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.
