Mexica: A History Podcast
Mexica: A History Podcast
Exploiting Divides (Ep 4)
In Episode 4, Cortes digs in and settles on the coast. He encounters a new people, the Totonacs, and discovers their conflict with the Aztec Triple Alliance.
Part 1 – The Totonacs
Cortes learns of the Totonacs, who invite him to meet Xicomecoatl, leader of the town of Cempoala. Cortes learns of their subjugation by the Aztecs, and the anger they hold for Moctezuma.
Part 2 – Cempoala
Cortes passes through Cempoala on his way North. The Spaniards are stunned by the beauty of Cempoala. They stay a few days before moving on.
Part 3 – Quiahuitzlan
Having spotted a mountain town from a coastal exploration, Cortes marches for the town, called Quiahuitzlan.
Part 4 – Worry in the Capital
With Cortes suddenly established on the coast and allied with their Totonac subjects, the Lords of th Triple Alliance began to feel the severity of these foreigners intent.
Part 5 – Building of Villa Rica
Under the command of the new Chief Justice and Commander Cortes the foundations of the town of Villa Rica de la Veracruz were laid.
Part 6 - Loyalty to the Totonacs
Cortes strikes a deal with the Totonacs to support them in independence from the Triple Alliance in exchange for indigenous support of food, labor and intelligence.
Part 7 - Sinking Ships and Shipping Traffic
The most legendary sub-plot of the "Conquest of Mexico" is Cortes sinking his ships. See below, Episode 4 Breakdown - Sinking Ships, for more historic outtakes for this famous incident.
Part 8 - Garay
A rival arrives off the coast and a confrontation occurs as Cortes seizes several men from the Garay Expedition, out of Jamaica.
Episode 4 Credits
Written, researched, performed and produced by Jeremy Lipps.
~ Music ~
Intro Coda, acoustic guitar by Valentin Sosnitskiy
Fourth Imaginary City by cryptic scenery
Daniel Birch, www.danielbirchmusic.com
Early Morning Breakup
Sustained Light
The Gates Are Locked
Meydän, https://meydan.bandcamp.com/
Away
Surreal Forrest
intro by lost dream
guitar percussion by bangcorrupt
~ Sound Effects ~
jungle-tropical-birds-and-insects by mikeypme
marching by webbfilmsuk
walk on dirt road by mikeypme
water-lapping by ceivh93
mercado 05 by dobroide
timber tree falling by matt_beer
big bad dogs 5 by robinhood76
horse whinny by inspectorj
ocean waves relaxing waves tranquil geo by davidgtr1
canadian horse running by vero marengere
horses whinnying by leandiviljoen
horse snort by bruno auzet
foley natural water jump mono by nox-sound
Splashing footsteps by soundmary
Episode 4 - Exploiting Divides
Last time in Episode 3: The Aztec ambassadors met the Spanish at San Juan de Ulua and Marina, the Indigenous translator, revealed her bilingual abilities. Cortes established a town government and schemed to have himself elected Captain General.
April, 1519: Another group of people had been seen lingering on the outskirts of the Spanish camp on the distant dunes, gawking, huddled and talking. In the distance these men, silhouetted by the pink sky, were not Maya nor Mexica nor any other Nuahua speaking people. Cortes inquired with his Mexica handlers staying in camp but they insisted these were just simple farmers, hardly worth talking to. But Cortes was curious. They were obviously different and he could sense the shifty body language of the Mexica men that belied their motivations. The strange men never approached the camp, but simply lingered in the shadows from time to time, watching.
One day, the soldier Bernal Diaz was on sentry duty atop a dune when five of these strangers approached along the beach. These people, unlike the Mexica, had large discs in their ears and lips. They wore loincloths, some also wore white cotton capes or shirts, with brightly colored embroidery of birds and plants in rich reds, greens and blues. They were Totonacs, and Cortes was about to discover some important political lessons about the Mexica and their Triple Alliance partners. Tentlil’s men were wise to discourage contact between the Spanish and the Totonacs, whose largest city was Cempoala, just 35 miles from the Spanish camp at San Juan de Ulua.
