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Hernan Cortes was an intelligent, yet greedy man.
All he wanted to do was take over land to name under the Spanish to claim as his own, and find gold.
In 1519, Hernan Cortes lead an eager expedition to Mexico with over 500 of his men, equipped with advanced weaponry.
They took a boat to Mexico, but Cortes’ men began to tire and wanted to turn back to Spain.
When Hernan and his crew arrived at Mexico, Cortes burned all the boats to ensure that none of his men could return back to Spain.
Montezuma, the ruler of Tetnochitlan, which was soon to be New Spain, welcomed Cortes and his crew at first, but began to fall suspicious and asked them to leave. But for Hernan Cortes, that wasn't an option. He made a promise to the Aztecs, that despised
Cortés went to Tenochtitlan in mid-August 1519, along with 600 soldiers, 15 horsemen, 15 cannons, and hundreds of indigenous carriers and warriors. On the way to Tenochtitlan, Cortés made alliances with indigenous peoples such as the Totonacs of Cempoala and the Nahuas of Tlaxcala. The Otomis initially, and then the Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish a series of three battles from 2 Sept. to 5 Sept. 1519, After Cortés continued to release prisoners with messages of peace, 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. On November 8, 1519, they were peacefully received by Moctezuma
The Spaniards’ Entry into Tenochtitlan was written during the conquista, which is the colonisation of ,what we know, Mexico city. Everything started when Cortez arrived on the mainland in the spring of 1519. (Gilbert). Without approval from the Cuban governor Cortez’s crew, of about 450 soldiers, were moving forward to Tenochtitlan while creating relationships with Aztecs enemies such as Totonaca, they welcomed the Spaniards for an open revolt expressing their discontent with the Aztecs. Cortes was prohibited to search or to explore the rest of the inland. The governor stated to Cortez that he should “restrict his mission to fact-finding” meaning that Cortez needed to find facts before he starts to exploring, which he did not do but after three month, he reach Tenochtitlan. (Gilbert). It took, to Cortes, to arrived in Tenochtitlan three months, due to th...
During his reign, Hernan Cortes spent most of his time rebuilding Mexico City. He destroyed Aztec buildings and temples, and then rebuilt Christians Churches on top of the ruins. He also brought many Europeans to Mexico. Because of this Mexico City soon became the most important city in the Americas. Cortes founded new cities and appointed men to rule over these new cities and extend Spanish rule. He instituted the encomienda land tenure system in 1524. This is a trusteeship labour system in which certain per...
Hernán Cortés intended to bring back riches from America not conquer a people, but he and his conquistadors, who coincided with the return of the god Quetzalcóatl, were responsible for the death of the Aztec emperor, Montezuma.
In 1539 Hernando de Soto and five hundred adventurers began on a journey of exploration that would take 4 years and would travel through 10 states in the southeast United States. His goal was to discover a source of wealth, preferably gold, and around his mines establish a settlement. During his travels through La Florida he encountered numerous groups of native peoples, making friends of some and enemies of others. His expedition was not the first in La Florida; however, it was the most extensive. In its aftermath, thousands of Indians would die by disease that the Spaniards brought from the Old World. De Soto would initially be remembered as a great explorer but, would be later viewed as a destroyer of native culture. However, in truth de Soto was neither a hero or a villain but rather an adventurer.
When the Spaniards arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in 1519, they encountered the advanced society of the Aztecs. With Tenochititlan at its capital, the Aztec empire was vast. The Aztecs had substantial wealth from trading and extensive payments of tribute from conquered peoples. Bernal Diaz in his The Conquest of New Spain comments, "We were dazzled at the richness of the country that we passed through" (282). The Spaniards encountered a powerful, advanced people in the New World, making Cortes and his crew of approximately 600 seemingly ensured of defeat. The Aztec religion lends much to Spanish success in conquest.
Hernan Cortes had many positive and negative impacts, which are determined by the point of view. From a Native American view, there are many negative impacts. When Cortez conquered the native people of Mexico he subjected them to Spanish rule. Because of this, many people lost a lot of their native culture. A lot of the natives were then treated badly and were utilized for their labor. These actions of Cortez led to the demolition of the native way of life in Mexico.
Hernan Cortes along with the Spanish army of five hundred, and thousands of Indian warriors declared war with the Aztecs. Moctezuma believed that the person coming towards his land was Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl who was forced into exile, but promised to return. Topiltzin was born in the year ce acatl, departed during ce acatl. Coincedently Cortes came in the year of ce acatl, unfortunately for Moctezuma having his guards down and his arms open during the start of the war.
