Ancient Civilisations - The Aztecs

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Since the arrival of the Aztecs in central Mexico from the early 1300s, history has been fascinated by them. They’re widely reputed to be a savage people who left behind obsidian knives, skull racks, and disturbing remnants of human sacrifice. But in reality, the Aztecs were far more multifaceted than that. So what else has history gotten wrong about the Aztecs? Why were they so feared and reviled? How did they become so powerful? And what is the full truth about their downfall? A Noiser production, written by Nicola Rayner. With thanks to Camilla Townsend, author of Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs.  For ad-free listening, exclusive content, and early access to new episodes across the Noiser network, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is November 8, 1519. The morning sun shines down on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City stands today. The settlement sits on an island on the western side of Lake Texcoco, an enormous body of water around 10 miles across and twice that in length. The marshy valley beyond the lake's shores is encircled by mountains whose peaks are etched on the horizon. Ennan Cortez rides on horseback, leading a cavalcade towards the island city across the clean-swept man-made causeway straddling the glittering water. The Aztecs are out in droves to witness the arrival of the strangers. On the water, many are sitting in canoes, staring warily at Cortez, his men and their horses, a species long extinct in the Americas. The Spanish-born Cortez is an explorer, or conquistador, in his early 30s.

He has a neat, dark beard, and a character that some describe as mischievous, others as ruthless. And though his arrival here is peaceful, it's only because Mokhtizuma II, the Aztec king, knows he cannot prevent it. Even so, the atmosphere is tense. A sudden movement on the water causes Cortez to reach instinctively from. sword, but it is just a bird. At the enormous carved gates to the island city, he and his men come to a stop. Here hundreds of native dignitaries have gathered to greet them. They wear headpieces adorned with the colourful feathers of ketzels, and they are draped in richly decorated

cloaks with jade and turquoise at their throats and wrists. It's part of a show of strength, but a couple of them can't hide the worry on their faces. One by one, the nobles step forward, touch the ground, and then kiss the earth. Cortez and his retinue, hot in their metal armour, grow impatient with the ritual. But now the enslaved indigenous translator Malinsin steps forward. She explains that the chief's gestures symbolize unity and respect. At last, Cortez and his men are, welcomed to proceed onto the island. They find themselves facing a broad avenue, looking into the

heart of Tenochtitland. The lush, green metropolis out-dazzles the dark, narrow streets of European cities. They pass adobe houses with bountiful roofguards, as tropical songbirds fill the air with their sweet music. In the distance, great pyramids rise. They're whitewashed with lime and painted in bright colors. Embroided flags flutter in the wind that comes off the water. But a more immediate concern is the royal procession, making its slow approach down the avenue. Cortez is about to be greeted by Moctezuma II. Walking ahead of the king on his litter, an attendant carries an intricately carved pole. Others wear heavily jeweled cloaks, and Cortez can discern Moctezuma's grandly feathered headdress, even from this distance.

Yet it's not the man that catches the eye of Cortez, but the enormous shimmering canopy that shelters the king. It is quite dazzling, an arc of precious stones and gold. He narrows his eyes, estimating its value. The astonishing landscape, the architecture, the sophisticated culture, even the pyramids fade into meaningless for Cortez at the sight of such wealth, because this is what he has come The meeting between the Spanish conquistador Enan Cortez and the great Aztec leader, Moktizuma II, is one of the most famous in the story of the European colonization of the Americas.

But it's a narrative largely heard from the Spanish point of view. In that version, Moktizuma II greets the conquistador as a god and cheerfully turns the Aztec empire over to him. But what if history got that and other things wrong about the Aztecs? How well do we really know them? Active in central Mexico from the early 1300s, the Aztecs reached their zenith in the 16th century, just as the Tudor dynasty began its ascent in England.

