The Fall of the Aztecs

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Presentation by Robert MartinezPrimary Content: America’s History, James Henretta, David Brody & Lynn DumenilImages as cited.

Hernan Cortes conquered an empire and destroyed a civilization. Cortes came from a family of minor status in Spain, and, seeking military adventure and material gain, sailed

to Santo Domingo in 1506.

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Ambitious and charismatic, he distinguished himself in battle, putting

down a revolt and serving in the conquest of Cuba.

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Eager to increase his fortune, Cortes jumped at the chance in 1519 to lead an

expedition to the mainland. He landed with six-hundred men near the Mayan

settlement of Potonchan (Mexican coast), which he quickly overpowered.

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Then Cortes got lucky. The defeated Mayans presented him with 20 slave

women to act as servants and concubines, among them Malinali, a young woman of

noble birth.

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Not only was she “of pleasing appearance and sharp-witted and outward-going,” the

words of a Spanish soldier, she also spoke Nahuatl, the Aztec’s language.

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Cortes took her as his mistress and interpreter, and soon she became his guide. When the Spanish leader learned from Malinali the extent of the Aztec empire, his goal became power rather than plunder.

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Cortes would overthrow its king, Montezuma, and take over his empire.

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Of Malinali’s motives for helping Cortes there is no record. Like his Spanish

followers, she may have been dazzled by his powerful personality.

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Or, more likely, she may have calculated that Cortes was her best hope for escaping

slavery and reclaiming her noble status. Whatever her reasons, her loyalty to her

new master was complete.

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As the Spanish marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519, she risked

her life by warning Cortes of a surprise attack in the city of Cholula and served as

his translator as he negotiated his way into the Aztec capital.

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“Without her,” concluded Bernal Diaz del Castillo, the Spanish chronicler of the

conquest, we would “have been unable to surmount many difficulties.”

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Awed by the military prowess of the Spanish invaders, Montezuma received

Cortes with great ceremony, only to become his captive.

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Montezuma may have believed that the Conquistadors were returning gods from ancient Aztec legend. Maybe Cortes was

the powerful Quetzalcoatl?

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The sight of the Spaniards in full metal armor, with guns that shook the heavens and inflicted devastating wounds, made a deep impression on the Aztecs, who knew how to purify gold but not how to produce

iron tools or weapons.

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Moreover, the Aztec warriors, fighting on foot with flint-tipped spears and arrows,

were no match for mounted Spanish conquistadors wielding steel swords and

aided by vicious attack dogs.

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Nevertheless, the Aztecs attacked Cortes’s forces and killed Montezuma,

whom they felt betrayed his people.

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Although heavily outnumbered and suffering great losses, Cortes and his men were able to fight their way out of the Aztec

capital.

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The Aztec emperor could easily have crushed the Spanish invaders if he had ruled a united empire. But many Indian peoples hated the Aztecs, and Cortes

exploited that anger.

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With the help of Malinali, now known by the honorific Nahuatl name Malinche, he

formed military alliances with tribes whose wealth had been taken by Aztec nobles….

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….and whose people had been sacrificed to the Aztec sun god.

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The Aztec empire collapsed, the victim not of superior military technology but of a vast

internal rebellion instigated by the sly Cortes.

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Roman Catholic Cathedral in Mexico City today.http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodvictoria/3422524911/