Page 53 - All About History - Issue 12-14

FALL OF THE AZTECS

Branding slaves
On the shoulder of each
captive, whether child or old
man, the hot iron was applied.
The letter G (for ‘guerra’,
meaning ‘war’) was burned
deep into the flesh, as a
permanent brand.

Moctezuma II was the ninth
ruler of Tenochtitlan

the capital – cutting the causeways from the
mainland and controlling the lake with armed
brigantines. The supply of food to the city was
cut and the aqueduct carrying water to the city
was blocked, while Cortés made continued attacks
on the capital, itself besieged by terrible disease.
Weakened by lack of provisions and smallpox and
dispirited by the constant attacks, Tenochtitlan fell
in 1521 after eight months of siege.
Cortés had conquered Mexico in 30 months and
went on to rebuild Tenochtitlan as Mexico City; the
land rechristened New Spain. Cortés introduced
Christianity and outlawed human sacrifices.
Was the Aztec city as rich as Tenochtitlan was razed to the ground and
legend depicts? the first buildings of modern-day Mexico
City were laid down. Intent on winning the
The vast majority of gold gifted to the Spanish was satisfying Cortés, peace after the war, Cortés established a
immediately melted down by conquistadors hungry the gold only society where sexual union was a founding
for wealth and oblivious to the inherent value of the increased his desire principle – he even married La Malinche,
jewellery and ornaments created by the natives. Swiftly for more of it. the woman who acted as translator for him
spirited out of the country, mercantilism and piracy In a letter to the
probably meant that Aztec gold ended up in all corners Spanish king in July shortly after his arrival in South America.
of the globe. The amount of gold deposits in Mexico is 1519, Cortés listed around Hernán Cortés brought European traditions
also small, meaning the amount of gold looted by the 50 golden treasures and and religion to the continent, for better or worse.
Spaniards may have been exaggerated. precious stones in the His abilities to form political alliances, ruthless
However, the Aztecs did not value gold – they form of necklaces and military brain and desperation for power and © Map of Mexico by FreeVectorMaps.com; Thinkstock; Joe Cumminhs; Corbis; Wolfgang Sauber; Hans Hillewaert
called it “the excrement of the gods” – preferring to decorative ornaments, one ‘as riches brought about the astonishingly rapid end
use it decoratively rather than as currency and were big as a cartwheel’, and a Spanish
perturbed at the Spanish greed for it. Conceivably helmet filled with gold dust. However, Cortés sent only to one of the world’s greatest civilisations, as well
they were happy to give their reserves of gold to the a fifth of his total bounty to Spain as a tribute, meaning as the destruction of one of its most brilliant cities.
Spaniards, not because it was so abundant, but because the real figure was around 200-250 items. The raids on More than any other person, Cortés birthed the
there was little significance attributed to it. Tenochtitlan’s stores of treasure must have yielded a lot modern-day Mexico – and much of South America
Ironically, it was possibly Moctezuma’s use of gold more booty, but much was lost in the retreat from the as a direct result. That this also brought about the
as tributes to Cortés when the conquistadors landed city on La Noche Triste. The true value of Aztec gold is fall of the Aztec civilisation mattered less to Cortés
that ensured Tenochtitlan’s destruction. Rather than likely to remain a mystery.
than the glorious plunder and power that his
South American conquest provided.
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