Link to Week 19 IDs!
Week 19 ID's - Hernán Cortés: The Aztec "Savior"
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___ __Hernán Cortés Soon After
_Victory, Just a Young Man...
Cortes arrived in the New World in 1503 at eighteen years old. Most of his success was because Montezuma, the leader of the Aztecs believed Cortez was a god because of an early prophecy and his light skin and hair. The hospitality changed, however, from Montezuma keeping Cortes and his followers as guests to Montezuma becoming a prisoner in his own house. The Spanish want for gold motivated them to keep Montezuma a prisoner because he gave lavish gifts as in gold to the Spaniards which was received with insatiable appetite.
When Hernán Cortés came to meet the Aztecs in America, Montezuma II greeted him as a god thinking that he, and the rest of the Spanish, were the descendants of the god Quetzalcoatl. The spaniards had light skin that the Aztecs had not seen before and came from the sea.
To most Europeans, the Aztecs were not considered civilized due to their traditions of sacrifice and the fact that they worshiped many gods.
Of course the main reason for Cortes's journey was to attain gold and precious items; the fact that the Aztec territory had not been taken by rival European countries was a bonus. In a way the European Countries were in a keeping up with the Jones's phase.
Cortes gained both fame and fortune, as did many of his followers. This fame enabled him to receive benefits back in Spain too.
Spain became the discoverer and conquer of the Aztecs and Mexico, gaining great wealth. Montezuma II was later killed, the stories portray two theories of his death, either he was stabbed by the Spaniards, or the most common story - He was stoned to death by his own subjects for letting the Spanish into their civilization.
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A Picture of Montezuma II at the
Climax of His Leadership
