inspired by the rumors of gold and the large, sophisticated cities in Mexico, Cortez wanted to set sail for Mexico, but Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, changed his opinion at the last minute and decided to rescind. However, Cortez disregarded the order. With more than five hundred men and eleven ships, he started his expedition to Mexico and reached the Mexican coast in February 1519. On the way to Tenochtitlán, they fought the native people who were forced to pay taxes to the Aztec Empire. However, after knowing that Cortez planned to conquer the Aztec Empire, many of them who hated Aztec rulers later became Cortez’s allies. Cortez and his men marched to the Aztec capital and took Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor, hostage. Learning that Spanish soldiers were coming to arrest him for disregarding the orders of Velázquez, Cortez decided to leave the city.

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