Part 190

"The new era succeeding the Toltec rule is that of the Chichimec empire, which endured with some variations down to the coming of Cortes. The ordinary version of the early annals has it, that the Chichimecs, a wild tribe living far in the north-west, learning that the fertile regions of Central Mexico had been abandoned by the Toltecs, came down in immense hordes to occupy the land. … The name Chichimec at the time of the Spanish conquest, and subsequently, was used with two significations, first, as applied to the line of kings that reigned at Tezcuco, and second, to all the wild hunting tribes, particularly in the broad and little-known regions of the north. Traditionally or historically, the name has been applied to nearly every people mentioned in the ancient history of America. This has caused the greatest confusion among writers on the subject, a confusion which I believe can only be cleared up by the supposition that the name Chichimec, like that of Toltec, never was applied as a tribal or national designation proper to any people, while such people were living. It seems probable that among the Nahua peoples that occupied the country from the 6th to the 11th centuries, a few of the leading powers appropriated to themselves the title Toltecs, which had been at first employed by the inhabitants of Tollan, whose artistic excellence soon rendered it a designation of honor. To the other Nahua peoples, by whom these leading powers were surrounded, whose institutions were identical, but whose polish and elegance of manner were deemed by these self-constituted aristocrats somewhat inferior, the term Chichimecs, barbarians, etymologically 'dogs,' was applied. After the convulsions that overthrew Tollan, and reversed the condition of the Nahua nations, the 'dogs' in their turn assumed an air of superiority and retained their designation, Chichimecs, as a title of honor and nobility."

_H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2, chapter 2._

"We may suppose the 'Toltec period' in Mexican tradition to have been simply the period when the pueblo-town of Tollan was flourishing, and domineered most likely over neighbouring pueblos. One might thus speak it as one would speak of the 'Theban period' in Greek history. After the 'Toltec period,' with perhaps an intervening 'Chichimec period' of confusion, came the 'Aztec period;' or, in other words, some time after Tollan lost its importance, the city of Mexico came to the front. Such, I suspect, is the slender historical residuum underlying the legend of a 'Toltec empire.' The Codex Ramirez assigns the year 1168 as the date of the abandonment of the Serpent Hill by the people of Tollan. We begin to leave this twilight of legend when we meet the Aztecs already encamped in the Valley of Mexico. Finding the most obviously eligible sites preoccupied, they were sagacious enough to detect the advantages of a certain marshy spot through which the outlets of lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, besides sundry rivulets, flowed northward and eastward into Lake Tezcuco. Here in the year 1325 they began to build their pueblo, which they called Tenochtitlan,—a name whereby hangs a tale. When the Aztecs, hard pressed by foes, took refuge among these marshes, they came upon a sacrificial stone which they recognized as one upon which some years before one of their priests had immolated a captive chief. From a crevice in this stone, where a little earth was imbedded, there grew a cactus, upon which sat an eagle holding in its beak a serpent. A priest ingeniously interpreted this symbolism as a prophecy of signal and long-continued victory, and forthwith diving into the lake he had an interview with Tlaloc, the god of waters, who told him that upon that very spot the people were to build their town. The place was therefore called Tenochtitlan, or 'place of the cactus-rock,' but the name under which it afterward came to be best known was taken from Mexitl, one of the names of the war-god Huitzilopochtli. The device of the rock and cactus, with the eagle and serpent, formed a tribal totem for the Aztecs, and has been adopted as the coat-of-arms of the present Republic of Mexico.