They're widely reputed to be a savage people, who left behind obsidian knives, skull racks, and other evidence of their practice of human sacrifice. But the Aztecs were more multifaceted than the conquistadors would have us believe. They were weavers, sculptors, painters and poets. Family-oriented, and with complex systems of deities, their early status as newcomers to the region they later dominated

left its mark on their identity. So how did they become so powerful? Why were they so feared and reviled? And when the Spanish came and changed their world forever, what was the full truth about their downfall? I'm John Hopkins, from Noiser. This is a short history of the East. Aztecs. The valley of Mexico is a verdant basin, cradled between mountains in the center of the

country. This land is characterized by its highland terrain and enormous lakes. The fertile soil around these bodies of water makes the region ideal for agriculture, and the highlands encircling it helped to protect the inhabitants from sudden attacks. For these reasons, the area has never lost its appeal to migrants from the hot, dry north. And, in the late 1200s, a new group begins to arrive, a nomadic band of hunter-gatherers who call themselves the Meshika. Today we know them as the Aztecs, a term invented for them by European scholars in the 1800s,

that derives from the name of the fabled land of their origin. Camilla Townsend is the author of Fifth Sun, a new history of the Aztecs. Aztecs referred to their ancient homeland, the place that they had migrated from as Aslan. Probably it was a mythical place because they had in fact stopped in their migrations and their wanderings in a variety of places. If there was one place more than another that had inspired the notion of Aslan, we don't know where it was. They came down as part of a wave of multiple migrations coming down from the north, from northern Mexico, and in fact from what is to do. the southwestern part of the United States.

There were periods of warfare and drought that drove people out. And there were also pull factors towards Central Mexico. That is, Central Mexico had been a wealthy land full of farmers and people building pyramids for centuries. There were prior great high cultures there. So they had quite a reputation. So when there were problems in the North, warfare, drought, often people thought, let's go down to the fable land of the South. and the Aztecs or the Mexica were probably the last major group of migrants to arrive in Central Mexico

from what is today the southwestern United States. The late arrival of the Aztecs contributes to their identity. Right from the start, they're seen as newcomers, as immigrants. The best land had already been claimed by other groups who have established their own city-states on the banks of the enormous Lake Texcoco. The Aztecs are underdogs, and that makes the land. them scrappy. They're good fighters, handy with a bow and arrow, and soon they're hiring themselves out as mercenaries to the more powerful groups in the valley. It means that they're able to camp,

to hunt a few deer, and plant a little corn. But they still don't have a place they can call home. In the evenings, they gather around communal fires, telling stories about their mythical past. Such tales boast of their ancestors' prowess as hunters, and detail the long journey they barked upon through mountains and deserts to reach the valley. Like many other people in central Mexico, the language of the Aztecs is now what? It's really a very beautiful language, very sonorous, very rich, very expressive. They wrote a great deal in it. They used pictographic or pictoglyphic writings that were designed to elicit from trained reciters, all sorts of ceremonial utterances or history tellings. After the conglastic,

quest, they actually used our alphabet, the Roman or Latin alphabet, to transcribe in that alphabet things that they themselves used to say orally. So we have lots and lots of writings in Nawat that we can read today, and they're very illuminating of their culture. The formative years of the Aztecs are marked by battles and skirmishes as the different groups in the valley jostle for power. Despite their skills as warriors, the Aztecs remain under the Therapeutics remain under the Therapeutics. thumb of the more powerful city-states. But they are committed to finding a permanent home of their own. In this matter, they consult their patron god, Witsilapostli. The god's name means hummingbird on the left, or left-footed like a hummingbird. The god of warfare and the sun. He is often depicted as a

hummingbird or eagle in Aztec art. Legend recounts that Huizzi Lepoctli sends a message to the Aztecs about where they should found their settlement. He tells them to choose a spot where they find an eagle eating a snake while perched on a cactus. According to an ancient myth or story that they told, one day an eagle landed on a cactus and they knew from this sudden landing of this great bird that this was where they were supposed to settle. And indeed, it's very possible that one day one of their priests did see an eagle landing on a cactus. more than likely. But undoubtedly, part of the reason that they settled was that they were on an island

in the middle of a great lake, which was uninhabited, and it was very difficult to find uninhabited lands. So I am sure that they were very interested in settling on this island where there was plenty of food, waterfowl, fish, algae that you could eat, and where there were no competitors, it seemed like the perfect place to make their own. And lo and behold, an eagle happens to land on a cactus, and they decide to live there forever and ever. The new home of the Aztecs becomes known as Tenochtitlan, but it takes a lot of work to build the city that will dazzle Enan Cortez in two centuries time. They enlarge the flat, marshy island on the western side of the lake

by creating artificial extensions into the water, using techniques such as the manufacture of Chinampas. These are raised beds for crops, with a basket-like construction which protrude into the water, but sit above its surface. They're challenging to build, but the silty mud they plant into is extremely fertile, delivering rich yields of corn and beans.