Bernal Diaz hurried down the dune toward them, they held their hands up to show they were unarmed. After some simple exchanges and hand gestures Diaz escorted the five men to Cortes. Despite these men speaking the totally different Totonac language, Marina was able to speak with two bilingual men that also spoke Nahuatl. They welcomed Cortes on behalf of their chief Xicomecoatl of Cempoala. The conversation revealed that the Totonacs were no friends of the Mexica and in fact had harsh tributes of food, goods and slaves placed upon them by Moctezuma. This news sent sly glances around the Spanish leadership, eager to learn of such clear political divides and resentment. The Totonacs had waited until the Aztec envoy left the dunes before approaching the Spanish camp. The Totonac men urged Cortes to visit their leader in Cempoala. Cortes gave them a few strings of glass beads and a few other meager gifts, then promised to visit Cempoala soon. The Totonac scouts said goodbye then set off up the beach from where they came. First Cortes intended to establish a better camp and he wanted to see Quiahuitzlan, the town spotted by his ships.
Part 1 - The Totonacs
The Totonac people inhabited the coastal region of Northern Veracruz, from Cempoala in the south past Papantla in the North. The Totonac language is unique from the various forms of Nahuatl, Maya and other indigenous languages. Some say it descended from the famous Olmec people, makers of the giant stone head carvings. The unique and beautiful Pyramid of the Niches at El Tajin is often credited to Totonac ancestors.
Seventy years before Cortes arrived, a great drought fell upon the Valley of Mexico. The Mexica leader, Moctezuma 1, sought advice from his chief advisor, or Cihuacoatl, a powerful nobleman named Tlacaelel. This advisor urged the king to feed the hungry and so Moctezuma 1 distributed maize cakes and gruel to the needy in Tenochtitlan to keep them from migrating away. This welfare program only lasted a year before their sources were drained by the relentless drought. The people became desperate and the Totonacs, who had continued to have bountiful harvests on the coast, began to purchase Aztec men and women for slaves. Many Aztecs were sold by their own families, or simply taken, others followed loved ones to Totonac lands in the coastal lowlands. So many people were moved that entire barrios of Mexica, Texcocans, Tepanec and others sprung up on the outskirts of Totonac towns.
The Totonac climate advantage would not last long and in 1480 under Tlatoani Axacayatl’s leadership the Mexica and their Aztec allies subjugated the Totonacs. By the time Moctezuma II was Tlatoani, and after a generation of tribute paid, the Totonacs had grown weary and tired of the constant squeezing. Their hearts ached with sadness for those who had been taken away, enslaved, murdered and raped. Their stomachs ached for the food taken away each season by Aztec tribute collectors. Their necks were bare of jewelry and backs light on cotton due to the tribute paid. Cortes was seen as a potential ally to shift the balance of power their way.
Part 2 - Cempoala
With his authoritarian leadership established, Cortes set out on foot for Quiahuitzlan. With 400 fighting men, some slaves, women and other support, Cortes marched North and sent the ships along the coast to meet them. The first day they marched along the Gulf of Mexico, forded the Actopan River and camped, hungry on the northern bank. The next morning they turned inland along the river, eventually coming across a few Totonacs from Cempoala who gave them food and guided them to another village where the men slept another night. This time the Spanish were fed by the villagers, at the orders of the chief of Cempoala. Again, the marked difference in language and appearance of the Cempoalans from the Mexica was apparent. The large gold lip and ear plates, the men wearing mostly loin cloths, women with delicate, red tattoos on their faces, it all stood in contrast to the Mexica and their more demure ear-plugs and richly colored cotton timatl cloaks, tied over one shoulder. To some surprise, Cortes learned the road to Quiahuitzlan passed through Cempoala.
