Mexica: A History Podcast
Mexica: A History Podcast
Bonus Episode: The End of the Mexica (Ep 9)
In Episode 9, Cortes returns to the Valley of Mexico, bringing with him nearly a thousand refreshed Spanish soldiers, and tens of thousands of Tlaxcalan warriors. A brutal siege would grind the Mexica down until their ability to resist was done. This would be the end of Mexica power and culture in the valley.
Part 1 - The March to Texcoco
Cortes returns to the Valley of Mexico and is welcomed by a young prince.
Part 2 - The Players Are Set
With Cortes camped in Texcoco, backed by his Tlaxcala and Acolhua allies, and Cuauhtemoc and the remainder of the Mexica in Tenochtitlan - the sides were set.
Part 3 - Siege of Tenochtitlan
Cortes tightens his grip around the island of Tenochtitlan, squeezing the life out of the Mexica inside.
Part 4 - Mexica Abandon Tenochtitlan
With their forces depleted, their food gone, the Tenochca Mexica abandon Moctezuma's Palace, the Sacred Precinct and the rest of Tenochtitlan and head north to shelter with their Mexica neighbors in Tlatelolco.
Part 5 - Cortes Gets Routed
Feeling eager to close out the siege, Cortes' men charged into a fatal mess, nearly costing Cortes his life.
Part 6 - Amaxac
Now down to their final sliver of land, their final people, the Mexica huddle in a place called Amaxac.
Part 7 - The End of the Mexica
The remaining women, children and elderly were allowed to leave while the leadership is taken into Spanish custody, marking the end of Mexica power.
Part 8 - The Valley After the Mexica
Cortes immediately began work on a new colonial city, burying Tenochtitlan beneath.
Part 9 - Mexico Today
A brief discussion on my personal views of what Mexica is today, the legacy of the Mexica andother Indigenous people, and the concept of mestizo.
Episode 9 Credits
Written, researched, performed and produced by Jeremy Lipps.
~ Music ~
Away by Meydän
Surreal Forest by Meydän
Fourth Imaginary City by cryptic scenery
Daniel Birch, www.danielbirchmusic.com
Breathe by Daniel Birch
Sustained Light by Daniel Birch
Fourth Imaginary City by cryptic scenery
Fuego de Mateo by Down for the Count
Guitar Percussion by Bangcorrupt
Taiko drum sequence for looping the sacrifice by Infinita08
Intro coda acoutsic guitar by Valentin Sosnitskiy
~ Sound Effects ~
All sounds procured at freesound.com - Thank you to the creators below for their contributions.
splashing footsteps1 by soundmary
foley natural water jump by nox sound
horses by arnaud coutander
walk on dirt road by mikeypme
Canadian horse running by vero-marengere
horse galloping by max headroom
horse snort by bruno auzet
horses whinnying by leandiviljoen
arrow cutting through the air by bruno auzet
ancient old time battle combat horses snorting... by ylearkisto
ambient battle noise swords and shouting by phranzen
the rain falls against the parasol by straget
forest stream between mekhanizatorov settlement and akhtyrka vilage moscow region by halfofthesky
water-lapping by ceivh93
rain by idomusics
soft wind by florianreichelt
fire 2 by pushtobreak
horse whinny by inspectorj
coopers hawk by blimp66
walking2-gravel by tec-studio
lost dream intro by unknown user
Mexico City street vendor with street sounds by kdceduk8
taikodrum-41-hz by tarane468
panther by xhwzq6gv
pain-schwester by repdac3
walla Cuban men yell bball1 by kyles
three cannon shots by originalmaja
sailing boat bow wave close perspective by pfannkuchn
wood chopping chopping hard wood with metal axe by guntherdorksen
timber tree falling by matt beer
Bonus Episode 9 - The End of the Mexica
Last time, in Episode 8; the Spanish brought death and destruction to the Mexica as the Toxcatl Massacre, the Siege of Axayactl’s palace and the Noche Triste all took a significant toll on the Mexica military and nobles. But Cortes and his men were driven out. Amidst the rubble was a plague that would emerge to decimate the remaining populace, leaving just an ember of Mexica culture to resist.
A light wind pushed across the burned, but tranquil, landscape of Tenochtitlan. The new Mexica Tlatoani, Cuahtemoc, stood near the Xoloc Gate which marked the southern entrance to the city. A few warriors stood near him, wrapped in their colorful tilmatli capes, their obsidian-lined clubs hidden beneath. Their heads were shaved except for a lock of hair protruding from their left temples. These were the shorn-heads, Mexica elite warriors. More revered than even the Jaguar and Eagle warriors. Cuauhtemoc was doing rounds to inspect the city’s defenses and infrastructure.
The midday December sky above the emperor was gray across the entire valley, the air was chill, but not biting. Around him were the barren chinampa farms of the Zoquiapan district and the main canal that ran north-south along the Itztapalapa Road and causeway. It was on this road, two years ago, that Moctezuma met Cortes amid a massive crowd, a trail of 200 nobles behind the Tlatoani. Almost all of them are dead now. This part of Tenochtitlan had mostly survived the Spanish-Tlaxcala occupation untouched. It was largely open farmland and canals dotted by adobe homes, a few temples and markets. What was missing were the people. The crops had long been harvested, looted and taken, now there were almost no farmers to replant. Only a few of the Tenochca chinampa farms were tended to in hopes of a bountiful spring.
Able-bodied men were becoming hard to find for the young emperor. He was overseeing repair work of the city. It had been five months since the Spanish were chased from Tenochtitlan during the Noche Triste in the early morning of July 1, 1520. Behind them they left a city destroyed and an empire on its final legs. The combined Tlatelolca and Tenochca Mexica forces had taken part in the Noche Triste, and both forces had taken heavy losses. The Tenochca bore the extra burden of their nobility being wiped out in the Toxcatl Massacre, where Pedro de Alvarado unleashed his Spaniards in a surprise attack on the Mexica elite as they celebrated.
Axayacatl’s palace, where the Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies had been living for eight months, was destroyed; gutted on the inside by the Spanish. Battered and burned on the outside by the Mexica siege. To protect themselves, the Spanish had cannibalized the interior furniture and structure materials to reinforce the barricades that kept them alive over the three weeks between the Toxcatl Massacre and the Noche Triste. The Mexica had tried to burn their way through the Spanish defenses. By the time the invaders snuck out of the palace on that rainy June night, the palace was a filth-ridden, bloodied pile of burned-up beams, cracked plaster and corpses. All the treasure had been dragged out by the Spanish, the gold melted into ingots, the richly colored feathered shields and visual works made by the amanteca craftsmen all burned, trampled or taken. It would be easiest to simply raze the ruins of that stinking hulk of a building and set fire to memory of it, along with the dead inside.
