Veda #1 : Moctezuma

Day 01

Question by : Babypunk - "Moctezuma"

Moctezuma II

His Profile
Moctezuma II a.k.a Montezuma was an Aztec leader, successful leader and general for around 1502-1520. Moctezuma II ruled over the empire of Mexica, yes also known as Mexico at present day. Moctezuma II was born around C.E. 1480. Of princely background, he was the youngest son of Emperor Axacayatl, who ruled between 1469-1481. Axacayatl was succeeded by Ahuitzotl, a Genghis Khan type whose reign fell between 1481-1502. Able, ruthless and bloodthirsty, Ahuitzotl doubled the size of the Aztec empire and is once said to have ritually slaughtered twenty thousand prisoners at a reconstructed sacrificial "god house". On Ahuitzotl's death, a council of nobles selected a promising theology student in his early twenties to be the next emperor. This was Moctezuma Xocoyotl, the last name meaning simply "the youngest."

His Empire
Moctezuma was every bit as much of a no-nonsense executive in the domestic area. He built temples and furnished a supply of fresh water to his capital at Tenochtitlan by constructing a double aqueduct. To encourage respect for the law, he would resort to such ruses as offering judges bribes just to see if they were corrupt. Moctezuma consolidated an empire that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, and was centred on the fabulous city of Tenochtitlan, set amid a vast lake and housing perhaps 200,000 people, probably larger than any western European capital of the time.

His Fall
Aztec culture was sophisticated in many ways. Its empire was won and controlled by a fiercely successful military and an elaborate system of taxation and tribute. Yet in just two years, Moctezuma’s rule, and that of the Mexica, collapsed in the face of an invasion led by a few hundred Spanish adventurers. When the Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes landed at Veracruz in 1519 and attempted to march on, he was well received by the inhabitants and made Moctezuma his prisoner when he invited to the Imperial palace, with an accusation that Moctezuma has invaded Spanish at Veracruz.

Why Cortes was well received by inhabitants and easily held Moctezuma as prisoner?
here's the fun fact : Religious Superstition.
Before became an Aztec leader, he was a theology student, and he was familiar with the legend of Quetzacoatl, the beloved Aztec god who would one day return as beraded and fair-skinned man. When the Spanish landed at Veracruz, Moctezuma fall into agony of indecision. He held a meeting with several top advisers of the kingdom. The meeting was fruitless, as some wanted to resist Cortes while others wished to treat the invaders with the deference due to their beliefs.

His Death
Being a prisoner has broke Monctezuma's spirit. The emperor spent the pathetic last months of his life trying to ingratiate himself with his captors -- playing ball games with them in the imperial gardens. He accepted Christianity and swore allegiance to King of Spanish, Charles V.

In April 1520. Cortés had just returned from defeating a rival Spanish force at Veracruz sent by the envious governor of Cuba. In his absence, Pedro de Alvarado, slaughtered more than 3000 Aztecs because he mistook a spirited religious ceremony for an outbreak of rebellion. The furious population of Tenochtitlan rose massively against the Spanish, who were barricaded inside the imperial palace. The Spanish sent Moctezuma to calm his peoples but he was greeted with stones. One projectile knocked him unconscious and he was carried downstairs by attendants. Though he didn't appear to be seriously hurt, he died within two weeks, maybe of a broken heart.

There are still a controversy about how he died, was he killed by Spanish or by his own people. but, one thing for sure, the Spanish didn't conquer the empire alone, they were only a part of a force that changed the order of things in Mexico.

Satisfied? :)