He has come back! He will come here, to the place of his throne and canopy, for that is what he promised when he departed!” (Broken Spears, 23). Of course, seeing the arrival of the Spaniards as the reappearance of a god meant that Montezuma and his people would be submissive and willing to do anything to appease the god in order to receive their blessing. Sadly, their kindness in the form of gold and other treasures was cruelly rejected by the Spaniards, who not only take what they offer, but they also brutally slaughter many of the Aztecs in their quest of conquering the Aztec empire. Interestingly throughout all of the conflict the Aztecs have with the Spaniards, it appears that they are largely fearful of the Spaniards and only want to make peace with them since they believe they are to be linked to their religion: we will be judged and punished. And however it may be, and whenever it may be, we can do nothing but wait.” (Broken Spears, 55). The Aztecs only fought back due to the necessity of keeping their empire intact and as revenge for the death of Montezuma. This contrasts sharply with the typical cruel image that the Aztecs are given, and is quite ironic because the Aztecs are the ones being conquered in this case. Near the end of the book, a
As a critical reader, it is easy to see that, along with the intention of spreading the word of God, there were obvious ulterior motives. These motives included the justification of the rape, murder and pillaging of native settlements. On their trek to Mexico, Montezuma sent continuous waves of Aztec warriors to intercept the Spaniards and ensure they did not make it to the Aztec capital. In the conquistador’s defense, they were soldiers and they were an army so they had to do what was necessary to defend themselves. Cortes was also able to use somewhat of a psychological warfare strategy as well. In the chapter “The March to Mexico” Diaz says “ In less than two hours our Tlascalan allies, who as I have said had remained in the fields, arrived after fighting a tough battle in the streets, where the Cholulans had posted other companies to defend the town and prevent their entrance, which had been quickly defeated however”(Diaz, 199). Cortes quickly realized that there were hostilities between the native tribes. When we would reach a village that was peaceful, he would make an alliance and tell them that he would help engage in battle and defeat their rival tribe. This worked very well and helped with the conquistadors march to the capital
While Cortes would go away, leaving his country under the power of his vice rulers, many started to think of ways of killing Cortes to overthrow his power. Between the times he would leave to follow his wish to explore the rest of the world, he was opposed by many and even targeted by many. The race to becoming the Governor had started among the all of those who either claimed to be better than Cortes, or simply wanted to increase their power. Cortes’ empire had now officially seen a downfall,
The outnumbered Spanish conquistadors were able to so easily defeat the natives of South and Central America for many reasons. These reasons include the spread of disease, the fear the Spanish spread, civil war, and the thought that Cortez was a God. The Natives were not immune to the European disease such as smallpox, influenza measles, typhus, plague, malaria, and yellow fever. This wiped out 85-90% of the Native population in 50 years. This was the largest demographic catastrophe in human history. (Document 4: The American Holocaust)
Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés' strategy in making Mexico "New Spain." He came as a wolf in a sheep's clothing and manipulated Montezuma through his apparent innocence.
Cortes was able to conquer the Aztecs for several very different reasons. In combination these reasons allowed him to have the upper hand in the conquest of Mexico. Arguably these reasons can be sorted into six different categories. The various causes for Cortes' success will be assessed in a climax pattern. To begin with the Aztecs had a harsh tribute system that was not popular among the people of Mexico. This cruel tribute system allowed Cortes to act as a liberator. Furthermore, with the Spanish brought several diseases into Mexico in witch they were immune to but the Aztecs were not. The spread of diseases such as small pox reduced the Aztec population and furthered Cortes' success unintentionally Also Marina was a tribal girl given as a gift to Cortes, she proved invaluable in translating local dialects in combination with Geronimo de Aguilar. Also an important aspect of his success was due to Montezuma's belief that Cortes was Quetzakoatl. A predominant reason for the Spanish success was due to their weaponry especially their armour and firepower. Perhaps the most important reason of all was that of Cortes' Indian allies such as the Tlaxcalans who made up the majority of his combined army. All these reasons worked together to allow Cortes, originally with 508 men to conquer the Aztec Empire of millions of people.
Spanish exploration and conquest of the New World in Latin America would be full of violence, political strife, hunger, and overall hardship, as the Spanish attempted to build a new empire. One such conquistador who experienced the hardship of trying to conquer a foreign land was Hernando Cortes. Throughout their conquest of Mexico, Cortes and his army faced many of these great obstacles. One of these was before the actual conquest even started, as Cortes had to get around his superior, Diego Velazquez. After that initial obstacle, the quest would no less difficult, as Cortes and his army continued to face hardships, with violence along the road and resistance from those proclaimed to be friends, and then again in the city of Tenochtitlan,