Soon the Aztecs take these floating islands to the next level, building houses on them too. In addition to growing crops, the islanders gather certain insects to eat, as well as harvesting the plentiful, highly nutritious blue-green algae. For fish they head out onto the lake in canoes. The spiral shells they find there are used to make jewelry or musical instruments like conch shell trumpets.

But it's not an easy life, and the Aztecs are in constant battle with water and reeds. Their square adobe houses, constructed from mud bricks, often claps in the swampy conditions. But they learn how to direct the flow of water, building dikes. and canals, causeways and bridges. On one sacred piece of land, the spot where the eagle is set to have landed on the cactus, they work on creating a firmer foundation. Adding a layer of gravel to their adobe shrine, they soon have a base on which to build a great pyramid. Priests now begin to work on painted books for posterity, recording their stories in their pictographic language on animal skins.

Aztec religion is a complex affair. Though Wittlipotchli is the central god for Aztecs, each city-state in the valley has its own protective deity. The range of gods worshipped by the various peoples of the valley has been compared with the pantheon of ancient Greece. The divinities include Clalok, the rain god, and Ketzalcoatl, who is often depicted as a feathered serpent and whom in later years will feature in the myth-making around the arrival of Cortez. Another important part of the Aztec worldview is its calendar system, consisting of two

interlocking cycles, the 365-day solar calendar and the 260-day sacred calendar. It seems very confusing to us, but the example I like to use is that we ourselves have a solar calendar, we always know what the date is, but we also have a series of repeating seven days, most of them named for Norse gods, that have absolutely nothing to do with the sun, nothing intrinsically to do with the solar calendar. And we're fine with that. We know that today is Friday, and we also know the date. These two calendars run concurrently, returning to their starting point at the conclusion of a cycle that is known as the bundle of years. itself 52 solar years long. At the end of this, the Aztecs hold a great feast day.

Similarly, cyclical, is the idea of the fifth sun. The Aztecs believed that the world, the universe was always in flux, always changing, and people and gods were always struggling to keep things on an even keel. They even thought that the universe had been destroyed, had imploded four times in the past, and that we now are living under the fifth sun to us. exist. And they were very proud of being descended of a great figure who was just an ordinary guy, an ordinary mortal who had been willing to sacrifice himself by jumping into a great bonfire to become the fifth son. So they thought that each of us, like that progenitor, has to be willing to do what it takes to keep the world going forward in positive ways.

This idea of self-sacrifice is a key belief in the warrior culture of the Aztecs, in which men often lose their lives in war and women in childbirth. As their songs acknowledge, human existence is dangerous and often fragile. Throughout the 1300s, Tenochtitlan continues to undergo significant development and expansion. The Aztec rulers of Tenochtatlan are chosen by council of elite nobles. Although we use the word king, the Nowat term for the role translates as the one who speaks. He is both the foremost statesman and leader of the Aztec army. It is not always a role that is passed down from father to son, although it can be.

When an Aztec king dies, the council convenes to discuss the appointment of their successor. The fact that the ruling men of Mesoamerica commonly have multiple wives or partners at this time often complicates matters. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing power struggle in the valley. Initially, the Aztecs continued to be subservient to other city-states in the area. One of them in particular, Askapodzalco, on the western shore of Lake Texcoco, is the head state to which everyone must pay tribute. It is the leading town of the Tapanic people. A comparison might be Athens in ancient Greece, but then an opportunity arises.

In 1426, the old king of Ascapodzalco dies. A civil war erupts between the king's many sons, who are half-brothers by different wives. The Aztecs seize upon this moment, thanks to the opportunism of a man called Izzquat, the uncle of the current king. The name Izkoat literally means obsidian snake. He was the son of a former Aztec king, but not by a queen, probably by an enslaved woman. He was in the wings being a good, dutiful, noble half-brother of the air when a great crisis arose, the crisis of the former boss state imploding in civil war. When his nephew is murdered as a result of the civil unrest,

its co-act steps forward to seize power for his people and himself. Once he's elected as the new king, he forms an alliance between the Aztecs and two other city-states. All three then work together against Askaput-Zalco, which they defeat in 1428. The political tables in the region are now turned. They rule together in what modern scholars call the Triple Alliance, although they did not use those terms. They just knew that those three city states were the head honchos.

