The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, which began on February 1519, was an important event in world history. This conquest was led by Hernan Cortes and was a major part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are various similarities and differences in the historians’ interpretations of the conquest of Mexico, as the historians agree on the motives for conquest and the Spanish’s use of native allies, yet the historians do not completely agree on what native groups Cortes specifically allied with or how the Aztec king, Moctezuma, died.
These documents are similar, as the historians agree that Cortes allied with the native people of Mexico, yet they disagree on what native groups Cortes specifically allied with. Some of the historians vaguely mention that the Spanish had “Indian allies” (D5), “Amerindian allies” (D2), “amerindian allies from among the Aztec’s unhappy subjects” (D3) or allies among “other subject peoples” (D6). In The Heritage of World Civilizations, the historians specify that Cortes forged alliance with “Tlaxcala, an independent state and traditional enemy of the Aztecs” (D4).…show more content… A Global Perspective on the Past states that the “Spanish interest soon shifted from the Caribbean to the American mainland, where settlers hoped to find more resources to exploit” (D1). A Global History states that the Spanish brought “the exploitation and conquest that had begun in the Greater Antilles to the American mainland on a massive scale” (D3) and the after the Spanish invasions, the Aztecs found much of their “treasury looted” (D3) and “gold melted down” (D3). Based on the historians’ interpretations of the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish were clearly motivated by the Aztec’s
