Aztec Triple Alliance

Hernán (sometimes referred to as Fernando or Hernando) Cortés, a Spanish adventurer lured by stories of the riches of the Aztec, assembles a fleet of eleven ships, ammunition, and over seven hundred men and in 1519 sets sail from Cuba to Mexico.

The party lands near present-day Veracruz in eastern Mexico and starts its march inland.

Superior firepower, resentment against the Aztec by conquered tribes in eastern Mexico, and considerable luck all aid the Spanish in their conquest of the Aztec.

The Aztec and their allies have never seen horses or guns, the Spanish have interpreters who can speak Spanish, Maya, and Nahuatl (the Aztec language), and perhaps what is most important, Cortés unwittingly has the advantage of the legend of Quetzalcoatl, in which the Aztec are said to have believed that a white god would arrive in ships from the east in 1519 and destroy the native civilizations.

The Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II (anglicized as Montezuma), unwilling to confront the mysterious arrival whom he considers a god, initially welcomes the Spanish party to the capital in November 1519.

Montezuma soon is arrested, and the Spanish take control of Tenochtitlan.

The Aztec chieftains stage a revolt, however, and the Spanish are forced to retreat to the east.

The Spanish are ready to assault the city by the summer of 1521.

The battle rages for three weeks, with the superior firepower of the Spanish eventually proving decisive.

The last of the Azrtec emperors, Cuauhtemoc, is captured and killed.

The legend of Cuauhtemoc will be revived in the nineteenth century, and the last Aztec emperor will be considered a symbol of honor and courage, the first Mexican national hero.

Most of Nicaragua's Caribbean lowlands area is inhabited by tribes that had migrated north from what is now Colombia.

The various dialects and languages in this area are related to Chibcha, spoken by groups in northern Colombia.

Eastern Nicaragua's population consists of extended families or tribes.

Food is obtained by hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn agriculture. Root crops (especially cassava), plantains, and pineapples were the staple foods.

The people of eastern Nicaragua appear to have traded with and been influenced by the native peoples of the Caribbean, as round, thatched huts and canoes, both typical of the Caribbean, are common in eastern Nicaragua.

The Spanish arrive in western Nicaragua in the early 1500s to find it inhabited by three principal tribes, each with a different culture and language: the Niquirano, the Chorotegano, and the Chontal.

Each of these diverse groups occupies much of Nicaragua's territory, led by independent chieftains (cacicazgos) who rule according to each group's laws and customs.

Their weapons consist of swords, lances, and arrows made out of wood.

Monarchy is the form of government of most tribes; the supreme ruler is the chief, or cacique, who, surrounded by his princes, forms the nobility.

Laws and regulations are disseminated by royal messengers who visit each township and give their chiefs orders to the assembled inhabitants.

Present-day Nicaragua is located south of the pre-Columbian culture areas of the Maya and the Aztec in Mexico and northern Central America.

Although conventional wisdom states that the culture of lower Central America did not reach the levels of political or cultural development achieved in Mexico and northern Central America, recent excavations in Cuscutlatan, El Salvador, may prove that assumption erroneous.

The first royal judicial body established in New Spain in 1527 is the audiencia of Mexico City.

The audiencia consists of four judges, who also hold executive and legislative powers.

The crown, however, is aware of the need to create a post that will carry the weight of royal authority beyond local allegiances.

Control of the bureaucracy is handed over in 1535 to Antonio de Mendoza, who is named the first viceroy of New Spain (1535-50).

His duties are extensive but exclude judicial matters entrusted to the audiencia.

The conquest of the Aztec empire had required an enormous effort and a tremendous sacrifice by Cortes's army, and after their victory, the soldiers had demanded what they have come for: prestige and wealth.

The spoils from the city largely had been lost; Cortes has to resort to some other strategy to provide for his men.

The conquistador has already surveyed all Aztec records related to tributes and tributary towns, and on the basis of this information, he decides to distribute grants of people and land among his men.

This practice has already been tried in the Caribbean, and Cortes himself had received encomiendas, grants of land and people, in Hispaniola in 1509 and in Cuba in 1511.

