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The First Expeditions

In 1517, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Governor of Cuba, commissioned three ships, under the command of Hernández de Córdoba, to explore the Yucatán peninsula. After an initial landing at Cape Catoche, during which the Spaniards took two prisoners to act as interpreters, the expedition reached the western side of the Yucatán Peninsula. the Maya attacked the Spaniards at night: twenty Spaniards were killed; Córdoba was mortally wounded; and only a remnant of the crew returned to Cuba. A year later, a second expedition, lead by Juan de Grijalva, sailed along the Yucatán coast and reached the Tabasco region, a part of the Aztec empire.

The Third Expedition

1. The Commission

Map depicting Cortes' invasion route

Even before Grijalva returned to Cuba, Velázquez decided to send another expedition to the Mexican coast. Hernán Cortés, then one of Velázquez's favorites, was named commander. Cortés' commission limited him to initiating trade relations with the indigenous coastal peoples.

Cortés, well aware of the potential for riches that the unexplored mainland held, managed to persuade Velázquez to insert a clause that permitted Cortés to take measures on his own authority if such were "in the true interests of the realm." He then began assembling a fleet of 11 ships, investing most of his fortune in the project. Velázquez also contributed substantially, paying half the expedition's cost.

2. Mutiny

As departure drew near, Velázquez began to suspect that Cortés would try to commandeer the expedition and establish himself as governor of a new colony, independent of Cuba. He therefore issued orders to replace Cortés, but the messenger was intercepted and killed, and the orders reached Cortés. Thus warned, Cortés set sail with dispatch, weighing anchor on the morning of 18 February 1519. At his command were 11 ships carrying 100 sailors, 530 soldiers, a doctor, and a few hundred Cuban Natives.

3. The Maya

Cortés spent some time among the Maya, trying to convert people to Christianity. While with them, Cortés had one of his strokes of good fortune. He acquired two translators, one a Spaniard fluent in Mayan, shipwrecked in 1511, and other other a young native woman known as "La Malinche," who was fluent in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs and thus the regional lingua franca. Without these translators, the expedition might well have been limited to the scope of its commission. See The Conquest of New Spain, pp.85–87.</ref>

The Landing at Veracruz and the Destruction of the Ships

Cortés landed at a Totonac settlement in the modern state of Veracruz. Greeted by cheering townsfolk, Cortés quickly persuaded the town's chief to throw in his lot with the Spanish. Wary of his problems with Cuba's governor, Cortes established a new town (which has grown into the modern city of Veracruz); the "town council" promptly offered Cortés the position of adelantado, an action that legally freed him from Velásquez's authority. So important was the creation of this office that several men returned to Spain to seek royal confirmation.

But the expedition's legal status was still not resolved. Learning that several men conspired to seize a ship and return to Cuba, Cortés scuttled the fleet, stranding his tiny expedition in unknown territory. Every Spaniard was now committed to Cortés and success.

The March Inland and Alliance with the Tlaxcalteca

Cortés led his force, augmented by 250 Totonacs, up out of the humid coastal plain and into the mountains--a difficult march for all, but especially for the Totenacs, who were unprepared for the bitter cold of high altitudes.

The expedition arrived at Tlaxcala, a confederacy of 200 towns. After a century of fighting the Flower Wars, the Tlaxcalans had developed a bitter hatred of the Aztecs and recognized the Spanish as allies in their struggle. The expedition stayed three weeks in the confederation, resting and building up its strength. During this time, Cortés won the true friendship of the Tlaxcala leaders, who converted to Christianity.

A Difficult Decision

Meanwhile, word of the Spanish expedition had reached Tenochtitlan, and Mocteczuma sent ambassadors to Cortés, asking him to go on to Cholula, an Aztec ally. The Tlaxcaltecan leaders, in response, urged Cortés to go to Huexotzingo, one of their allies.

Cortés faced a difficult decision: the Tlaxcaltecans were his allies, and their warriors constituted the bulk of his military strength. If he rejected their advice, they might end their alliance with him or even attack the expedition. A journey to Huexotzingo, on the other hand, would be seen by the Aztecs as an act of war. Cortés decided to side with the Aztecs (the real military power, after all) and go to Cholula, but protected the Tlaxcaltecans with a practical compromise: he accepted both gifts from the Mexica ambassadors and the porters and warriors offered by Tlaxclateca. In this way, he was travelling under Aztec auspices, but would be killed by his Tlaxcaltecan contingent if he moved against their people's interests. (He also sent two ambassadors directly to Tenochtitlan.)

