What the Textbooks Have To Say About the Conquest of Mexico: Some Suggestions for Questions to Ask of the Evidence
(Note All of the Passages Below Are Quoted Verbatim)
Craig, Graham, Kagan, Ozment, and Turner, The Heritage of World Civilizations, Combined Volume, Fifth Edition, (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000), 522.
In 1519 Hernan Cortés (1485-1547) landed in Mexico with about five hundred men and a few horses. He opened communication with nearby communities and then with Moctezuma II (1466-1520), the Aztec emperor. Moctezuma may initially have believed Cortés to be the god Quezalcoatl, who, according to legend, had been driven away centuries earlier but had promised to return. Whatever the reason, Moctezuma hesitated to confront Cortés, attempting at first to appease him with gifts of gold that only whetted Spanish appetites. Cortés succeeded in forging alliances with some subject peoples and, most importantly, with Tlaxcala, an independent state and traditional enemy of the Aztecs. His forces then marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City), where Moctezuma welcomed him. Cortés soon seized Moctezuma, making him a prisoner in his own capital. Moctezuma died in unexplained circumstances, and the Aztec’s wary acceptance to the Spaniards turned to open hostility. The Spaniards were driven out of Tenochtitlan and nearly wiped out, but they ultimately returned and laid siege to the city. The Aztecs, under their last ruler, Cuauhtémoc (c. 1495-1525), resisted fiercely but were finally defeated in late 1521. Cortés razed Tenochtitlan, building his own capital over its ruins, and proclaimed the Aztec Empire to be New Spain.
Return to Conquest of Mexico Home Page
Return to Fitch's cover page | Return to AHA Teaching and Learning Home Page
Last Updated: October 16, 2008
