Hernando Cortez

The story of Hernando Cortez, who conquered the extraordinary Aztec peoples, is a story of many facets. Cortez is called the "Conqueror of Mexico." In some sense his story is indeed the story of a remarkable soldier and commander, one who conquered a new world against all odds. In another sense, his story is the story of Europe and its very mixed feelings about the Americas.

The Europeans struggled with their ambivalence about the new world of the Americas. Fantasies about Mesoamerican peoples were often invented -- they were viewed as heathen tribes, and history has told the story of the Aztec peoples with great bias at times, unwilling to embrace them as a complex society. "It was not easy or comfortable for Europeans to fit the incredible news of entirely unknown lands, peoples, empires, souls, gold, into their intellectual horizon. America became, for centuries, a 'strange new...
[ View Full Essay]