About 100 years later, the Mexica had grown in power and prestige and began to rival the Azcapotzalco as the dominant Aztec group. After an Azcapotzalco murdered the Mexica leader, the Mexica aligned with two other Aztec nations and defeated the Azcapotzalco in 1428. The survivors assimilated into the Mexica.
By the early 16th century, the Mexica had easily grown more powerful than any other Aztec people and were considered the dominant people. Their leader (or “Huey Tlatoani”) was a bellicose king who put into effect many laws designed to elevate the noble class above the commoners, including one that forbade commoners from watching nobles eat. His name was Motehcuzma Xocoyotzin, but he is referred to by historians as Moctezuma II. and is more commonly known as Montezuma.
Cortés lands on the Yucátan
At about that time, sailors from Spain made frequent trips to the Americas, particularly around the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. One of them—Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, commonly known as Hernán Cortés—visited Cuba and what is now the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. He was part of a group who called themselves conquistadores (conquerers) because their primary activity was claiming new territories for Spain, forcing the inhabitants to work for them and to accept their religion.
The governor of Hispaniola hired Cortés to colonize Mexico as the Spanish had Cuba and Hispaniola, but then changed his mind because he decided Cortés was undermining his authority and seeking to claim more glory than he deserved (the two had been rivals in school back in Spain). Defying the governor's orders, Cortés went into considerable personal debt to collect 11 ships, 100 sailors, 530 men (including 12 with guns), a small but undetermined number of women, at least 100 slaves, 13 horses and a few small cannons for his expedition.
He landed on the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico. Unlike the high, dry plateau inhabited by the Aztecs, the jungly Yucatán was home to the Maya, a loosely knit and constantly bickering group of self-determined nations with a common language, but one—unlike the Aztecs—who lacked a dominant group or capital city.
Cortés and his men were not the only Spaniards in Mexico when they landed. An earlier expedition had arrived by accident, lost in a storm and shipwrecked on the Yucatán coast. The survivors were quickly captured by the local Mayans, who distributed them among the area's important families as slaves. By the time Cortés arrived, disease and other fates had killed all but two—Gonzalo Guerrero, who won his freedom from the Maya by showing bravery in battle, and Gerónimo de Aguilar, a Franciscan friar who escaped and was accepted as a free man by a neighboring group of Mayans who had a grudge against his captors.
Cortés and his men lived in relative peace among the Mayans there. Before long, he was told stories of two other white men in the vicinity. He eventually met with both Guerrero and Aguilar and told them of his plan to colonize Mexico for Spain. Aguilar agreed to be his guide and translator, while Guerrero rebuffed him, choosing instead to return to his group of Mayans to fight against the Spanish.
While exploring the Yucatán, Cortés fell in love with a Mayan slave. He was told she was a captured Aztec princess, but modern historians doubt that. Her exact name is also disputed—she is usually called Malinche, Malintzin or Mallinali—but Cortés named her Doña Marina. She would stay with him in Mexico and later had a son by him.
Aware that he had to succeed in Mexico or face the governor and potential execution, Cortés asked the Mayans if they knew of any big cities, preferably those with gold. He was told of such a place, farther north, called Cempoala. This was the capital of the Totonac nation and had about 20,000 people in what is now the state of Veracruz. The Cempoala townspeople welcomed the conquistadores and quickly agreed to allow them to build their own settlement nearby. Later, some decided to ally with the Spanish to invade the cities of the Aztecs, where they said the real wealth was. While there, Cortés learned of a conspiracy by some of his men to sail back to Cuba, so he destroyed his entire fleet, forcing his men to stay in Mexico.
Together, the Spaniards and the Totonacs made the long trip northwest. They first reached the territory of a nation called the Tlaxcala. Over the course of the previous century, the Mexica-led Aztecs had launched a series of conflicts later referred to as the Flower Wars, in which they conquered and absorbed most of their neighboring nations. The one exception was the Tlaxcala.
