Mexico and the Spanish ConquestMost historians of the Spanish conquest of Mexico (1518) are necessarily dependent on the first-hand accounts of the Spanish conquistadores themselves. This has created a highly distorted and implausible view of the Conquest as a near-miraculous victory for a handful of Europeans, and for European cultural, spiritual and technological superiority, over a huge empire with hundreds of thousands of soldiers at its command. The truth is more complex. Professor Hassig reintroduces the Indians into their own history, retelling the story from the point of view of the invaded rather than the invaders. He shows that it was crucially the internal disunity of the Indians - their fragmented political and military organization and divided aims - that created the conditions for Aztec defeat. |
Contents
The Spanish background to the conquest of Mexico | 5 |
Mesoamerica and the Aztecs | 14 |
The discovery of Yucatan | 36 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aguilar alliance Alvarado areas armour arms army atlatl Aztec king Aztec tributaries battle brigantines CALIFORNIA/SANTA CRUZ camp cannons canoes causeways Cempohuallan central Mexico Chalca Chalco Chimalpahin Cholollan combat conquered conquest of Mexico Conquistador Córdoba Cortés Cortés's Coyohuacan crossbowmen crossbows CRUZ The University Cuauhtemoc Cuba Cuitlahua defeat depended Díaz del Castillo Durán effect empire enemy expansion expedition fire flower war forces Grijalva harquebuses Hassig horsemen horses Huexotzinco Indian allies Indies Ixtlapalapan Ixtlilxochitl killed lakes land large numbers logistical López de Gómara major Martyr d'Anghera 1970 Maya Mesoamerica military Moteuczoma Muñoz Camargo Narváez native Nezahualpilli nobles Oviedo y Valdés political population porters reached Reconquista religious rulers Sahagún sailed Sandoval ships soldiers Spain Spaniards Spanish supplies tactics Tapia Tarascan Tenochtitlan Teotihuacan Tepanec Tepeyacac Tetzcoco Tlacopan Tlaxcallan Tlaxcaltecs Totonacs towns tribute troops University Library UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SANTA Valley of Mexico Velásquez Vera Cruz vulnerable weapons Xaltocan Yucatan