Mesoamerica and Spain:

The Conquest

Compiled by Brad R Huber

Special Thanks to Carmack, Gasco, and Gossen’s The Legacy of Mesoamerica (2nd edition)

The Origins of Spanish Imperialism

• The Christian Reconquest or Reconquista of Spain from the Moors.• The Moors were Muslims of North African descent • Conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula between A.D.

711 and 718.• For the Christians, the conflict with the Moors was a

holy war; Islamic religion was viewed as evil.• Religious and military zeal went hand-in-hand• Christian soldiers enjoyed the material spoils of victory

• Spain’s leaders believed they had a God-given right to dominate non-Christian peoples.

• The Reconquest of Spain was a model for the conquest of Americas.

The Conquest of the Aztecs

Chronology Santo Domingo (Hispaniola), 1496 Darien (in modern Columbia), 1510 Panama, 1519

Cortés’ translator, Gerónimo de Aguilar spoke Maya.

Doña Marina, also known as La Malinche or Malintzin spoke Chontal Maya and Nahuatl.

She became Cortés’ translator and mistress Hernán Cortés

Good Friday, April 19, 1519– Hernán Cortés defies Governor Diego Velasquez (Cuba), arrives at Veracruz with 11 ships

June 3, 1519--Spaniards travel to Cempoala (Totonacs) with 600 soldiers, 200 native servants, 16 horses, 32 crossbows, 13 muskets, and 14 cannons

September 2-20, 1519—the Spaniards fight with the Tlaxcalans and win Tlaxcalan allies

Lienzo (Canvas) de Tlaxcala, ca. 1552

Cholula Massacre, October 1519

Lienzo (Canvas) de Tlaxcala, ca. 1552

Cortés and Motecuhzoma November 8, 1519 –

Cortés enters Tenochtitlán

Panfilo de Narváez arrives to arrest Cortés – May 1520

Cortés leaves for coast

Pedro de Alvarado left in charge at Tenochtitlán

Lienzo (Canvas) de Tlaxcala, ca. 1552

Motecuhzoma Killed

Pedro de Alvarado leads attack of Mexica during festival of Huitzilopoctli

June 1520 – Motecuhzoma killed

Motecuhzoma replaced by his brother Cuitlahuac

La Noche Triste

Cortés returns from Gulf Coast

La Noche Triste – June 30, 1520; Spaniards flee Tenochtitlán

July 1520—Spaniards retreat to Tlaxcala and regroup

Lienzo de Tlaxcala, ca. 1552

Cortés takes Tenochtitlán July 1520 - May 1521: Cortés regroups

with Tlaxcalan help—builds brigantines

Cortés had a force of over 700 Spaniards and an estimated 75,000 Tlaxcalans as well as 86 horses and 15 cannons.

Old World infectious disease struck Tenochtitlán in the meantime.

Cuitlahuac dies & Cuauhtémoc, nephew of Motecuhzoma, succeeds

May 1521—Spaniards lay siege to Tenochtitlán

On August 13, 1521, Cuauhtémoc surrenders and is taken prisoner.

100,000 or more Mexica had died during the siege and subsequent massacre.

The Conquest of Michoacán (West Mexico)

• Area of powerful Tarascan or Purépecha state.• Before Spaniards contacted Tarascans, smallpox

epidemic hits, killing the Tarascan ruler or Cazonci named Zuangua.

• In 1525, the Cazonci converted to Christianity, formally accepted Spanish domination, and requested that Friars be sent to Michoacán.

• In 1529-30, Guzmán took the Cazonci prisoner, put him on trial for interfering with the encomienda system, and he was executed.

The Conquest of The Maya Area

• No single group dominated the Maya territories.• Regions were subjugated one by one.

• Spanish Invasion of Guatemala • was preceded by a smallpox epidemic in 1520.• In 1523, Cortés commissioned Pedro de Alvarado to

lead a group of 400+ Spaniards and 100s of Tlaxcalan warriors south to Guatemala.

• The power of the Quiché Maya was waning and they had many enemies including the Cakchiquel.

• One by one the Maya groups of the Guatemalan highlands fell to Spanish invaders.

Chiapas was subjugated in a 1527-28 campaign• Ciudad Real (today San Cristóbal de Las Casas)

was established around 1535.

The Yucatan Peninsula • was not brought under Spanish control until

1547 by Montejo the Younger.• Uprisings occurred from 1545-47, and• Many Indians fled south to the Péten.• They would successfully resist Spanish

domination for another 150 years (1697).