I was there when the Spanish battled, invaded and colonized the empire city Tenochtitlán of the Native American Aztecs in Central America, from 1519 to 1522. For I am Hernan Cortés, leader, settler and current governor of the Spanish…..
I will begin my reselling of these events with accounts of myself. I was born in 1485 and after many years became a soldier, but as a passionate and driven young man, I was not satisfied and travelled to the ‘New World’ to seek more money for my workings. I was given a huge estate after being an officer when we invaded Cuba, but it just didn’t feel like enough. When the Governor began sending out notices to find a leader for an expedition, by putting on the most convincing manner I could, I made sure I got the job as I knew those who led invasions gained much wealth.
By 1519, I was leading roughly 600 men in 11 ships to the mainland. Upon reaching it, we engaged in a fierce battle with the natives that were attempting to protect their land and their civilisation. Despite their unmovable determination, we knew we had the upper hand as, being a much further developed race than these ignorant beings, we had horses and a fairly wide range of guns, which resulted in our victory. The natives provided slaves, bedding and hospitality for us, including the first chocolate we had ever seen or eaten – it was really something!
After some prompting, I soon learned of the Aztecs – powerful and more experienced warriors than these we had just fought and who controlled the whole area. This disappointed and interested me at the same time – disappointed because it meant that we had not had a complete victory yet and I could not properly claim the land for the king of my country, yet interested because I wanted to find out more about these people and just who they thought they were.
I soon told my men about the Aztecs and my decision to continue the expedition to their area, where we would attack them and hopefully win control of the land. Their reactions were conflicted like mine, but being the loyal men I knew they were, they agreed with my decision and joined in my quest for victory, I guess you could call it.
When one more week (spent resting and recuperating) had passed, we prepared our ship once more, along with provisions, before beginning the five day journey to the Aztec city Tenochtitlán. Along the way we actually met a number of tribes who that were under Aztec control and whom we convinced to join us.
Oh and one small detail that I forgot – it was on this small yet arduous journey that I first learned of the Aztec ruler, Montezuma and his blind ignorance of my men.
For Montezuma was placed in a rather difficult situation, it was his blessed people’s Year One Reed; the time that a god of theirs meant to come to their land, so when he received messages of our approaching ships, he was unsure of whether he was dealing with friends or enemies. In the end, the stupid man sent us gifts, believing that we had come to bring peace (we learned of this long after we got the gifts).
And so, it is now, at the current point in time, that I Hernan Cortés, the elected governor of Spain, am working with the king and my country to transform what was once Tenochtitlán of the Aztecs, into Mexico City of the Spanish.
This, of course, made it much easier to enter the city, which was on the 8th, I think, of November 1519. It was at this time that Montezuma learned of our real identities and, being a much weaker character than I would have thought of one so powerful, let himself be taken hostage, with no will not to allow it to happen!
Anyway, after staying two nights in comfortable accommodation with no immediate threats, I decided it would be safe to leave the city for a time on personal business, which is another story to tell. I left my deputy in charge of my men, which seemed like the wisest idea at the time, but what a foolish mistake it was!
On the morn of the third day, just after I had left, the Aztecs – men, women and children – gathered together for a traditional religious festival, when my deputy (this still shocks me after many years) led out troops to attack our unsuspecting enemies. Despite the fact that this spontaneous move probably helped our side, I still shudder to think of the amount of innocent people just trying to earn a living that were cold-heartedly massacred on that long winters day.
Excuse me, for I am making this sound like these people, these strong, slightly barbaric, quick-thinking warriors were weak, with no drive or determination like their leader. Well this is wrong. For upon my return to Tenochtitlán, I found my men hopelessly trapped in a palace due to the fiery uprise of the Aztecs for revenge on our attack. I will give them this though, they were very thorough and efficient in what they did – they had every possible escape route covered with a number of armed guards, causing my men to be stuck in that cramped palace for two days while I struggled to to come up with a way out for them. Soon enough, I discovered an inconsistency in their guarding and attempted to bustle out my troops that night. I’m afraid we didn’t get far, being brutally attacked by the Aztecs, who we then knew for sure were our enemies after they murdered three quarters if my men.
When it was finally possible, I led the single quarter of my army away, far away, where those Aztecs could not reach us. I did not even know the location of where I settled the very few depleted souls of men that still remained and hadn’t been taken like the rest of them. For those men had believed in me, trusted me enough to lead them – trusted me with their lives basically – and now I had just gotten so many of them killed due to my reckless decisions. I felt that I had failed my men as their leader, they had become like brothers to me on if voyages and the loss was excruciating.
My mental state continued in this manner for many a week until my thoughts turned to that of the ones who played a big part in this – in the killing of my troops, my men, my FRIENDS, MY BROTHERS! The blood-lustful, cold-hearted maniacs, the Aztecs. The name brought a red hot fury so gripping and tormenting that I knew, I just knew I had to get revenge on them or it would drive me insane.
For the next few months, I and my men travelled far and wide, gathering many – Spanish and Native American – anyone who would fight for us against the Aztecs. Despite the time it took, despite knowing little of the people, despite failing to convince many, I kept pushing and letting that blinding fury drive me, until we ended up with a force of 1000 Spanish and 25 000 Native American peoples.
It was a bittersweet return to Tenochtitlán on May 1521, tinged with sadness upon seeing the site of where I lost so many, yet a cruel pleasure in knowing I would finally be getting revenge on those hated beings. And revenge did we get!
Surveying the results, we knew we finally had the victory once and for all and I claimed the land for the King of Spain.
My new force and I led a siege, blocking up Tenochtitlán, completely destroying the water supply and stopping all food sources. This meant that the Aztecs had to suffer through a slow and torturous death, starving, thirsting and being driven almost insane by the helplessness of the situation. We continued the siege for 80 long days before breaking into the city to take complete control.
Belinda