{2159}

The pueblo of Tenochtitlan was surrounded by salt marshes; which by dint of dikes and causeways the Aztecs gradually converted into a large artificial lake, and thus made their pueblo by far the most defensible stronghold in Anahuac,— impregnable, indeed, so far as Indian modes of attack were concerned. The advantages of this commanding position were slowly but surely realized. A dangerous neighbour upon the western shore of the lake was the tribe of Tecpanecas, whose principal pueblo was Azcaputzalco. The Aztecs succeeded in making an alliance with these Tecpanecas, but it was upon unfavourable terms and involved the payment of tribute to Azcaputzalco. It gave the Aztecs, however, some time to develop their strength. Their military organization was gradually perfected, and in 1375 they elected their first tlacatecuhtli, or 'chief-of-men,' whom European writers, in the loose phraseology formerly current, called 'founder of the Mexican empire.' The name of this official was Acamapichtli, or 'Handful-of-Reeds.' During the eight-and-twenty years of his chieftancy the pueblo houses in Tenochtitlan began to be built very solidly of stone, and the irregular water-courses flowing between them were improved into canals. Some months after his death in 1403 his son Huitzilihuitl, or 'Humming-bird,' was chosen to succeed him. This Huitzilihuitl was succeeded in 1414 by his brother Chimalpopoca, or 'Smoking Shield,' under whom temporary calamity visited the Aztec town. The alliance with Azcaputzalco was broken, and that pueblo joined its forces to those of Tezcuco on the eastern shore of the lake. United they attacked the Aztecs, defeated them, and captured their chief-of-men, who died a prisoner in 1427. He was succeeded by Izcoatzin, or 'Obsidian Snake,' an aged chieftain who died in 1436. During these nine years a complete change came over the scene. Quarrels arose between Azcaputzalco and Tezcuco; the latter pueblo entered into alliance with Tenochtitlan, and together they overwhelmed and destroyed Azcaputzalco, and butchered most of its people. What was left of the conquered pueblo was made a slave mart for the Aztecs, and the remnant of the people were removed to the neighbouring pueblo of Tlacopan, which was made tributary to Mexico. By this great victory the Aztecs also acquired secure control of the springs upon Chepultepec, or 'Grasshopper Hill,' which furnished a steady supply of fresh water to their island pueblo. The next step was the formation of a partnership between the three pueblo towns, Tenochtitlan, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, for the organized and systematic plunder of other pueblos. All the tribute or spoils extorted was to be divided into five parts, of which two parts each were for Tezcuco and Tenochtitlan, and one part for Tlacopan. The Aztec chief-of-men became military commander of the confederacy, which now' began to extend operations to a distance. The next four chiefs-of-men were Montezuma, or 'Angry Chief,' the First, from 1436 to 1464; Axayacatl, or 'Face-in-the-Water,' from 1464 to 1477; Tizoc, or 'Wounded Leg,' from 1477 to 1486; and Ahuizotl, or 'Water-Rat,' from 1486 to 1502. Under these chiefs the great temple of Mexico was completed, and the aqueduct from Chepultepec was increased in capacity until it not only supplied water for ordinary uses, but could also be made to maintain the level of the canals and the lake. In the driest seasons, therefore, Tenochtitlan remained safe from attack. Forth from this well-protected lair the Aztec warriors went on their errands of blood. Thirty or more pueblo towns, mostly between Tenochtitlan and the Gulf coast, scattered over an area about the size of Massachusetts, were made tributary to the Confederacy; and as all these communities spoke the Nahua language, this process of conquest, if it had not been cut short by the Spaniards, might in course of time have ended in the formation of a primitive kind of state. This tributary area formed but a very small portion of the country which we call Mexico. If the reader will just look at a map of the Republic of Mexico in a modern atlas, and observe that the states of Queretaro, Guanaxuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, and a good part of La Puebla, lie outside the region sometimes absurdly styled 'Montezuma's Empire,' and surround three sides of it, he will begin to put himself into the proper state of mind for appreciating the history of Cortes and his companions. Into the outlying region just mentioned, occupied by tribes for the most part akin to the Nahuas in blood and speech, the warriors of the Confederacy sometimes ventured, with varying fortunes. They levied occasional tribute among the pueblos in these regions, but hardly made any of them regularly tributary. The longest range of their arms seems to have been to the eastward, where they sent their tax-gatherers along the coast into the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and came into conflict with the warlike Mayas and Quiches. … Such was, in general outline, what we may call the political situation in the time of the son of Axayacatl, the second Montezuma, who was elected chief-of-men in 1502, being then thirty-four years of age."

_J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 8 (volume 2)._

MEXICO: A. D. 1517-1518. First found by the Spaniards.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1517-1518.

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (February-April). The coming of Cortes and the Spaniards.

