Notes on Early Spanish Exploration, Cortes, the Aztecs, and the Columbian Exchange

Context and Motives

  • Columbus believed he was in the Indies; the voyage aimed at wealth and a route to the Indies.
  • Spanish motive: wealth from gold; empire-building in the interior.
  • English and French priorities: seek a sea route, not gold; not as interested in gold.

Encounters with the Aztecs and Cortes

  • Native Americans subjugated by the Aztecs offered to join Cortes to help conquer the empire.
  • Aztec capital: Tenochtitlan\text{Tenochtitlan}.
  • Cortes arrives amid Aztec beliefs about outsiders in myth; Aztecs wonder where he is from, fear a returning god from across the water.
  • Horses and unfamiliar new presence: Aztecs had never seen horses; fear and astonishment.
  • Spaniards had superior weapons; Aztecs faced disadvantage in numbers.
  • The encounter is framed as part of the Columbian exchange; myth and misperception influenced early impressions.

Columbian Exchange and Disease

  • Smallpox likely devastates the Aztec population; estimate: 90%%90\%\% mortality (approximately 90%90\%).
  • Disease originated in Europe and Africa and spread to the Americas, contributing to conquest dynamics.

Quick Takeaways

  • Conquest aided by: alliances with subjugated peoples, superior weapons, and disease.
  • First impressions (myth, horses) and misperceptions shaped the encounter with Cortes and the Aztecs.