As things turned out, Cortés was misinformed. He saw Cholula as a military center where he could further strengthen his forces. In fact, Cholula was probably the most sacred city in the Aztec Empire, and consequently had only a small army--everyone believed that Quetzalcoatl would protect the city if it were attacked.

The Massacre at Cholula

In the middle of October, the expedition, accompanied by 1,000 Tlaxcalteca, marched to Cholula.

Three different accounts of events at Cholula have survived: Cortés letters, a history written by the Aztecs, and another written by the Tlaxcaltecans.

Cortes' Letters. After talking to the wife of a Cholulan lord, La Malinche told Cortés that the Cholulans planned to murder the Spaniards in their sleep. Urged on by his Tlaxcaltecan contingent, Cortés ordered a preemptive attack--the Spaniards seized the city's leaders and set Cholula on fire. Cortés claimed that the expedition killed 3,000 people; another Spanish witness estimated the number of dead at 30,000.

The Tlaxcaltecan History. The Cholula had tortured the Tlaxclatecan ambassador, forcing Cortés to carry out the attack in revenge.

The Aztec History. The Tlaxcalteca contingent, frightened by Cortés' decision to go to Cholula, started the massacre.

Whichever version is correct, the massacre terrified the Mexica and inclined their allies to submit to Cortés' demands. Cortés himself sent a message to Moctezuma explaining the massacre--the people of Cholula had treated him with disrespect--and reassuring the Emperor that that the Aztecs need not fear his wrath, provided that Moctezuma treat him with respect and offer gifts of gold.

The Expedition Reaches Tenochtitlan

In early November, nearly three months after leaving the coast, the expedition reached the Great Causeway on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, where Cortés was welcomed with great ceremony. Afterwards, the expedition, which by this point included 3,000 native warriors, was housed in the palace of Moctezuma's father.

Cortés proved to be an ungrateful guest: he demanded that a) the Emperor to provide gifts of gold as a sign of fealty; b) the two large idols be removed from the main temple pyramid and the human blood scrubbed off them; and c) Christian shrines be set up in their place. When these demands had been met, Cortés made Moctezuma prisoner in his own palace and demanded an enormous ransom in gold, which was paid.

Unexpected Reinforcements

At this point, Cortés received news that a large Spanish expedition (consisting of 900 soldiers), sent by Governor Velázquez, had arrived on the coast. The new expedition had orders to arrest Cortés and bring him back to Cuba for trial and possible execution. In response, Cortés' showed his mettle: Leaving a small garrison behind, he returned to the coast with 260 men and defeated the new arrivals in a night attack, taking their commander prisoner. This victory was followed by a brilliant move: Cortés told the defeated soldiers about a city of gold farther inland, and they agreed to join him. The combined forces then marched quickly back to Tenochtitlan.

.....

War and the Siege of Tenochtitlan

The Tlaxcalteca knew it was just a matter of time before the Aztec Empire conquered them. Cortés in turn knew that without the Tlaxcalteca, the Spanish had little chance of surviving. Therefore, when Cortés proposed the conquest of the empire, the Tlaxcalan leaders agreed, though with significant conditions: the Tlaxcalteca would a) not be required to pay tribute to the Spanish, b) receive the city of Cholula, c) take control of Tenochtitlan, and d) receive a share of any booty.

The Tlaxcalteca-Spanish Alliance proved formidable. One by one, the cities of the Azteca fell, some in battle, others through diplomacy. At the end, only Tenochtitlan and the neighboring city of Tlatelolco remained unconquered.

But Tenochtitlan was not to surrender without a fight. Surrounded by water and populated by a warrior society that thoroughly hated the Spanish, the city could defeat any direct assault. So the Alliance mounted a seige, destroying the causeways from the mainland and the aqueduct that provided drinking water. The alliance completed its encirclement by building a fleet of brigantines, which gave control of the lake to the Spanish.

The siege of Tenochtitlan lasted eight months. Already weakened by lack of food and potable water, the inhabitants were ravaged by smallpox. Cannons and horse cavalry did the rest. Despite valiant resistance, Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco fell on 13 August 1521.

After the fall of Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs, and the Tlaxcalteca

Tenochtitlan had been almost totally destroyed by fire and cannon shot. Those Aztecs who survived were forbidden to live in the city and the surrounding isles, and they went to live in Tlatelolco.

Cortés imprisoned the royal families of the valley. To prevent another revolt, he personally tortured and killed Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec Emperor; Coanacoch, the King of Texcoco, and Tetlepanquetzal, King of Tlacopan (28 February 1525).