Around noon the next day, the Spanish expedition arrived outside of Cempoala. It was like a dream to the Spanish men. As they neared the city pyramids could be seen through the green treeline shining like snow-covered peaks, the city framed by colorfully painted stucco walls and surrounded by tall fields rich with maize and other crops. The city was filled with green trees and every garden had vegetables and bright red, purple and blue flowers, and every other color as well. The soldier Francisco de Aguilar estimated there to be 20,000 homes. Cempoala was the largest and most impressive city the men had seen since arriving in this land.
A group of 20 elders met the 400 Spaniards, and their Taino and Black slaves on the road with a great show of respect, bowing, incense and the whole ritual. The men apologized for their leader, who was too fat to greet them at the city boundary but who awaited them at his palace. Crowds began to gather, and as soon as the Spaniards entered the plaster walled city with flower-lined streets they found themselves surrounded by gawking men, women and children who came for a glimpse of the foreigners and their beasts. In disbelief the Spaniards moved through the city, the horses hooves stamping the packed dirt streets, hundreds of soldiers shuffling along. They entered a large square surrounded by pyramids and open-air pillared palaces. Everything glimmered brightly in the hot coastal sun, so brightly some of the men had mistaken the stucco for silver. This provided fodder for some good jovial mockery later as the veterans riffed on the eager eyes of the young scouts, “silver walls,” they laughed.
Once the Spanish force had entered the large square, the chief of Cempoala, Xicomecoatl, with help from attendants, descended the steps of his palace. With deep respect and bows the chief greeted Cortes while his attendants wafted incense around the Spaniards. The chief, who was indeed a large man, showed them to their quarters in one of the palaces, which were pillared buildings with thatched roofs that sat upon a tiered stoned platform. Food was served including corn cakes and a bounty of plum-like fruit, which were in season. After the men had eaten and settled, Xicomecoatl returned with a large group of dignitaries, wearing the finest Totonac cloaks and gold lip-plates. The chief presented Cortes with a gold necklace and some cloth, a modest offering, but well received by Cortes.
The men sat, Cortes and fat Xicomecoatl. Some 80,000 years prior a common ancestor of theirs in the Middle East had two children, one headed East toward China, another West for Europe. About 18,000 years ago an ancestor eventually crossed the Bering Strait, helping to populate the northern Pacific coast and pushing down into the Great Basin. These great migrators had populated what would eventually become Mexico, and beyond into South America. From the great Five Nations people of the Northeast to the Plains people and the mound builders of the Mississippi, on down to the Inca and the Maya - all of them had grown from a few brave migrations from Asia. Now, Cortes, from the Westernmost extension of the European continent, stared into the eyes of a man who represented an Eastward journey of millennia.
The story Xicomecoatl told was one common to all of humanity, regardless of the era or geography. The Triple Alliance had come to their region and conquered them, and since demanded everything the people could produce from maize to gold to women and slaves. The harsh demands of the Empire had left them impoverished. Due to the might of the Triple Alliance they were helpless to defend themselves.
Hearing their plight, and being in need of allies, Cortes put himself at the service of Xicomecoatl, the most powerful of the Totonac rulers. He promised to help in the name of Charles of Spain, their new protector. And he spoke, of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ and his mother Mary. Cortes mentioned that he had to move on to meet his ships at Quiahuitzlan, where they intended to settle. The men agreed on this plan and 400 Cempoalan tamemes, or porters, were provided to Cortes. In this land, porters were not just slaves that carried things, tamemes and the families that ran the trade networks were often well respected as logistical leaders and intelligence gatherers. Without domesticated labor animals or wheels in the Americas, organized foot porters were the only game.
Two days later Cortes prepared to depart for Quiahuitzlan. The Cempoalan tamemes were ready to go and were a welcome sight for those road weary Spaniards who had not managed to bring along slaves or a horse. Each of these temames, according to Diaz, could carry a 50 pound load up to 15 miles a day. Marina had informed Cortes that it was a courtesy for towns to provide tamemes to their visitors and so at every town the Spanish made sure to request more. Well fed, rested and now with laborers, they set out north for the Totonac town of Quiahuitzlan.