Some time in the latter part of the year 1517, the Spaniards in Cuba had acquired definite knowledge of a much civilized people who inhabited "terra firma" to the west of them, by the return of Hernandez de Cordova from his involuntary voyage to Yucatan (see AMERICA: A. D. 1157-1518). In the spring of 1518 the Cuban governor, Velasquez, had enlarged that knowledge by sending an expedition under Grijalva to the Mexican coast, and, even before Grijalva returned, he had begun preparations for a more serious undertaking of conquest and occupation in the rich country newly found. For the command of this second armament he selected Hernando Cortes, one of the boldest and most ambitious of the adventurers who had helped to subdue and settle the island of Cuba. Before the fleet sailed, however, a jealous distrust of his lieutenant had become excited by some cause in the governor's mind, and he attempted to supersede him in the command, Cortes slipped out of port, half prepared as he was for the voyage, defied the orders of his superior, and made his way (February, 1519) to the scene of his future conquests, actually as a rebel against the authority which commissioned him. "The squadron of Cortés was composed of eleven small vessels. {2160} There were 110 sailors, 553 soldiers, of which 13 were armed with muskets, and 32 with arquebuses, the others with swords and pikes only. There were 10 little field-pieces, and 16 horses. Such were the forces with which the bold adventurer set forth to conquer a vast empire, defended by large armies, not without courage, according to the report of Grijalva. But the companions of Cortes were unfamiliar with fear. Cortés followed the same route as Grijalva. … At the Tabasco River, which the Spanish called Rio de Grijalva, because that explorer had discovered it, they had a fight with some natives who resisted their approach. These natives fought bravely, but the fire-arms, and above all the horses, which they conceived to be of one piece with their riders, caused them extreme terror, and the rout was complete. … The native prince, overcome, sent gifts to the conqueror, and, without much knowing the extent of his agreement, acknowledged himself as vassal of the king of Spain, the most powerful monarch of the world." Meantime, tidings of a fresh appearance of the same strange race which had briefly visited the shores of the empire the year before were conveyed to Montezuma, and the king, who had sent envoys to the strangers before, but not quickly enough to find them, resolved to do so again. "The presents prepared for Grijalva, which had reached the shore too late, were, alas! all ready. To these were now added the ornaments used in the decoration of the image of Quetzalcoatl, on days of solemnity, regarded as the most sacred among all the possessions of the royal house of Mexico. Cortés accepted the rôle of Quetzalcoatl and allowed himself to be decorated with the ornaments belonging to that god without hesitation. The populace were convinced that it was their deity really returned to them. A feast was served to the envoys, with the accompaniment of some European wine which they found delicious. … During the feast native painters were busy depicting every thing they saw to be shown to their royal master. … Cortes sent to Montezuma a gilt helmet with the message that he hoped to see it back again filled with gold. … The bearer of this gift and communication, returning swiftly to the court, reported to the monarch that the intention of the stranger was to come at once to the capital of the empire. Montezuma at once assembled a new council of all his great vassals, some of whom urged the reception of Cortés, others his immediate dismissal. The latter view prevailed, and the monarch sent, with more presents to the unknown invader, benevolent but peremptory commands that he should go away immediately. … Meanwhile the Spanish camp was feasting and reposing in huts of cane, with fresh provisions, in great joy after the weariness of their voyage. They accepted with enthusiasm the presents of the emperor, but the treasures which were sent had an entirely different effect from that hoped for by Montezuma; they only inflamed the desire of the Spaniard to have all within his grasp, of which this was but a specimen. It was now that the great mistake in policy was apparent, by which the Aztec chieftain had for years been making enemies all over the country, invading surrounding states, and carrying off prisoners for a horrible death by sacrifice. These welcomed the strangers and encouraged their presence."

_S. Hale, The Story of Mexico, chapter 13._

ALSO IN: _Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Memoirs, chapter 2-39 (volume 1). _

_J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 8 (volume 2)._

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (June-October). The advance of Cortés to Tlascala.

"Meanwhile Cortés, by his craft, quieted a rising faction of the party of Velasquez which demanded to be led back to Cuba. He did this by seeming to acquiesce in the demand of his followers in laying the foundations of a town and constituting its people a municipality competent to choose a representative of the royal authority. This done, Cortés resigned his commission from Velasquez, and was at once invested with supreme power by the new municipality. The scheme which Velasquez had suspected was thus brought to fruition. Whoever resisted the new captain was conquered by force, persuasion, tact, or magnetism; and Cortés became as popular as he was irresistible. At this point messengers presented themselves from tribes not far off who were unwilling subjects of the Aztec power. The presence of possible allies was a propitious circumstance, and Cortés proceeded to cultivate the friendship of these tribes. He moved his camp day by day along the shore, inuring his men to marches, while the fleet sailed in company. They reached a large city [Cempoalla, or Zempoalla, the site of which has not been determined], and were regaled. Each chief told of the tyranny of Montezuma, and the eyes of Cortés glistened. The Spaniards went on to another town, slaves being provided to bear their burdens. Here they found tax-gatherers of Montezuma collecting tribute. Emboldened by Cortés' glance, his hosts seized the Aztec emissaries and delivered them to the Spaniards. Cortés now played a double game. He propitiated the servants of Montezuma by secretly releasing them, and added to his allies by enjoining every tribe he could reach to resist the Aztec collectors of tribute. The wandering municipality, as represented in this piratical army, at last stopped at a harbor where a town (La Villa Rica de Vera Cruz) sprang up, and became the base of future operations." At this point in his movements the adventurer despatched a vessel to Spain, with letters to the king, and with dazzling gifts of gold and Aztec fabrics. "Now came the famous resolve of Cortés. He would band his heterogeneous folk together— adherents of Cortés and of Velasquez—in one common cause and danger. So he adroitly led them to be partners in the deed which he stealthily planned. Hulk after hulk of the apparently worm-eaten vessels of the fleet sank in the harbor, until there was no flotilla left upon which any could desert him. The march to Mexico was now assured. The force with which to accomplish this consisted of about 450 Spaniards, six or seven light guns, fifteen horses, and a swarm of Indian slaves and attendants. A body of the Totonacs accompanied them. Two or three days brought them into the higher plain and its enlivening vegetation. When they reached the dependencies of Montezuma, they found orders had been given to extend to them every courtesy. They soon reached the Anahuac plateau, which reminded them not a little of Spain itself. They passed from cacique to cacique, some of whom groaned under the yoke of the Aztec; but not one dared do more than orders from Montezuma dictated. {2161} Then the invaders approached the territory of an independent people, those of Tlascala, who had walled their country against neighboring enemies. A fight took place at the frontiers, in which the Spaniards lost two horses. They forced passes against great odds, but again lost a horse or two,— which was a perceptible diminution of their power to terrify. The accounts speak of immense hordes of the Tlascalans, which historians now take with allowances, great or small. Cortés spread what alarm he could by burning villages and capturing the country people. His greatest obstacle soon appeared in the compacted army of Tlascalans arrayed in his front. The conflict which ensued was for a while doubtful. Every horse was hurt, and 60 Spaniards were wounded; but the result was the retreat of the Tlascalans. Divining that the Spanish power was derived from the sun, the enemy planned a night attack; but Cortés suspected it, and assaulted them in their own ambush. Cortés now had an opportunity to display his double-facedness and his wiles. He received embassies both from Montezuma and from the senate of the Tlascalans. He cajoled each, and played off his friendship for the one in cementing an alliance with the other. But to Tlascala and Mexico he would go, so he told them. The Tlascalans were not averse, for they thought it boded no good to the Aztecs, if he could be bound to themselves. Montezuma dreaded the contact, and tried to intimidate the strangers by tales of the horrible difficulties of the journey. Presently the army took up its march for Tlascala, where they were royally received, and wives in abundance were bestowed upon the leaders. Next they passed to Cholula, which was subject to the Aztecs."

