Mexico PicturesConqui-
stadors

...their magic had worked on the Conquistadors.

Photos: murals by Diego Rivera at Palacio Nacional; a shaman at work in the Zocalo; the tragic Aztec Mexico vs Conquistador story in full colour.

Montezuma [known as 'Reverend Speaker' Motecuzoma to the Aztec people] ruled from what is now Mexico City. He was a weak and indecisive leader who was mostly responsible for the fall of the Aztec empire to the courageous but low-ranking Spanish captain Cortez - who had no permission whatsoever to invade the country; he was actually sent to explore the coastline on behalf of the [Spanish] governor of Cuba. The two other factors that aided the collapse of the Aztecs were alliances made by the invaders with two or three powerful but subservient rival tribes and the rampant diseases brought by the few hundred Spanish soldiers, who were initially made reasonably welcome in spite of their disgustingly dirty habits [the Aztecs bathed at least once a day, the Spanish once a year for some, once in a lifetime for many - at birth].
Montezuma gave Cortez literally tons of glorious and solid gold artifacts [which were immediately melted down for shipment to Spain] while Cortez and his merry men gave local people smallpox, the plague, measles, mumps and influenza, which killed off about one third of the entire population and severely weakened the rest. Still, Cortez was a brave and intelligent commander who took on an entire warrior world of hundreds of thousands with a force of barely two thousand - after reinforcements arrived.

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