B: Worldviews in Conflict 10. A Deadly Meeting p. 214 Flashcards
What did the Spanish like about Cortes?
He was young, ambitious, and adventurous.
Where did Cortes go in 1504? What was he offered there?
The island of Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti)
The governor gave him a large farm, but Cortes did not want it, he had come to get gold.
Shortly after 1504, Cortes was asked to join an expedition. Where was this? What was the outcome?
The expedition was to conquer Cuba, an island just west of Hispaniola.
He accepted and conquered Cuba with just 300 men.
Cortes remained in Cuba, second in command to Governor Velazquez until they received word of another expedition possibility to the Yucatan.
What was the conquistadors’ formula?
- Start an expedition setting out from a recent colony
- Try and meet peacefully with the indigenous people and discover which was most powerful
- Invite the leader of the powerful group to exchange gifts. Then kidnap him and threaten to kill him if their people don’t obey their orders.
- If they had to fight they would fight on open ground where their horses, armour, and weapons gave them a huge advantage
- The leader of the expedition would remain the governor of the new colony, and the second in command would organize the next expedition. The indigenous would be forced into slavery.
After Cuba, where did Cortes go?
Yucatan
Cortes scoured Cuba for experienced soldiers and used loans to buy ships. He had 11 ships, 508 fighting men, 100 sailors, 200 Indigenous slaves, and 16 horses
Velazquez wanted the credit for finding Yucatan, and tried to cancel the expedition before it started, but Cortes continued the planning and went to Yucatan, ignoring the governor.
He landed first in La Villa Rica de la Veracruz and declared an independent government so that Velazquez was no longer in charge of him. King Carlos I was in charge of him now.
On arrival, Cortés sent back a ship to Spain with treasure and sank the other ten ships so that no one could return to Cuba.
Why was the fight between the Spanish and Aztecs unequal?
The Spanish had horses and much better weapons such as muskets (long rifle-like guns), and cannons.
These weapons at the time were unknown in Mexico, but common in Europe.
The Spanish also had horses. The Aztecs were on foot.
What killed many of the Aztec people at a critical point during the conflict between the Aztecs and the Spanish?
Smallpox epidemic
Did Cortés always conquer all the groups in Mexico?
No, sometimes it was to his advantage to make peace, and so he did.
For example, he would get warriors from some groups and then agree to protect those groups. E.g. Totonacs
Who was Cortes’ intermediary when planning to conquer the Aztecs (as well as a few groups before that)?
A young Mayan girl who spoke the language of the Aztecs (Nahuatl = NAH - wahtl) and learned quickly how to speak Spanish and was converted to Christianity.
She was originally from a noble Indigenous family, and had been sold into slavery after her father died. As a slave she ended up under Cortés.
After being converted to Christianity she was known as Dona Marina.
How did the Spanish conquer the Aztecs?
In several stages:
Stage 1: Cortés visited the palace of Moctezuma’s late father pretending to be friendly.
Stage 2: Cortés placed Moctezuma under house arrest in his palace while they looted gold from the royal palaces. “Here the Emperor was made prisoner in the afternoon of 13 August 1521” is on a plaque that you can read today.
Stage 3: Cortés had to leave to deal with Velazquez who was trying to stop Cortés from taking over the Aztecs, so Cortés left Pedro de Alvarado in charge –> Pedro massacred the dancers during an Aztec festival
Stage 4: Cortés returned having conquered Velazquez and some of those Velazquez soldiers returned to Tenochtitlan with him. Moctezuma died from injuries by stones thrown at him from his own people as well as being strangled by the Spanish. The Aztecs managed to drive the Spanish out of their lands.
Stage 5: smallpox (killed 25% of the Aztecs) and the Spanish cutting off the aqueducts and a siege of about 80 days defeated the Aztecs. Only 60 000 survived. Tenochtitlan became a new Spanish colony.