Cuauhtemoc walked north along the Itztapalapa road toward the sacred precinct. Along the way he noticed the canals full of debris, the burned buildings that Cortes had managed to set fire to during his horseback raids from the palace. But the worst site for the Mexica to see was the Templo Mayor. The temples to Huitzilopchtli and Tlaloc at the top had been burned. The wooden components of the structures had burned away leading to collapse. The statues of Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc and Tezcatlipoca had been burned or pushed down the temple steps. The bright red and turquoise colored murals had been blasted by cannon shot or burned off in places. Inside the Sacred Precinct the fiercest fighting had taken place. The initial assault by Pedro de Alvarado on the dancers and festival goers of Toxcatl was a brutal, hours-long massacre. And throughout the subsequent palace siege the Spanish made forays out to raid and set fire to surrounding buildings, including those in the Sacred Precinct. During the palace siege the Mexica dug up the ground all around the palace to build defensive bulwarks. The damage to the city was extensive, but somewhat localized.
By now, in the cooler days of winter, the rubble had been swept from the plaza and Templo steps. The bodies of the Mexica warriors and nobles who died in the many skirmishes and battles had been cremated, as well as those who died of the plague. The bodies of the Spanish and Tlaxcalans had been carried out to the reeds in the lake for the crayfish, coyotes and vultures. The patio at the top of the Templo Mayor had been cleaned of debris, with only the timber studs of the old shrines sticking up. New, temporary, temples to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli were built. The tzompantli, or skull rack, was repaired and replenished with Spanish and Tlaxcalan heads taken during the Noche Triste. Moctezuma’s palace had survived and was held by Mexica forces throughout the Toxcatl massacre and the Noche Triste. The Mexica way of life was still alive. People were starving and sick and the work to get the city repaired was overwhelming. But still, a fragile and anemic life had re-emerged in the Mexica capital.
Although progress on clean up and the canals had been made, the population of Tenochtitlan had been reduced to a hearty few thousand capable individuals. There were those who died in the battles and massacres, but also tens of thousands who fled or died from smallpox. The Tenochca were down to their last sustainable numbers. And they were quite alone.
To the north, the sister-city of Tlatelolco had fared better in driving off the Spanish. Most of the destruction centered in Tenochtitlan around Axayacatl’s palace, the Sacred Precinct and to the west along the Tlacopan causeway taken by the Spanish on Noche Triste. The city of Tlatelolco and some of her nobility remained largely in place. Even the new Tenochca Tlatoani, Cuauhtemoc, was raised in Tlatelolco before ascending to the throne of Tenochtitlan.
This young man, Cuauhtemoc, brave and confident, led the few Mexica who remained. The new Tlatoani was in his mid 20s, the son of the 8th Tlatoani, Ahuitzotl and a Tlatelolca princess named Tiyacapantzin. His name translates roughly to descending eagle, but that is an underwhelming description. What his name references there is no English word for, it is the moment an eagle speeds toward the ground in its predatory kill dive. This young man, already famed for his bravery as a captain, brought a new hope to the battered Mexica people. Historically, little more is known about Cuauhtemoc, where he spent his youth, what campaigns he may have led or participated in, all unknown as he enters the historical record around the time of his coronation.
Some said the Spanish would not return, that they had been driven away forever. Others were not so sure about that. And soon it was found out the Spanish had not gone back across the sea, or even to their coastal town Villa Rica but were recovering just 60 miles away in Tlaxcala. And that more men had come from across the sea to join them. The Spanish were getting stronger.
Part 1 - The March to Texcoco and the Tepeaca Campaigns
The forests of Tlaxcala were falling under the demand for timber. Cortes had ordered enough lumber for 13 brigantines to be built on Lake Texcoco. And so the Tlaxcalan lumberjacks headed up into the mountains for the oak trees requested by master boat builder Martin Lopez. The rigging from Cortes’ famous burned boats had been retrieved from Villa Rica on the coast. The burning of his boats now seemed like less of a gambit and more of a strategy. Troops from Hispaniola and Jamaica, sent unknowingly to reinforce the failed expeditions of Garay and Narvaez, had been re-ordered under Cortes’s command and assembled in Tlaxcala. The Spanish now numbered around a thousand mostly-fresh men, with more than 80 horses. The army was impressive enough to give confidence to the Tlaxcalans, and others, to join the cause in finishing the Mexica.
In December of 1520, the day after Christmas, Cortes set out from Tlaxcala for Texcoco. With him were thousands of Tlaxcalan warriors. Writing later several of the men present claimed up to 20,000 Tlaxcalans marched with them. Behind his army were thousands of tamemes carrying lumber for the brigantines. The carravan crested a pass between two volcanoes and saw the Valley before them, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and the rest of the towns.
Awaiting Cortes in Texcoco was an aspiring young prince named Ixtlilxochitl, brother to Texcoco’s sitting Tlatoani Coanochcotzin. While the elder brother had wavered at times he now stood firmly with his Triple Alliance partners in Tenochtitlan. The younger brother, Ixtlilxochitl, had let Cortes know he was welcome in Texcoco and would be supplied for his efforts against Cuauhtemoc of the Mexica and Tetlepanquetzal of Tlacopan.
Once Cortes was in Texcoco he got right to business digging launch canals and building the brigantines. Texcoco’s sitting ruler, Coanochcatzin had fled ahead of Cortes and was now living across the lake with Cuauhtemoc in the island of Tlatelolco, where the new Mexica leadership was based. Prince Ixtlilxochitl had chosen his side as well and put his support and aspirations behind a new Spanish world order.
Cortes’ arrival in Texcoco put a new pressure on the communities of the Valley of Mexico, a choice was now clear. Side with the traditional rulers of the Valley and keep the oppressive Mexica leaders, or side with the apparent new power in the region, the Spanish. For many it was not a choice of indigenous pride over foreigners, it was a choice of survival. The ultimate gamble. Those who chose the Mexica began to rally in Tenochtitlan. Other lake communities found themselves under pressure from the Spanish who began sending forces to the Chalco region and to the southern lake chinampa people of Mixquik, Cuitlahuac and others.
Cuauhtemoc countered politically and militarily where he could. Mexica ambassadors were sent to every ally, former ally and even enemies. In a desperate appeal of indigenous solidarity, the Mexica even sent an envoy to Tlaxcala to find support. To much surprise the plea found the ear of Xicotencatl the Elder, who would not support the Spanish. He feared that everyone would die, both Tlaxcala and Mexica. He did not want the Mexica to be extinguished. However, Maxixcatzin and the other Tlaxcala leaders went to support the Spanish, including Xicotencatl the Younger.
It was said by those in Tenochtitlan that the brave were coming to their city to defend the true people of this land against these invaders; that the cowardly had gathered in Texcoco, or otherwise sided with the Spanish. The lines were drawn. Texcoco and her Acolhua people, who had historical ties to their Tlaxcalan neighbors, sided with Cortes. The chinampa people from the shores of Lake Chalco also were persuaded to the side of Cortes. Tetlepanquetzal of Tlacopan and his Tepanec people were with Cuauhtemoc. The now-disputed Tlatoani of Texcoco, Coanochcatzin, had taken a few loyal warriors and nobles to Tenochtitlan while his younger brother Ixtlilxochitl assumed command of Texcoco and put himself, and his lakeside-city, at the service of Cortes. The loss of their Triple Alliance partner was a devastating blow to the wavering Mexica. Ixtlilxochitl’s reasons for taking such a stance went back to political ambition and animosity for the Mexica leadership when Moctezuma had selected others to lead Texcoco over him.
