Many of the disgruntled Aztec subjects flock …

Years: 1519 - 1519
November

Many of the disgruntled Aztec subjects flock to Cortés’ side as he marches inland with his army of about four hundred Spaniards and six thousand native Cemoalan and Tlaxcalan auxiliaries.

Cortés’ invasion force according to the Aztec calendar had landed in Mexico on the day One Reed, the calendar day of the hero-god Quetzalcoatl's birth.

Quetzalcoatl, a title taken by several historical rulers and heroes since the driving out of King Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl from the city of Tula in the twelfth century, has become central to mythological stories about the deification of the god-man and his promise to return and claim his earthly kingdom.

This still-current prophecy has apparently caused Moctezuma to regard Cortés as a deity, perhaps Quetzalcoatl himself.

The Spaniards reach the Aztec’s island capital of Tenochtitlan in November 1519, and, after a study of omens and prophecies persuades Motecuhzoma that the invaders are gods, he concludes that he is doomed.

He chooses not to fight the Europeans but to deter them by trickery, magic, and gift offerings.

Failing in this, Moctezuma permits Cortés and his men to enter Tenochtitlán unopposed by the formidable imperial armies.

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