Where have all the Aztecs gone?

Mexico and Texas during the Spanish Exploration of the 16th Century

Question: Did Tenochtitlan impress Cortes in any way? How so?

“The city has many open squares in which markets are continuously held and the general business of buying and selling proceeds…[T]here are daily more than sixty thousand folk buying and selling. Every kind of merchandise such as may be met with in every land is for sale there…”

Question: How did Cortes view Aztec religious life?

“Finally, …I will simply say that the manner of living among the people is very similar to that in Spain, and considering that this is a barbarous nation shut off from a knowledge the true God or communication with enlightened nations, one may well marvel at the orderliness and good government is everywhere maintained.”

In Cortes’s opinion, why was Tenochtitlan barbaric?

• Non-Catholic• Polytheistic• Participate in human sacrifice• Isolated• Non-”Enlightened”

Explorers to Mexico

• Christopher Columbus• Hernan Cortes• Alvarez de Pineda• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca• Antonio de Mentoza

Cabeza de Vaca

• Conquistador• Healer/Shaman• Leader of Expedition• Adventurer• Friend of Karankawas• Messiah?

What did Cabeza de Vaca find?

• “cows” with small horns (buffalo)• Native Americans• “vast and handsome,” “very fertile” land• Copper, emeralds, turquoise

As a result, his stories encouraged more and more Spanish expeditions into northern Mexico (Texas), and their dominion spread.