With the support of Texcoco, Tlaxcala and a number of other local communities, Cortes pushed forward on the boat launches, canal and brigantines to get his flotilla on the lake as soon as possible. Cortes also demanded tens of thousands of arrow shafts and copper arrowheads, made from European molds, from these communities to replenish his arsenal. Cortes was stronger than ever, and now his allied forces outnumbered anything the Mexica could muster.
Part 2 - The Players are Set
Cortes was welcomed in Texcoco and his men set up in the royal palace of the legendary poet king of Texcoco, Nezahuacoyotl. This tlatoani was credited for bringing a golden age of culture and military dominance to Texcoco. Nezahuacoyotl was an architect, having designed the dike that separated the saltwater of Lake Texcoco from the freshwater of Lake Xochimilco. He established a court of artesans, poets and intellectuals. It was said his palace housed an extensive library of codices and amate-paper illustrations. It was his leadership that led to an early alliance with Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco and Tlacopan that would form the foundations of the Triple Alliance.
The Spaniards who later wrote about their experiences said the poet-king’s palace was just as grand as those of Tenochtitlan. The main palace was a large rectangular central courtyard with rooms along the wings. Men of the noble or warrior classes loitered about the central courtyard. Smoke rose from large braziers in the center of the courtyard up, through the woven sunscreens stretched over the opening. It was here that Cortes rallied his Spanish troops and counted his men.
Gathered there, on April 28, 1521, were about 700 foot soldiers, 120 crossbowmen and gunners, 18 artillery pieces and about 85 horsemen. About a third of the men were with Cortes on his earlier adventures in Tenochtitlan. These hardened and scrappy survivors were joined by fresh troops that had recently arrived, sent as reinforcements for other expeditions. Cortes intercepted and commandeered these men for his next expedition. With his fleet of brigantines nearing completion, Cortes was prepared for his final assault on the Mexica. It was to be a classic siege, a wearing down of the enclosed enemy over time. The brigantines would cut off lake access and apply pressure to the city. The troops would be split and dispatched around the shore to cut off the causeways and aqueduct. Once that was done, Cortes would squeeze like a boa constrictor.
The morning that Cortes was to deploy his troops around Lake Texcoco for the final assault, he awoke early and went to the small altar the carpenters had erected in the courtyard of Nezahualcoyotl’s palace. Around him, on the ground, slept Tlaxcalan warriors. A few men were moving about to relieve themselves or just unable to sleep from the anxiety many carried. Cortes kneeled and looked up at the roughly-hewn sculpture of Jesus on the cross. He prayed for victory, for deliverance. In the quiet of the pre-dawn morning Cortes found a rare moment of peace before he brought more death and chaos to the world.
On May 10, Pedro de Alvarado marched north out of Texcoco with 150 soldiers, 30 horsemen and perhaps as many as 25,000 Tlaxcalteca warriors from the cities of Tizatlan and Tepectipac. Just ahead of him was Cristobal de Olid and his force of 160 Spaniards, 30 horsemen and as many as 20,000 warriors, these from the Tlaxcala cities of Quiahuitzlan and Ocotelulco. Alvarado was to position himself in Tlacopan at the western causeway that led to Tlatelolco. Olid and his contingent were to march with Alvarado to Tlacopan, with their eventual destination being further south at Coyoacan, the start of the main causeway into Tenochtitlan from the south. Once Alvarado and Olid were in place on the Western shore, Cortes would dispatch Sandoval’s force to Itztapalapa on the southern shore of the lake, opposite Olid’s force, thus completely controlling the southern entrance to Tenochtitlan. Cortes himself would lead the brigs out of Texcoco and support the causeway assaults from the water. For this he took 300 men to row, sail and man the boats. Each boat had 12 orsmen, plus a dozen crossbowmen and 25 soldiers, and at least one cannon each.
Part 3 - Siege of Tenochtitlan
Alvarado and Olid took their forces north, around Lake Texcoco, marching for several days until they reached Tlacopan. Most of the towns they passed through were abandoned. When they reached Tlacopan, they took verbal abuse from and skirmished with Mexica forces but eventually took the town and palaces, where they set up their base. Once they were established in Tlacopan both forces were to send troops south to Chaupltepec to destroy the aqueduct that fed Tenochtitlan. A mixed force from Olid and Alvarado’s contingents marched on the sacred spring at Chapultepec, where they met a Mexica force stationed to protect the only freshwater source for the capital.
After some fierce, but fast fighting the Mexica were routed and fled. The Spanish marched up to the aqueduct and smashed its wooden pipes. The water gushed out onto the ground and ran into the lake. In Tenochtitlan, the last of the freshwater trickled into the city until it stopped. No more freshwater would enter Tenochtitlan again. Once the water supply was cut Olid continued south to his post at the base of the East-West Coyoacan causeway, which led to the main North-South causeway to Tenochtitlan. Alvarado’s men returned North to keep pressure along the Tlacopan Causeway..
In the south, the third force led by Sandoval, found an easy march from Texcoco, but once they entered Iztapalapa they faced stiff resistance from the Mexica-controlled town. Seeing the brutal fighting on the lakeshore, Cuauhtémoc dispatched his war canoes to Iztapalapa to cut Sandoval off, who had ventured out into a neighborhood built into the water. Sandoval’s unit was pinned down under heavy fire from the lake. The Mexica had breached the dike between the lakes and the water level had risen, flooding parts of the town and trapping some of Sandoval’s men. Cortes got word of the tough going and hurried to launch the brigantines intending to break up the Mexica canoes and free Sandoval’s men.
Cortes led his 13 brigs out into Lake Texcoco. As they pushed southwest from Texcoco and drew closer to Iztapalapa they saw hundreds of Mexica warriors on a tall rocky island. As soon as Cortes had launched his fleet they began to send smoke up into the air, signaling to the Mexica commanders around the lake that Cortes had launched his boats. Cortes turned the fleet toward this island, called Tepepolco. He landed his men on the island and pushed up the steep face and eventually managed to win the rocky outcropping where the Mexica had a small outpost. The smoke signals had carried their message and canoes were now paddling hard toward the island and the Spanish brigs. This island, now a landlocked crag in the center of Mexico City, is still there, rising above the Santa Martha neighborhood serving as a local hiking spot and late-night hangout for teens.
Seeing the canoes rallying toward his fleet Cortes got his men back to the brigs. Once the brigs were manned and ready he bided his time and waited for his moment. The initial contact between Cortes’ fleet and the Mexica watercraft was a quick victory as the cannons shattered the canoes and the fast brigantines, riding a fortuitous gust of wind, ran over the rest, sending many of the Mexica into the lake. Spanish oarsmen cracked the bobbing Mexica warriors in their heads when they could, or pushed the men under the surface. Cuauhtemoc was forced to split his war canoes between Iztapalapa and Cortes’ fleet. Eventually they all retreated to the canals of Tenochtitlan.