The Spanish had no intentions of turning over Tenochtitlan to the Tlaxcalteca. While Tlaxcalteca troops continued to help the Spaniards and Tlaxcala received better treatment than other indigeneous nations, the Spanish would eventually disown the treaty. Forty years after the conquest, the Tlaxcalteca would have to pay the same tribute as any other indigenous community.

the Spanish continued its dismantlement, as they soon began to establish the foundations of what would become Mexico City on the site.

Many historians are skeptical of Sahagun's account that Moctezuma personally met Cortés on the Great Causeway because of the many proscriptions and prohibitions regarding the emperor vis-à-vis his subjects. For instance, when Moctezuma dined, he ate behind a screen so as to shield him from his court and servants. There were various restrictions on seeing and touching his person.

This contradiction between "the arrogant emperor" and the "humble servant of Quetzalcoatl" has been problematic for historians to explain and has led to much speculation. All the proscriptions and prohibitions regarding Moctezuma and his people had been established by Moctezuma, and were not part of the traditional Aztec customs. Those prohibitions had already caused friction between Moctezuma and the pillis (upper classes). There is even an Aztec legend in which Huemac, the legendary last lord of Tollan Xicotitlan, instructed Moctezuma to live humbly, and eat only the food of the poor, to divert a future catastrophe. Thus, it seems out of character for Moctezuma to violate rules that he himself had promulgated.

In contrast with that quickness, but equally well adapted to the necessities of the case, was the methodical investment and capture of Tenochtitlan, showing the flexibility of Cortés in adapting his tactics to various situations.

Smallpox and its Toll

Smallpox ( ) began to spread in Mesoamerica immediately after the arrival of Europeans. The indigenous peoples, who had no immunity to it, eventually died in the hundreds of thousands. A third of all the natives of the Valley of Mexico succumbed to it within six months of the arrival of the Spanish.

Xicotencatl the Younger, however, opposed the idea, and instead connived with the Aztec ambassadors in an attempt to form a new alliance with the Mexicans, since the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs shared the same language and religion.

Spanish conquest of Yucatán Main article: Spanish conquest of Yucatán

Not being part of the Aztec Empire, the conquest and initial subjugation of the independent city-state polities of the Late Postclassic Maya civilization came many years later. With the help of tens of thousands of Xiu Mayan warriors, it would take more than 170 years for the Spanish to establish control of the Maya homelands, which extended from northern Yucatán to the central lowlands region of El Petén and the southern Guatemalan highlands. The end of this latter campaign is generally marked by the downfall of the Maya state based at Tayasal in the Petén region, in 1697.

Further Reading

• Daily Life of the Aztecs, on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest, Jacques Soustelle, Stanford University Press, 1970, ISBN 0-8047-0721-9.

• Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Michael Coe, Thames & Hudson, 2004, 5th edition, ISBN 0-500-28346-X.
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles Mann, Knopf, 2005, ISBN 1-4000-4006-X
• American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World, David Stannard, Oxford University Press, 1993, Rep edition, ISBN 0-19-508557-4
• Mexico Profundo, Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, University of Texas Press, 1996, ISBN 0-292-70843-2
• Mexico's Indigenous Past, Alfredo Lopez Austin, Leonardo Lopez Lujan, University of Oklahoma Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8061-3214-0
• American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations, Kay Marie Porterfield, Emory Dean Keoke, Checkmark Books, 2003, paperback edition, ISBN 0-8160-5367-7
• Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, Paul Horgan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, reprint, 1977, in one hardback volume, ISBN 0-03-029305-7
• An Archaeological Guide to Central and Southern Mexico, Joyce Kelly, University of Oklahoma Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8061-3349-X
• The Course of Mexican History, Michael C. Meyer, William L. Sherman, Susan M. Deeds, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-514819-3
• Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, Anthony Aveni, University of Texas Press, 2001, ISBN 0-292-70502-6
• The Olmecs: America's First Civilization, Richard A. Diehl, Thames & Hudson, 2004, ISBN 0-500-02119-8
• The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, Miguel Leon-Portillo, Beacon Press, 1992, ISBN 0-8070-5501-8
• Prehistoric Mesoamerica: Revised Edition, Richard E. W. Adams, University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8061-2834-8
• Michael Snodgrass, Deference and Defiance in Monterrey: Workers, Paternalism, and Revolution in Mexico, 1890-1950, (Cambridge University Press 2003) ISBN 0-521-81189-9
• Borderlands/La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldua, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, 1987, ISBN 1-879960-56-7

Mexican-American War

Origins of the war

The Mexican government had long warned the United States that annexation would mean war. Because the Mexican congress had refused to recognize Texan independence, Mexico saw Texas as a rebellious territory that would be retaken. The United Kingdom and France, which recognized the independence of Texas, repeatedly tried to dissuade Mexico from declaring war. British efforts to mediate were unsuccessful, in part because additional political disputes (namely the Oregon boundary dispute) arose between the United Kingdom and the United States. When Texas joined the U.S. as a state in 1845, the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with the United States.