Granting encomiendas become an institutions throughout New Spain to ensure subordination of the conquered pop-ulations and the use of their labor by the Spanish colonizers, as well as a means to reward Spanish subjects for services rendered to the crown.

The Spaniards' task after the fall of Tenochtitlan is to settle and expand the new domains on the mainland of North and Central America that become known as New Spain.

Cortes dispatches several expeditions to survey the areas beyond the Valley of Mexico and to establish political control over the land and its inhabitants.

Once released from the central political control of Tenochtitlan, most towns surrender to Cortes's men.

The capital of the new colony, as a symbol of political continuity, is to be built squarely atop the ruins of Tenochtitlan and is renamed Mexico after the Mexica tribe.

Aztec domination reaches into most of central and southern Mexico by the early sixteenth century (with the exception of the Mayan areas in the southeast).

Before the settlement at Tenochtitlan, Aztec society was quite simple in its organization and was composed of peasants, warriors, and priest-rulers.

Afterward, and with a much larger population, there is an increasing division of labor and a more complex social structure.

The emperor is selected according to merit from among the ruling dynasty.

The nobility is composed of the high priests, the military, and political leaders.

The merchant class lives apart in the city and has its own courts, guilds, and gods.

Commoners, the largest segment of society, are farmers, artisans, and lower-level civil servants.

The lowest rung of society is composed of conquered peoples brought to Tenochtitlan as slaves.

The political structure of the Aztec empire is based on a loose coalition of city-states under the fiscal control of Tenochtitlan.

The main objective of Aztec expansion is to exact tribute from conquered peoples.

Tributes are in kind: cocoa, cotton, corn, feathers, precious metals and stones, shells, and jaguar skins are among those sent.

The towns also have the obligation to provide soldiers and slaves and to recognize Aztec supremacy and the supremacy of the Aztec god Huitzilopichtli.

Otherwise, towns are basically free to conduct their internal affairs, and Aztec hegemony is never fully consolidated—a fact that will eventually become a major element in the fall of the empire.

Itzcóatl, the fourth tlatoani (emperor) of the Aztecs, has ruled from 1427 (or 1428), the period during which the Mexica (as the Aztecs call themselves) have thrown off the domination of the Tepanecs.

Itzcoatl ("Obsidian Serpent" in Nahuatl), Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco, and Totoquilhuaztli, tlatoani of Tlacopan, have forged what will become known as the Aztec Triple Alliance, forming the basis of the eventual Aztec empire.

Successful campaigns against Xochimilco in 1430, Mixquic in 1432, Cuitlahuac in 1433, and Tezompa have secured agricultural resources for the capital, Tenochtitlan and, along with the conquest of Culhuacan and Coyoacan, have cemented the Triple Alliance's control over the southern half of the Valley of Mexico.

With this string of victories, Itzcoatl had taken the title Culhua tecuhtli, "Lord of the Culhua" while Totoquilhuaztli, tlatoani of Tlacopan, took the title Tepaneca tecuhtli, "Lord of the Tepanecs".

In 1439, Itzcoatl had undertaken a campaign outside the Valley of Mexico against Cuauhnahuac (modern day Cuernavaca).

According to the Madrid Codex, Itzcoatl ordered the burning of all historical codices because it was "not wise that all the people should know the paintings".

Among other purposes, this will allow the Aztec state to develop a state-sanctioned history and mythos that venerates Huitzilopochtli, deity of war, sun, human sacrifice and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan.

Itzcoatl also continues the building of Tenochtitlán: during his reign temples, roads, and a causeway have been built.

Itzcóatl has established the religious and governmental hierarchy that is assumed by his nephew Moctezuma I upon his death in 1440.

Moctezuma solidifies the alliance with two neighboring peoples, Tlacopan (a small sovereign kingdom) and Texcoco.

In this skillfully crafted Triple Alliance, four fifths of a newly conquered territory is to be divided between Texcoco and the Aztecs, with the remaining fifth given to Tlacopan.

Among the Aztecs' greatest achievements, Moctezuma I and Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco organize the construction and completion of a double aqueduct pipe system, supplying the city of Tenochtitlan with fresh water.

The Aztecs establish Oaxaca, three miles (five kilometers) to the east of the complex of Monte Alban, as a garrison in 1486.