Spanish Conquest over Aztecs - Essay Example

SPANISH CONQUEST OVER THE AZTECS Spanish Conquest over Aztecs Aztec was an impressive .empire that operated inTenochtitlan, Mexico. The city of Tenochtitlan exhibited splendid resources like lakes, beautiful cities and good canals that were used for trade. Due to its superb features, Spanish rule in Cuba deployed spies under the leadership of Herna Cortes to investigate Mexico’s ways of life and capture Christian slaves who would work in the European farms (Aron 2005, 160). Upon arrival in Mexico, Cortes Chief commander and his loyal troops changed their plans of captivating slaves to desire for conquering Mexico (Aron 2005, 160).

The conquest war would not be possible without the approval of King Charles V of Spain. For this reason Cortes wrote to the King claiming that Aztecs were hypocrites and that the ruling authority of the empire was brutal to its people. Upon obtaining the king’s approval, Cortes identified and liaised with the native friends who were foes of the Aztecs. Cortes and his troops gained support of Cempoalans and the Tlaxcalans who were natives of Mexico (Boyer 2010, 279). On arriving in Tenochtitlan city, the existing populace thought that the White Cortes was their Quetzalcoatlin god whom they waited to return (Palfrey 2008).

As a result of the illusion, Montezuma, emperor of the Aztec welcomed Cortes and provided him with everything to satisfy his troops. It is due to the perceived trust that Cortes strategized his plans to concede the objectives of conquest. Cortes first captured and imprisoned Montezuma thereby driving the Aztecs into fear thus admitting their submission to the Spaniards. The Spaniards also conducted massive massacre in a religious function that continued to freeze the Aztecs (Hassig 2006, 9).

In 1521, Cortes and his troops gathered with Tlaxcalans and planned to deny the Aztecs food and water thereby resulting to starvation that led to death of many people (Aron 2005, 162). Cortes and his troops also took advantage of the outbreak of diseases like smallpox that weakened inhabitants of Tochtitlan thus easing seizure of the entire Aztec Empire. Bibliography Aron, P., 2005, Mysteries in history: from prehistory to the present, Santa Barbara, CA; ABC-CLIO Publishing. Boyer, J., 2010, The Plaid Avengers World, 4th Ed, Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Hassig, R., 2006, Mexico and the Spanish conquest, 2nd Ed, Norman; University of Oklahoma Press Palfrey, D., 2008, The Spanish Conquest (1519-1521), Retrieved October 16, 2011 from http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1538-the-spanish-conquest-1519-1521