The Texan claim to the Rio Grande boundary had been omitted from the annexation resolution to help secure passage after the annexation treaty failed in the Senate. President Polk claimed the Rio Grande boundary, and this provoked a dispute with Mexico. In June 1845, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Texas, and by October, 3,500 Americans were on the Nueces River, prepared to defend Texas from a Mexican invasion. Polk wanted to protect the border and also coveted the continent clear to the Pacific Ocean. Polk had instructed the Pacific naval squadron to seize the California ports if Mexico declared war while staying on good terms with the inhabitants. At the same time he wrote to Thomas Larkin, the American consul in Monterey, disclaiming American ambitions but offering to support independence from Mexico or voluntary accession to the United States, and warning that a British or French takeover would be opposed.

To end another war scare (Fifty-Four Forty or Fight) with the United Kingdom over Oregon Country, Polk retreated from the 1844 Democratic platform claiming all of it and on June 15, 1846 signed the Oregon Treaty dividing the territory, angering northern Democrats who felt he was prioritizing Southern expansion over Northern expansion.

In the winter of 1845-46, the federally commissioned explorer John C. Fremont and a group of armed men appeared in California. After telling the Mexican governor and Larkin he was merely buying supplies on the way to Oregon, he instead entered the populated area of California and visited Santa Cruz and the Salinas Valley, explaining he had been looking for a seaside home for his mother. The Mexican authorities became alarmed and ordered him to leave. Fremont responded by building a fort on Gavilan Peak and raising the American flag. Larkin sent word that his actions were counterproductive. Fremont left California in March but returned to California and assisted the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma, where many American immigrants stated that they were playing “the Texas game” and declared California’s independence from Mexico.

On November 10, 1845, Polk sent John Slidell, a secret representative, to Mexico City with an offer of $25 million ($880,384,615 today) for the Rio Grande border in Texas and Mexico’s provinces of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nuevo México. U.S. expansionists wanted California to thwart British ambitions in the area and to gain a port on the Pacific Ocean. Polk authorized Slidell to forgive the $3 million ($105,646,154 today) owed to U.S. citizens for damages caused by the Mexican War of Independence and pay another $25 to $30 million ($880,384,615 to $1,056,461,538 today) in exchange for the two territories.

Mexico was not inclined nor able to negotiate. In 1846 alone, the presidency changed hands four times, the war ministry six times, and the finance ministry sixteen times. However, Mexican public opinion and all political factions agreed that selling the territories to the United States would tarnish the national honor. Mexicans who opposed direct conflict with the United States, including President José Joaquín de Herrera, were viewed as traitors. Military opponents of de Herrera, supported by populist newspapers, considered Slidell's presence in Mexico City an insult. When de Herrera considered receiving Slidell to settle the problem of Texas annexation peacefully, he was accused of treason and deposed. After a more nationalistic government under General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga came to power, it publicly reaffirmed Mexico's claim to Texas; Slidell, convinced that Mexico should be "chastised," returned to the United States.

The Mexico City Campaign

President Polk sent a second army (consisting of 12,000 volunteer and regular soldiers) under General Winfield Scott, to the port of Veracruz. After successfully landing his men, horses, and supplies, Scott began the Siege of Veracruz. The city (at that time still walled) was defended by Mexican General Juan Morales with 3,400 men. Veracruz replied as best it could with artillery to a mortar and naval gun bombardment, but the city walls were reduced. The extended barrage, moreover, destroyed the will of the Mexicans to fight; they surrendered after 12 days. During the siege, U.S. soldiers began to contract yellow fever.

Scott marched westward with 8,500 healthy troops, while Santa Anna set up a defensive position on the main road about halfway to Mexico City (the Cerro Gordo). Santa Anna had entrenched with artillery trained on the road and 12,000 troops. However, Scott sent 2,600 mounted dragoons ahead, and Mexican artillery prematurely fired on them, revealing their positions. Armed with this vital information, Scott ordered his troops to trek through the rough terrain to the north, setting up his artillery on the high ground and flanking Santa Anna. Although aware of the positions of U.S. troops, the Mexican army was unprepared for the ensuing onslaught and was routed.

Scott pushed on to Puebla, Mexico's second largest city, which capitulated without resistance on 1 May--the citizens were hostile to Santa Anna. After the Battle of Chapultepec, Mexico City was occupied; Scott became its military governor.