With Cortes’ naval action Sandoval was then able to withdraw from Iztapalapa and move to the town of Mexicaltzinco where he routed a small force and burned the town. Sandoval now controlled the Iztapalapa Peninsula and its Southeastern causeway where he was to apply pressure to the capital. Sandoval had done his work well and the city of Iztapalapa, where a year before the Spaniards felt as though they were lost in a dream, was now a charred pile of rubble, blood and mud. All the glorious gardens and spring-fed pools were gone. The whitewashed plaster walls now a chalky ash, the dream now a nightmare. It was a juxtaposition of beauty and tragedy so stark that even the conquistador Bernal Diaz was forced to reiterate the cultural loss some 50 years later in his own book.
On the west shoreline in Tlacopan, Alvarado’s force was making pushes up the causeway, but taking heavy casualties from archers and slingers in boats. Whatever advances they made during the day were lost again that night.
With Sandoval firmly in charge of the Southern entrance to the city, and Olid and Alvarado holding access from the West, the loyal Texcoco prince Ixtlilxochitl was able to set up a supply line around the southern part of the lake from Texcoco.
Following the victories at the island of Tepepolco and Iztapalapa, Cortes moved the brigantines to an island on the southern side of Tenochtitlan called Acachinalco. The main Iztapalapa causeway ran through this island and it housed the Xoloc Gate, considered the southern entrance to Tenochtitlan. Olid’s men had fought their way up the causeway and Cortes, in the brigantines, was able to hold the Mexica forces back long enough to land and establish a camp there at the Xoloc Gate. Olid and Sandoval moved some of their men to the island, where Cortes had seized and secured a walled courtyard. This outpost would be Cortes main base of operations for weeks as they fought to gain access to the city.
On the Western shore in Tlacopan, Alvarado’s men, which included Bernal Diaz, were locked in vicious causeway battles with the Tlatelolca Mexica. The Spanish would fight their way up the causeway, but find themselves obstructed by barricades and canals, then driven back by canoes full of archers and slingers as well as fighters on the roads. The causeways had essentially blocked Cortes and the brigantines from crossing into the western part of the lake, which gave the Mexica free reign to deploy their canoes and shielded flatboats. The Tlatelolcas had a more developed water force and had two types of boats; dugout canoes and flatboats that had a wood and reed barricade erected on the front, essentially a floating wall to shoot from. Neither of these types of boat were very effective against the faster, more maneuverable, and better armed brigantines. But when they were allowed to mass the Mexica could unleash hell from the water.
After several days Cortes finally opened a gap in the causeway at the Xoloc gate allowing two brigantines to get through and support Alvarado’s group on the Tlacopan causeway. Once the brigantines dispersed the Mexica canoes, Alvardo’s men had a much easier time on the causeway. The first real heavy fighting of the Siege of Tenochtitlan occurred in the Tlatelolco neighborhood of Nonoalco. Tlatelolco had not suffered the great losses of nobles and commanders that the Tenochca Mexica had in the brutal Toxcatl Massacre and the weeks of bloody combat that followed. They still had strong men full of fury who brought hearty battle to the Spanish. To the south in Tenochtitlan, the Tenochca Mexica were finding it difficult to raise a solid defense.
The battles turned to a daily struggle over the canals. Both Cortes, in the south, and Alvarado in the west, struggled each day to fill the canals and allow the horses to run freely. The strategy was to burn and flatten any building they could and use the rubble to fill in the canals. The goal was two-fold; Mexica troops used the houses to hide in and shoot projectiles from, so eliminating them was strategic but also allowed the debris to be used as fill. In this way the Zoquiapan and Moyotlan districts of southern Tenochtitlan were destroyed, the houses razed, the canals filled in. Each night when the Spanish retreated the Mexica would come to dig out the rubble and open the canals again to keep the horses on the far side of the water. This is how the erasure of Tenochtitlan began, by filling the canals and systematically destroying homes, farms, bathhouses and temples.
In these types of incremental battles the siege of Tenochtitlan lasted for two months. The Mexica kept a steady rain of projectiles on the Spanish at all times, even in their camps. Despite the valiant fighting of the Tlatololcas, Alvarado’s men had made it across the causeway and established a camp in the Nonoalco District of Tlatelolco just over half a mile west from the Tlatelolco sacred precinct and great market.
In Tenochtitlan, Cuauhtemoc struggled to distribute his dwindling Tenochca troops accordingly between the southern pushes of Cortes, Sandoval and Olid. Hunger, disease and war were taking their daily toll. Tlatelolco was holding their own against Alvarado but the Tenochca were fading. Cortes’ brigantines had found ways to navigate the interior canals of the city and were able to support the ground assault on the main causeway to the Huitzillan area, just a few hundred yards south of the Tenochtitlan Sacred Precinct. After 60 days of back and forth fighting for incremental gains, filling canals over and over, Cortes was able to push all the way to the walls of the sacred precinct.
With control over the plaza in front of the Sacred Precinct’s southern gate and Moctezuma’s Palace, Cortes was able to get a cannon up to the front and aimed it at the Eagle Gate, the southern entrance of the Mexica’s most sacred space. The Spanish cannon shattered the stone eagle statue at the entrance to the Precinct, but the Mexica fought fiercely and on the first night they held. The Sacred Precinct and Moctezuma’s Palace remained in Mexica hands and the Spanish retreated down the causeway again as night fell. The Spanish retreat was panicked enough that they left the cannon behind. The Mexica took the cannon and pushed it down a street and into the lake. Having neither powder nor shot the best the Mexica could do was to remove it from the battlefield. A small victory.
Part 4 - Mexica Abandon Tenochtitlan
It was now July, 1521, more than a year since Cortes had fled Tenochtitlan on the Noche Triste. Early in the morning Cortes scouted the battle front at Huitzillan and saw the Mexica had not emerged from Moctezuma’s Palace or the Sacred Precinct to repair the canals and barricades. Beyond the rubble-filled canal Cortes could see a lone Mexica lookout on the wall, wrapped in a timatl cloak, watching. It seemed the Tenochca were no longer able to perform certain critical defensive functions. They could no longer remove the debris from the canals. It was time to bring everything he had.
The cannons roared to open the day’s fighting. Cannon shot ripped into the wall surrounding the Sacred Precinct, they shattered the side panels of the Templo Mayor. The Tlaxcala and Spanish soldiers rushed through the gunsmoke and poured into the Sacred Precinct, slashing and stabbing at the few Mexica soldiers willing to fight. The Spanish force rushed into Moctezuma’s Palace, smashing and looting anything they could get their hands on.
