The Conquest of the Aztec Empire - Essay Example

The history of the conquest of the Aztec empire has been told by a few yet the main sources of the account of the battles and what took place is more or less looked for in the writings by those who were the conquerors and those who were conquered. There has been a fascination by a majority to believe the accounts that were relayed by the Spanish, however, there is a whole other side to the story, that of the indigenous population. It is pertinent to understand that their version is to be given as much importance as that of the Spanish as it has been said a famous conqueror himself, “what is history but a fable agreed upon”. It is understandable how the account of those who lost could have been pushed aside, but this essay looks to compare and perhaps seek to collect from sources what the different versions of the conquest were. Perhaps even to reconcile as to whose version is more accurate and in line with the true events that occurred. Broken Spears has highlighted many reasons as to why the Aztecs were at a disadvantage when it came to defending themselves against the Spanish, whom they considered to be their gods who had finally come to them from across the sea (Miguel León-Portilla et al., 2006). The epidemic of smallpox was already making a stronghold in the area where the Aztecs live and this led to widespread death and sickness in the region. Many Mexicans lost their lives due to smallpox and this was perhaps one of the main reasons that the Aztec fell. Along with this the superiority in terms of weaponry was a dominating feature in the campaign. Though the lesser numbers of the Spanish was something that should have worked in favor of the Aztecs. There are a few certain authorities which are looked at more often than others and considered to be more authentic. The Aztec views were not really that well recorded and the main authority on the Aztec version is recorded by Fray Bernardino de Sahugun who listened to the accounts of the natives and recorded them in the Latin alphabets which he later translated to Spanish. The Spanish’s version of the conquest is looked more or less through the eyes of Cortés himself with the help of the letters that he sent back to Spain with the details of the conquests itself. These letters to the king of Spain at the time were considered to be the primary source of what the occurrences that were taking place in the new world. The Spaniards destroyed many of the manuscripts that were kept by the indigenous population in order to preserve their version of the matter. The Spaniards march on Tlaxcala and Cholula has been given plenty of attention as well. There have been different point of views regarding the march and attack against the city of Cholula but on the other hand not much is contested as to what happened when the Spanish made their way to Tlaxcala. As many have stated the march into Tlaxcala was not brutal as the people there were ready to accept the men they had never seen before and considered to be gods. In the codex Florentino it is said that the people there even offered their daughters to the Spanish. They welcomed them into their houses and gave to them all that they had as they believed the Spaniards to be divine due to their armor as well as advanced weaponry. Yet the battle in Cholula has had a lot of attention and the causes of it vary from source to source. As the codex of Florentino has highlighted the event, there was deception in the eyes of the Tlaxcala people who were envious of the people of Cholula and wanted to see them destroyed. It was thus a lot easier to bring news to Cortés that they were the allies of the Aztec and have the new people destroy them. The Spanish took the word of the locals at Tlaxcala and set out for Cholula and killed many in the city as it was not able to protect itself against the weapons of the Spanish. Once again the accounts of both sides are meant to look as though they were provoked to action. The similarities in the sources are the people of Tlaxcala. They were more or less the main reason behind the march to Cholula. The provocation for the march is disputed where the factor of the messenger and the point of provocation on part of the Tlaxcala. The Spanish have given their account so as to project a sense of obligation to end what was wrong when it comes to the massacre at the temple. According to them, they were invited to the city by the locals themselves to their area. At the time the Spanish were being attacked by the mexicas and had a hard time. The mexicas were to hold a tradition festival and so as a precaution and means to downplay any thought the Spanish might have of an ambush, asked the permission of the man in charge of the troops. The permission was granted though there were conditions set that there would be no sacrifices. The festival went ahead and there were no problems until it somehow came to the knowledge of the lieutenant that there was a plan to kill all the Spaniards. Thus the Spanish made the first move and went to the temple and killed all those who were inside without any show of mercy. The Aztec sources would argue that the Spanish were considered to be gods and once seeing that the riches and precious goods that the Aztec had the Spanish men became greedy and slaughtered the people in the temples. According to the Aztec sources their people were celebrating at the time the attack took place. The poem that depicts the attack talks of how the people were mutilated and ran from the armored men in fear of their lives as they killed all who they came upon. Both narratives seem to agree upon the fact that there was a festival at the time when the massacre took place and that during and at the end of the assault on the temple the Spanish took the gold and other materials thought valuable from the temple and