Page 46 - All About History - Issue 19-14

What if…

THE AZTECS HADN’T BEEN CONQUERED?

Would the Aztecs have expanded and conquered the
rest of the continent?
Restall: It is interesting to speculate on how the Aztec
acquisition of horses and Spanish technologies of war might
have allowed them to consolidate and expand their empire.
The Aztecs appeared to have been poised to expand south
into the Maya area by 1519, and [there is] no doubt they would
have been able to achieve that.
Cowie: This is doubtful as the Aztec Empire was quite
loosely structured. Rather than imposing their own systems
of government, language and religion on the people they
conquered, they tended to leave existing leaders in place and
simply extract tribute (a form of taxation) from them. There’s
little reason to imagine this system of government would
have changed following a failed Spanish conquest, though the
Aztecs would probably have exacted punishment on those
former allies who proved disloyal and re-doubled their efforts
to crush the Tlaxcallans. Though they traded across a wide
region for luxury items such as jade, feathers and jaguar pelts,
it seems unlikely the Aztecs would have been able to enforce
a more formal empire of conquest.

Would they have become a trading partner to the
European powers?
Restall: Had the Aztecs been able to fend off the Spaniards
for generations, another factor would have complicated
imperial interaction in the New World: the increased presence
there of the Dutch, French, and English. In later centuries, the
Spanish, French and English used alliances with indigenous
groups to wage war against each other and compete for
territory and colonial control.
Cowie: This seems unlikely. The Aztecs did trade extensively
across Mesoamerica, but it is questionable whether the
Spanish would have settled for a commercial relationship
Fierce fighting broke out in Tenochtitlán during the conquest. Despite having better weaponry, the of this kind. The Spanish wanted vast quantities of gold
Spanish could have been defeated if deadly smallpox hadn’t spread throughout the Aztec nation
and silver, which had to be mined, and souls to convert to
Christianity, neither of which could have been achieved
“The fact the Aztec Empire collapsed without formal conquest.
after two years of warfare has How would a failed invasion have affected Europe?
influenced how we see the Aztecs” Restall: I think a failed Spanish invasion of the 1520s would
have been followed by further Spanish invasions, and that the

Howwoulditbedifferent? O Beginning of the conquest O Cortés arrives in
Tenochtitlán
Cortés lands in Yucatán
The conquistadors arrive in
again after having set sail
from Cuba with 11 ships and the Aztec capital, receive
500 men. He desires to gifts from Aztec leader
O DiscoveryoftheNewWorld claim this part of the New Moctezuma II and take
In search of new land and trading World for himself. residence in his palace.
opportunities, Christopher 4 March 1519 8 November 1519
Columbus becomes the first to
discovertheNewWorld.After
this, many Europeans make the
Realtimeline journey across the Atlantic. Realtimeline
12 October 1492
1428
O Aztecs become the O Severe flooding O Comet spotted
dominant force The Aztec capital A comet is reportedly
With victory over Tenochtitlan is spotted flying across
the Tepanec at ravaged by severe the sky on this date. O First Cortés landing
Azcapotzalco, the flooding. This, in In Aztec culture The Spanish Alternate timeline
Aztecs become the addition to famines they are an omen, Conquistadors arrive
major civilisation and more floods, believed to signify in the Yucatán with a
in Central America weakens the Aztecs impending doom and small force that is easily
with their culture, before the Spanish worried emperor, beaten after clashing
architecture and conquistadors arrive. Montezuma. with natives. They vow to
language dominating 1510 1517 return with a larger force.
the region. 1428 February 1517

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