Cortes was pleased to have met the Totonacs and he made good bonds with Cempoala’s Chief Xicomecoatl. Cortes had seen the enormous chasm between the Totonacs and the Aztec Triple Alliance of the Valley of Mexico. It warmed his heart.
Part 3 - Quiahuitzlan
It was now July, 1519. With the help of 400 Cempoalan tamemes, or porters, Cortes and his men made good time toward Quiahuitzlan and camped that night outside the town at the foot of the hill. The next day the men prepared for an assault that never materialized. In formation they pushed up the winding road toward the spear of black rock that cut into the sky, up this strange geologic anomaly. Nestled on the shoulder of this large rock was the fortified Totonac town of Quiahuitzlan with its temples, open-air buildings and tombs shaped like miniature houses. Huddled behind the artillery, ready for battle, the Spanish made it into the town without seeing a soul. Finally they entered the highest tier of the city, where the temples and most important buildings were centered around a hilltop plaza that overlooked the Gulf of Mexico. Fifteen men came out, elders and nobles. Dressed in colorful and finely embroidered poncho-like cloaks, the town leaders approached Cortes, incense wafting around the men as they neared. With deep reverence the men bowed and greeted the Spanish.
Several of the Totonacs spoke Nahuatl and communicated through Marina, who then spoke Maya to Aguilar who translated to Spanish for Cortes. The two sides told familiar stories; the Totonacs spoke of the most miserable oppression by the Triple Alliance, of stolen wealth, kidnapped sons, raped daughters and wives. Cortes spoke of Jesus Christ and the King of Castile. The misery of the Totonac men was so intense that the Spaniards began to feel a tinge of empathy for them, quite the feat for some of the world’s most brutal killers. Perhaps it was pity. Or strategy.
Cortes and his captains were invited to eat with them. As the men talked and ate the conversation meandered from the misery of the Triple Alliance, to history and other less political topics. Cortes circled back and encouraged the Totonac leaders to stop paying tribute to Moctezuma. He said if they swore allegiance to Charles of Castille that their protection would fall upon himself, and he personally vowed to protect them. What Cortes had encouraged them to do was insubordination against the Empire, but simultaneously it was freedom. Some of the men imagined grandchildren, well cared for, clothed, their little bellies full, safe in their mountain village. Others imagined the Jaguar warrior armies of the Triple Alliance pouring up their mountain trail to erase them from history. The thought of being arrested passed through their minds, each of their necks strung to a pole binding them together until their sacrifice at the Templo Mayor.
Cortes was powerful. He was cunning. Word of their Toledo steel swords had spread. Their cutthroat European style of warfare was devastating and excluded the courtesies the Indigenous armies afforded one another. Thus far, enemies and friends alike had provided food to the Spaniards. Surely these raggedy scoundrels would be dead if not for this one-way courtesy. The Spaniards enjoyed a few days in the town while Cortes scoped an area not far for their new town.
With the seeds of rebellion planted and the wedge driven deeper, Cortes sat down and ate with his men. Some joked about the faces of the Totonacs when they heard Cortes’s orders to resist the Mexica. Cortes grinned slyly and continued to eat. After the turkey and plums had been eaten there was more work to do.
Within a few days word of Cortes’s message to the Totonacs had arrived in Tenochtitlan and the ears of Moctezuma. He was displeased. This was a grievous offense to encourage dissent. And the Totonacs were emboldened to defy him. This had become a delicate position and Moctezuma could feel the balance of power teetering away from his side. By themselves the Totonacs were already stripped of their riches and confidence. But with Cortes, they were transformed into military numbers of some reconing, an army of grunts backed by the elite Spanish soldiers and their guns, crossbows and artillery.
