History 1510 the conquest of Mexico

I have chosen to write my paper on the following two subjects: the first being the event of Corts first meeting Moctezuma. The second topic will be the event of Corts arresting Moctezuma. Corts meets Moctezuma Before these two even met, I want to briefly review each of their situations before they met. First Moctezuma saw Corts as a great threat. He believed that Corts was invincible and could not be killed. Also Corts had conquered many cities successfully beforehand. Moctezuma did not want Corts to come to his city, and so he had men sent to kill Corts and even sent gold and precious things to him to persuade him to go back to Spain. On the other hand Corts had many among his army that did not want to move inland with him and those soldiers wanted to rebel. The way Corts dealt with this was by making himself governor of Veracruz so that he then would have to answer only to the king of Spain; he sent valuable things and his letters directly to the king to receive direct support from him. Eventually Corts had the loyalty of his men to move inland. Corts also received support from the natives who did not like the taxes imposed upon them from Moctezuma. One thing I find very interesting about how Corts acquired more people to be on his side before going to meet Moctezuma was an account of a battle that Corts had with a native tribe, eventually the natives gave up and invited Corts into their homes and Corts then invited them to join his alliance. Corts even trained his men alongside the natives so that the alliance became a united fighting force. Eventually Moctezuma agreed to meet Corts as a diplomat and not an enemy. When Corts arrives into the great city of Tenochtitlan (now the center of the city of Mexico) he was greeted by many inhabitants of the city. Corts in one of his letters described the people that met him as Nearly a thousand of the principal inhabitants of the great city, all uniformly dressed. These natives each in turn proceeded to greet Corts, by

placing their hand on the ground and kissing it. After all had greeted him in this manner he then moved along and was soon received by Moctezuma and many of his noblemen, all of which were dressed in very fine and rich clothing. There were two men who walked along side Moctezuma as he went to greet Corts. When Corts went to salute Moctezuma he was stopped by the two accompanying Moctezuma to prevent Corts from touching him. They proceeded to greet Corts by the same way he was greeted by the local inhabitants upon his arrival at the city. In the account given by Corts, he explains how he gave Moctezuma a necklace made of both pearls and glass diamonds Shortly after two necklaces made of fine shells were brought and Moctezuma placed them around the neck of Corts. Eventually the nobles all proceeded to greet and address Corts. According to the Mexica account, Moctezuma thought that Corts was a returning God, coming back to take his throne. With this being said, Moctezuma took Corts to a great palace and took Corts by the hand as he led him into one of the rooms and sat him down. Moctezuma treated Corts as a returning God and told him that he was welcome in the city and that he would do anything that Corts commanded him; Corts was given many gifts of gold and precious things and was also supplied with food. Between the two accounts that were examined, the one being the second letter from Corts pp.85-89 and the other being from the Florentine codex. Both accounts were quite similar with the only differences being small ones. In the letter of Corts there is lots of detail and the account is larger than the other account. In the Codex it shows the amount of preparation Moctezuma made in which he prepared beautiful flowers in gourds, and wreaths of flowers. And also in this account it goes into more detail of the things that were given to Corts when they very first met. To summarize this event, Corts planned on conquering the nation while Moctezuma feared this and did not want Corts to come into his city. Eventually Moctezuma agreed to meet Corts and believed Corts to be a God. Moctezuma greeted him like a king and gave him many gifts and granted to him his kingdom.

Corts arrests Moctezuma Both the accounts that I examined are very different in the account given in the second letter from Corts pp.91-94 it explains how Corts befriends Moctezuma then negotiates with him for Moctezuma to be confined to a room of his choice within the palace. According to the account he agrees to be arrested willingly and Corts allows for his servants to still serve him and his needs to still be met while arrested. During this whole time order still remains in the city. I find it a bit hard to believe that he would do this so willingly according to the account written by Corts but it is possible given the fact that Moctezuma and possibly the rest of the city might still believe that Corts is an invincible God and thus being said Moctezuma would probably be more likely to be arrested without putting up a fight while the city still remained calm and orderly. On the other hand the account from the Florentine codex explains that the arrest was very different. This account explains how upon entering the palace they seized Moctezuma and placed him under arrest and kept him under close surveillance. The account also explains how a cannon shot was fired and how everyone went into great confusion. The codex explains that everyone appeared as if they were drugged and had seen something awful and how the entire city was spread with panic and fear. The account then explains that the nobles were angry with Corts and did not want to abide by the commands of Corts to bring him food, but that they still abided and brought food to him. Both accounts are very different but in my opinion I believe what actually happened would be more similar to the account given by Corts. I say this because if it is true that some of the natives supported Corts as well that Corts seemed to be very good at negotiating and getting people to go along with what he wanted, I can imagine that Corts easily and calmly negotiated with Moctezuma. Also if the city and especially Moctezuma believed that Corts was a God then I can easily imagine the city and Moctezuma still remaining calm even though Corts put Moctezuma under arrest. The previous accounts about the two first meeting both describe how Moctezuma greeted Corts as a king and received him as such, therefore making Cortss takeover of the city much easier and not as much of an act of aggression as if an intruder was breaking into the city and taking over.

With the way they received and treated Corts, with him placing Moctezuma under arrest and taking over the city, it would probably be seen more so as the returning God exercising his rightful power. To summarize then after Corts was received into the city as a king, I dont think him putting Moctezuma under arrest would have been met with much resistance, and therefore making the takeover by Corts being quick and easy.