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Civilization

How Did the Aztec Empire Fall?

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How Did the Aztec Empire Fall?

 

 

 

 

 

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How Did the Aztec Empire Fall?

Introduction

Aztec Empire occupied the current day central and southern Mexico. The empire thrived between the period 1345 and 1521. At the peak of its power, the empire covered almost the entire Mesoamerica until it was bought down by the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Different authors have documented the fall of the Aztec empire over time. However, the original documentation of the real events that happened causing the fall is documented by Hernan Cortes. Hernan Cortes was the Spanish military captain who led his troops to conquer the ruler of the Aztec Empire, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, leading to the fall of the empire. He documented his military campaign in five letters, which were sent to the King of Spain. These letters have been used by other authors to base their works on the fall of the Aztec Empire. The three sources used for this research include the following. First, “Letters of Cortes” by Hernan Cortes. The second one is “Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest,” which was written by Francis Brooke. Lastly is the “This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe,” authored by Elizabeth Hill Boone. The research question for is; how did the Aztec Empire fall? This question will be answered from the three resources listed, providing proof from each of them. In this essay, I will argue that the fall of the Aztec Empire was significantly contributed by the invasion by Cortes and his troops.

Sourcing and Contextualization

Letters of Cortes

The document “Letters of Cortes” was written by Hernan Cortes himself. The letters were written during the conquest of the Aztec Empire between 1518 and 1521 when the empire fell. However, they were published on later dates, some in 1922 and others in 1924. Cortes wrote the letters to inform the King of Spain Charles V about his progress in conquering the Mexican lands, “…we fought so hard that after two hours more than three thousand men were killed”[1]. He also had to explain why he had killed the natives when the King had instructed him not to kill them. This had led to a situation where the King had to send a team to such for him and take away his authority. However, after receiving the letters, he understood that the Mexicans were pagans, and therefore those who refused to convert had to be killed. The perspective of the letters was to change the King’s decision to snatching away his power. The letters were written in Mexico during the campaigns and therefore are reliable sources of information. This is because they were the actual accounts of what was happening in everyday life from the battles to the culture of Aztec’s and how they worshiped the pagan gods. The letters were written in Mexico, but the documents were created and published in Spain. The difference is that, in Spain, the letters were translated to Latin before being published. The act of translating the original letters to Latin and other languages might have affected the content of the letter because its accuracy depended on the translator. The “Letters of Cortes” therefore have credible information about the fall of the Aztec empire and a resourceful document for research.

Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest

Francis Brooke authored this article in 1995. His perspective was to review the history of the Aztec Empire through three people; Bernal Diaz, Montecuzoma and Hernan Cortes. These are the men who were directly linked with the fall of the empire, so Brooke decided to use them to review the history of the fall of the empire. It was written in Britain, Duke University. The reason for its creation was to bring a clear view of the Aztec Empire’s fall to modern society. Many people might have forgotten about the empire or find it difficult to understand it from the letters of Cortes. Therefore, Brooke created a more revised version of history by using easily understandable terms. The article is reliable because it drew its information from the original letters of Cortes and the works of Benard Diaz, both of which were present during the fall of the empire. The document was created at the same place where the data was being gathered, Britain and published by the Dukes University Press. The difference that might occur is that the original documents were not written in English and had to be translated from Spanish or Latin before making the document. This could have affected the content but with very minimal impact. The article gives the details from the arrival of the Cortes and his men to the fall of the empire.

This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe.

Elizabeth Hill Boone authored this article in 2011. The document was written in the United States to give an account of the Aztec Empire, especially its capital city, Tenochtitlan. The capital city housed all the central administration of the empire and was the home to the royal class. Boone wrote the article to show how the fall of the city to the hands of the Spaniards led to the entire empire’s eventual fall. She also details the richness of the city and the noble class, especially King Montecuzoma and his palace. Drawing of the city was written and send to the Spanish King to show him how a fortune his armies had got. The plans and details of the city are also recorded in this article to show the extent of the civilization of the Aztec Empire before the Spaniards arrived and conquered it[2]. The document is a reliable source of information as it draws most of the events that occurred during the city’s conquest from the five letters of Cortes. Just like the document by Brooke, the circumstances which surrounded the creation of the document were the translations differences. Boone had to use translated texts of the original work done by Cortes to bring out how Corte presented Mexico to Europe in the 16th century. Distortion of content might have occurred during translation, but there is a high probability that its effect would not be significant.  Her account of how the empire came to fall is based on the conquering of the city.

Close-reading of the Documents

Letters of Cortes

In this document, Corte is trying to convince the king of Spain about his good intentions of killing the natives and clear the bad picture which had been painted of him. There had been reports that Cortes had disobeyed the orders of the king and killed the natives, damaging his relationship with the king. These true accusations made Cortes write letters to the king, convincing him of the reasons for killing the natives. He stated that some natives had refused to coverts to Christianity and continued to worship the pagan gods, which forced him to kill them. This was a valid reason for killing those who refused to worship the true God. However, I think Cortes used this claim to weaken the empire since it contributed to the defeat of Aztec warriors. Also, killing the natives reduced the Mexicans’ resistance since they saw the Spaniards as ruthless and superior, which would later lead to the fall of the empire. The author wrote his letters during the battles, and therefore they are evidence of the real events that happened during the conquering of the empire. Cortes also claimed to have received intelligence of an impending attack from the natives before the attack. “…that very close by many of Mutezuma’s men were gathered, and that the people of the city had sent away from their women and children and all their belongings, and were about to fall on us and kill us all”[3]. After receiving this intelligence, he organized his men before the natives could attack and launched an offensive, capturing them by surprise and chasing them away from the city. This marked the beginning of the fall of the empire since the Mexicans lost control of the city. Hence, the letters prove to be a trustworthy source of information concerning the fall of the empire.

Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest

Brooks’s choice of words from the beginning of the article is very selective. He starts with the point where Cortes and Motecuzoma met face to face for the first time. Describing how the Aztecs reacted on seeing Cortes and their dressing portrays a picture of inferior people. They were barefoot, and the weapons carried by the warriors were also inferior. This sends a message to the Spaniards that they were dealing with weak people despite their small number of troops. Cortes tried to embrace  Motecuzoma but was prevented by the king’s warriors. However, he was given golden gifts by Motecuzoma to honor their meeting. This first meeting was very crucial in determining the fate of the empire. Cortes was able to observe that the warriors and Motecuzoma wore golden ornament, which meant that the empire had a lot of gold. The sign of gold made Cortes more ambitious in conquering the empire. Later that evening, Brooks record that, “That evening, as Cortes tells the story, Motecuzoma handed over his entire dominions to Cortes and his liege lord”[4]. This is the evidence supporting the author’s claim that the first meeting marked the fall of the Aztec Empire as later on, Motecuzoma was arrested and became a prisoner of the Spaniards.

This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe.

The author, Boone, claims that Cortes presented Mexico to Europe as a country rich in resources, specifically gold. This was according to his account of the capital city of the Aztec Empire. The palace was decorated with gold ornaments, and the city’s royal temple was also heavily laden with gold. Boone notes that Cortes was impressed with the city’s strategic outlay and its magnificent structures, which he recorded in his letters to the king. He claimed that the empire was a very wealthy territory with natural resources and knowledge in administration and governance. “… in which it contains many things; a wealth of knowledge and gold”[5]. This kind of obsession with the Aztec’s wealth made Cortes fight relentlessly even when the odds were against him. The first impression of the empire made Cortes wish to conquer it and amass its wealth, something that contributed to the fall of the empire. The author tries to convince her audience that Motecuzoma was easy going, a character that contributed to the fall of his empire. In the evening of the first meeting, he had already agreed to hand over the empire to the Spaniards, making them understand that they were dealing with the king with no firm stand. The evidence used by the author is the fact that her work is created from the original letters of Cortes.

Corroboration

The three documents agree on most of the aspects of the fall of the Aztec Empire because they are mostly based on the accounts of Cortes. First, the authors agree that the empire was wealth, and its nobles possessed large amounts of gold in terms of ornament. This is one reason why the empire fell because the Spaniards were driven by the urge to acquire the gold. Another reason for the fall of the empire is the use of inferior weapons. The documents have cited that the Spaniards had the advantage of horses, guns and cannons while the natives did not possess such weapons. Therefore, the authors agree that despite a large number of native warriors, Cortes conquered the empire because of the superior weapons. However, there is a difference in the accounts of the first meeting between Cortes and Motecuzoma. Brooks state that both the warriors and Motecuzoma wore golden ornaments while Cortes only mentions that he was given gold-made gifts. This leaves me wondering whether the information from Brook is correct or wrong. This is because Brooks claimed that this show of gold made Cortes conquer the empire leading to its fall. Nevertheless, the most reliable documents among the three are the ones written by Cortes because he witnessed everything that he wrote first hand.

Conclusion

The research has found that the fall of the Aztec Empire was profoundly caused by the invasion of Spaniards. Even if there other causes such as diseases, the evidence provided in the three sources prove that Cortes and his troops led to the fall of the empire. Despite the in-depth research on the fall of the Aztec Empire, more sources are needed to compare the information about the fall of the empire. Further research should focus on other sources which contain information about disease and starvation to see whether they have substantial data. Currently, we know that the Spaniards led to the fall of the empire, but we are not sure of other reasons. More research on the subject can produce a better answer to the research question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Brooks, Francis J. “Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest.” Hispanic American Historical Review 75, no. 2 (1995): 149-183.

Cortes, Hernan. Letters of Cortes. Vol. 1. GP Putnam’s Sons, 1908.

Hill Boone, Elizabeth. “This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe.” Word & Image 27, no. 1 (2011): 31-46.

 

 

 

[1] Cortes, Hernan. Letters of Cortes. Vol. 1. GP Putnam’s Sons, 1908.

 

[2] Hill Boone, Elizabeth. “This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe.” Word & Image 27, no. 1 (2011): 31-46.

 

[3] Cortes, Hernan. Letters of Cortes. Vol. 1. GP Putnam’s Sons, 1908.

 

[4] Brooks, Francis J. “Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernán Cortés, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest.” Hispanic American Historical Review 75, no. 2 (1995): 149-183.

 

[5] Hill Boone, Elizabeth. “This new world now revealed: Hernan Cortes and the presentation of Mexico to Europe.” Word & Image 27, no. 1 (2011): 31-46.

 

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