These victories also encouraged other communities to rally to Cortes, seeing their enemies weakened, some were eager to finish the Mexica, the brutes from the wastelands of the north who had cruelly seized power in the Valley. Texcocans and Chinampa people now flooded back to the battles in support of Cortes. Tlaxcalan reinforcements led by the general Chichimetecle arrived. In a twisted Tlaxcalan sub-plot, Xicotencatl the Younger turned his back on Cortes and returned to Tlaxcala in order to steal land from those who had gone to support Cortes. He would be hanged for this recalcitrance. The camp at Xoloc was now like a small town as warriors staged there for action in the city.
In the House of the Eagle Warriors, the last of the Tenochca nobility led by Cuauhtemoc, Motelchiuh, Tlacotzin and the rest of the leadership realized the heart of Tenochtitlan was lost. In a hasty meeting they decided it was time to abandon the city. The remaining priests packed the last of their sacred relics of Huitzilopochtli, their patron deity, and hurried out of their capital, 330 years after Tenoch had seen the eagle perched on the cactus.
A platoon of Tlatelolco warriors had given them cover to escape north. The small contingent, representing the final ember of the Tenochca Mexica, scurried out of the Sacred Precinct. Motelchiuh looked back at the smashed and slumping Templo Mayor, at the smoke rising from the calmecac where young nobles were educated. The place where so many festivals had blessed his people, where he danced for the young women in the days of his youth, where his parents had come to celebrate his victories - those memories now buried in the rubble. All the knowledge and culture of the Mexica now sat in the minds of a few hundred survivors and the relics they carried to the final refuge of their people: Tlatelolco.
Part 5 - Cortes Gets Routed
Cortes could taste his conquest. He could see the end. Just a few raggedy bands of Mexica to eradicate and surely these dirty, starving people would emerge and declare peace. With the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan under his control, Cortes looked north toward Tlatelolco. Alvarado had the Tlatelolca Mexica occupied for weeks in street fighting with little progress. But Cortes had now opened the southern front and was ready to apply pressure to the last Mexica holdouts in Tlatelolco.
Eager to put an end to this years-long endeavor and so tantalizingly close, Cortes rallied a few hundred Spaniards and Tlaxcalans to pressure the Mexica on their southern flank, to split the enemy force with Alvarado who was still bogged down in Nonoalco. As Cortes and his few hundred men rapidly pushed north from the Sacred Precinct his men got sight of the Tlatelolco forces and gave chase. Cuauhtemoc’s men retreated across a canal and the eager Spanish jumped in, crossing the water in pursuit. Cortes, neither able to control nor support the men on horseback, saw the unfolding disaster as his men were now emerging on the far side of the canal in full view of the Mexica who showed no mercy.
Cortes had not faced the Tlatelolco Mexica yet and their ferocity and strength felt like a new level of combat over the fading defense of Tenochtitlan. The men were not to cross canals until they were filled, allowing the horsemen to attack. In their eagerness to claim final victory the Spanish had broken ranks and gotten mired in the water where they were easily killed and captured by the stronger Tlatelolcas. Cortes jumped from his horse and ran to the canal to help pull his men from the quagmire. Many Tlaxcalans and Spanish had been clubbed to death, some were captured and dragged off screaming.
Even Cortes found himself in the grasp of the Mexica being pulled by his limbs into the canal. A man named Olea savagely attacked the would-be captors freeing the Captain from a death that certainly would have changed the course of history. In the scuffle, Cortes' page, Guzman, was captured and taken away. Olea was killed later in the battle. By the end of this failure between 45 and 60 Spanish soldiers, and a few horses, had been killed or taken. A few hundred Tlaxcalans suffered similar ends. But Cortes had escaped the clutches of fate once again and he returned, muddied and bruised, to the Sacred Precinct where a forward base had been established.
That night, the men in Alvarado’s camp heard the large drum in the Tlatelolco temple come to life. It’s booming sound echoing through the city. From their Nonoalco camp Alvarado’s men found their attention grabbed as priests ascended the temple steps with torches. Like some morbid machine of death the temple came to life with sound and light. Priests led the way, ascending the temple steps with torches. Behind them warriors dragged their Spanish prisoners, captured in Cortes’ failed charge. The drums boomed, each man faced his fate differently; some screamed in fear, others proclaimed their love of God while others cursed the Mexica. All of them were bent backwards over the sacrifice stone and their chests opened, hearts removed and their bodies shoved down the steps. Then, like an arcade at the end of the night the music stopped, the torches disappeared and the Mexica gods were sated once again.
The next day Cuauhtemoc sent five heads to Alvarado, his men tossing the mangled craniums at their enemies, claiming the heads were those of Cortes and the other Captains. And to the south they threw other heads at Cortes’ men, claiming these were the heads of Alvarado and his captains. With communication between the camps taking two days, it was a clever play to despirit the Spanish. But the Spanish messengers eventually sorted out the ruse.
While these sacrifices were a stunning and dramatic blow to the Spanish, it was mostly a symbolic victory, shocking as it was. By this point in the siege it was clear that the remaining Mexica had only lost ground and people, their fate seemed laid out before them. But Cuauhtemoc had vowed to protect his people to the last. And so he continued to send platoons out. The attrition on Tlatelolco forces was severe as the dehydrated and starving warriors struggled to sustain any kind of fight while the Spanish seemed to gain strength each day.
The main Spanish-Tlaxcala-Texcoco base was still at the Xoloc Gate in the south. Here Cortes re-evaluated the Tlatelolco Mexica and their capabilities. His new loyal ally, the Texcoco prince Ixtlilxochitl advised him not to march on Cuauhtemoc but to cover the lake and cut off deliveries of water and food that were arriving at night by canoe. Similarly access to the Tlayacapan causeway in the north had to be cut. Cortes heard this advice and dispatched Sandoval from the south to the north where he could halt supplies along the causeway there. The brigantines were ordered to spread out over the lake surrounding Tlatelolco to hunt supply boats.
From the mainland there was still some support for the Mexica and the northern causeway to Tlayacapan had allowed for some warriors to arrive. Among them was a warrior from Teotihuacan named Tzilacatzin. His bravery was unmatched as he moved through the cityscape in the shadows, at times ambushing unaware Tlaxcalans or Spaniards, slicing silently into their ribs with his obsidian knife. At other times he wore shining golden armbands and the full regalia of a captain, leading troops valiantly, crushing bones with a macuahuitl club. The Mexica said he was a shapeshifter, a jaguar in the night and a brave warrior in the sun. Some of his victims were decapitated, their heads sent to former allies of the Mexica to show that victory was possible, and to come fight with them.
One community that heard the call was a region now called Cuernavaca. Cortes had already run through there, but again they rallied. It was enough of a distraction that Cortes sent Andres de Tapia south to put them down, which he did. Still, warriors trickled in to support the Mexica right up until Sandoval took the northern Tlayacapan causeway. The suffering in Tlatelolco greatly increased once Sandoval and the brigantines had crushed the covert canoe shipments and the causeway had been closed. Now it was just the rotten maize, the flesh of taken enemies, the roots of plants and brackish water from a dirty well. The sickness and misery were infinitely compounded on the remaining Mexica, huddled in a small, walled area in the Northeast of Tlatelolco called Amaxac.
