Spanish Arrival
Hernan Cortes
Siege of Tenochtitlan
End of Aztec Empire
Hernan Cortez
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Cortez was born in 1485 in Medellin, Extremadura. His
parents were of small Spanish nobility. In 1499, when
Cortez was 14 he attended the University of Salamanca,
at this university he studied law. Two years later in 1501
he gave up on his education and started to drift around.
Hernán Cortés left Spain at the age of nineteen after
fortuitous escape from a jealous husband.
In 1504 he set sail for what is now the Dominican
Republic to try his luck in the New World. In 1511, when
he was 18, he joined an army under the command of
Spanish soldier named Diego Velázquez and played a
part the conquest of Cuba. Velázquez became the
governor of Cuba, and Cortez was elected Mayor-Judge
of Santiago.
Hernan Cortez 1485-1587
Hernan Cortes
Later he impressed Governor Diego Velásquez
and served as his clerk during the expedition to
conquer and settle Cuba in 1511.
 Cortés' past performance made him the perfect
candidate for the Governor's third expedition to
the main land.
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http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/aztec.html
Spanish Expedition
http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/images/1519cortezarrival.jpg
Journey of Cortez
http://ntap.k12.ca.us/whs/projects/history/cortez.html
Cortes Con’d
But Cortés' ambition and personal
magnetism made Velásquez suspect his
loyalty. Velásquez planned on removing
him as the leader of the expedition.
 Cortés discovered this and cut short his
preparations and set sail for the mainland
on February 18, 1519.
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Cortez leaves for Mexico
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He left with a force of 600 men, and less than 20 horses
and set sail for Mexico. He sailed up the coast of the
Yucatán. In March 1519, Cortez landed in Mexico, and
suppressed the town of Tabasco.
This was where Cortez met his soon to be mistress
Malinche. She became a guide and interpreter.
After finding a better harbor north of San Juan, Cortez
and his small force sailed there and established a town,
La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. To prevent any thought of
retreat he burned his ships.
Malinche
"La Malinche." Slave, interpreter,
secretary, mistress, mother of the first
"Mexican."
 Many Mexicans continue to revile the
woman called Doña Marina by the
Spaniards and La Malinche by the Aztecs,
labeling her a traitor and harlot for her
role as the mistress of Cortes as he
conquered Mexico.

http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/malinche.html
Malinche, con’d
However, she saved thousands of Indian
lives by enabling Cortes to negotiate
rather than slaughter.
 Herself a convert, she was baptized
Marina.
 She bore Cortes a son, Don Mahin Cortes
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Cortes and La Malinche with
Tlaxcalan leader
from mural by
Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin
Palacio de Gobierno, Tlaxcala
http://thedagger.com/archive/conquest/malinche.html
Malinche translating for Cortes:
from Sahagun codex
http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/bgmalinche.htm
Conquistadors
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Bernal Diaz del Castillo
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Left Spain in 1514 where he went to Cuba where
a relation was governor.
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One of Cortes’ conquistadors.
Born 1492 (Spain).
Account written in 1555, many years after the
conquest.
did nothing much there.
joined Hernandez de Cordova and went to Florida
where they received a hostel reception.
Back to Cuba where he eventually joined Cortes
in 1519 where they set sail from Port of Trinidad
to Veracruz.
Monument to del Castillo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_D%C3%ADaz_del_Castillo
Spanish Arrival
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The first city the Spanish saw was Cempoala on the
Veracruz coastal plain.
Received by the Totonac ruler.
city with five pyramids and a round temple dedicated to
Quetzalcoatl.
 walled and raised above ground level for defense and
floods.
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Impressed by the pottery and architecture of these
“savages”.
Travel Inland
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Traveled above the coastal plain and
through the volcanoes-Popcatpetl and
Iztaccihuatl.
 Beneath them was the Basin of Mexico.
7700 sq km, with forested mts surrounding it.
 center was a chain of five lakes.
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They saw the inland city of Tenochtitlan
from there.
Travel to Tenochtitlan
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Forced their way inland to Basin of Mexico
where they met with little resistance until
Tlaxcala.
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Castillo was wounded on the head and thigh and
eventually Cortes made peace and formed an alliance
with the inhabitants.
Continued their march where they massacred
people at Itzcalpan, Tlamanalco, and
Itztapalatengo.
Aztec Account
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Omens portending the arrival of the Spanish
A flaming ear of corn that appeared across the sky.
 The temple of Huitzilopochtli burst into flames.
 The temple of Xiuhtecuhtli (Fire God).
 Fire streamed through the sky while the sun was still
shining.
 Wind lashed the water until it boiled.
 Weeping woman heard at night in city.
 Strange creature captured in the nets (bird like a
crane with a mirror on its head).
 Deformed men appeared in the city.
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Temple of Huitzilopochtli in flames:
from Sahagun
http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/aztec1.html
What are the first reports of the
Spanish?
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Seers could not give satisfactory answer of omens, but a
common man came and said that towers were floating
on the see and people were crossing the mts. with light
skin and short hair.
Motecuhzuma sent messengers and gifts to these
strangers-thought they may be Quetzalcoatl and other
gods.
Motecuhzuma had magicians come from other cities and
questioned them about the omens-but they did not know
what they meant. So had them put in prison and their
wives and children killed.
First Contact
Spies were sent to report when the Spanish
arrived on shore.
 Motecuhzuma summoned his chiefs and had them
look at the gifts and told them the news.
 Still thought the new arrival was Quetzalcoatl.
 Gifts included a serpent mask inlaid with
turquoise, a decoration made of quetzal feathers,
a collar woven with a gold disk in the center, a
shield decorated with gold and mother of pearl.
