Search the site...

SOL DE MEDIANOCHE
  • MARCH 2023
  • FEBRUARY 2023
  • JANUARY 2023
  • DECEMBER 2022
  • NOVEMBER 2022
  • OCTOBER 2022
  • SEPTEMBER 2022
  • AUGUST 2022
  • JULY 2022
  • JUNE 2022
  • MAY 2022
  • APRIL 2022
  • MARCH 2022
  • FEBRUARY 2022
  • JANUARY 2022
  • DECEMBER 2021
  • NOVEMBER 2021
  • OCTOBER 2021
  • SEPTEMBER 2021
  • AUGUST 2021
  • JULY 2021
  • JUNE 2021
  • MAY 2021
  • APRIL 2021
  • MARCH 2021
  • FEBRUARY 2021
  • JANUARY 2021
  • DECEMBER 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2020
  • Advertise with us!
  • OCTOBER 2020
  • SEPTEMBER 2020
  • AUGUST 2020
  • JULY 2020
  • JUNE 2020
  • MAY 2020
  • MAR - APR 2020
  • JAN - FEB 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2019
  • SEPTEMBER 2019
  • JULY 2019
  • MAY 2019
  • MARCH 2019
  • FEBRUARY 2019
  • NOVEMBER 2018
  • SEPTEMBER 2018
    • Yes on Salmon
    • Become a citizen
  • JUNE 2018
  • APRIL 2018
  • FEBRUARY 2018
  • DECEMBER 2017
  • SEPTEMBER 2017
  • JULY 2017
  • MAY 2017
  • Spring 2017 - No. 5
  • Winter 2016 - No. 4
  • Fall 2016 - No. 3
  • Summer 2016 - No. 2
  • Spring 2016 - No. 1
  • Contact
  • MARCH 2023
  • FEBRUARY 2023
  • JANUARY 2023
  • DECEMBER 2022
  • NOVEMBER 2022
  • OCTOBER 2022
  • SEPTEMBER 2022
  • AUGUST 2022
  • JULY 2022
  • JUNE 2022
  • MAY 2022
  • APRIL 2022
  • MARCH 2022
  • FEBRUARY 2022
  • JANUARY 2022
  • DECEMBER 2021
  • NOVEMBER 2021
  • OCTOBER 2021
  • SEPTEMBER 2021
  • AUGUST 2021
  • JULY 2021
  • JUNE 2021
  • MAY 2021
  • APRIL 2021
  • MARCH 2021
  • FEBRUARY 2021
  • JANUARY 2021
  • DECEMBER 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2020
  • Advertise with us!
  • OCTOBER 2020
  • SEPTEMBER 2020
  • AUGUST 2020
  • JULY 2020
  • JUNE 2020
  • MAY 2020
  • MAR - APR 2020
  • JAN - FEB 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2019
  • SEPTEMBER 2019
  • JULY 2019
  • MAY 2019
  • MARCH 2019
  • FEBRUARY 2019
  • NOVEMBER 2018
  • SEPTEMBER 2018
    • Yes on Salmon
    • Become a citizen
  • JUNE 2018
  • APRIL 2018
  • FEBRUARY 2018
  • DECEMBER 2017
  • SEPTEMBER 2017
  • JULY 2017
  • MAY 2017
  • Spring 2017 - No. 5
  • Winter 2016 - No. 4
  • Fall 2016 - No. 3
  • Summer 2016 - No. 2
  • Spring 2016 - No. 1
  • Contact

The Arrival of the Indigenous-Spanish
Coalition To Mexico Tenochtitlan


by lorena medina martínez

Picture
The "map of Nuremberg", drawn up in Germany in 1524, is the oldest that exists of Mexico City (then Tenochtitlan).

On August 13, 1521, the Aztec empire was defeated by an army made up mainly of Mesoamerican indigenous people, and a group of approximately 500 Spaniards under the command of Captain Hernán Cortés. Here, we present the second of three articles to highlight this historical event.

On November 8, 1519, the historic encounter between Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin and Hernán Cortés took place in Huitzilan (today Hospital de Jesús, downtown Mexico City), beginning a period that can be analyzed from the different negotiations and pressures among the Aztecs from central Mexico and the indigenous-Spanish coalition.

In this first encounter between Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin and Hernán Cortés, they had their first communication mediated by Malintzin and Jerónimo de Aguilar. During this first meeting there was also a political exchange of gifts. After this, the Spanish were accommodated in the palace of Axayacatl by the Aztecs. These series of events must have been carefully and politically attended by both sides since they did not know how the events would continue to unfold. Once the Spaniards settled in the Aztec capital, in May 1520, Hernán Cortés had to, temporarily, leave Tenochtitlan to go to Veracruz, leaving Pedro de Alvarado in command. Pedro de Alvarado, lacking in political tactics provoked the massacre known as “Matanza del Templo Mayor” during the Aztec celebration of toxcatl, in honor of Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec deity. As a consequence of this massacre, Emperor Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin dies while trying to calm the onrush of the Aztec people.

These events and others strained the political situation between the Aztecs and the indigenous-Spanish coalition that culminated in the historically known “Noche Triste” (“Sad Night”), the night of June 30, 1520 in which the Spanish try to leave Tenochtitlan without being seen by the Aztecs. The Tenochcas or Aztecs find out and persecute the indigenous-Spanish coalition, driving them out of the Aztec capital. The story goes that, after this defeat, Hernán Cortés in his escape stopped in an ahuehuete tree, on the present time Mexico Tacuba avenue, Popotla, where he cried the defeat at the hands of the Aztecs.

After this event, the Spaniards escaped through the Tepeyac hill, in the direction of Tlaxcala, a place where, with the support of indigenous groups such as the Tlaxcalans, they planned their strategy to return and attack the Aztecs. One of the tactics by Hernán Cortés, the Spaniards who accompanied him and their indigenous allies was the construction of twelve brigs (two masted sailing vessels) which were built in Tlaxcala and put together in Texcoco.
​
It is important to emphasize that among the many aspects and events that took place between 1519 and 1521, a process of recognition of each other began. It was a long process, but in which each group analyzed and recognized their counterpart. The recognition of the other, wanting to know who they were, how they were, how they thought and what objectives they were pursuing was a continuous question that began when the Aztecs learned that the Spaniards were prowling the coast of Cozumel, a process also experienced by the Spaniards of wanting to know who the lord behind the volcanoes was, the emperor Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, who the Aztecs were, and what that city of Mexico Tenochtitlan was like. ​

PROUDLY POWERED BY SOL DE MEDIANOCHE NEWS, LLC.
Sol de Medianoche is a monthly publication of the Latino community in Anchorage, Alaska