Part 6 - Amaxac
Cuauhtemoc found himself back in his native Tlatelolco, by force, having lost Tenochtitlan to the advancing Spanish and Tlaxcalans. He had returned to Tecpan, a center of political control tied to the great Tlatelolco market. It was a building that had been the administrative center for taxing and resolving conflicts at the market. Now Cuauhtemoc had made it his headquarters, deploying troops in cycles to the front against Alvarado, and now to the south against Cortes as well. His Tlatelolca captains complained about the Tenochca, how they had disappeared and could not be counted on to fight. In truth there were almost no Tenochca fighters left, the entire society had been reduced to a handful of nobles and senior military officials now hiding among their neighbors.
Then, one morning after mass had been said in Xoloc, Cortes looked North and saw Alvarado’s Spaniards climbing the Tlatelolco pyramid with their flags. Curiously he stared at the events unfolding just a mile away. It was hard to make out the men, but soon a small red flame appeared and the temple to Huitzilipochtli went up in flames and the Spanish flag stood nearby. Alvarado had seized Tlatelolco’s sacred precinct and burned their holiest temple. The men in his camp cheered at the sight. This was the first major loss for the Tlatelolcas, and revenge for the sacrifices of the Spanish men.
Eager to join the success Cortes hurried north where his force met Alvarado’s for the first time, giving Cortes control of almost the entire island, except for the great market and the district of Tepito in the northeast neighborhoods of Tlatelolco.
Cortes and Alvarado joined forces at a place called Yacacolco and marched on the great market. With little resistance Cortes and a few horsemen entered the market and charged their steeds around the huge, enclosed space. Whatever Tlatelolcas had been there were quickly killed or chased out. With control of the market, the Sacred Precinct and the bulk of Tenochtitlan, Cuauhtemoc and his few remaining soldiers retreated to Amaxac, the small fortified courtyard where their elders, women and children were huddled.
The Mexica, who once controlled an empire that reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific, now were cornered in one small neighborhood, starving and huddled amongst their dead - so numerous there was nowhere, nor enough manpower, to cremate them. At night the Spanish found some base level humanity and allowed the women or children sneaking out of the compound to dig for roots, or search for seedlings to eat. The once noble Mexica, their royal courts and trade networks of tamemes, the great festivals and Flower Wars organized against their enemies, all gone.
Among the sickly and starving and dead, Cuauhtemoc walked with his few remaining advisors, including Motelchiuh. He looked at the miserable women and children and saw the end. There were no more armies, no more supplies, no more hope. Only muddied and starving youth and women. He stopped near a frail old woman, in her mind were her favorite memories of shopping in the great market with her mother. Cuauhtemoc thought of her, and about surrendering. He thought of those taken by their enemies whose foreheads were tattooed, marking them as slaves, and then put to work. He thought of the young women converted to christianity and married off to these disgusting invaders. He could not see another Mexica woman abused, another warrior enslaved and so he decided that the end of the Mexica would come from their ultimate sacrifice, a noble death in war.
Cortes had set up a sort of meeting table on a platform in the center of the market. He asked for a meeting and waited. But no meeting occurred. And Cortes did not push the fragile Mexica either, to him the war was over, victory now just a formality. As all defeated people are, the Mexica were now little more than starving dogs, dirty and huddled. They were done.
Part 7 - The End of the Mexica
There were a few items the Mexica had carried with them to their final holdout in Amaxac. Among those items was the ritual owl battle suit of Ahuitzotl. It was said the wearer of the quetzaltecolotl owl suit could not be defeated. Cuauhtemoc walked among the few remaining warriors and selected the bravest still alive and capable, a Tlatelolca named Tlapaltecatl. A few women helped dress him in the suit as Cuauhtemoc spoke to the remaining leaders and warriors.
“This was the uniform of my father, Tlatoani Ahuitzotl. Let Tlapaltecatl wear it into battle. Let him fight the enemy in it. Let him die in it. Let him dazzle the enemy, and show them something of what our strength was. And perhaps he can save us from this horrible fate.”
The quetzal-owl was given four warriors to escort him and the sacred bow of Huitzilipochtli with a quiver of arrows they had saved. The shining silver and white quetzal-owl suit made the warrior inside a fearsome spectacle. His face peered out from the mouth of the owl-shaped helmet, framed by the finest white owl feathers. The warrior shined, contrasting deeply with his people, whose dirt-covered skin was stretched over the famished and sallow faces that looked back at him from the shadows, their last hope. On his shoulders rested the entire fate of the Mexica people. Tlacotzin, the Cihuacoatl, or high advisor to Cuauhtemoc, spoke to the owl warrior; “Carry this sacred bow of Huitzilopochtli, and aim it well, for the fate of our people is dire, only you have a chance to pull us from this end. May the gods choose to bless you.” The people who could still manage came to touch his hand and offer their blessings. And then, the owl warrior and his four companions dropped over the barricade into hostile territory. And for one last brutal night, hunted in the darkness, the Spanish felt the pain of Mexica obsidian.
In the final days, Cortes held his army back and allowed the Mexica survivors to stew in their own misery, now only starving women and children, aside from Cuauhtemoc’s counsel. There were no eagle warriors, no jaguar warriors or shorn-heads or captains to command them even if there were enough to form up. The remaining nobles, including the ruler of Tlacopan, Tetlepanquetzaltzin, and the ruler-in-exile of Texcoco, Coanochcatzin, decided it was time to allow the women and children to leave the stinking neighborhood they had been confined to for so long. Then Cuauhtemoc made plans with the other nobles to regroup on the mainland and continue the fight. He sent his wife away, then boarded a canoe with a poleman and a bodyguard, a warrior named Tepotzitoloc, and headed northwest out of Tlatelolco.
A keen-eyed Spanish captain named Holguin saw the canoe with the hunkered tlatoani low in the center. The canoe was quickly intercepted and Cuauhtemoc identified. Captain Holguin returned the Mexica leader to his commander, who tried to take credit for the capture. Holguin held his ground and is today remembered with the final capture of the Siege of Tenochtitlan, thus ending the war.
Cuauhtemoc was brought back to the island and marched to the Tlatelolco Market. As he walked, Spanish and Tlaxcal soldiers gathered to get a look at the last Mexica, Cuauhtemoc, 11th Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan. He was brought to the market square where Cortes had set up his chairs and canopy on the Mexica platform. Around the city, guns and cannons fired in celebration of the end of the three year genocidal campaign. Spanish soldiers cheered, “Santiago!” and the Texcoco and Tlaxcala warriors sang and danced. On that day, many indigenous warriors and captains celebrated victory. Among them was Ixtlilxochitl, who turned the Alcoluhua against their former allies.
On the platform, Cortes stood in front of the Mexica king, Marina at his side. Cortes put a hand on Cuauhtemoc’s head, stroking the young man’s black hair. Taking in this final specimen of Mexica nobility and warfare. “You have fought bravely and brought glory to your people, Cuauhtemoc.” Cortes said to the king.