_J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 2, chapter 6._

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (October). The Massacre at Cholula. The march to Mexico.

"The distance from Tlascala to Chololan [or Cholula] is but from 15 to 20 miles. It was a kind of holy place, venerated far and wide in Anahuac; pilgrimages were made thither, as the Mahometans go to Mecca, and Christians to Jerusalem or Rome. The city was consecrated to the worship of Quetzalcoatl, who had there the noblest temple in all Mexico, built, like all the temples in the country, on the summit of a truncated pyramid. The traveller of the present day beholds this pyramid on the horizon as he approaches Puebla, on his route from Vera Cruz to Mexico. But the worship of the beneficent Quetzalcoatl had been perverted by the sombre genius of the Aztecs. To this essentially good deity 6,000 human victims were annually immolated in his temple at Chololan. … The Spaniards found at Chololan an eager and, to all appearance at least, a perfectly cordial welcome." But this hospitality masked, it is said, a great plot for their destruction, which Montezuma had inspired and to aid which he had sent into the neighborhood of the city a powerful Mexican army. The plot was revealed to Cortez—so the Spanish historians relate—and "he took his resolution with his accustomed energy and foresight. He made his dispositions for the very next day. He acquainted the caciques of Chololan that he should evacuate the city at break of dawn, and required them to furnish 2,000 porters or 'tamanes,' for the baggage. The caciques then organized their attack for the morrow morning, not without a promise of the men required, whom, in fact, they brought at dawn to the great court in which the foreigners were domiciled. The conflict soon began. The Spaniards, who were perfectly prepared, commenced by massacring the caciques. The mass of Chololans that attempted to invade their quarters were crushed under the fire of their artillery and musketry, and the charges of their cavalry. Hearing the reports, the Tlascalans, who had been left at the entrance of the city, rushed on to the rescue. … They could now glut their hatred and vengeance; they slaughtered as long as they could, and then set to work at plunder. The Spaniards, too, after having killed all that resisted, betook themselves to pillage. The unfortunate city of Chololan was thus inundated with blood and sacked. Cortez, however, enjoined that the women and children should be spared, and we are assured that in that he was obeyed, even by his cruel auxiliaries from Tlascala. … To the praise of Cortez it must be said that, after the victory, he once more showed himself tolerant: he left the inhabitants at liberty to follow their old religion on condition that they should no longer immolate human victims. After this signal blow, all the threats, all the intrigues, of Montezuma, had no possible effect, and the Aztec emperor could be under no illusion as to the inflexible intention of Cortez. The latter, as soon as he had installed new chiefs at Chololan, and effaced the more hideous traces of the massacre and pillage that had desolated the city, set out with his own troops and his Indian auxiliaries from Tlascala for the capital of the Aztec empire, the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan."

_M. Chevalier, Mexico, Ancient and Modern, part 2, chapter 4 (volume 1)._

MEXICO: The Capital of Montezuma as described by Cortés and Bernal Diaz.