The Tlaxcala didn't trust the newcomers and attacked. They were excellent warriors and surprised the Spanish with their fighting ability, eventually surrounding them. This could have been the end of Cortés and his men, but for some tense negotiations which managed to change the minds of the Tlaxcalteca leaders. Tired of constant conflict and fearing they would be the Mexicas' next victims unless they acted, the Tlaxcala allied with the Spanish and Totonacs and agreed to send a thousand Tlaxcalteca soldiers to help invade the Aztec cities. As part of the deal, the Tlaxcalteca leaders would not pay tribute to the Spanish and would be allowed to build a fortress in Tenochtitlan, and rule it militarily. Fearing an alliance between the Mexica and the Tlaxcala, who shared a language and religion, if he did not acquiesce, Cortés agreed.
By that time, the Aztec leaders in Tenochtitlan had heard of the Spanish advance and sent emissaries with gifts and offers of peace. Cortés accepted and sent two of his own men to speak with the Mexica.
Against the advice of the Tlaxcalteca, Cortés advanced on the city of Cholula. The second-biggest city in Mexico after Tenochtitlan with about 100,000 residents, Cholula was a multi-ethnic religious center with a pyramid and 365 temples. Although greatly influenced by the Aztecs, Cholula was not aligned with any nation and had almost no military, depending instead on the help of the gods—and the goodwill of its neighbors—for defense.
The advancing army arrived peacefully, but not without tension. What happened next is in doubt. Cortés' side of the story is that Doña Marina heard from a Cholulan noblewoman of a plot to murder the Spanish in their sleep. The Tlaxcalteca version is that Cortés had promised them Cholula, and they were enraged when they found out that the Cholulans had tortured their ambassador. It may only have been a rumor. The Aztecs claimed that the Tlaxcala were angry at the Spanish for delaying in Cholula and were ready to attack them unless they did something.
Whatever the reason, Cortés and his men massacred the Cholulans. In his own account, Cortés claimed his men set fire to the city and killed 3,000 people in less than three hours. Another Spaniard who was there put the total number of dead at 30,000.
The massacre sent a shock wave through the area. Terrified of the Spanish and their allies, the local people did not oppose their march through their country. To add to the terror campaign, Cortés sent emissaries to the Mexica, telling them that because the people of Cholula hadn't shown him proper respect, they had had to be punished. He also added that gold would be an appropriate way to show respect.
Arriving at Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519, Cortés and his men must have marvelled. With 300,000 residents, Tenochtitlan rivalled any European city except Constantinople. Tenochtitlan was built on an island and was accessible only by boat or by one of four narrow causeways. Moctezuma greeted Cortés personally with a great celebration and dressed him in a floral robe, the highest honor his people could bestow.
Moctezuma housed and fed the 3,500 invaders in his brother's palace. Cortés demanded gold, and Moctezuma gave it to him. Cortés insisted on more. Again he was given what he wanted. He demanded that the two most important idols in the main temple pyramid be destroyed and replaced by statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Christopher. Again, to avoid war with the well-armed Spanish and their allies, his will was granted. Sensing tension among the locals, Cortés then took Moctezuma prisoner, telling the Mexica that his life would be spared as long as they did not revolt.
Word then arrived that another, much larger group of Spaniards was in Mexico. Pánfilo de Narváez had been sent by the governor of Hispaniola to arrest Cortés and colonize the Aztecs. Desperate, Cortés led 260 of his soldiers to
meet de Narváez and his 900 men. Catching them by surprise, Cortés won a brief but intense battle and took de Narváez (who lost an eye in the fighting) prisoner. Upon hearing about the gold of Tenochtitlan, most of de Narváez's men joined Cortés.
Returning to Tenochtitlan, Cortés was shocked to see the Spanish who had been left behind being held prisoner by the Mexica. In an effort to calm the situation, Cortés arranged to have Moctezuma appear on a high balcony and give a speech imploring the Mexica to let the Spanish leave peaceably. The crowd started to shout insults and throw stones at Moctezuma. He was hit by some and badly injured, dying a few days later.
