Conquest Mexico October 9 1997 Conquest Mexico 1518

Conquest: Mexico (October 9, 1997)

Conquest: Mexico, 1518 -1530: Outline ðFrom the Indies to Mexico, - 1519 ðConquest of Tenochtitlan, 1519 -1521 ð“Why was a people so resolute and so resourceful defeated by a band of adventurers? ” ðRole of disease

Routes of Conquest: Cortes, 1519 Pizarro, 1531 Jimenez de Quesada, 1536 Mendoza, 1536 Valdivia, 1540

From the Indies to Mexico, 1519 ðFrancisco Hernandez de Cordoba expedition, Feb. 1517: 3 ships, 110 soldiers ðJuan de Grijalva, May 1518: 4 ships, 200 soldiers ðHernan Cortes, April 1519: 11 ships, 450 soldiers ðPanfilo de Narvaez, May 1520

Route of Cortes, 1519 -1520

Conquest of Tenochtitlan, 1519 -1521 ðRole of Malintzin: diplomacy ðManipulation of Mexica enemies (Cempoala, Tlaxcala, Cholula) ðCapture the leader: Montezuma ðThe defeat of the “sad night” (June 30, 1520) ðSmallpox, Oct-Dec, 1520 ðBlockade: May-Aug. 21, 1521

Hernan Cortes

Malintzin (Doña Mariana, “La Malinche” & Cortes drawn by native artist: “through the mouth of Doña Marina…” • Native, speaker of Nahuatl, Maya, and later, Spanish • Interpreter: fundamental to Cortes diplomacy • Beginnings of mestizaje (race mixture) • traitor--a sell out to the invaders?

Route of Cortes, 1519 Retreat, 1520 Reconquest of Tenochtitlan, 1521

Tenochtitlan in 1519: artist rendition

Templo Mayor inset over Mexico City today

It was remembered that a comet foretold strange happenings

Pedro de Alvarado’s violation of the temple, June 1520

Why were the natives defeated? (Clendinnen, p. 33) ðTechnology: horses, weapons ðThe rules of war: destroy vs. capture ðStrategy and tactics ðPopulation loss

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