Cortes: The Spanish Conquest

Cortes’ arrival in Veracruz defined a new stage of development in the conquest of indigenous peoples living in Mexico, but more importantly, as a pathway to attack and destroy the Aztec empire in the interior regions. The conquistador mentality had become a powerful statement of the military might of the Spanish Empire during the early 1500s, which galvanized Cortes and his military to successfully begin negotiations with the Aztecs to make alliances against local enemies in the area. Cortes’ arrival in Veracruz provided a window of opportunity to begin negotiating and communicating with Aztec representatives. When first landing in Veracruz, Cortes was able to settle the coastal city of Veracruz, which became the port of entry into Mexico.

Communication with the Aztec slaves taken along the way made it possible to work with the Mayan population to gain a foothold in the region. An important connection in this journey was made when two Aztec chieftains rowed out to greet Cortes in the place where they settled in Veracruz:
Cortes walked with Aguilar over to investigate and was delighted to learn that the slave girl [they had captured] spoke fluent Nahuatl, the highland Aztec tongue. She could speak to the highlanders, then translate the discourse into Mayan for Aguilar…His ears perked when he discovered that they came from a place they called “Mexico” (Levy 30).
This part of Cortes’ journey to the mainland of Mexico is a major event, since he now has the ability to settle the coast and begin military operations against various rivals of these local Aztec chieftains. Eventually, Cortes will conquer and divide these various Aztec areas until he reaches the capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan. However, Cortes had to slowly maneuver his forces inward through the interior before he could reach the final stage of overthrowing the government. In these cases, the use of violent military force, diplomatic intrigue, and other methods of warfare were used in the methodology of the conquistador in taking these lands from the indigenous peoples. Certainly, Veracruz became the foothold for establishing the earliest Spanish settlement, which Cortes made possible by utilizing communications and a strong military presence in the Aztec empire.
The next phase of Cortes’ assault on the Aztec Empire occurs when he attacks the city of Cholula in central Mexico.

After gaining strategic alliances and victories over smaller Aztec communities, Cortes was able to make a large military assault on a major Aztec city. Cholula is an example of the ferocity and violent methods used by the Conquistador, which created the myth of the Spanish conquistador in the minds of modern day Mexicans. The conquistador would often result to large-scale massacres and the setting of fire to cities as a method of completely annihilation of resistance to the Spanish military. During this military campaign, Cortes has recruited nearly one thousand Tlaxcalteca soldiers to attack the city. The image of the conquistador as a ruthless colonizer is somewhat validated in the brutal methods that Cortes used in destroying the city, but only within the context of making an example of the power of the Spanish government:
The slaughter at Cholula has been put down to thoughtless brutality or Spanish bloodlust, but while the Spanish army had plenty of both, this was hardly consistent with Cortes’ style. Cortes felt he was punishing treachery, and he did it thoroughly, as a symbol—Cortes’ brutalities always served a purpose. He was a leader from the Machiavellian age (Fehrenbach

132).
This stage of the Spanish invasion defines the contradicting images of the heroic Spanish conquistador as a ruthless leader without morals or ethics, but more so, it defines the calculating mind of Cortes in setting an example for Aztec leaders in the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This depiction of slaughter and military prowess is a deeply imbedded image of the military might of the Spanish Empire at the height of its colonial powers. The Cuban government did not sanction Cortes’ actions, but it was through the authority of King Charles V that he was able to sustain a long-term military campaign of this magnitude: “But secretly Cortes and his allies had decided to resist any move to abandon the mainland” (Meyer and Beezley 37). Therefore, the victory at Cholula would become the template for the Cortes to further implement the conquistador mission of attacking the capital city of the Aztec Empire to fully establish the Spanish settlement of Mexico.
Finally, Cortes’ fame as a Spanish conquistador comes when he attacks the capital city of Tenochtitlan at the heart of the Aztec empire. Initially, the fear of Cortes’ army after Cholula made the Aztec leader, Moctezuma, wary of using direct military force to fight the modern firearms technology of the Spanish soldiers. This allowed him to let Cortes into the main island city, which set the foundation for diplomacy to abate the militaristic ambitions of Cortes. More so, Moctezuma told Cortes that he viewed his arrival in Mexico as a “second coming” of the god Quetzalcoatl, which Cortes was said to symbolize in the Aztec religion. However, Cortes soon learned of Aztec attacks on Spanish soldiers on the coast, which forced him to kidnap Moctezuma and take control of the Aztec government. Therefore, the overthrow of the Aztec government was primarily based on the symbolic religious meaning of Cortes’ arrival (as Quetzalcoatl), which allowed the smaller Spanish army to conquer the capital of the Aztec empire:
The Aztecs possessed a numerical military advantage that should have allowed them to defeat the Spanish, but they failed to do so. Why the Aztecs allowed the Spanish to so easily enter Tenochtitlan remains a mystery, but the evidence implies that the Aztecs believed the Spanish were somehow connected with Quetzalcoatl (Kirkwood 35).
This defeat marks the end of the Aztec empire, and the beginning of the Spanish colonial rule of Mexico in 1821.

In a matter of three to four years, Cortes had effectively conquered the Aztec peoples through a blend of fierce militarism, diplomacy, and treachery as part of the motivation to colonize the indigenous peoples. Surely, the symbolism of the Spanish conquistador is conformed in the total colonization and defeat of the Aztec civilization ass part of Cortes’ mission in Mexico. More so, the capital of Mexico, Mexico City, was built on the foundations of the city of Tenochtitlan as a basis for the formation of Mexico as a colonial state governed through Spain: Since Hernan Cortes made the decision to construct his new capital on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec city of lakes” (Krauze 3). In this context, the importance of Cortes’ role in Mexico is defining moment in the Spanish culture that dominated the indigenous populations after the defeat of the Aztecs. Cortes was a leading figure in the first phase of Spanish colonization of Central America, which would result in larger Spanish colonization of this region through the 16th

century.
In conclusion, the role of the conquistador also defines the overtly militaristic and dominating forces that sought to completely eradicate the Aztec culture and civilization in favor of a colonial government. Hernan Cortes played an important role in the colonization of Mexico, but within the context of the early phases of military incursions into indigenous lands in the early 16th century. In modern terms, the formation of the Mexican government provides insight into the cultural diversity of indigenous peoples and Spanish settlers that live in central Mexico, which Cortes brought to Mexican history. Certainly, the Cortes is a dominant figure in Spanish/Mexican history through the actions of the conquistador mentality, and the complete domination of Spanish culture in the colonization of Mexico. These are the important historical points on the explorations and conquests of Hernan Cortez as the founder of the Mexico through the colonial ambitions of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century.