Paper Sample on Spanish Invasion of Mexico

Introduction

The primary events that facilitated Mexico's conquest are presented through different indigenous stories and allies that led to the Aztecs' defeat. The invasion process was not primarily a competition between Spaniards' contingents achieving a win against the Aztec. Still, it was a process that focused on creating a robust coalition of invaders who had originated from Spain. The Spaniards also focused on forming allies with indigenous communities that were rivals and the Aztec Empire's enemies. The Spaniards also combined their efforts with the indigenous communities intending to defeat the Tenochtitlan within two years. However, the Spaniards' primary objective was to establish Mexico as their colony.

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Colonization

The colonization was part of the project to have control of the New World, which was attributed to more than twenty-five years of a permanent exploration and settlement of the Spaniards. Hernan Cortes was at the center of leading an expedition to Mexico after the last journey to Yucatan led by Juan de Grijalva. The combined efforts between the strangers (Spaniards) and indigenous communities, such as the native Tlaxcalan, played a significant role in facilitating the Spanish victory against the Aztec Empire.

The Spanish Invasion of Mexico was long predicted by Motecuhzoma, who viewed the Spanish people's coming as mysterious people's arrival. At first, the coming of the weird people, which the King viewed as a way, would lead to an ally's development. After the prediction, the King sent several officials to the Mexican shore as watchdogs who had to provide appropriate information if they saw strangers. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, King Motecuhzoma's wizards and other magicians interpreted different supernatural phenomena. They wanted the King to prepare as they viewed the Spaniards' arrival as the arrival of white Gods.

The great seer of the time was Nezahualpili, who visited Emperor Moctezuma II and warned him concerning the Spaniards' coming. Nezahualpilli wanted the Emperor to remain alert and never trust the strangers coming to take control of Mexico. Nezahualpilli was also a tlatoani to the Texcoco. He told the Emperor that the Aztec cities would be destroyed in his warning message if he welcomed the Spaniards. He also gave different signs that would justify the message he had told the Emperor and the signs' outcomes. Although Nezahualpilli died in 1515, all the supernatural omens that he had talked about started appearing.

Arrival of Strangers

The arrival of strangers was welcomed by five messengers who were supposed to receive them with gifts. Although the Spaniard's coming was believed to be a positive thing that would transform the Mexican community, things turned out different after the Spaniards chained the messengers and cannon fired, therefore negatively impacting those sent to welcome the strangers. The messengers lost their senses. Although the Mexicans wanted to receive the Spanish community positively, the Spanish had a different view towards the Mexicans, as stated by one of them who said they wanted to see how the Mexican warriors fought.

When the messengers returned to Mexico City and informed King Motecuhzoma what had happened, the King was filled with fear. The message delivered by the messengers was an indication that the Spanish people's arrival was not going to bear any positive outcomes for the Mexican people. After receiving the information, the King had to send out his wizards, prophets, and greatest warriors.

The King also sent captives with the warriors. The prisoners were to be sacrificed with the hopes of pleasing strangers with the Mexican culture of offering people. However, it turned out that the Spanish people were annoyed with the culture of sacrificing other people. The King ordered the sacrificing of captives because he viewed the White Spanish as gods; furthermore, king Motecuhzoma considered the Negros as soiled Gods. Therefore, he sent magicians with the warriors to understand the strangers and see if they could use their charms against the Spanish. However, the appeals failed to work. After realizing that the magic can not work against the strangers, the warriors and the magicians went back to the city.

Spaniards

After retreating to the city, the Spaniards had an easy time marching through the Mexican town, conquering and controlling the villages. As they continued marching and taking control of Mexican towns, they arrived in Tlaxcaltecas, where they met people that lied to them concerning other villages intending to defeat their enemies. As the Tlaxcaltecas and the Spaniards took control of villages because of their powerful weapons and unity, other towns viewed the Spaniards as Gods only to find out later that the Spaniards' ideology of Gods was fake.

