June 30:

1520 : SPANISH RETREAT FROM AZTEC CAPITAL:

Faced with an Aztec revolt against their rule, forces under the
Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes fight their way out of Tenochtitlan
at heavy cost. Known to the Spanish as La Noche Triste, or "the Night
of Sadness," many soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco when the vessel
carrying them and Aztec treasures hoarded by CortÝs sank. Montezuma
II, the Aztec emperor who had become merely a subject of Cortes in the
previous year, was also killed during the struggle; by the Aztecs or
the Spanish, it is not known.

Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 A.D. by a wandering tribe of hunters
and gatherers on islands in Lake Texcoco, near the present site of
Mexico City. In only one century, this civilization grew into the
Aztec Empire, due largely to its advanced system of agriculture. The
empire came to dominate central Mexico and by the ascendance of
Montezuma II in 1502 had reached its greatest extent, reaching as far
south as perhaps modern-day Nicaragua. At the time, the empire was
held together primarily by Aztec military strength, and Montezuma II
set about establishing a bureaucracy, creating provinces that would
pay tribute to the imperial capital of Tenochtitlan. The conquered
peoples resented the Aztec demands for tribute and victims for the
religious sacrifices, but the Aztec military kept rebellion at bay.

Meanwhile, Hernan Cortes, a young Spanish-born noble, came to
Hispaniola in the West Indies in 1504. In 1511, he sailed with Diego
Velazquez to conquer Cuba and twice was elected mayor of Santiago, the
capital of Hispaniola. In 1518, he was appointed captain general of a
new Spanish expedition to the American mainland. Velazquez, the
governor of Cuba, later rescinded the order, and Cortes sailed without
permission. He visited the coast of Yucatan and in March 1519 landed
at Tabasco in Mexico's Bay of Campeche with 500 soldiers, 100 sailors,
and 16 horses. There, he won over the local Indians and was given a
female slave, Malinche--baptized Marina--who became his mistress and
later bore him a son. She knew both Maya and Aztec and served as an
interpreter. The expedition then proceeded up the Mexican coast, where
Cortes founded Veracruz, mainly for the purpose of having himself
elected captain general by the colony, thus shaking off the authority
of Velazquez and making him responsible only to King Charles V of
Spain.

At Veracruz, Cortes trained his army and then burned his ships to
ensure loyalty to his plans for conquest. Having learned of political
strife in the Aztec Empire, Cortes led his force into the Mexican
interior. On the way to Tenochtitlan, he clashed with local Indians,
but many of these peoples, including the nation of Tlaxcala, became
his allies after learning of his plan to conquer their hated Aztec
rulers. Hearing of the approach of Cortes, with his frightful horses
and sophisticated weapons, Montezuma II tried to buy him off, but
Cortes would not be dissuaded. On November 8, 1519, the Spaniards and
their 1,000 Tlaxcaltec warriors were allowed to enter Tenochtitlan
unopposed.

Montezuma suspected them to be divine envoys of the god Quetzalcoatl,
who was prophesied to return from the east in a "One Reed" year, which
1519 was on the Aztec calendar. The Spaniards were greeted with great
honor, and Cortes seized the opportunity, taking Montezuma hostage so
that he might govern the empire through him. His mistress, Marina, was
a great help in this endeavor and succeeded in convincing Montezuma to
cooperate fully.

In the spring of 1520, Cortes learned of the arrival of a Spanish
force from Cuba, led by Panfilo Narvaez and sent by Velazquez to
deprive Cortes of his command. Cortes led his army out of Tenochtitlan
to meet them, leaving behind a garrison of 80 Spaniards and a few
hundred Tlaxcaltecs to govern the city. Cortes defeated Narvaez and
enlisted Narvaez' army into his own. When he returned to Tenochtitlan
in June, he found the garrison under siege from the Aztecs, who had
rebelled after the subordinate that Cortes left in command of the city
massacred several Aztec chiefs, and the population on the brink of
revolt. On June 30, under pressure and lacking food, Cortes and his
men fled the capital at night. In the fighting that ensued, Montezuma
was killed--in Aztec reports by the Spaniards, and in Spanish reports
by an Aztec mob bitter at Montezuma's subservience to Spanish rule. He
was succeeded as emperor by his brother, Cuitlahuac.

During the Spaniards' retreat, they defeated a large Aztec army at
Otumba and then rejoined their Tlaxcaltec allies. In May 1521, Cortes
returned to Tenochtitlan, and after a three-month siege the city fell.
This victory marked the fall of the Aztec empire. Cuauhtemoc,
Cuitlahuac's successor as emperor, was taken prisoner and later
executed, and Cortes became the ruler of vast Mexican empire.

The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to Honduras in 1524 and in
1528 returned to Spain to see the king. Charles made him Marques del
Valle but refused to name him governor because of his quarrels with
Velazquez and others. In 1530, he returned to Mexico, now known as New
Spain, and found the country in disarray. After restoring some order,
he retired to his estate south of Mexico City and sent out maritime
expeditions from the Pacific coast. In 1540, he returned to Spain and
was neglected by the court. He died in 1547.

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