Cuauhtemoc fell on his knees and placed his hands on Cortes’ dagger, “I defended my people with everything I had. Finish your mission, take my life and let me die a noble death.” he begged.
Surprised at first, Cortes took in the sight. He grabbed the young king by the armpit and raised him to his feet. The king wore a brightly colored cape of shimmering hummingbird feathers, shining blue on one half, green on the other. The cape was damaged and dirty, but it was the finest Cuauhtemoc had. Behind him was Coanochcatzin of Texcoco and Tetlepanquetzaltzin of Tlacopan. The three rulers of the Triple Alliance stood, bound before Cortes. Other lords had also been caught and gathered there including Mexica men Tlacotzin and Motelchiuh.
There were few more noble words as Cortes immediately got to business, demanding of the men the location of the gold. Cuauhtemoc, somewhat stunned at this pettiness, replied that all his belongings were in the canoe, everything else had been stolen by the spanish, Tlaxcalans, Texcocans and others who pillaged the unguarded city in the wake of the Spanish advance.
Tlacotzin spoke up, “Did you not take it all from the palace of Axayacatl? And turn our treasures into bars? That is where the gold is,” the noble snapped at Cortes.
“It was lost when my men were murdered at the Tolteca canal,” Cortes replied through Marina. Unsatisfied, Cortes had Cuauhtemoc and Tetlepanquetzal tortured, their feet put to flames, in hopes they might reveal the location of the missing Aztec gold. But they did not know where it had gone. These men had been preoccupied with saving the remnants of their people. The gold had been dropped in the canal, pilfered by the people of the land and taken away in bits by anyone with a place to put it, including the Spanish.
It was not only the nobles who were shaken down, but as the women and children fled the island the Spanish had checkpoints at the causeways. Everyone who passed through was strip searched for food and treasure. At times skirmishes erupted as some men, or groups of women, still summoned strength to fight upon seeing the violations set upon their women. Whatever Mexica men survived had to find ways to meld into a new society where the Mexica were a disgraced and fallen people. And so the few remaining Mexica melted into the wider diaspora of valley communities, noble women were married to Spanish captains and the symbolic remainder of their leadership was now chained by Cortes.
Part 8 - The Valley After the Mexica
A bold vision was set for the city. Cortes would build a new shining European-style city right on top of the old Mexica capital and personally oversaw the layout and building of certain civic buildings. The bones of the empire were still in place and a new Spanish world could be built over the roads and cities of this new land. As has been done by Christian conquerors many times before, the symbols and materials of the native people are merged with Christianity. Their sacred sites become churches, even the native festivals and traditions morph and mingle to create new traditions, like the Day of the Dead, which brings indigenous imagery and concepts of death to a Christian worldview. In Ireland, the Celtic sun god was merged with the Christian cross to give us the Celtic Cross, a similarly hybrid relic of two faiths merged.
With many of the canals already filled the Spanish got to work dismantling whatever remained of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. The Templo Mayor, stripped of any valuable building materials, was reduced to a small hill of rubble, picked through for any trace of gold buried in tribute to the old gods. Nearby, a small church rose, built from reddish aztec tezontle stone. Within 50 years this small church would be razed to make way for the construction of Mexico's National Cathedral, which stands today in the heart of the modern metropolis.
The lands in Cortes’ new city, now called Mexico, were divided among some of his captains, those who chose to stay. Cortes himself claimed numerous pieces of land across the valley. Other men, like Pedro de Alvarado continued on to places like Honduras, Guatemala and further south to what would become Colombia and Peru. Many of the footsoldiers who participated walked away with very little. The conquistador and writer, Bernal Diaz, said he was paid just enough to cover his expedition costs.
Cuauhtemoc was allowed to continue as Tlatoani of the Mexica, but now mostly a powerless figurehead tucked away at the indigenous seat of power, Tecpan, in Tlatelolco. The Prince of Texcoco, Ixtlilxochitl, now baptized as Don Fernando, after Cortes’, was rewarded for his loyalty to Cortes and allowed to rule Texcoco as a Christian governor.
Cortes took the title of Marquis of the Valley, which was less than the entirety of Mexico that he wanted. Conquest was a cutthroat business and soon Castillians were pouring into the new land that Cortes had conquered. The Franciscans and Mercedarian sects of the Catholic Church also had deep interest in the souls of the New World and in 1524, twelve Franciscan friars arrived and began to spread the word of God across this new land. They were received by the Indigenous people of the Valley, and eventually, despite some pushback from the remaining Aztec clergy, Christianity came to dominate the people of the Valley of Mexico. In 1531 an Indigenous man named Juan Diego had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary. In the final vision, the Virgin asked Diego for his cloak and she filled it with roses. When Diego eventually unfurled the roses, it revealed an image of the Virgin that had miraculously appeared on the cloak. The cloak survives today as one of the most venerated relics in the Catholic world, housed at the National cathedral in Mexico City which is the most visited Catholic place of worship in the world. Juan Diego’s cloak is still there on display. This revelation in 1531 was the spark that ignited the Indigenous adoption of Catholicism.
It was said that the streets were littered with homeless, blonde-haired Mestizo children, the product of attempted marriages, rape and other un-Godly unions of conqistadors and Indigenous women. Many of the former people of the Valley were now homeless, the Florentine Codex noting many lived against the walls of houses. Over the next decades Tenochtitlan was dismantled and buried under the streets of a new Colonial metropolis. The water sources that fed the lakes were diverted for farming or drinking. Other parts of the lake were dried out intentionally for farmland. And section by section the lakes disappeared. Spanish ranchers immigrated into this new land quickly, their cows, pigs and horses quickly spreading across the land from Villa Rica to Mexico City and beyond. With them came the ways of vaquero, the ranchers and the bullfights.
Disease continued to ravage the Indigenous population as Spanish conquistadors and missionaries pushed to every valley, hilltop and peninsula in Central America in search of treasure and souls. Cortes himself led expeditions to Guatemala, and even made it to the Pacific Ocean. His ship entered the bay at what is now the resort town Cabo San Lucas, but seeing little beyond a family of scrawny naked people and rocks, he moved on, establishing La Paz, 100 miles north.
Moctezuma’s family line continued through his daughter, Isabel Moctezuma, who had been wed to a series of Tenochtitlan’s rulers in the waning days of the empire. Cortes eventually found his way into Moctezuma’s family line through Isabel. Their daughter, Leonor Cortes Moctezuma, passed the name on and it eventually became part of the Spanish nobility. The original title, Count of Moctezuma, was granted in 1627 by King Phillip IV of Spain. The title survives today as the Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo but is little more than paperwork, a sense of entitlement and a plaque on a family home.
