Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico
Cortes finally sailed for the cost of Yucatan on February 18, 1519 with 11 ships, 508 soldiers from surrounding Cuban ports, 100 sailors and 16 horses. In March 1519 he landed in Tabasco where he built up an intelligence base in order to gain knowledge of the local Indians. The Indians were won over by Cortes and favoured him with gifts of gold, cloth and women (similar to Grijalva’s experience with the natives in 1518). One of the native women, Marina “Malinche”, became Cortes interpreter and mistress.
“This present, however, was worth nothing in comparison with the twenty
women that were given us, among them one very excellent woman called Doña
Marina, for so she was named when she became a Christian. Cortés received this
present with pleasure and went aside with all the Caciques, and with Aguilar, the
interpreter, to hold converse, and he told them that he gave them thanks for what they
had brought with them, but there was one thing that he must ask of them, namely, that
they should re-occupy the town with all their people, women and children, and he
wished to see it repeopled within two days”- Bernard Diaz del Castillo
Cortes shortly departed from Tabasco and landed further south than intended in a Port he soon labelled, Vera Cruz. Through this initiative Cortes denounced Velasquez authority and was made Chief Administrative Officer by the town’s council. He then set fire to his fleet of ships, encouraging those under his command to accept his authority, Cortes now relied on conquering Aztec territory in order to survive.
He then continued to journey inland, relying entirely on amity with the Indian Natives. The source of Cortes success lay in the political crisis within the Aztec Empire. The higher order Aztecs were resented by the subjects who had to pay tribute to them. The state of Tlaxcala was at constant war with Montezuma II and, in hope of overthrowing the ruler, became Cortes closest allies. Cortes requested, from a local tribe of Totonac Indians, an audience with Montezuma II before marching inland towards the capital of Tenochtitlan with an army of over 1,500 soldiers (including his Spanish army). Cortes entered the city on November 8th, 1519. Montezuma received him with great honour in stark contrast to his reception and initial denial of an audience. The Aztecs believed Cortés to be the descendent of the white-skinned god Quetzalcoatl of Aztec prophesy. This prophesy stated that Quetzalcoatl had left Mexico in the tenth century but would return from the east to reclaim his authority over the Aztecs. The Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, saw Cortés' arrival as the fulfilment of this prophecy and welcomed the party warmly, presenting the Spaniards with lavish gifts. In this excerpt from a letter Cortes addressed to Charles V, he describes his first impressions of the great capital of Tenochtitlan:
“This great city of Temixtitlan [Mexico] is situated in this salt lake, and from the main land to the denser parts of it, by whichever route one chooses to enter, the distance is two leagues. There are four avenues or entrances to the city, all of which are formed by artificial causeways, two spears' length in width. The city is as large as Seville or Cordova; its streets, I speak of the principal ones, are very wide and straight; some of these, and all the inferior ones, are half land and half water, and are navigated by canoes. All the streets at intervals have openings, through which the water flows, crossing from one street to another; and at these openings, some of which are very wide, there are also very wide bridges, composed of large pieces of timber, of great strength and well put together; on many of these bridges ten horses can go abreast”
“The following morning, they came out of the city to greet me with many trumpets
and drums, including many persons whom they regard as priests in their temples,
dressed in traditional vestments and singing after their fashion, as they do in the temples.”
After initial meetings with Montezuma, Cortes began to fear that his company would become the next human sacrifices at the Tenochtitlan Temple. From this, the Spanish-Indian relations deteriorated rapidly with coastal tribes plundering Vera Cruz. Cortes seized Montezuma and made him prisoner thus initiating a submission of the Aztecs and an offering of Gold as a ransom for Montezuma’s life. During this time Velasquez sent a fleet to subdue the rebellious Captain to which Cortes blatantly defeated with an army of 1000 men and enlisted Velasquez army of 1400 to his cause in Tenochtitlan. Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan to find that his Spanish troops had massacred an unarmed crowd at a religious ceremony, provoking a massive popular uprising. Following the conquest Las Casas writes:
“Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits. It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies. And also, those lands are so rich and felicitous, the native peoples so meek and patient, so easy to subject, that our Spaniards have no more consideration for them than beasts.”
Montezuma was shortly stoned to death after the return of Cortes and his newly instated army. Cortes only option following this attack remained to retreat to Tlaxcala. The Aztecs opposed this retreat as they had enforced such a detriment upon their populace. They engaged in a short-lived battle during which Cortes suffered a dramatic loss to his army and with 500 soldiers left, on July 20th, 1520 Cortes retreated to Tlaxcala (his Indian allies). Cortes rebuilt his army soliciting Velasquez to supply him with 1000 men to storm the capital once again. In 1521, Cortes and his army returned to Tenochtitlan and blockaded the city, denying food and water. An outbreak of smallpox soon engulfed the city at which point the new Aztec Emperor, Guatemoc, surrendered and Cortes stormed the city once more and demolished it so as to eradicate all traces of a once peaceful civilisation. This was the end of the great Aztec Empire.