But today we use this term Triple Alliance so that we can easily and quickly refer to the governing system that they had in place while the three of them ruled. And of the three, the Aztecs were by far the most powerful. They were the most populous, so they had the greatest number of warriors, and they lived on an island from which canoes could easily pass to just about any city-state in the region, and so they became centers of trade as well, making them very rich. The Aztecs and their allies in the Triumvirate collect tribute from the other people in the valley, who, unsurprisingly, don't always give it up without a fight.

But its co-att leads his people through a number of successful campaigns, cementing the Triple Alliance's control over the southern half of the Valley of Mexico. This string of victories gains more land for the Aztecs. The increase in tribute paid to them helps to develop to Nottinglan, where more roads and temples are built. The island city endures as their capital, but as their empire grows, the Aztecs also begin to inhabit other regions in the Central Valley

that have either been conquered by or allied with them. Victories over their neighbours multiply under the guidance of Izkoat and his successor Mukta Zuma I, who rules from 1440. By bringing other tribes and city-states under their control, the Aztecs acquire not only wealth, but also captives to work as slaves. But it's also possible for people to be enslaved as punishment for crimes. And in dire cases, some even sell themselves or their children. into slavery.

Aztec society is hierarchical. There are the noble families at the top, and a vast majority of commoners who work as warriors, farmers or craftsmen while their wives weave, bring up children and shop in the bustling markets. Then there is the highly respected merchant class that travels to source goods, textiles, ceramics, precious stones and feathers. Right at the bottom are the enslaved people, whose work in the same people who's work in includes agricultural labor, household chores, and construction.

It is often these captives who are called upon to make the greatest sacrifice of all. It is December 1465. Deep inside the temple complex, a prisoner of war awaits his fate. A flickering flame in the corridor outside is the only source of light in his stone cell. The sweet, resinous scent of incense drift through the wooded. bars. In the distance, he can hear the reverberations of drums. Today is a sacred occasion. The Aztecs are celebrating a religious festival in honor of their patron god. The prisoner's belly rumbles. Fasting is an important part of purification before the ceremony. Though a little food

might quell the rising fear, he reminds himself to show courage today. He must not dishonor his people with weeping. There are footsteps, and soon a religious attendant arrives at his cell, bearing a ceramic cup and a bowl of indigo dye, which he carefully places on the floor. The prisoner is offered the drink, which he swallows down gratefully, but it tastes bitter, and it's not long before his vision begins to blur. The drinks hallucinogens take effect, and the prisoner experiences a floating sensation, feeling that he is hovering above himself, He lies still, as the attendant carefully paints his chest and limbs blue, a sacred color. The drug does something strange to the passing of time.

It feels like only moments later that he is alone again, the dye already dry on his skin. But now there is the sound of more people approaching in the passage beyond. The door swings open. The priests enter, dressed for the day, in elaborate feathered headdresses. With grave expressions, they motion for their captive to rise. One binds his hands tightly. Still feeling as if he is drifting, the prisoner is led out into bright daylight, where the rhythmic drumming grows louder.

Outside in the complex, the pyramid temple looms above them. The grounds are crowded with people. Some faces are obscured by masks carved to resemble jaguas and eagles. The prisoner shudders when he spots the warrior who captured him. His face streaked with war paint, still clutching his sword embedded with obsidian blades. He is presented to the warrior who accompanies him in a solemn procession around the packed complex. It seems the entire population is out today to witness the ceremony. Eventually, he is swept towards the pyramid and up the steps, worn smooth by those who have made the journey before him,

Climbing higher, you can see the true extent of the crowd below. The mood is solemn, but as the people stand quietly clutching sacred flowers, there is the unmistakable crackle of anticipation. At last the prisoner reaches the summit, where an enormous circular stone awaits him. Barely able to keep his knees from buckling in fear, he is presented to the high priest by the warrior. As he is compelled to lie on his back over the stone, He spots the sacred vessel where he knows his heart will soon be placed.