The Spanish invasion of Mexico is seen as a recurring event globally, aiming to destroy the pre-Columbian civilization. The Spanish invasion of Mexico has been documented in different sources, with every reference having a different perspective towards the conquest. The different perspectives include indigenous accounts as presented by opponents and allies. The Spaniards also have separate accounts that focus on the original landfall that took place at Veracruz in Mexico during the Good Friday celebration on 22 April 1519. The stores furthermore concentrate on the victory in Tenochtitlan 13th /8/1521.

Before the Spanish expedition, Hernan Cortes had no plans of being the conquistador that was going to lead the invasion of Mexico. However, his mind changed when he was hired by the Cuban governor in 1519 to be in charge of an expedition along the Mexican coastline. After being hired, Cortes become more possessed by the urge to control the entire Mexican land on Spain's behalf. On the other hand, the Cuban governor became worried that Cortes would take away the glory he wanted by taking Mexico's control.

After realizing that Cortes was more focused on taking control of Mexico, the governor declared a warrant of arrest. After rallying his men, Cortes left Cuba in the night and directly disobeyed the Cuban governor, which was seen as an act of treason. Cortes was more focused on his goal and developed a Spanish city in 1519. The town was on Mexican's coat. He later sent his first letter together with a substantial amount of treasure to Charles in which he talked about the governor's arrogance and cruelty. In the first letter, he was more concerned about justifying his actions, "please don't execute me; I'm not the bad guy here.

Spanish City's Establishment

The Spanish city's establishment on the Mexican cots played a significant role in facilitating the invasion process. The Spaniards had an easy time moving from the coastline and marching into the islands. Although King Motecuhzoma had viewed the Spaniards' coming as a positive thing and even tried to please them by carrying out sacrifices by killing the captives, Cortes' primary objective was to take control of Mexico's killing of prisoners in the name of offering gifts disgusted him. They entered the Aztec Empire, which was a dominant empire of the time. The formation of allies with indigenous communities that were opponents of King Motecuhzoma also facilitated Mexico's control.

To Cortes, the significant city was Tlaxcala, which was a great enemy of Aztecs. Cortes started creating a critical yet secret alliance with Tlaxcala. In November 1519, his Amy, together with his allies, reached the Mexican Valley to see Aztec's capital city, Tenochtitlan. The town was home to many Mexican people. As stated, the Aztec emperor wanted to welcome the Spaniards positively. He even waited for them at the city's drawbridge, and they first came in as Emperor Moctezuma II's guest before they kidnapped and held the Emperor hostage.

After taking control of the city, Cortes began replacing the different pagan symbols placed in other parts of the city with Christian symbols and ordering a stop on human sacrifices.Replacing the pagan symbols with Christian continued until when Cortes left the city in May 1520. On the other hand, the Cuban governor launched a systematic invasion of the Cortes city established on the Mexican coastline. Cortes' absence from the city allowed the indigenous Mexicans to hold a traditional festival, which was seen as an introduction of war by conquistador that had remained in the town. Feeling that the Mexicans were starting a conflict, the conquistador started carrying out merciless killings turning the city into chaos.

Conclusion

Finally, Cortes returned, and together with Moctezuma, they tried to calm down the people, although Moctezuma was killed as Spaniards narrowly escaped. Filled with fear for their lives, Cortes and his men ran on a night referred to as "La Noche Triste" or "the Night of Sorrows" Cortes escaped to Tlaxcala, where he started re-planning on his return and control of Tenochtitlan. The escape of Cortes and his men a significant achievement by the Mexican. Who had been brained washed with Spaniards' ideologies being "White Gods," and their defeat is regarded as the process of burying the white gods.

Bibliography

Leon-Portilla, Miguel. Mexica (Aztec) & Tlaxcala Accounts of the Spanish Conquest, 1500s." National Humanities Center Toolbox Library: Primary Resources In U.S. History And Literature, 1959.

Townsend, Camilla. "Burying the white gods: New perspectives on the conquest of Mexico." The American Historical Review 108, no. 3 (2003): 659-687.
https://doi.org/10.1086/529592

Halsall, Paul, and Oliver, Thatcher. "Hernán Cortés: from Second Letter to Charles V, 1520” and “An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico." (1998).