Cortes One Day Analysis

At this point it seems obvious that this was a threat. The messenger reported back to the king and spoke of the power of the Spanish, along with all of the weapons. Even after hearing all that, Motechuhzoma refused to rule out the idea that they where gods. He sent prisoners from war to be "sacrificed before the Spanish because he believed these gods would want to drink their blood" (33). Obviously this disgusted the Spanish, but more importantly it built a case for Motechuhzoma to believe these people weren't gods. If he believed in his religion that the gods wanted human sacrifice, and these strangers were disgusted by it, it should have been clear that they weren't gods.

The letters read like he was able to speak to Moctezuma directly. He never mentions Malintzin by name (Seven Myths, 87). Cortés is remembered as this brilliant strategist who skillfully thought to use interpreters. This was not original or unique to Cortés or even to the Spanish. Acquiring interpreters was a routine part of conquest that dated back before Cortés (Seven Myths, 23-24).

Meanwhile Cortes was busy killing the natives who had previously lived in the Americas. He even sent some of his highest men

Cortés also made sure to describe the Aztecs as primitive people who worshiped false gods and viewed the king as a "barbarous monarch". As a result, Cortés placed himself in a strong position to be the symbol of the crown that could bring a stable Christian society to save these people.[4: Cortés, and Pagden, In Letter from Mexico, 11][5: Arkenberg, Hernan Cortés: From Second Letter to Charles V, 1520][6: Arkenberg, Hernan Cortés: From Second Letter to Charles V, 1520]

Cortes played a large role in the conquering of the Americas, and both Traditions and Encounters and The Broken Spears document his actions. In Traditions and Encounters, Cortes’s role as captain of Spanish expeditions was detailed. The advantage that the

Second, Diaz’s account written after a while of the event that builds it more reliable because usually who write during the war tends to his group on his writing. Moreover, in a time of a huge debate about Spain as an empire and treating Indians Diaz wrote his documents based on his memories and notes. Indeed, he was old when he wrote his book. So, it was possible that he missed some information or details, but not the main points and that one of the reason for using “it seems to me” frequently in his paper. In contrast, Cortez wrote his letter during the mission that let him use the warriors’ language that made him avoid mentioning the Aztec’s advantages. But, The Broken Spears is a recollection of Spanish by Indians’ records from the 16th century but, the exact dates are missed which are important to evaluate the information. In brief, Diaz’s account is more believable because he wrote it after a while of the event that let him revised his point of view.

The Aztec people felt very strong about their beliefs in gods and superstitions. Montecuhzoma the independent ruler of the Aztec empire swayed his people to believe in the power of gods and idols and live a spiritual life. This ultimately was a turning point for the Aztecs and is where the Spanish once again gained advantage over the Aztecs. While the Aztecs were faithful to their beliefs it made them powerless an easy take down. Superstitions played a huge factor in the Aztecs first encounter with the Spanish people. In 1519 when the Aztec people saw sight of something coming from a distance in the water, they believed it was Quetzalcoatl (Leon-Portilla, 18). Quetzalcoatl was a legend to them that promised to come back. Montecuhzoma misread the situation and sent messages and gifts in hopes that it sent a gesture to welcome the gods onto their land. This was a big mistake that Motecuhzoma made by opening his arms to the Spanish people upon their first encounter together (Leon-Portilla, 63). This is just one case where the Aztec people poorly used their judgement. However, Motecuhzoma did come to realize the behavior of the Spaniards or “Gods”. When the Spaniards held the gold given by the Aztecs their greed became noticed in the eyes of the Aztecs. The Natives described them as monkeys. They soon caught on that the Spaniards were not gods and heroes and more so barbarians

Maybe too much credit is given to Cortés as one of the greatest Spanish conquerors who developed effective strategy to defeat the Aztecs. Restall see this as somewhat of a myth accounting for the failure of historians to look at history before the 1519 (Restall, 19). Restall says “However, too often, without any direct evidence, the actions of Conquistadors after the 1519– 21 invasion of Mexico are taken as deliberately imitating Cortés, while pre-1519 patterns are ignored.” Whatever the case for whom should be given the credit for the strategy used to defeat the Aztecs; one must admit Cortés was able the win the trust of the people and use the Aztecs’ fear of him to control their empire. Cortés harbored fear of his own. Elliott says, “Cortés felt some uneasiness, when he reflected that it was in the power of the Indians, at any time, to cut off his communications with the surrounding country, and hold him a prisoner in the capital.” The Omens of the Aztecs betrayed them and caused them to see the arriving settlers as gods. They were not prepared to defend themselves against the advanced weapons of the Spanish. Much like the Aztecs, the Mayans faced hard times at the hands of the Spanish conquerors, but their defeat came much easier to the Spanish.

begin marching In-land, in their arrival to Tlaxcala and Cholula. One could argue that the

The Natives encountered by Columbus seemed to not be very warlike; although there were accounts about them having weapons. The warlike way in Cortes’ letter of the Aztecs was that the people were protected by their swords and sheltered by their shields.

Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'

Cortés was intelligent and proficient in law and knew that he was committing treason when he first departed Cuba for the unknown. Frank Ross wrote in “The Codex Cortés: Inscribing the Conquest of Mexico” that Cortés had “conceived of his defense as a legal case which depended on showing that his sense of personal loyalty to the King motivated his actions.” He had to provide evidence that his expedition into the unknown was for the benefit of Spain, especially economically. In the Second Letter of Hernán Cortés to Charles V, Cortés describes the Tenochtitlan market as packed with sixty thousand people

In this passage Diaz claimed that they were simply trying to spread the word of God and stop some of the unnecessary bloodshed and violence that took place in the Aztec’s culture. However, in the account told by the Aztec’s, “[The Spaniards] ran everywhere; they invaded every room, hunting and killing” (Broken Spears 614). It is apparent here that the interpretations do not match up in these two selections. This makes it hard to believe either since the two have such immense renditions of the true intention of the Spaniards.

Theses sentences from the third document shows Montezuma giving Cortes a warm welcome, giving him flowers, and necklaces. It kind of sounds like Montezuma is worshiping Cortes and what do some people worship god. After sometime Montezuma saw Cortes and saw the way Cortes attacked his people and after that he believed in a different religion. So now Montezuma does not see Cortes as the god he thought he was and now in fact could be a possible enemy. After Montezuma saw Cortes as another regular human being and not Quetzalcoatl or god he became suspicious of the Spanish men's every actions and especially Cortes.

There are three points Todorov makes as to why Cortes managed the overflow despite these issues, they are Montezuma’s hesitation, internal divisions among the Mexicans and Spanish superiority of weapons (Todorov, 1984, pg 61). Though Todorov asserts that these factors are important, he identifies them as simply a common basis, and only takes one reason literally for the reason of defeat which is the Mexica account of loss of communication (Todorov, pg