the bodies. There is a difference as to why the massacre took place. The Aztec blames it on the greedy nature of the men from across the sea while the Spanish make it seem that they were protecting themselves against an attack that was inevitable. Cortés was to arrive at the city at the point when there was a revolt and open battle between the Spanish and the Aztec warriors as a result of the preemptive strike by the man in charge while Cortés was away, Pedro de Alvarado. Cortes was not sure as to what had happened but managed to get into the city unharmed and make his way to the established headquarters of the Spanish. There have been different points of view as to what happened after the arrival of the commander of the attacking forces. Some sources have claimed that in order to downplay the event and prevent any further bloodshed Cortés asked the emperor of the Aztec to go and talk to his people and calm them. Perhaps this point of view was told by someone sympathetic to the Spanish as it is claimed that the emperor was on his way to the top of the temple to talk to his subjects when a common man from his own city killed him with a rock on a sling. According to the writings in the codex of Florentine the emperor was already killed when his warriors dragged him out of the palace. They claim that it was the Spanish who had killed their leader. Again there are a few similarities and differences between the view points. There is an agreement that Moctezuma was in the temple at the time of the attack but the difference arises in the manner of his death. The night of sorrows took place after the massacre at the temple when the Spaniards were forced back by the Mexican warriors who managed to gather numbers after gathering some semblance. The warriors managed to draw back the Spaniards and hold them back. Cortes and his men had looted plenty of gold from those who they had killed. The Spanish commander needed to get his soldiers across a few canals and on the night of June 30th 1520 the Spanish made an escape attempt with the help of the Tlaxcalteca. As the Aztecs had removed all the bridges on the canal the Spanish had to improvise and took wooden planks to make a bridge but they were seen and an alarm was raised. The Aztec warriors chased the Spanish and managed to kill a number of them because the Spanish fell in the river and were drowned due to their armor and loot (Sallie Baker, 2000). According to the codex Florentine the canal was filed by the dead bodies of those Spanish men and women who were killed by the warriors while they were attempting to make the escape. The narration of this event has not had much difference as there is an agreement among the sources that the Spanish were making an attempt to cross the canals in order to get away from the city. There is also a similarity in the account of the number of people who were killed was quite large though there may have been a question regarding whether the canal was actually filled by the bodies. As can be seen by the few events that have been highlighted in this paper there have been quite a number of disagreements as to how the conquest takes place. There have been a lot of arguments as to whether the primary sources are authentic. Cortes would not have made it seem to appear in his letters to the king that the conquest was going against the Spanish in any way. He would have supported his point of view and what he thinks would make more of an impression on the king. In his letters he even failed to mention Malintzin even though she was an important part of his campaign and bore his son showing that he cared to show himself in the forefront (Camilla Townsend, 2006). Then again the codex Florentine would probably be considered to be in favor of the Aztec and more sympathetic to their view. There have been some critics who believe that the Aztecs were able to defend themselves and yet the main cause of their downfall was the factor of fear. The Spanish may have had better weapons but they were outnumbered by the Aztecs and they would have managed to overcome the invaders. Fear was the most important factor in the downfall as they believed that Cortés was their god and even worked to appease him. Hence the attack by Cortés and his warriors was a betrayal to the Aztec. Not only this, the weapons that the new comers brought sophisticated by the Aztecs standards. It was even claimed by many that when the messengers were sent to the ships by the emperor Cortés had his men fire off the cannon and the noise of it managed to make the messengers faint (Miguel León-Portilla, 2006). The sources manage to make the outline of what generally happened in the conquest but it is up to an individual to sort through all the variations and attempt to find a version that can be integrated with all the various ideas. Many even put the Spanish success on the Indian natives who were their allies (John Pohl). Hence it is all a matter of interpretation. Work cited Baker, Sallie. "The Clash of Cultures: Moctezuma Hosts Cortés." Outreach World. Denver Public Schools and Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2000. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. . León-Portilla, Miguel. "MEXICA (AZTEC) & TLAXCALA ACCOUNTS OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST, 1500s." Community Learn. National Humanities Center, 2006. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. . León, Portilla Miguel., De Klor, K. Garibay, Lysander Kemp, and Alberto Beltrán. The Broken Spears: the Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon, 2006. Print. Pohl, John. "FAMSI - John Pohl's Mesoamerica." FAMSI - Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Web. 05 Oct. 2010. . Townsend, Camilla. "One of Us People Here." Malintzin's Choices: an Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2006. 57. Print. Read More