Chronology of the Conquest of Tenochtitlan (1485-1584) 1485 Birth of Hernando (Hernan) Cortes. 1496 Birth of Bernal Diaz del Castillo. 1502 Moctezuma II, called the Younger ()(ocoyotl), becomes tlatoani or ruler ofTenochtitlan. 1511-14 ConquestofCuba. 1517 February to April Hernandez de Cordoba sails from Cuba to Yuca­ tan and encounters the Maya peoples. 1518 May to November Governor of Cuba, Diego Velazquez, sends sec­ ond expedition to Yucatan under Juan de Grijalva. 1519 Governor Velazquez sends new expedition under Hernan Cortes. February 10 Cortes sails for Yucatan. Founding of Vera Cruz. June 3 Spaniards reach Cempoala. September 2-20 Spaniards battle Tiaxcalans. c. October 15 Massacre at Cholula. November 8 Spaniards enter Tenochtitlan. November 14 Moctezuma is seized. 1520 early May Cortes marches against Panfilo de Narvaez. c. May 16 Toxcatl festival; Pedro de Alvarado massacres celebrants. june 24 Cortes reenters Tenochtitlan. June 29 Moctezuma is killed. Cuitlahuac is chosen tlatoani. June 30-July 31 Noche triste- Spaniards and allies escape Tenochtitlan with great losses. july 12 Fleeing Spaniards reach Tiaxcala and are well received. July-December Recovery of Spanish forces; isolation ofTenochtitlan, Span­ ish expeditions to win allies and supporters. 245 246 CHRONOLOGY October Plague devastates Tenochtitlan. December 4 Cuitlahuac dies from smallpox. 1521 February Cuahtemoc becomes tlatoani. February-April Cortes campaigns around the lake. May 10-13 Siege ofTenochtitlan begins. May 26 Water to the city is cut off. May 31 Fightfor Iztapalapa. june 1 Spaniards begin to enter Tenochtitlan. june 16 Palaces ofMoctezuma burned. june 30 Spaniards set back between Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. july 18 Mexica propose peace if Spaniards leave. july 20-25 Main plaza ofTenochtitlan cleared ofMexica resistance. july 27 Alvarado sets fire to temple ofTlatelolco. August 7 Desperate fighting in Tlatelolco. August 13 Starving defenders trapped, capture of Cuahtemoc and surren­ der of the city. 1522-23 Cortes's first three letters published in Seville. 1525 Cuahtemoc executed by Cortes. 1529 Cortes receives title Marques del Valle. 1535 First Viceroy of Mexico arrives; Cortes's power is weakened. 1540-41 Relaci6n de Michoacan is completed. 1547 Cortes dies in Spain. 1552 Francisco LOpez de G6mara's Historia de las Indias y conquista de Mexico is published in Valladolid, Spain. 1568 Bernal Diaz completes first draft of Historia verdadera de la con­ quista de Ia nueva Espana. 1579 Domingo Francisco de San Anton Mufi6n Chimalpahin is born. 1584 Bernal Diaz dies. Questions for Consideration 1. Is history always written by the winners? If so, how do we recapture the "other side" in the past? 2. How might have indigenous women viewed the conquest? 3. What is a "true" history? 1. FOREBODINGS AND OMENS 1. Why did indigenous people associate the Spanish arrival with omens? Did Europeans have a similar tradition of looking for natural and super­ natural signs of great events? 2. Why did European authors incorporate the indigenous stories of omens in their accounts? 2. PREPARATIONS 1. Why might have Guerrero and Aguilar chosen to respond differently to Cortes's appeal to return? 2. Should the early Spanish expeditions be thought of as "explorations" or business ventures? 3. What is the role of religion in the Spanish expedition and in the Spanish explanation of events of the conquest? 3. ENCOUNTERS 1. What is Cortes's evaluation of the land and the people? What reasons does he have for presenting the new land in this way? 2. How do the Spanish and Nahua descriptions and understandings of the first meetings differ? What aspects of behavior most preoccupy the Span­ iards and the Nahuas? 4. THE MARCH INLAND: TLAXCALAAND CHOLULA 1. Do the accounts of Andres de Tapia and Bernal Diaz differ in any impor­ tant ways? Do you think the Spaniards would have described the actions of European enemies in the same way? 247 248 QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION 2. In what ways do the Nahua descriptions of the Tlaxcalans and the Span­ iards differ? What is the image of the Tlaxcalans conveyed in the Mexica account? 3. Can you identify European and indigenous artistic conventions in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala? What are the possible advantages or limitations of de­ pending on pictorial elements or nonalphabetic writing systems to con­ vey information? 5. TENOCHTITLAN 1. In what ways are the descriptions of Mexica culture influenced by Euro­ pean preconceptions and beliefs? 2. What was the role of dona Marina in the meeting of Cortes and Moctezuma? 6. THINGS FALLAPARf: TOXCATL AND THE NOCHE TRISTE 1. Reading the contrasting indigenous and Spanish accounts of the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez and the Toxcatl massacre, do you think that the Mexica had planned a rebellion? 2. What role might Tlaxcalan informants have played in stimulating Pedro de Alvarado to action? 