Page 50 - All About History - Issue 12-14

FALL OF THE AZTECS

Moctezuma knew he had a problem and feared Cortés was the living embodiment of Quetzalcoatl
the approach of the conquistadors: Cortés had is hard to discern. Spanish accounts of Cortés’
WIFE AND arrived at a time in the Aztec calendar that did not expedition paint the Aztecs as gullible and
allow for battle, nor for the training of his warriors deferential, but many modern historians believe
TRANSLATOR – Aztec society was strictly governed by calendars. this to be a classic case of the victors writing the
To make matters worse, as a profoundly spiritual history books, or a complete misapprehension
Without his translator and wife-to- and superstitious people, the Aztecs had been of Moctezuma’s initial politeness toward Cortés,
be, Cortés could probably not have struck by a series of portents that boded ill for the as Aztecs used politeness to assert dominance.
triumphed in Mexico. La Malinche offered
a vital connection between his language empire: a comet sighted in Regardless, the time and nature of Cortés’
and that of the Aztecs. the sky during the day, arrival was another stroke of luck.
La Malinche was one of 20 slaves fires in two temples in By August 1519, Cortés and
offered to the conquistadors and served the capital and the his men were a mere 320
as translator and mediator; it is likely she violent eruption of the kilometres (200 miles)
had previously received formal education, volcano Popocatépetl. from Tenochtitlan, with
explaining her abilities to speak a number The dragon-like the Aztec ruling elite
of South American dialects.
She became Cortés’s concubine and South American god ambivalent as to what to
gave birth to a son, Martín, with Cortés, Quetzalcoatl – the do next. Some favoured a
one of the first people born of mixed feathered serpent – violent confrontation but
Spanish and South American genetic was prophesied to Moctezuma – rattled by what
make-up, and died aged around 25. Some return from the east he saw as ominous portents
see her as a traitor who facilitated the in 1519 to rule over and realising that his gifts
subjugation of her own people but others
as an intelligent strategist who made the the land around this would not persuade Cortés to
best of her situation. time – he was also abandon his march on the capital –
bearded and white- allowed Cortés to approach further.
skinned. The parallels Having secured his Spanish force’s
with Cortés were hard allegiance by destroying his own fleet, Cortés
to ignore. ensured that he grew his army from the 500 he
Whether Moctezuma The Aztec mask started out with by convincing the native people
of Quetzalcoatl
genuinely believed that to rise up against the Aztecs, who taxed them and
“ The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was prophesied
to return from the east in 1519 to rule over

the land around this time – he was also
bearded and white-skinned. The parallels

La Malinche aided Cortés in
communicating with Aztec emissaries with Cortés were hard to ignore”

Conquerors
Before they claimed the
capital city, the Spanish
conquistadors and their allies
raided several Aztec villages
along the way. Many Aztecs
were killed or enslaved by
the forces.

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