Hernan Cortes and Cuba
Following the discovery of the New Western World by Christopher Columbus, plans were executed by the newly instated, Charles V to expand Spanish Foreign territory whilst invoking the conventions of the Spanish Reconquest of the Moors, on a broader scale, in order to install Catholicism as the dominating religion world-wide. In 1504, Castilian, Hernan Cortes, intrigued with the tales of foreign discovery and wealth, sailed from San Lucar to the island of Santo Domingo where Governor, Nicholas de Ovando received him cordially. Cortes was placed under the council of Diego Velasquez de Cuellar a key figure under Ovando in the pacification of the native Indians of Santo Domingo. He was appointed, Notary and for the successive years leading up to the Conquest, was placed in positions of equal esteem. Cortes came to be regarded by Velasquez, Ovando and Charles V as a skilled officer in all matters of military service. In 1511, Cortes accompanied Velasquez on a mission to conquer and colonize Cuba. After successfully invading and inhabiting the land, Cortes was appointed Mayor. Cuba was a prominent strategic gain for Spanish powers, its location (between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea) acted as a fortified barricade for the colonised Central American territories so as to disable access by other threatening powers. Cuba was the centre of trade for the Caribbean and Americas and provided much economic gain for the Spanish however there was not enough land or slave labour to meet the needs of a growing European settlement. Initial expeditions sent to the Yucatan Peninsula on the Coast of Mexico, appeared fruitful with many claims of Indian tribes and entire cities forged from nothing but gold. Ovando had passed and appointed Velasquez as Governor of Cuba. Velasquez initiated an expedition in April, 1518 lead by his nephew, Juan Grijalva to explore the conceptions of settlements on the Mexican coast and colonize. Grijalva returned and further clarified the accounts of copious riches in the native tribes bringing with him gifts of gold, spices and rich cloth and new knowledge of the natives. Grijalva had sited large temples off the Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and when confronted by the natives and their first meeting discovered that the gold and riches of the colonies were stored in great warehouses suggesting sophistication in architecture and a culture centred on a dominant religion. Grijalva also discovered that the natives were on the verge of revolt as the empire procreated on high taxation and a variation of the feudal classing system similar to many civilised colonies around the globe during this period. However Grijalva did not make any attempt at colonization. The following is the account of Grijalva’s positive interactions with the natives upon arrival in Mexico:
“On arrival the Indians and paid great respect to us all, and they brought a present of gold, consisting of four diadems and some gold lizards, and two [ornaments] like little dogs, and earrings and five ducks, and two masks with Indian faces and two gold soles for sandals, and some other things of little value. I do not remember how much the things were worth; and they brought cloth, such as they make and wear, which was quilted stuff."
Source: Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. Chap. 22-23 in The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, 1517-1521. 1585. Translated by A. P. Maudsley. New York: The Noonday Press, 1965.
Governor Velasquez was innately displeased with this result as Charles V had commanded him to instate power and domination over the newly discovered territories. Velasquez forged an agreement in October 1518 to enlist Cortes as Captain General of the next expedition to colonize in Mexico. The knowledge Cortes had gained from so many failed expeditions into Mexico and his military expertise advised him to move quickly and within a month he had gathered 6 ships and 300 men. Velasquez was jealous of Cortes hasty movement towards building a fleet due to the fact that Cortes had began funding the expedition with his own wealth gained from his success as a Notary and respected Military leader.
Spain- 1479-1519
Through the union of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile came the birth of Imperial Spain. This union was regarded as a union of equals although each kingdom preserved its own social, political, and economic realities according to its own unique history. Aragon was an empire in decline while Castile was just beginning to develop under its energetic young queen. Isabella was a devout Christian and this religious conviction motivated her fanatic campaign to expel the Moors and Jews from Iberian and spread Christianity to the rest of the world. Ferdinand, on the other hand, focused on Aragon's Italian possessions and a series of royal marriages with the other royal houses of Europe. Through Isabella and Ferdinand these two kingdoms would share the same foreign policy and become partners instead of rivals. This partnership laid the foundations for Cortes expedition and the force with which he forced Christianity upon the Aztec people after infiltrating their culture. Unlike the other Iberian kingdoms, Castile was the most isolated from foreign influence. As a result, Castilian society had kept the legacy of the proceeding centuries more alive than their neighbours in Aragon or Portugal. This inheritance included a Castilian militancy that firmly believed that expansion meant conquest. Cortes was born and raised in Castile and matured upon the morals and values of Castilian society. The firm belief in expansion spurring conquest had a resounding influence over his desire to explore and conquer unknown territories of the New World. Cortes once stated “We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure”.
After the Castilian Civil War of 1474 (through which Isabella gained political victory after years of economic turmoil leading to the uprising) Isabella and Ferdinand began restricting the power of the aristocracy by unifying their government and expanding their judicial system. These actions placed the Crown in the position of being able to employ Castile's invigorated economic growth created by its expanding wool trade. Under Isabella and Ferdinand's leadership Castile could now devote more of its resources towards overseas expansion.
“No single factor was more important in this than the increase of the royal income in Castile. New taxes were not levied, but the royal patrimony was extended and the tax collection system improved. Without seriously imposing on the domestic economy, the royal income--not allowing for a certain degree of inflation--increased some thirtyfold between 1474 and 1504. This made possible the conquest of Granada and a vigorously expansive policy overseas.”
During the early 16th Century Castile and Aragon became the strongest political powers in Europe under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their political and Economic position in Europe held dominance due to the overthrow of the one remaining threat on the Iberian Peninsula, hindering unification and total power. The Muslim enclave of Granada had been a fortified centre for Muslim faith and worship. The military prowess of Ferdinand’s Aragon and the Economic strength of Isabella’s Castile united to win over the stronghold in 1492. The infliction of the Catholic Faith upon the Muslim inhabitants is directly reflective of Cortes’ enforcement of Catholicism upon the Aztec persons: “I said everything to them I could to divert them from their idolatries, and draw them to a knowledge of God our Lord”. Due to Christian Missionary and Anti-Islamic fervour, Isabella funded the first Spanish expedition to the West Indies, Christopher Columbus. discovered the “New World” with a fleet of 3 ships and 87 men, Columbus returned to a united Spain with gold and spices, creating great material profit for Spain.
