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Conquest of Mexico by Cortes

 

            
            
            
            
             Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec God of creation and brother hood. One day, a lesser God named Tezcatlipoca (smoking mirror), convinced the other devils to visit Quetzalcoatl and bring him a gift. When the gift was presented to him, the curious god opened it up to find that he had a face, which gods are not supposed to have. It was a human face; a product of his own creation. That night, the depressed god got really drunk and had sex with his sister. Then next morning, realizing what he had done. Quetzalcoatl shamefully made a raft of snakes and left his kingdom, vowing to return to reclaim his treasure on the day "Ce Acatl," the day of the reed on the Aztec Calendar (Fuentes, 1992).
             News of the "New World" had spread rapidly across Europe, many became eager to travel there to find the many riches of gold and spices Columbus had described (Fuentes, 1992). Hernan Cortes was asked to lead an expedition. He left with 500 soldiers, 11 ships, 16 horses, and 10 brass guns (Parkes, 1969). With everything planned and supplies packed up, Cortes and his crew sailed to the New World not knowing what to expect.
             On the day Ce Acatl - the day of the reed - Cortes had arrived in Mexico. It was the same day Quetzalcoatl had vowed to return. Cortes had similar features to the god such as light skin, a dark beard, and blue eyes (Fuentes, 1992). The Aztec emperor of the time, Moctezuma, was hearing many messages that light-skinned men with strange animals (the horses) had landed in Mexico, which worried Moctezuma. He believed that Quetzalcoatl had come back to retake his treasure and his kingdom (Fuentes, 1992; Von Hagen, 1961).
             Cortes soon began to receive gifts from tribes whom wanted to befriend him. The Tabasco Mayan tribe sent him 20 women, one being a slave named Marina (Malinche), who happened to speak the Aztec language of Nahuati. Cortes decided to keep her as a personal interpreter (Parkes, 1969). .
             As the Spaniards kept hearing of the powerful tyrant emperor named Moctezuma of Tenochitlan, they also found that all the tribes hated and feared the Aztecs.


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