Cortés joined his men under siege and started to make a plan. Since the Mexica had removed large sections of each of the causeways, Cortés had his men construct a wooden platform they could use to bridge the gaps. Using both darkness and rain as a cover, the Spaniards snuck out of the palace where they were being held late in the evening of July 1, 1520. They were detected after having crossed the first gap, where the platform got stuck. The Spaniards and their allies were unable to dislodge it before they were set upon by thousands of Mexica soldiers. Cortés and other nobles on horseback (and at least one man on foot) were able to leap over the second gap to safety, but the remaining Spaniards and their allies had to jump into the lake and try to swim to safety. Many of the Mexica were armed with atlatls, a spear-throwing device that could accurately send a projectile the length of a football field and, at close range, could penetrate armor. More than 600 of the Spanish, many of their allies, their guns and almost all of their loot were lost in the escape.
What remained of Cortés' army returned to Tlaxcala. After appealing to King Charles I of Spain, Cortés received reinforcements from Cuba, and he and the Tlaxcala again turned their attention to the Aztecs. Over the next year, Cortés managed to subdue—usually, but not always, by force—the entire Aztec nation except for the residents of two cities, the Mexica of Tenochtitlan and nearby Tlatelolco, which was smaller and largely dependent on Tenochtitlan.
When Cortés returned, he launched several ships in Lake Texcoco and cut the causeways that were the only dry-land links Tenochtitlan had with the mainland, as well as the aqueduct that brought in fresh water from the hills because the lake's high salt content made it non-potable. The Mexica held out for eight desperate months, sacrificing 70 Spanish prisoners to their gods, but were no match for the Spanish cannons, starvation, dehydration and a smallpox epidemic that claimed one-third of their population. Finally, on August 13, 1521, the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco to Cortés.
The Spanish legacy
Cortés destroyed the city, expelled the Mexica, and built a new one, Ciudad de México (Mexico City), in its place. He was appointed governor of what was named Virreinato de Nueva España (the Viceroyalty of New Spain), banned the Mexica from living in Mexico City and demanded the destruction of all statues of the Aztec gods, replacing them with Christian saints.
The story of how Cortés conquered the Aztecs is valuable today not just because it explains how modern Mexico began, but also how many of the factors that were put into play have had a profound effect even today. Many indigenous Mexicans have retained their ethnic identities, particularly in southern states like Oaxaca and Chiapas, which have experienced independence movements and even armed rebellions since the 1990s. Cortés established a strong Christian religious presence and Spanish customs and legal traditions, which still hold to some extent today.
The most important of traditions the Spanish brought was a social system called the encomienda (parcelling). Under this system, each Spanish immigrant was assigned a specific number of indigenous people that he was obligated to protect, teach Spanish and instruct in the Roman Catholic faith. In return, they would pay him in crops, gold and other things of value. This custom established a harsh class system based on ethnicity.
Cortés had a mixed-ethnicity son, perhaps the first person born of half-European/half-indigenous American descent. Soon after he was born, Martín Cortés was separated from his mother and sent to live with his father's relatives back in Spain. When he was about 6 years old, his father petitioned the pope to legitimize all three of his illegitimate children, which was granted.
But when he returned to New Spain with his half-brothers (one from a previous marriage and two more from later marriages), Martín Cortés did not enjoy the same legal rights as them. The crown-appointed viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, had installed a strict caste system that went farther than the encomienda. The five basic castes were (in declining order of prestige and rights): Peninsular, a person born in Spain to Spanish parents: Criollo/Criolla, person born in New Spain to Spanish parents; Mestizo/Mestiza, a person born in New Spain with one Spanish parent and one indigenous parent (later, anyone of mixed European-indigenous ancestry); Indio/India, a person of indigenous descent; and Negro/Negra, a person of African descent. Martín Cortés is still referred to in Mexico as the “first Mestizo.”