In 1525, Cortes took Cuauhtemoc, Tetlepanquetzal and other leaders of the former Triple Alliance on an expedition to Guatemala. On the way there, perhaps in a sign of Cortes’ fading strength and increasing bitterness and paranoia, he had them hanged near the Guatemalan town of Itzancanal. It’s been said these final murders would haunt Cortes the rest of his days. He appointed Tlacotzin as the new Tlatoani, now just a title. Tlacotzin was the grandson of the powerful Mexica advisor Tlacalael, and had been with Cuauhtemoc until the end as Cihuacoatl, or high advisor. He would die shortly after of an illness and Cortes would choose Motelchiuh as ruler of Tenochtitlan, but he was a commoner and not traditionally acceptable as Tlatoani. Several more men were appointed to lead Tenochtitlan until eventually the position morphed into a colonial governorship held by a series of mestizo men born of conquistadors and Indigenous nobility, all subordinate to the true power of the Spanish Crown.
Many of his captains went on to glory in other provinces. Pedro de Alvarado went on to conquer Honduras, El Salvador and even made it to Peru. He was made governor of Honduras, but eventually was killed in battle in 1541 offering support to Cristobal de Onate in Western Mexico. Francisco de Aguilar became a priest in Mexico City, his narrative of the Conquest is perhaps one of the more guilt-ridden tellings. Andres de Tapia, who also wrote a narrative of the Conquest, was granted lands around Mexico City, at one time sitting on top of the Encomienda of Cholula, with 10,000 Indigenous residents. He continued to serve Cortes. Bernal Diaz was granted an encomienda by Cortes, and ended up settling in Guatemala, where he was a governor, and wrote his famous book.
In 1544 Cortes journeyed to Spain to sue the Holy Roman Emperor for financial reasons. His claims were rejected and Cortes, disgusted with the Emperor, set out for Mexico. He would not see his favored land again. In 1547, heavily in debt and rejected by the Spanish Crown, Cortes died of illness in the small town of Castilleja de la Cuesta in Seville, Spain.
He left behind many children of both European and mestizo ancestry, including children with Marina, Isabel Moctezuma and others. It was said he had conquered as many women as he had towns in the New World. Before he died, Cortes ensured all his children, mestizo and white, were pure in the eyes of the church and financially set after his death.
His journey did not end with his death and in 1566 his remains were sent to Mexico and spent the next decades moving, first from Texcoco to Mexico City. Eventually his remains were interred in the Hospital de Jesus, founded by Cortes, near the location of his first meeting with Moctezuma in 1519. In 1823, the Mexican Revolution raised Nationalist sentiment in Mexico and it’s European and Colonial past became targets so the bones were hidden away and the plaques and markers sent to Europe. His bones were rediscovered in 1946 and caused immediate public conflict, one Indigenous advocate calling for them to be burned at the foot of the Cuauhtemoc statue.
Part 9 - Mexico Today
I stood on an aluminum cat-walk that led around the ruins of the Templo Mayor. I could see two serpent heads, belonging to an earlier layer of the Templo Mayor than the one the Spanish saw. The version that Cortes saw was the seventh Templo Mayor. Each new templo was built over the previous, simply enlarging the existing one. Today visitors to Mexico City can see the layers of the Templo Mayor, and even an early ceremonial platform complete with the chac mool statue that had been protected by later layers. A few things remain intact, a pair of serpent heads, a stone frog, associated with the water god Tlaloc, to whom one of the two temples was dedicated. A replica of the Coyolxuaqui stone sits at the foot of stairs that haven’t reached the temple patio for half a millennium. The original stone is housed nearby in the Museo del Templo Mayor, an incredible museum to visit.
The catwalk continues along the side of the ruin where it’s easy to see five of the layers, several staircases rise up maybe 15 steps, layered back to back, each staircase once being the main walk on the front of the templo. Now they have been sheared off, part of the destruction and looting of the Templo Mayor by the Spanish. Buried in the layers were valuable sacrifices of gold and silver. This incentivised the Spanish to fully excavate the layers, assuring the building’s nearly complete destruction. A few stone statues of human figures sit leaning amongst the broken stairways, their meaning lost to history. Nearby the foundations of smaller temples sit, once the site of colorful festivities and later raided by conquistadors.
The Templo Mayor was buried under a layer of rubble, then colonial era houses and later modern residential buildings. In the late 70s and 80s momentum around excavating the site picked up. Archeologists found a corner of the Templo, and other bits that gave away its location after 450 years hidden below the upscale residences of Mexico City’s wealthy. One of those key finds that spurred interest came in 1978 when workers from the city’s electric company uncovered the Coyolxauqui stone. This massive stone sat at the foot of the Templo Mayor and was the place where sacrificed bodies came to rest. Other finds, a small temple to the wind god Ehecatl was discovered in what would have been southern Tenochtitlan, while digging a subway tunnel. The main temple to Ehecatl was also recently discovered in the Sacred Precinct under shops along the Republica de Guatemala street. Today people can visit the temple, now excavated and restored in a basement.
Across a plaza from the Templo sits the Catedral Metropolitana of Mexico City. Construction began in 1573, almost 50 years after the conquest, and its assembly took more than 250 years. Before the huge european-style cathedral the Spanish had built a more humble shrine near the ruins of the Templo Mayor. Materials from the Mexica temples and palaces were poached for the emerging colonial capital. Beneath it lay the foundations of numerous Mexica temples, the sacred ballcourt and the southern part of the tzompantli skull rack.
Like the city now emerging from under Mexico City, the Mexica themselves are being revived through scholarly work and museums like the Museum of the Templo Mayor, and in culture as modern Mexicans rediscover the stolen culture of their ancestors. The stories are told in narratives like this podcast or the incredible online webcomic Aztec Empire, by Paul Guinan and illustrated by David Hahn. Other creators keep the visual look alive like the artist who did our logo, Michael Vasquez. The society that thrives in Mexico today is sometimes called “Mestizo” - a culture and people of mixed European and Indigenous blood. If you recall the Spaniard discovered by Cortes on his first trip in Cozumel, shipwrecked 8 years previous, his comrade had fathered mixed Maya-Spanish children, perhaps the beginning of Mexico’s Mestizo culture. Today Mexico is a land of color, flavor and music; all a callback to the rich tapestry of cultures that thrived before Cortes.
The story of Cortes, Moctezuma and Marina, the bilingual woman who facilitated it all, is today a controversial story of heartbreak, pride, national origin and one of mankind’s greatest tales. Next time the Mexican flag comes into view, take a look at that eagle on the cactus and think of Tenoch leading the Mexica from Aztlan to their promised land in the Valley of Mexico, and think of the grandeur of Moctezuma and the fire of Cuauhtemoc. Think of the greatness of the Triple Alliance and also of those dark days in Tlatelolco as the last Jaguar warriors stood guard on the walls of Amaxac, proudly guarding their ancestors, their gods and the last of their people. Think of the Mexica.
Thank you for listening to Mexica, A History Podcast. I hope you enjoyed my version of this rich story. There are many versions and narratives and I did my best to pick what I thought made the most sense. To find more about the documents and history I used please visit mexicapodcast dot com.
This podcast was written and produced by Jeremy Lipps.