Part 4 - Worry in the Capital
The sun, represented in Aztec culture as the god Tonahtiuh, was beginning to get low in the afternoon sky. Each day his journey was fueled by sacrifice, for the gods had given their blood to create mankind and so required it to keep the world running. The name Tonatiuh means he who makes the day. Every evening Tonahtiuh would enter Mictlan, the Aztec underworld. Mictlan is a frightening place where most Aztecs go after death, full of beasts and peril. Escorted by the dog-headed god Xolotl, Tonatiuh entered the underworld at the end of every day. Xolotl would show him safely through so he could rise again in the morning. It was not Xolotl’s bravery that kept him safe in the underworld, but rather his familiarity with it as the god of illness, deformities, monstrosities and sickness. Xolotl lives on today in three animal forms, the nearly extinct amphibian the Axolotl, huehxolotl or turkey, and the hairless dog breed Xoloitzquintle.
On this August day in 1519, Xolotl had again delivered Tonatiuh to the morning sky and his rays shone down upon the ruler of the Triple Alliance. Moctezuma knew it was Cortes’ intent to come to Tenochtitlan and meet with him. With his chief advisor, Tlacaelel II, his military advisor Quappiatl and the lords Cacama of Texcoco and Totoquihuatzli of Tlacopan, they decided to open the door to a meeting. Word of the Totonacs' friendship with the Spaniards and of their new town in Totonac country had reached the Aztec leaders. Cortes’ allegiance with the Totonacs was a dangerous development. The balance of power had tilted in no insignificant way.
Aztec messengers left Tenochtitlan for the coast. Moctezuma had flipped and planned for a potential meeting with Cortes. He dispatched the men with their royal orders, more food, a few treasures and a small ceramic seal issued by Moctezuma as proof of their royal mission. The men left Moctezuma’s palace through the main entrance. They passed the Jaguar warriors stationed at the gate and descended the 20 or so palace steps to the plaza in front, where today the great public space called the Zocalo sits in the heart of Mexico City. They turned to their left, South, toward the Itztapalapa causeway, the Sacred Precinct and Templo Mayor now behind them as they began their mission.
The men, a guide named Motelchiuh and two nephews of Moctezuma, moved through the city as urban density thinned the further south they moved. The denser town center full of palaces, temples and administrative buildings thinned a bit to adobe homes, bathhouses and neighborhood shrines, which in turn gave way to the chinampa gardens and farmers huts of the Zoquiapan district. Soon even the floating gardens quit and the messengers walked along the causeway with only the lake water on either side. Their mission was to offer Cortes a path to Tenochtitlan and a guide, Motelchiuh, to lead them.
Part 5 - Building of Villa Rica de la Veracruz
Moctezuma’s nephews, and his captain Motelchiuh, arrived at the Spanish town and gazed at the strangers and the newly erected wood and adobe buildings of Villa Rica de la Veracruz, still abuzz with construction. Among those with the Aztec envoy were spies who took note of the Totonacs working alongside the invaders. Cortes had his men assemble some chairs and a table in the shade of a tree. The two Aztec princes were very well dressed, wearing richly decorated cotton cloaks, with bright red trim. Their rank and family identity were embedded in the designs. They wore the markings of nobility, well bred, physically fit with gold ear plugs, small feathered crowns and jewelry. They brought more gifts, including bundles of cotton cloth, feather works and gold. The message for Cortes from their uncle, Moctezuma, was two-fold: First, that the Totonacs would pay for any disobedience Cortes encouraged. Secondly, a meeting between Cortes and the Emperor may be possible now. With them was a respected captain from the commoner class, Motelchiuh. He was prepared to stay with Cortes and show them the best way to Tenochtitlan.
This was what Cortes had hoped for. Moctezuma soft played him, letting him off the hook for allying with the Totonacs. Not to be a pushover or to be out-victimized, Cortes lodged a grievance of his own. When they were camped in San Juan de Ulua, Tentlil and his man Cuitlalpitoc pulled up camp in the dark of night and disappeared. This made Cortes feel animosity for Moctezuma, it was deceitful, he claimed. Cortes’s feelings were noted by the princes, the grievance lodged, the mental games ongoing.