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Moctezuma gets news of people on
the coast: from Sahagun
http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/aztec2.htm
Messengers
Messengers went in canoes to meet them and were
received on the Spanish ships.
 Gave them the finery and dressed him as the gods.
 Cortes had the messengers chained by the feet and
neck and fired the cannon so that the people fainted
with fear. After reviving them he suggested a battle
to see how brave the Aztec warriors were.
 The messengers fled and returned to Motecuhzuma
where they met him in the temple. Two captives
were sacrificed in honor of the difficult mission.
 They told them of the Spanish, what they ate, how
they dressed, the cannons, their deer (horses), their
dogs.
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Spanish terrifying Messengers:
from Sahagun codex
http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/aztec3.html
Spanish go to Tenochtitlan
http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/CORTES15.htm
The meeting of Moctezuma and
Cortes
Moctezuma met Cortes in all his finery. He
addresses them as they are his lords and
offers them up all of the city.
 The Spaniards enter the royal house, put
Moctezuma under guard, and seized all of
his treasure.
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Cortes meets Montezuma II
http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/aztec.html
Spanish Take-Over
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Moctezuma was kept a virtual prisoner in his palace
by the Spanish and gave up the lords of the cities
who had resisted the Spanish.
Many native chieftains were burned to death.
Finally swore fealty to King of Spain
Provided the Spanish with seven hundred thousand
dollars in gold, as well as cloth and women.
Suspicion from Cuba
 Governor
of Cuba-Valasquez sent
troops to see what was going on,
because Cortes was keeping all the
riches to himself.
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Cortes left for the coast and fought with
troops, but won them over with gold.
Fiesta of Huitzilopochtli
Meanwhile, while Cortes was away, the Aztecs prepared
for the feast and at the height of the dancing, the
remaining Spaniards attack.
 The Spaniards were seized with “an urge to kill the
celebrants”.
 The Aztecs responded by attacking the Spaniards who in
turn shackle Motecuhzoma and keep him captive. The
Aztecs then lay siege to the palace.
 Spaniards were forced from the city and fled in their
retreat.
 The Aztecs raided goods from the dead Spanish and
began to celebrate their fiestas again.
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http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/images/1519hernan-cortez-battle.jpg
Death of Moctezuma
Moctezuma went to the roof tops to get
admonish his people for retaliating.
 It is said that a commoner killed him with
a stone from the sling, but the palace
people said the Spaniards put him to
death before they fled.
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Cuitlahuac
Moctezuma was succeeded as emperor by
Cuitlahuac.
 Moctezuma had been intimidated by Cortés
because he believed the Spaniards were
representatives of the bearded, fair- skinned god
Quetzalcoatl. Cuitlahuac never believed the
legend and set out to organize a determined
resistance to the conquistadores.
 Though he only ruled four months before
succumbing to smallpox, he managed to drive
the Spanish from the city.
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Cuahtemoc
Cuauhtemoc was nephew to Moctezuma and
Cuitlahuac.
 He was also Moctezuma's son-in-law
because Cuauhtemoc married Moctezumas
daughter Tecuichpo.
 He was then tortured by Cortes to tell where
there was more gold, but he never told.
 In 1525, while with Cortes in Honduras, Cortes
learned that Cuahtemoc was leading a plot to
overthrow him and he was then hanged for
treason.
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Cuahtemoc
http://www.freewebs.com/tecpaocelotl/cuauhtemoc.htm
Siege of Tenochtitlan
 They
fled to Tlaxcala where they were
fortified by reinforcements from Cuba as well
as Natives.
 Attacked Tenochtitlan and Cuauhtemoc who
was ruler after Motecuhzoma died in 1520.
 The siege began on May 21, 1521 and lasted
for 85 days.
 Finally ended when the Spanish captured the
northeast section of the city and eventually
conquered the remaining Aztecs.
Siege of Tenochtitlan
There was a plague of small pox in the city.
 The Spanish besieged them with ships in the
lake, which Cortes had dismantled and brought
overland to Tenochtitlan.
 The Aztecs defend themselves by running in
zigzags to avoid the gunfire, or laid flat to avoid
a cannon shot, and took cover in houses.
 The Spaniards finally pushed to the center of the
city but were held back by a last stand of the
Aztecs.
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Siege of the city
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tenochtitlan
Surrender
Cuahtemoc lead a successful defense against the
Spanish, but the Spanish siezed the market and
the Aztec were soon starving.
 Cuauhtemoc was put in a war canoe and the
people cried “he is going to surrender to the
gods”. The Spaniards then set off their canons
in celebration.
 Refugees were searched for gold and gold was
demanded of the King in tribute. Of the 300,000
warriors in the city only 60,000 were left.
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Cortes’ Appointment to governorship
of Mexico
Because of his conquests and all the gold and
jewels he had collected, Cortés was very popular
back home in Spain.
 King Charles I of Spain, who had become Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519, appointed
Cortés governor and captain general of the
newly conquered territory.
 Cortés received the title Marques del Valle de
Oaxaca (Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley)in 1528.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s#Appointment_to_governorship_
of_Mexico
Cortés initiates the construction of
Mexico City
Cortés began the construction of Mexico City on
the Aztec ruins and brought many Spaniards
over to live there.
 It soon became the most important European
city in North America.
 He managed the founding of new cities and
appointed men to extend Spanish rule to all of
Mexico, which was renamed New Spain.
 Cortés also supported efforts to convert Indians
to Christianity and sponsored new explorations.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s#Appointment_to_governorship_
of_Mexico