Download Cortes and the Aztecs

Cortes and the Aztecs
Genocide
Childhood
• At the age of 14, Cortés
was sent to study at the
University of Salamanca
in west-central Spain.
This was Spain's great
center of learning.
• He learned Law and
Latin
• helped him to justify his
unauthorized conquest
of Mexico
His time in the New World
He listened to the tales of those returning from
the Indies, who told of discovery and
conquest, gold, Indians and strange unknown
lands.
left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a
colonist
in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquest of
Hispaniola and Cuba, receiving a large estate of
land and Indian slaves for his efforts from the
leader of the expedition.
His time in the New World
• He listened to the tales
of those returning from
the Indies, who told of
discovery and conquest,
gold, Indians and
strange unknown lands.
• left for Hispaniola in
1504 where he became
a colonist
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
• a Spanish conquistador. He
conquered and governed Cuba
for Spain.
• He initially backed Hernán
Cortés's famous expedition to
Mexico. However when Cortés
tried to seize and claim Mexico
for himself. Velázquez charged
Cortés with exceeding his
authority and ordered Pánfilo de
Narváez to arrest him. Cortés
defeated Narvaez's troops in a
surprise attack and persuaded
the survivors to join him. Thus
Velázquez saw none of the riches
which came from Mexico
Conquest of Mexico
• 1518- Velázquez put
him in charge, but
revoked his charter
• Cortés ignored the
orders and went ahead
anyway, in February
1519, in an act of open
mutiny
Conquest of Mexico
• Mutiny- open rebellion
against constituted
authority
• Supplies- 11 ships, 500
men, 13 horses and a
small number of
cannons, he landed in
the Yucatan Peninsula in
Mayan territory
La Malinche or Dona Marina
• Through her help,
• La Malinche or Doña
Cortés learned from the
Marina - his future
Tabascans about the
mistress and mother of
wealthy Aztec Empire
his child Martín.
and its riches.
• Malinche knew both
• She was one of twenty
the (Aztec) Nahuatl
slaves given to Cortés
language and Maya,
by the natives of
thus enabling Hernán
Tabasco in 1519
Cortés to communicate
in both.
On the way to the Capital City
• Corez marched on
• fearing native treachery,
Tenochtitlan in midinfamously massacred
August 1519, along with
thousands of unarmed
600 men, 15 horsemen,
members of the nobility
15 cannons, and
gathered at the central
hundreds of indigenous
plaza, then partially
carriers and warriors
burned the city.
At the Capital City
• On November 8, 1519,
they were peacefully
received by the Aztec
Emperor Moctezuma II,
due to Mexican
tradition and diplomatic
customs.
A God?
• Considered by the
Aztecs to be either an
emissary of the
feathered serpent god
Quetzalcoatl or
Quetzalcoatl himself
• The patron god of the
Aztec priesthood, of
learning and knowledge
Prisoner
• decided to take
Moctezuma as a
hostage in his own
palace, requesting him
to swear allegiance to
Charles V.
• King Charles I of Spain, who had become Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519, appointed
Cortés as governor, captain general and chief
justice of the newly conquered territory, dubbed
"New Spain”
• Cortés was one of the first Spaniards to attempt
to grow sugar in Mexico and one of the first to
import African slaves to early colonial Mexico. At
the time of his death his estate contained at least
200 slaves who were either native Africans or of
African descent
Aztec Culture
• spoke the Nahuatl language and who
dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the
14th, 15th and 16th centuries
• ethnic groups of central Mexico
• agricultural basis of maize cultivation
• the calendric system of a xiuhpohualli of 365
day
Disease
• In 1520–1521, an
outbreak of smallpox
swept through the
population of
Tenochtitlan and was
decisive in the fall of
the city. It is estimated
that between 10% and
50% of the population
fell victim to this
epidemic
Human Sacrifice
• It was extreme in the
Aztec Culture
• For example, for the reconsecration of Great
Pyramid of Tenochtitlan
in 1487, the Aztecs
reported that they
sacrificed 84,400
prisoners over the
course of four days