A tour of the under-construction town was given, and Cortes walked the Aztec envoy around the small, but bustling town. Villa Rica was nestled between verdant green hills to the Northwest, the hill upon which sat Quiahuitzlan to the West and the rocky protrusion called La Quebrada to the East. The soil was a rich volcanic alluvium from the surrounding hills, mixed with sand churned up from the Gulf of Mexico. A beach ran from the rock, La Quebrada, south along a small, but protected cove where the ships had moored. This site had been lost to history until recently when archeologists began to uncover the fortress and even an anchor in the cove.
Cortes again rallied a little display of horsemanship, where the riders showed off their supreme command of the beasts. Some of the men were accomplished horsemen, drilled in the rich tradition of Spanish cavalry. Cortes’ own father was a cavalry captain in the Castillian military. Seeing the beasts up close was always shocking to the Indigenous people. It was by far the largest animal they’d ever seen, and even more spectacularly were under the control of these men.
In the end Cortes was grateful for the offer of a guide, but paranoid and in possession of others who knew the way to Tenochtitlan. He declined the offer. Relations between the Mexica and Cortes remained good for the moment, if not paranoid. And so the nephews left, their mission failed. They were able to retrieve an intense amount of intelligence.
After the Aztec envoy left Cortes continued work on the settlement. A fortress was laid out, a slaughterhouse, a jail and an arsenal to keep their precious gunpowder dry. Properties for the men were staked out. The Totonacs helped them dig and make adobe bricks. Every man worked, Cortes himself was involved in the labor. A kiln was built to fire tiles and bricks, a church for worship. The men hunted, fished, traded and foraged, blacksmiths made nails while others milled trees. Very quickly the Spanish created a town, their first real settlement on the mainland.
Part 6 - Loyalty to the Totonacs
Not long after the Aztec ambassadors left the “fat Cacique,” as the Spanish called the Totonac lord Xicomecoatl, came to Villa Rica from Cempoala. It seems a nearby town on the border of their lands with the Triple Alliance had been used as an outpost for raids. The mountain town, Xicomichalco, had served as a base of operations for Moctezuma’s forces and the Totonacs were now asking their new protectorate for action. The chief was persuasive and Cortes agreed to go and push the Aztec force out. He had offered as much.
The prospect of another risky conflict spurred the Velasquez Loyalists to dig in their heels. “We’ve risked enough and pushed our luck to the edge. Thirty-five of our compatriots are dead and we face an empire of Indians. It’s time to return to Cuba and report our findings to Velazquez,” Juan Escudero argued. Cortes agreed with Escudero to placate him, then gathered the entirety of his force, 400 men, 16 horses plus 2000 Totonac warriors.
Cortes marched his men, and his new Totonac allies, inland. The mission itself turned out to be an easy task as the Aztec force had already left, either on word of the Spanish approach or possibly by coincidence. Cortes and his Spanish force climbed the steep stairs up the hill to the fortified village. They found it abandoned by Aztec forces, a stony outlook unguarded.
While the Spanish had been up inspecting the hillside town their Totonac allies had begun to pillage the farms on the plains below, seeing these people as complicit in the raids they had suffered at Aztec hands. When Cortes returned he called off the looting and demanded they return the food and poultry they had taken. For the people of Xicomichalco this made Cortes appear to be a fair man. To Cortes he had bought more good will with the people of Xicomichalco.
On their way back to Villa Rica they passed through Cempoala where Xicomecaotal met them again and thanked them for their action. He gifted them eight young Totonac women, who would be baptized, given Christian names and then distributed for sex and labor to Cortes’s captains. Two of the girls were princesses, Xicomecoatl’s niece and the daughter of a Totonac chief named Cuesco.
Cortes, never one to let leverage slip, asked that as a sign of their own fealty to the King of Castile that the Cempoalans remove their false idols from their temples and replace them with crosses. Xicomecoatl was deeply disturbed at this request and protested strongly. These gods had served them for generations and brought them favor. Cortes was unswayed and urged them again to remove the statues. After much back and forth and some threats of force, Xicomecoatl agreed the Spanish could do what they wanted, but it would be without their consent.
