A History of Latin America

64 CHAPTER 3 THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA

with their king. This pleading was part of Moctezu-
ma’s pathetic strategy of plying Cortés-Quetzalcóatl
with gifts in the hope that he would be dissuaded
from advancing into the interior and reclaiming his
lost throne. Suavely, Cortés informed the ambassa-
dors that he had crossed many seas and journeyed
from very distant lands to see and speak with Moc-
tezuma and could not return without doing so.

THE MARCH TO TENOCHTITLÁN

Aware of the tributary towns’ bitter discontent
with Aztec rule, Cortés decided to play a double
game. He encouraged the Totonacs of the coast to
seize and imprison Moctezuma’s tax collectors but
promptly obtained their release and sent them to

the king with expressions of his regard and friend-

ship. He then sent a ship to Spain with dispatches

for the emperor Charles, in which he sought to

obtain approval for his actions by describing the

great extent and value of his discoveries. To gain

the emperor’s good will, Cortés persuaded his men

to send Charles not only his quinto(royal fi fth) but

all the treasure received from Moctezuma. Then to

stiffen the resolution of his followers by cutting off

all avenues of escape, he scuttled and sank all his

remaining ships on the pretext that they were not

seaworthy. Finally, Cortés and his small army be-

gan the march on Mexico-Tenochtitlán.

Advancing into the sierra, Cortés entered the

territory of the tough Tlaxcalans, traditional en-

emies of the Aztecs. The Spaniards had to prove in

The famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera depicted the horrors of slavery, oppression,
and genocide that Hernan Cortés and the Spanish Conquest imposed on indigenous
people to accumulate wealth and expand the Spanish Empire. [© Banco de Mexico Trust/
Schalkwijk/Art Resource, NY]