By J. Daniel Rogers
We have been neglecting our blog a bit this year, but we have been busy with various projects since our last update. In parts I and II of this post we’ll discuss some of the things we’ve been working on in the past few months.
Writing About the Aztec Empire
Over the last year, among other things, I wrote about the history of the first encounters between the Aztec empire and the Spanish. A few years ago I began work on a book manuscript titled In the Age of Empires. After getting off to a quick start writing bogged down as other obligations took precedence. I took on administrative duties and began working on team-science projects involving computational modeling, especially Agent-Based Modeling (ABM). Over the last year, as I moved into my second year of retirement, I’ve found a little time to pay attention to the Empires book. During September and October I was in Santa Fe with access to a good library. I decided to concentrate on the chapter about the Aztec empire. This is one of the case studies that shows the diverse organization of empires, through the lens of culture contact.
The drama and peculiar circumstances of the encounter between the Spanish invaders and the most powerful state in Mesoamerica make for an unreal story. Yet it was real. In 1519 a small army of about 400 Spanish soldiers and their native allies marched from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and were welcomed into the capital city of the Aztec empire, Teotihuacan. Here they proceeded to take the emperor, Mochtizuma II, prisoner. Although it seems strange, the emperor willingly went with the Spaniards, as his generals and guards backed away. How could the motives of armed invaders be so misunderstood? Spanish objectives were riches and conquest. The Aztecs did not know this. Instead, they believed the Spanish leader, Cortés, was the returning god Quetzalcóatl. Here is some of what Mochtizuma said to Cortés, as later recorded by the Spanish priest de Sahagún (1978):
I [Mochtizuma] have been worried for a long time, looking toward the unknown from which you [Cortés] have come, the mysterious place. For our rulers departed, saying that you would come to your city and sit upon your throne. And now it has been fulfilled, you have returned. Go enjoy your palace, rest your body. [We] welcome our lords to this land.
Cortés’ arrival met several of the predictions about the return of Quetzalcóatl. Whether men or gods, there was no denying the shocking appearance and great power of the Spaniards. The Spanish also brought unseen weapons. While Mochtizuma was still being held captive in his own palace epidemics never seen before began killing people in large numbers. The first major smallpox epidemic hit in the fall of 1520. Was it retribution from an angry god? The priests, doctors, and administrators feared that it was. Others took a more practical view. Their emperor was being held captive. It was time to free him or die trying. In the following battle Mochtizuma was killed, probably by friendly fire. The battle raged and Aztec losses were terrible, but the Spanish were eventually forced from the city. The Spanish did not retreat very far. They returned with their native allies and fought and burned as they went. With the help of diseases like smallpox, Aztec resistance was weakened and the Spanish were eventually successful in their conquest.
To me, great victories and great defeats are always tinged with a tragic quality. The Spanish victors felt this as well. They respected the bravery of the Aztec warriors and knew they had been part of something that would change the course of history. Bernal Días del Castillo (1956:190-192), a sergeant in Cortes’ army, wrote about the city of Tenochtitlan:
I say again that I stood looking at it and thought that never in the world would there be discovered other lands such as these .... Of all these wonders that I then beheld today all is over-thrown, and lost, nothing left standing.
The Aztec empire and all the peoples of Mexico became part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. As unique as the story of the Aztec empire might seem, there is a structure to the encounter with the Spanish that can be compared to other examples of culture contact and the struggle between empires. Revealing these structures is one of the points of my book project. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.
As last year, the School for Advanced Research (SAR) was kind enough to make office space available during my fall visit to Santa Fe. SAR has a long and distinguished history of sponsoring fellows conducting research on topics related to anthropology. SAR also goes out of their way to help the random researcher who just shows up at the door—like me. For this I thank Paul Ryer, Director of Scholar Programs and Katherine Wolf, Librarian of the Catherine McElvain Library. Every day Ms. Wolf kindly assisted with my diverse requests, while making me feel welcome.
References/Further Reading
de Sahagún, Bernardino, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain 3. Vol. 2nd revised edition. Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and University of Utah, 1978.
del Castillo, Bernal Días, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956.
There are two important books that help us understand the Aztec perspective:
Carrasco, David, Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
León Portilla, Miguel, ed., The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Expanded and Updated ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.