The order was given and groups of Spaniards climbed the platforms and pyramids of Cempoala’s royal precinct and pushed the colorful wooden deities down the steps where they crashed apart. Priests of the temples emerged to retrieve the pieces of their fallen gods. The people of Cempoala came out and saw their beloved deities broken and crumpled on the ground. Some of them cried, some ran, some prayed, others prepared to fight, but none would ever be the same. The next morning Father Olmedo held mass and the eight women given to them by Xicomecoatl were baptized, the chief’s niece given the name Dona Catalina. Cuesco’s daughter was baptized as Dona Francisca and given to Puertocarrero as a replacement for Marina who Cortes had taken back due to her translation skill.
This religious change marked the beginning of the ancient Totonacs' erasure from history. Their allegiance to Cortes did them little good in the long run. Totonac culture today is thriving and resurgent in a modern sense, but their traditional way of life was largely erased in the following waves of disease, missionary work and European immigration. The Totonac territory was ground zero for the largest clash of cultures in world history. Waves of Spanish ships would come to San Juan de Ulua, and with them waves of smallpox and other European diseases, which would finish off whatever embers of Totonac culture were left from the colonization.
Part 7 - Sinking Ships and Shipping Traffic
Cortes’s time in Villa Rica was busy, bureaucratic and well spent. Among the frenetic events of July and August 1519 were that several ships arrived and departed at the fledgling village of Villa Rica. First, a ship arrived from Cuba under the command of Francisco de Saucedo, with him a handful of horses, perhaps as few as three, and a small array of soldiers. He also brought news of a royal decree granting Diego Velazquez permission to settle in the New World, which Cortes expressly did not have. This hastened his desire to go to Tenochtitlan. It also piqued the interest of Escudero and the Velazquez loyalists. By now, Cortes was set on what he wanted - the greatest conquest in history. The Velazquez loyalists were an inconvenience to a man like Cortes. He would find a way.
It was at this time that Cortes and the newly established government of Villa Rica sent a ship back to Spain with the treasures they had collected so far, including the great gold sun disc, the silver moon disc, a green feathered headdress and all the other treasure presented to them. This was a political move to raise Cortes’s profile in the Court of Charles V of Castile. Also onboard that ship were four Mexica people, and several documents. Two letters that were sent on this ship included at least one by Cortes and one penned by the elected men of Villa Rica, which serves as a primary source for this story. Cortes’ letter is lost to history. In subsequent letters by Cortes to Charles V we see a man who uses the glory of his discoveries, and careful words, to mute the deceitful manner by which he achieved them. On July 16, 1519 a ship, under the command of Capt. Francisco Montejo and piloted by Anton de Alaminos, set sail for the Spanish port city of San Lucar on the Atlantic coast of southern Spain.
Later that year in 1519, the ship arrived in the port of San Lucar de Barrameda. The treasures were unloaded and taken to Seville where they were displayed. Several letters from witnesses, dated November 7, 1519, describe the treasures, including the gold and silver discs, and a rich feather piece, likely the one on display today in Austria. The gold and silver discs were likely melted down for their monetary value. Almost all of the indigenous gold sculpture from Mexico was melted down, representing a massive cultural loss - and financial gain for Charles V and the Castilian wing of the Habsburg Dynasty.
One of the most famous highlights in this story is Cortes scuttling his own ships; part challenge to finish the mission, part prevention against the disloyal members who had already led several efforts to return to Cuba. Cortes and a few of his men had decided to sink or beach all of the ships. There were eleven in total, having gained that of Saucedo, but lost the ship sent to Europe. And so, off the coast of Villa Rica, in one of history’s biggest gambles, Cortes severed his path home. Counter to the image of a brash and careless act, Cortes had ordered the ship’s iron parts, sails, rigging, anchors and other valuables to be stripped and brought ashore. Some were scuttled, holes drilled in the bottoms, and sent to the bottom of the bay. Others were dragged on shore, stripped, their materials used in the building of Villa Rica. Of course, Martin Lopez, the expedition’s boat builder, was still present should they need his services.
