The Fall of the Aztecs

In Ancient Central America, one culture was superior, and that would be the Aztecs. The Aztecs conquered much area outside their territory, constructed a magnificent city, worshipped sometimes brutal gods, and had a thriving economy. But however, the world of the 1600 Century, full of Spanish Conquistadors, was not a good place for the Aztecs. In 1519 AD, Quetzalcoatl’s, the Aztec’s powerful and head god of lightning, was celebrating his birthday according to legend. On that day, Aztecs would come together and worship, celebrate, and relax. However, on that day, boats appeared holding white skinned men wearing different clothes, holding weird barrels, and riding horses appeared. With it being Quetzalcoatl’s birthday, and with strangers arriving that they had never seen before, they thought they were gods and gave them food, gold and women. The man who had come of the boats with a small army was Hernan Cortez, a conquistador of Spain who wished to expand the Spanish empire in the New World. When Cortez saw the Aztecs vast amount of Gold, he was stunned and manifested by its beauty. In fact, the Aztecs had an almost abundant source of it in their capital city of Tenochtitlan. Buildings and temples were made out of gold, and much of their jewelry was crafted of gold that even some of the lower class had some. Instead of admiring it as the Aztecs did, Cortez saw it as a “get rich scheme”, and decided that his country could always use a little more gold, as himself. In February of 1519 AD, a month after Cortez’s arrival, he launched a campaign against the Aztecs. After the fall of their first city, many Aztecs were furious and afraid, but however in different ways then one would predict. Some Aztecs thought that Cortez was not god and was merely another conqueror to destroy the Aztec’s fame. However, some others saw him still as a god, an angry god. In fear, they sent more gold to Cortez, which only furthered his will to conquer the Aztecs. Along the way, Cortez found that many of the conquered people under Aztec rule hated their rulers as they enslaved them and sacrificed them to their gods. Cortez saw this and quickly formed alliances with Aztec cities, taking control of them, thus conquering them without a fight. After much fighting, Cortez found his way to Tenochtitlan and entered the city. The current emperor, Moctezuma, welcomed them to the city as he thought that Cortez was a god, and pleased him with gold and food. After a while, the Aztec’s got tried of the Spaniards in their city, and drove them out. However, many were killed, emperor Moctezuma was among the dead. The Aztec empire was drove into chaos as they tried to name a new emperor. During that time, Cortez was getting ready for his next assault, and by the time he was ready, the Aztecs were ready too. But however, with the conquistador’s gun powder, artillery, and cavalry, the Aztecs stood little chance to defend their own well defended capital, as they could not do before in other parts of the empire. In 1521 AD, the Aztec Empire was destroyed and its citizens sold into slavery or executed. In the conquered ruin of Tenochtitlan, Cortez took the battered and destroyed city and made it Mexico City, which would become the capital for Spain in the New World. After all the fighting, one unknown Aztec wrote, “Broken spears lie in the road; we have torn our hair with grief, the houses are roofless now, and their walls are red with blood”.