Now the priest cuts his own hand, dripping blood as a sacrifice. He says a few final words in honor of Witsilipochtli and raises a gleaming knife high above his head. And as the sun catches on the blade for the last time, the captive closes his eyes. Scholars now believe that some form of human sacrifice was probably a part of most religions around the world. It certainly was in the new world. That is, indigenous Americans throughout the hemispheres practiced human sacrifice in the sense that an occasional prisoner of war was offered to the gods.

That person, usually a warrior, a man, but occasionally a woman, was never denigrated. We mustn't imagine that this person was humiliated and sent off. in an effort to make their enemies feel worse. The person was given every opportunity to attain honor, and if they didn't cry out, they were brave and stoical, were deeply honored by their enemies who had killed them. But it's far from a gentle death. After being drugged by the priests,

the victims are bound, and their hearts are cut from their chests. The bodies are dropped down the steep steps of the pyramid. Later, a potion made with their remains is touched to the lips of the priests, and the warrior who captured the prisoner is given their hair and ceremonial regalia to keep in a special reed chest. Any remaining body parts are burned. But how common is human sacrifice? The modern version of Aztec religion is that they were all desperately superstitious and believed that the world would literally end tomorrow if they didn't sacrifice X numbers of human beings. But there's no real evidence for that.

Towards the end of their realm, when they were very powerful and were trying to intimidate other people, they did sacrifice large numbers. But for most of their history, they were just trying to survive. And although human sacrifice was part of their religion, it wasn't a huge part. Frankly, they didn't have the political power for most of their tenure to make it possible for them to sacrifice large numbers of people. By the 1470s, the island city at 5.5 square miles is home to as many as 50,000 people, and it is a place of shimmering beauty. Gardens blossom on the rooftops, and a rich abundance of birds live in finely wrought cages, vibrant long-tailed ketsel birds, parrots, parakeets, and tufted ducks. Friends and allies of the Aztecs arrive in canoe.

from city-states on the various shores of the lake to trade at the bustling market in the north of the island. Cacao beans and standardized bolts of cotton fabric serve as currency here. Thousands visit daily, with merchants selling tanned hides, textiles, ceramics, raw gems, jewelry, and obsidian knives and weapons. It is possible to get a haircut, buy a slave or find a prostitute. A casual visitor might be surprised by the clay pots that serve as a repository for the urine of the island's thousands of inhabitants. The ammonia is used for tanning hides and making salt crystals. In another spot, the doctors and healers ply their trades, selling herbs intended to cure any ailment. And then there is the food.

Corn and beans are staples for the Aztecs who make torturous. from ground cornmeal. For protein, they enjoy wild turkeys, ducks and eggs, while other delicacies include chocolate made from cacao beans mixed with honey, spices, and rose petals for flavor. One guest at the Royal Palace counts more than 2,000 dishes on offer. The palace itself sits on the center of the island behind the gleaming pyramid dedicated to Witsila-Pochli, and next to it, a similar construction for Tla Locke, the rain god. The palace is an architectural marvel, featuring grand courtyards and intricate stone carvings. There's even a zoo, home to jaguars, wolves, and mountain lions. But in just a few decades, the arrival of outsiders will transform this world

beyond recognition. In 1492, the Italian-born explorer, known to English speakers as as Christopher Columbus becomes famous for his so-called discovery of the Americas. Landing on a small island in the Bahamas, Columbus claims the place for the Spanish king and queen, despite the fact it is already populated. Because he is searching for a new route to India, Columbus believes he has reached Asia. He calls the people he meets on the island Indians.

His arrival in their land marks a pivotal moment. So begins what is known as the age of discovery or exploration. The period from the 15th to the 17th century when European seafarers explore, colonize and conquer regions across the globe. Keen for a piece of the action, other European powers launched their own missions to the Americas. But their impact on indigenous populations will be devastating. In 1511, a minor Spanish noble called Hernando or Hernando, Cortez, sails with the conquistador Diego de Velazquez to conquer Cuba.

