How were the last days of Tenochtitlan under the yoke of Hernán Cortés

Spanish captain Hernan Cortes he landed on the shores of Veracruz on August 22, 1519. From that day on, he and his troops analyzed the political, economic and social context of the civilizations that inhabited Mesoamerica.

Thus, noting the dominance and the warlike capacity of the triple alliance, made up of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tacubaya and Texcoco, they decided to adhere to the peoples subjected by the Mexicas.

They realized that only with the help of the enemies of their enemies could they reach the heart of Mesoamerica, only to defeat them later and seize the riches of the New World.

In the taxcaltecas, the peninsulars found their greatest ally. While it is important not to fall into simplistic conclusions, it is true that These people endowed the “conquerors” with important tools to achieve the subjugation of the Mexicas.

It was thanks to this strategy that Cortés met the tlatoani Moxtezuma Xocoyotzin. A few months after his arrival and with the help of the natives of the Tlaxcala region, the Spanish captain met the leader of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

“Face to face, Motecuhzoma and Cortés, held a dialogue that Sahagún’s informants keep us occasionally. Motecuhzoma then exclaimed: ‘No this is not a dream, I do not wake up from a sleepy dream, I do not see it in dreams, I do not dream … I have already seen you, I have already put my eyes in your eyes. .. ‘Says the book The vision of the vanquished marked by Miguel León Portilla when we have the information.

For more than a year, the Spaniards planned their movements, until On May 30, 1521, the official siege of Mexico-Tenochtitlan began.

From then on began the siege of places and fortresses, which required scarce material resources and cost less in human lives, since the objective was that the inhabitants surrendered to the lack of food and aid from abroad.

On the contrary, pitched battles were very expensive, so they were in fact exceptional. According to the logic of the medieval Castilian war, when a city surrendered without too much resistance, its inhabitants were guaranteed not only life, but also the right to keep their movable and immovable property.

On the other hand, when they encountered a reluctant attitude, the punishment of the defenders, when the place was finally conquered, consisted in the loss of property, captivity, even death.

So, the European “conquerors” followed the Castilian strategy to achieve domination of Mexican territory. It is important to note that this triumph could only have been possible thanks to his allies of Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo, Chalco, Texcoco, Iztapalapa and others. altépetl.

A large number of chroniclers assure that Cortés’s intention was not to destroy Mexico City-Tenochtitlan, but to keep it standing and that its structures would serve for many years. In this direction, the aspirations of the peninsular army sought the surrender of the Mexicas by hunger.

Such logic suggests that the Spanish captain spent the spring forming alliances with the riparian peoples to ensure that these cut off the water supply to the Tenochcas. Likewise, at the start of the siege, Hernán Cortés and his men were tasked with destroying the aqueducts and canals that supplied the city.

“Deprived of water and food and surrounded by thousands of their enemies, the Mexicans – according to the captain of Extremadura imagined – would surrender quickly”, indicates a text from the Historical Research Institute of UNAM.

For two and a half months, the Nahuas suffered under the Spanish yoke: “ ninety-three days we were in this city so strong “, Bernal Díaz del Castillo himself will remember years later, “every day and every night we have had wars and battles”.

According to Third letter Relationship by Hernán Cortés, the day began with the celebration of daily mass and communion by the Castilians. Later, they came ordered in corps of cavalry, crossbowmen, arquebusiers and pawns to present the battle.

Moreover, the smallpox epidemic brought by the Europeans further weakened the Mexican people, who fought to the end with arrows and stones, without sleeping at night and wishing the death of their enemies to offer them to their god Huitzolpochtil.

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