Spanish Conquest Of Mexico Summary

Bernardino de Sahagún partnered with former students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlateloco, Mexico, to research the Aztecs of Mesoamerica and their interactions with foreigners. De Sahagún compiled the Florentine Codex, a comprehensive account of the diverse facets of Aztec life comprising Nahuatl, Spanish, and pictorial elements. The codex is particularly impressive given its sheer size: over 2,400 pages and more than 2000 images showing the interactions, actions, routines, festivals, and more facets of the Aztec culture. Given the multiple media contained in the Codex, contradictory accounts can confuse a reader about events or conflicts that occurred within the Aztec history. Inherent cultural differences between the Spanish and the

Spanish conquest tactics focused on expansion and increase of resources and wealth, yet Cortés diverged from the traditional conquest tactics. Utilizing senseless killing, plundering, and intimidation, the Spanish dominated and disrupted the Aztec way of life. In contrast, the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican states had not experienced this thirst and greed for land and thus were not sure of how to interact and respond to Cortés and his men. Cortés optimized his ability for profitable alliance by feigning alliance with both Totonacs and Moteuczoma. The Mesoamerican people were not used to dealing with such treachery and therefore were disadvantaged in their interchanges with the

Hassig writes that Spanish greed for gold “sealed the Aztecs’ fate”. The brutality that followed the Spanish can be attributed more so to their greed than the style of conquest that Spain followed in the sixteenth century. While the Spanish royalty did seek to gain riches and economic advantage through their conquests, the Spanish force under Cortés deviated from the traditional ideals of Spanish conquest. In fact, Cortés avoided the authority of Spanish governor of Cuba Diego Velásquez de Cuellar with a manipulation the Spanish legal