When they have achieved their aim, Velazquez is appointed governor of the island, and Cortez becomes clerk to the treasurer. But he grows hungry for further exploration. He obtains permission from Velasquez to explore the mainland in the west. But shortly before departure, the governor, mistrustful of Cortez, revokes the conquistadors' permit. denied authorization to explore under the governor's mandate, Cortez decides to leave under his own steam. In February 1519, Cortez reaches southeastern Mexico,

a region of the country dominated by the Maya. He arrives at the mouth of the Tabasco River, where the local Chontal people in their canoes surround the Spanish as they land. They fire arrows at the strangers defending their territory. But in the ensuing battle, the Chantal casualties are monumental, and they swiftly capitulate. As part of their surrender, they send, among other gifts, 20 enslaved girls to Cortez and his men. Before long, one of them in particular becomes indispensable to Cortez. In Mexico, the woman known as Donia Marina or Malinzine has a very bad reputation.

The idea is that she was a young Aztec girl who sided against her own people and helped Hernandez-Cortez. But that is not the truth of her story at all. Malinsin grew up near today's Quatsakualcos, which is on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Her people did speak Nahuat, the same language that the Aztecs spoke, but they were not Aztecs. In fact, her people were targeted by the Aztecs for war. She ended up being given as a prisoner to the Aztecs. So the Aztecs were the ones who destroyed her life and turned her from a young nobleman's daughter to a prisoner of war. The Aztecs then sold her to the Mayans where she lived as an enslaved girl for years before she was later turned over to Anando Cortez. So this young indigenous woman, although she spoke

the Aztec language, was not an Aztec. She was an enemy of the Aztez. She was an enemy of the Aztecs and therefore had no love for them. Back in the Aztec capital, the current king, Muctezuma II, keeps abreast of the arrival of the strangers by deploying spies to monitor their movements. He hears that the Spanish, with their horses, metal armor and weapons are on their way, winning their battles, exacting tribute, and gaining allies as their journey inland. He tries to bribe them not to come to a city. but the Spanish persist in making the arduous journey to the center of the Aztec Empire they have heard so much about.

Cortez, all the while, considers what it might take to conquer Tenostitlan, for the Spanish king Charles I. Recognizing the precarious situation, Moktizuma opts to receive the strangers hospitably, rather than engage in conflict. He goes out in full state regalia, in a litter with an enormous golden canopy over him. Cortez and his people approach on horseback, and the two sides meet, exchanging gifts and communicating through the translation chain Cortez has set up. Much has been made of this moment. The truth is we don't have a transcript of what got said, but we do have various perspectives on it, and the stories do line up in a certain way. Mostezuma almost certainly did his best to make these people well. welcome to bring them into his city as guests so that he could learn more about them.

Cortez, in effect, said that, and the indigenous people in effect said that. Many years later, the Spaniards began to say that what had happened is that Motizuma said, Oh, God, oh, divine figure, I am so glad you are here, and I happily will turn over to you my entire kingdom. The story that is told later, a narrative that solicit. the Spanish position is that Moctezuma entertains the idea that Cortez is the returning deity Ketsulkoatl, the feathered serpent prophesized to return from the east to reclaim his kingdom. Perhaps though it is Cortez and his men who are dazzled, not by ancient stories, but by the abundance

of gold and riches they are shown in the Aztec capital. They are welcomed like honored guests, and, despite the drain on his resources, Moctezuma feeds the strangers and allows them to tour the city. They are even shown his personal storehouse and told they can take whatever they like. The Spanish slap each other on the back at the sight of the treasures, seizing beautiful jewelry to melt down later into gold bricks. But this is not simply a random act of generosity on the part of Moctezuma. There is a long history of paying tribute in the valley of Mexico, and he is hoping that, if

Spanish name their price and he meets it, they might eventually leave. He even offers his own daughters, including the 11-year-old princess Tequichpoetsin. In her translation, Malinsin emphasizes what an honored gift this is. The Spanish seem to understand, and give the princess the new name of Isabel, after the Queen of Spain. Later, though, rumors circulate that Cortez violated the child. The Spaniards remain in the city for months, but then another Spanish party arrives on the coast of Mexico

to arrest Cortez over the small matter of his revoked permit. With Cortez distracted, Moctezuma spots an opportunity and gives the order for his people to prepare for war. At this point, the fragile peace is shattered, and Cortez takes Mactezuma hostage, threatening to kill him if his people revolt. With the Aztec-Tec Kee,

