Europe's Interactions

When Cortez arrived in the New World, he had dreams of creating a permenant settlement. To encourage his men not to leave, Cortez burned the ships that brought them there, and set out into the Yucatan interior.

Expecting to find tribes like the ones he had encountered in Cuba, Cortez must have been surprised to discover an empire. These people, the Aztecs, had their own language and belief system. While Cortez never learned Nahuatl, the native Aztec language, he spoke through two interpretors. With his two translators and a band of his own men, Cortez traveled deeper into the uncharted lands. As Cortez journeyed further into the Yucatan interior, he heard stories of a powerful ruler, a man of gold named Montezuma, the emperor of the Aztec empire. Cortez' mission became to meet up with Montezuma. Along the way, the Aztecs began to mistake Cortez for one of their gods, Quetzalcoatl, the man with the white skin.

It took six months for Cortez and Montezuma to finally meet. Before this first meeting, Montezuma was anxious to meet Cortez, but was unsure about those that accompanied Cortez. Montezuma had sent forth messengers to send Cortez' man gifts of gold if they would turn back, but Montezuma's requests were not obeyed. When the two did finally meet in the city of Tenoshtitlan, the two men and completely differant ideas of what was going on.

Cortez saw the power of the Aztec Empire; he saw Montezuma adorned with gold and precious stones, and he wondered how much more was hidden away elsewhere. Such power, he thought would surely be suited to his home country of Spain. It became his mission to convert Montezuma to Catholicism, to make Montezuma loyal to Spain, and to plunder the wealthy Aztec Empire.

Montezuma was uncertain whether Cortez really was Quetzalcoatl, the god from the east, but he felt that Cortez must have been sent from the gods. Feeling that he might be holding a long foretold destiny in his hands, Montezuma wanted to appease Cortez with the religious practices that were a custom for the Aztec people. It must have troubled Montezuma to hear Cortez asking for gold and riches. Montezuma must have thought that if the gods wanted their treasure back, it was theirs to take, even if it saddened the Aztec people.

As Montezuma toured his guest through Tenochtitlan, Cortez saw how many followers Montezuma had, and wondered if Montezuma wanted to do away with him and his travelers. Cortez thought it would be wise to make Montezuma his prisoner before Montezuma changed his opinion of the Spanish. That night, Cortez talked with Montezuma and told Montezuma about Catholicism, and hoped that Montezuma would become loyal to Spain. Montezuma was kind, but refused.

After the fourth day, Cortez took action and made the Aztec ruler his prisoner. Cortez ordered the Aztec people to give him and his followers all the gold and wealth that they possessed. The authority that Montezuma had once possessed began to crumble as fights and skirmishes began to pop up through the great city, which Montezuma made no effort to stop. During one of the biggest fights in the Tenochtitlan, Montezuma came out into the city, and was killed. The Aztec accounts. said that the Spanish killed their great ruler. The Spanish accounts said that the Aztecs killed their own ruler.

After Tinochtitlan's defeat, Cortez went on to conquer the rest of the Aztec Empire. Although they were outnumbered by a hundred to one, the Spanish's superior weaponry gave them an an advantage. The best weapons proved to be their horses and their cannon. The cannon was inaccurate and clumsy, but the loud noise did much to frighten the Aztecs who had never before seen such a device. Also, Cortez told the Aztecs that the horses went into battle of their own will, and made great care to hide the bodies of the dead horses after battle, giving the illusion that these fast running beasts were immortal.