3. What effect did the differences in military technology have on the fight­ ing in Tenochtitlan? How did the Mexica adapt to the challenge of Span­ ish arms? 4. How can the two distinct versions of the death of Moctezuma be ex­ plained? 7. THE SIEGE AND FALL OFTENOCHTITLAN 1. What was the role of Cortes's indigenous allies and why did they join the Spaniards? What does their decision tell us about the politics of central Mexico? 2. What factors besides politics and technology contributed to the Mexica defeat? 8. AFTERMATH: TRADITION AND TRANSFORMATION 1. In what ways did indigenous culture demonstrate resilience after the con­ quest? 2. What role did religion play in Spanish motivations and indigenous re­ sponses? 3. Did the conquest represent a radical change in indigenous history or were Spaniards and the colonial state incorporated into indigenous life as other conquerors had been before? Biographical Notes Aguilar, Francisco de (1479-1571) A conquistador with Cortes who at the age of fifty became a Dominican friar. He later wrote a brief account of the conquest. Aguilar, Geronimo de (1481?-1539) Arriving from Spain, he settled in Santo Domingo. Lost in a shipwreck in 1511, he was washed ashore in Yu­ catan where the Maya held him captive until the arrival of Cortes in 1519. During these years he learned the Maya language, and after Cortes freed him, he served as a translator for the Spanish. Alvarado, Pedro de (1485-1541) A member of both Grijalva's (1518) and Cortes's (1519) expeditions to Mexico from Cuba, he served as a com­ mander in one of Cortes's three armies during the conquest. He was respon­ sible for the Toxcatl Massacre in Tenochtitlan while Cortes was away and was called ''Tonatiuh," the Aztec sun god, by the Aztec because of his blond hair. He commanded the conquests into Guatemala. Cacamatzin ( Cacama) Ruler ofTexcoco during the conquest of Mexico. Carlos V (Charles V) (1500-1558) Holy Roman Emperorfrom 1519- 56 and the king of Spain as Charles I from 1516-56. Chimalpahin, Domingo Francisco de San AntOn Muiion (1570?- 1630?) A native of Chalco. He wrote an extensive history of his region in the late sixteenth century, today known as the Codex Chimalpahin. His ac­ count is noticeably anti-Mexica, which shows the lingering effects of previ­ ous indigenous hostility. Cortes, Heman (Hernando Cortes-Diaz del Castillo) (1485?-1547) Born in Medellin, Spain, he arrived in Hispaniola in 1504. After participating in the conquest of the island, he led the third expedition to Mexico in 1519 and, with the fall ofTenochtitlan two years later, conquered Mexico in 1521. Cortes, Martin Son of Hernan Cortes and Malinche (dona Marina). Cuauhtemoc (Guatemoc-Diaz del Castillo; Quauhtemoctzin-Lock­ hart) The eleventh and final tlatoani ofTenochtitlan. The son of Ahuitzol (eighth Aztec ruler) and grandson of Moctezuma I (fifth Aztec ruler), he ruled from December 1520 until Tenochtitlan was conquered by Cortes in August 1521. He was killed by the Spaniards in 1525. 249 250 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Cuitlahuac (Mexica ruler, September 16, 1520-December 4, 1520) The son of Axayacatl (sixth Mexica ruler, 1468-81), Cuitlahuac was the ruler of Ixtapalapa before succeeding his brother, Moctezuma Xocoyotl (1), in 1520. After ruling for only eighty days, he died of smallpox in December of 1520. Diaz del Castillo, Bernal (1495-1583) Arriving in the New World from Spain in 1514, he was a member of all three expeditions to Mexico (Cordoba 1517, Grijalva 1518, Cortes 1519). A soldier in Cortes's army, he eventually wrote a history of the conquest in response to another book (by LOpez de Gomara) on the conquest that he felt was incorrect. Duran, Diego (1537?-1588) Born in Seville, he arrived in the New World in 1542, entered the Dominican Order in 1556, and thereafter chron­ icled both Nahua religion and history in some of the most revealing and de­ tailed books ever written during this period. Grijalva, Juan de (1480?-1527) Nephew of the governor of Hispan­ iola, Diego Velazquez (1514-1524). Grijalva assisted his uncle in the con­ quest of Hispaniola from 1511-14. In 1518 he led the second expedition to Mexico on order from Velazquez. Guerrero, Gonzalo Presumably lost in a shipwreck with Geronimo de Aguilar in 1511, he washed ashore in Yucatan and was captured by the Maya. After marrying a local woman, he achieved high status in Maya soci­ ety and refused to join Cortes after he landed in Yucatan in 1519. He al­ legedly died fighting alongside the Maya in a battle against Cortes's forces. Itzcoatl The fourth Mexica ruler, he ruled from 1426-40. He was one of three nobles responsible for the founding of the Triple Alliance in 1428, which gave the Mexica independence from vassalage and also established their empire. Hernandez de Cordoba, Francisco After assisting Velazquez in the con­ quest of Hispaniola (1511-14), he led the first expedition of exploration in 1517 and discovered the Yucatan.