Being in irons, Cortez hurries to the coast to deal with the Spanish ships there. But while Cortez is away, war erupts. A few Spaniards were left, and among them, a man named Pedro de Alvarado, who took it into his head to attack some warriors who were celebrating religious festival in their temple and killed dozens, possibly hundreds of them, thus provoking a huge crisis. By the time Cortez and his men got back to the Aztec city of Tenoch-Titlan, In effect, warfare was brewing and it exploded several days later. Cortez and all the Spaniards had to run for their lives because as powerful as they were with their armor and their horses and their crossbows, etc.,

they couldn't fight against a city of tens of thousands of people who had turned against them. Moctezuma is killed in the fray. According to Spanish accounts, he attempts to speak to his subjects, but is assailed with stones and arrows. The Aztecs, however, tell a different story that the strangers murdered their king. But it is the Spanish who pay the greatest price, losing approximately 600 men. It is a knight that becomes known as La Noche Triste, the Night of Soros, June the 30th, 1520. The remaining few hundred Spanish retreat, and Moctezuma's daughters, who were given to the Spanish, are returned to the arms of their people.

They thank the gods for their safe return and hope that life can go back to normal. But soon another horror emerges, and no amount of warriors will help them defeat it. It is early in the morning in October 1520. Tekwich Pottsin, the 12-year-old daughter of Moctezuma II, lies on her reed mat next to her sisters in the palace complex. smoke drifts from outside, carrying with it the familiar smell of burning bodies. The Aztecs have never experienced a plague like this. It arrived in the weeks after the Spanish were driven from Tenoctitlan. The strangers who brought it with them call it La Viruella.

Today we know it as smallpox. One of the princess's youngest sisters begins to cry, unable to bear the burning source. Tecuitz-Potsin calls out from her. a servant. But few remain in the palace. So many have perished. She gets to her feet to find help. Still weak, she makes her way through the corridors gingerly. Once a place of vibrant color, of activity and song, the palace seems now deserted. They have the Spanish to blame for that. During the worst of her fever, she hallucinated that she was back with those strangers who called her Isabel. But she's had her own name since she returned to her family. Or what's left of it,

since her father died, and the new king Quotemok murdered her brother and half-brothers. Hearing movement outside, she peeks from a window and sees Quotemok arriving at the palace. From the look of his servants, laden with baskets and bundles, it seems he is moving into the staterooms. Tickwich-Potsin returns to her mission, finding an old nurse in the servants' quarters, and accompanying her back to the bedroom. There, the woman attends to her sister's sores, grinding up herbs in a pestle and mortar, and applying the poultice to her painful skin.

Now there is another servant at the door. The new Aztec king wishes to speak with the princess. She has no choice but to meet with the man who ordered the death of her brother. Kortemok is waiting for her in a ceremonial room where her father once held sway. The king's attendants sit on mats, while at the far end of the pillared room, their new ruler presides over them from his reed throne on a raised platform.

Quetamok is in his mid-twenties, more than a decade older than her. Tequich Potzin lowers her gaze, as the new king tells her of his intention to marry her and merge their two branches of the royal family. At 12, she has already been passed from man to man, but Quotemoch will need as many allies as possible if the Spanish return. Because, as everyone knows, it is likely that they will. In the early months of 1521, the Aztecs keep an eye on the Spanish, who have reappeared and are now assembling their boats on the eastern side of the lake. While Quetemok has been able to win over some allies in the surrounding areas,

others remain united with the conquistadors. Eventually, one day in May, the Spanish attack. The speed with which their brigantine's move is breathtaking. The invaders knock down walls with cannons from their ships and send their indigenous allies to fill the island's canal with rubble and sand. When the Spanish have a flat, open area, they land with their horses and lances, killing dozens at a time. The Aztecs put up a good fight, with their famous warriors managing to topple men as well as horses.

On one day, there is even a mass human sacrifice, of their Spanish captives at the top of a pyramid temple, where the heads of the dead are strung into a macabre necklace as a warning. Yet still the Spanish press on. They have the speed of their sails on the water and horses on the land, plus the durability of their metal weapons and armor. And though the Aztecs seize some of their guns, they soon learn they can't use them without ammunition.

At a loss what to do with the captured cannon, they end up sinking it in the lake. Later, in discussing what went wrong for them, the Aztecs use the word tepostli, metal, more than any other. In the end, metal wins. After a brutal three-month siege, the Aztec leader Quoteimok gives himself up on August the 13th, 1521. He canoes over to the Spanish, taking his young wife and closest advisors. The once-magnificant Tenochtitlan is in a piteous state. soaked in blood and strewn with bodies.