It was a harsh system. No one but Peninsulares could hold public office and the vast majority of New Spain's prosperity that wasn't shipped off to Spain was in their hands, even though they were very few in number. And as time went on, they were relatively fewer in number—in the United States and Canada, the vast majority of immigrants from Europe arrived as families, but in Mexico and much of the rest of Latin America, the bulk of immigrants from Spain were single men.
The few who married other Peninsulares had children who were Criollos (as did those who married Criollas), while those who married Mestizas or Indias fathered Mestizo. Aside from the hunters and trappers of the frozen Canadian North and Alaska, this phenomenon didn't happen in English-speaking North America where indigenous people were segregated, first by law and then by social and economic factors. That difference has led to very different ethnographics. Today Native Americans make up less than 1 percent of the total population of the U.S. and people of mixed indigenous/European roots are fewer still; in Canada, those numbers are 4 percent and a little more than 1 percent. In both countries, indigenous or part-indigenous people generally live away from major population centers and are rarely assimilated into mainstream culture. In Mexico, however, they are the mainstream culture: Mestizos now make up about three-quarters of the nation's total population, with what used to be known as Criollos and Indios both at about 12 percent, and others accounting for less than 1 percent.
The rise of Miguel Hidalgo
As with many colonies, an independence movement emboldened by the revolutions in the United States (1775–1783) and France (1789–1799) emerged in New Spain. As they grew in numbers, Mestizos and Criollos became more vocal about their grievances.
The independence movement accelerated when Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, declared war on Portugal. Claiming he was allied with Spain, Napoleon moved thousands of troops into the country on the pretext he was surrounding Portugal. When he had established a full-size army in Spain in 1807, he dismissed King Ferdinand VII and proclaimed his older brother, Giuseppe Bonaparte, King Joseph I of Spain. After an initially unsuccessful Spanish revolt, Joseph stayed on the throne until Lord Wellington defeated his army in Vitoria, Spain, in 1813. He then moved to New York City (where he sold the Spanish crown jewels), then Philadelphia, before settling in New Jersey. His most notable acts while on the throne were to put an official end to the notorious Spanish Inquisition, and to sign the Spanish Constitution that limited the king's powers.
Joseph's usurpation of the throne caused an uproar in New Spain. The Peninsulares, who were loyal to Ferdinand and his Bourbon dynasty, were incensed. In September 1808, they unseated Viceroy José de Iturrigaray and installed a provisional government headed by one of their own, Gabriel de Yermo. The long-term plan was to restore Ferdinand to the throne in New Spain, and eventually in Spain as well.
The most prominent leader of the early independence movement was a Criollo priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mondarte Villaseñor,
better known now as Miguel Hidalgo.
A parish priest from the small town of Dolores in the central state of Guanajuato, Hidalgo worked hard to help the poor people around him, teaching grape farming, bee-keeping and the cultivation of silkworms to help them improve economically. He was outspoken in his criticism of Peninsulare politics during the famine of 1808 caused by a drought in the grain-rich state of Durango, when they withheld grain from the poor, speculating that their hunger would boost the price of the staple.
Increasingly fed up with the oppressive Peninsulares, on the night of September 15, 1810, Hidalgo sent some of his armed followers to the Dolores sheriff's office to free 80 men he felt were unfairly imprisoned. Aware that he was now officially a revolutionary, the following morning at mass he gave a speech that is now reverently referred to as the “Grito de Dolores” (the cry of Dolores) and considered the first Mexican declaration of independence:
My children, a new dispensation comes to us today. Will you receive it? Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen 300 years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once ... Will you defend your religion and your rights as true patriots? Long live our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government! Death to the gachupines!
Gapuchines was a slang term for Peninsulares. Immediately, people, including some Criollos, but mostly Mezitos and Indios, rallied to his support and he soon had an army of 800 men. But Hidalgo had no military training, nor did most of his men. About half of them had horses but few had any weapons more effective than a shovel or hoe. Because Hidalgo was a priest and many of his followers, while uneducated, were deeply spiritual, the army had a religious fervor. A rumor started that they were fighting under Ferdinand's auspices, and many believed it, though the Spanish king was unaware of the revolt.
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