With only one way to go now, the path to Tenochtitlan was set. Cortes had sent Pedro de Alvarado and 200 soldiers ahead to Cempoala for the march to Mexico, fifteen horses were bridled and ready to go at their launching point there, in the Totonac town. To continue work and to protect the settlement of Villa Rica, Cortes left 150 men under the command of Captain Juan de Escalante, along with many of the Taino and African slaves.
With orders set and men in place in Villa Rica, Cortes and the rest of his men set off for Cempoala where he would meet Captain Alvarado for the march inland. Once there Cortes met with Xicomecoatl, and asked him to care for the Spanish at Villa Rica, and ensure they were fed and protected, to which the king heartily agreed. But animosity over the toppling of their gods had opened a chasm between the new allies. Still, Xicomecoatl sent 2,000 soldiers with Cortes.
Part 8 - Garay
A Spanish runner sent from Villa Rica brought word that a ship had been spotted and contact was made. Escalante had signaled the ship and offered harbor but they had declined and sailed north. Cortes put the young Captain Pedro de Alvarado in charge at Cempoala again, and set out immediately back to Villa Rica with 50 of his fastest and most fit soldiers. This Garay situation demanded his immediate and personal attention. Cortes needed to manage this.
When Cortes arrived in Villa Rica Escalante offered to go north and look for the ships to allow Cortes to rest after the 45-mile sprint from Cempoala. But Cortes was not keen to allow anything critical to his subordinates. He marched his 50 men north from Villa Rica toward where he thought Garay’s men might be. Bernal Diaz complained under his breath as he had barely scraped together some mangoes and roast turkey before Cortes was spurring him onward, up the coast, toward Garay’s men.
With Captain-General Cortes on horseback the rest of the men shuffled along on foot. They followed a sandy trail carved between shoulder-high coastal grass where Cortes came upon four white men from the Garay ships. They were seized and interrogated right there between the walls of grass. Among these men were Andres Nunez, another boat-builder, and Guillen de la Loa, a notary. Cortes learned that Garay had funded a new settlement near a village called Panuco to the North. Four ships had been dispatched from Jamaica and sailed under the leadership of Capt. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. They headed northwest to go around Cuba, then north to Florida. From Florida they turned west along what would become the gulf coast of Texas then down into Mexico. Nunes, de la Loa and the other men had been sent ashore to look around and were expected back at the beach for pickup at dusk.
Cortes concocted another bold and daring plan. He made the men strip. Four of his men would dress as the four prisoners and go to the beach to lure the pickup crew. And so the four Garay men stripped their clothes and Cortes and his impostors marched for the beach and stood in the shadows of a tree to further hide their features. The three Garay ships were seen floating off the coast. One of Cortes’s men stepped out of the shadows and waved with both arms to the ships. A man waved back then a smaller row boat was put into the water and approached the beach with about seven men inside. Cortes’s men emerged from the shade and waited for their moment. Garay’s men rowed in on the surf and the boat slid onto the sand. Several men jumped out of the boat and approached Cortes’s impostors. It didn’t take long for them to smell out the ambush and see that these were not their crewmates. But the trap was sprung, Cortes and his crew were running toward Garay’s men as they struggled to climb back aboard the boat. After a brief scuffle in the surf two more of Garay’s men had been captured before they could board the row boat with the others. These men would become part of Cortes’ expedition.
With his actions Cortes continued to deepen his legal and reputational hole. His moves were careless and aggressive. But in one sense, Garay’s ship was a sign that more Spaniards would come soon. The secret was out, there was gold and silver in the New World and Cortes’s advantage was fading.
Next time, in Episode 5: Cortes begins his march toward the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan and its fateful leader, Moctezuma.