Dysentery is spreading, and the residence of the city that boasted one of the richest markets in the world are now starving. Once Kratemok has surrendered, the surviving Aztecs are permitted to leave the island to search for food. Tequich Potsin, the king's young wife, watches them go. It won't be long before she is forced to return to her Spanish name, Isabel Moctizuma.

The conquest of the Aztec capital marks the beginning of Spanish colonial dominance in the region, shaping the course of Mexican history for centuries to come. The conquistadors, led by Cortez, begin to build in the ruins, turning it eventually into what is now known as Mexico City. His previous transgressions forgiven, Cortez is named governor of this new Spanish colony. And the remaining Aztecs must learn to submit. once again, to a ruler other than their own. There is always a next day after a great world crisis, and their language, their beliefs, their sense of self,

in many ways, did remain intact. Likewise, as the Spaniards moved through Mexico, gradually conquering the rest of it, there were moments in time when people lost wars, lost control of their lives, but there were many other years and other decades when life went on much as usual, except that they now had to pay their taxes to the Spaniards rather than to the Aztecs.

As the Spanish established their rule over Mexico, they impose Christianity and their governance structures, including the Encomienda system, which exploits indigenous people for their labor and resources. They also embark upon the extraction of precious metals, such as silver and gold. The passing months and years see a blending of Spanish and indigenous cultures and races. Melinzin, the native woman who worked as a translator for Cortez, bears him a son.

But European diseases continue to weaken the population, and in 1529 she dies in another outbreak of smallpox. Cortez also takes Moctezuma's daughter, whom he continues to call Isabel to live in his house after having given the order for her husband, Quotemok, to be put to death in 1525. She is soon pregnant with the child of the Conquistodom. She's later married off to one of his followers and encourages her daughters to be nuns. Through the religious influence of the Spanish,

particularly the Franciscan friars, the Aztecs and other indigenous people are taught how to read and write, using the Latin script. They did work on projects with the friars. That was the whole point so that they could study the Christian texts. But they took this alphabet home

and they used it to write down other things that the Spanish didn't even know they were writing down. Occasionally prayers, but usually histories and other commentaries, they might ask their uncle or their grandmother, you know, tell me what such and such was like, and the person, the old person, would tell them in fluent Nawat. And they would write this down in Nawat. So many of those texts survive. And now that we're becoming better and better at reading Nawat, we can hear more what the Nawaz or the speakers of Nawat have to say about their own culture and their own religion, and their own words. And we get a very different picture.

the lake on which the magnificent island city once sat is drained, and much of Mexico City today rests in its basin. In 1978, the accidental discovery of an exquisitely carved Aztec monolith, seven feet beneath a busy street, serves as a reminder of the ruined pyramids, temples, and palaces of the Aztec capital below. From the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 to its dramatic downfall just over 200 years later, Aztec civilization flourished in Mexico. Yet the legacy of the Aztecs persists even now, through their language, culinary traditions, and storytelling.

Today, over 1.5 million continue to speak Nawatl, keeping the linguistic heritage of this remarkable civilization alive. To this day, millions of people in Mexico speak indigenous languages, others wear indigenous dress. It's not as though they suddenly lost their whole psychological world. On the other hand, the Spaniards were very powerful and collected a horrific level of taxes from them to the point that the indigenous people gradually became poorer and poorer. And to this day, indigenous people are among the poorest in Mexico, and the Mexicans descended from the Spaniards are among the richest. So on one hand, everything changed.

but on another level, it didn't. I suppose it depends on whether we're asking who was in charge militarily, politically, who got to keep the tax money, or whether we're asking about jokes and prayers and stories. In that way, indigenous people remain very much themselves and still do. In the next episode, we'll bring you the Rosetta Stone.

It's a lump of stone, it's rather battered. The texts are beautifully inspired. but rather small. There's nothing aesthetically appealing about it. The texts are not abstract things. They are artifacts created by a culture embedded in a culture, part of its life, part of its heritage. The Rosetta Stone has become a great icon of the idea we can understand one another across cultures, countries and vast periods of time. That's next time.