<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cortes8.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1087 aligncenter" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cortes8-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="300" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">http://www.lilalions.com/blog/CM1A_LF/</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The Letters from Mexico written by Cortes to the King and Queen of Spain, offer a glimpse of the time of the Spanish conquistadors and the exploration of the New World during the early 1500s. These letters describe the culture of the indigenous civilization, the Aztecs, their ancient city, their culture, and their way of life before the destruction of the ancient civilization, illustrating the clashing between two different cultures, and illustrate a very important perspective of the events in Spanish exploration of the New World through one of the most important figures in history.</p>
<!--more-->Hernan Cortes was born 1485 into a noble family in Medellin, Spain. He studied law in Salamanca, ran away when he was nineteen, and entered the military under Diego Velazquez. He died 1547 ("Cortés, Hernán"). Cortes is the most famous conquistador in history known for being mistaken as a deity by the natives, having toppled the great city of Technochtitlan, and facilitated the fall of the Aztec Empire ("conquistadores").  During his travels in the New World, Cortes had contact with the various Native inhabitants and the Aztec people writing reports or letters to the King and Queen of Spain explaining various situations and events that happened. Like many notable works during this era, Cortes’ letters described the native peoples explaining in great detail about their wealth, “harmony,” culture, and civilization. Like other conqueror of any nation, he views the Natives as barbaric and uncivilized: an attitude that is often illustrated within his letters.

The letters that Cortes wrote also give great insight into what the Conquistadors at the time were thinking of the Natives. One thing that sets the letters apart from other “works” is that it offers a conqueror’s perspective on history. Despite his notions of the natives, he still provides a very detailed account of what their culture, rich descriptions, praise, and even admiration towards the Natives to the point where he would compare them to Christian or Islamic nations. In one of his letters, he marvels at the structure and of the city: “There are in the city many large and beautiful houses, and the reason for this is that all the chiefs of the land, who are Montezuma's vassals, have houses in the city and live there for part of the year; and in addition there are many rich citizens who likewise have very good houses. All these houses have very large and very good rooms and also very pleasant gardens of various sorts of flowers both on the upper and lower floors” (Fiero), illustrating his awe at what the Aztecs achieved.

Another comparable work regarding the Natives and the New World is “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” by Bartolome De Las Casas, a monk and philanthropist who objected against Spanish conquest in defense of the Natives, having witnessed their subjugation. His work provides a point of view that is different, completely opposite of the conqueror’s perspective. In his work, he focuses much on cruelty done to the Natives by the Spanish. His work also gain considerable influence and advocated for more humane policies regarding the Natives.

Cortes’ letters were mainly received by his superiors and the King and Queen of Spain. He sent five long dispatches to the King describing his conquest. His fourth and fifth letters were not published until the nineteenth century (Angel) possibly because they were the least exciting of the five letters. The rest of the letters were quickly known throughout Europe and were translated into Latin, Italian, and German. They were published around 1522 to 1532 (Angel). Back then, the European civilizations where curious about the New World and its inhabitants and Cortes’ letters provided them a glimpse, albeit, a biased view, of the Natives and the New World. Many are still fascinated by ancient Native American civilizations. However, the letters of Cortes and many other works of the like are not as well known to the average citizen.  Yet, the fact that his writings are still studied and being published in books up to today represent that his writings still hold much value and relevance in today’s world, for it could be said that it is Cortes’ letters that paved the way for European opportunity (Angel). It was Cortes and his conquest of Mexico that allowed for the influx of wealth being poured into Spain and the rest of Europe. The discovery of the New World brought many new and interesting trades, foods, crops, and spices. At the same time, it meant massive death by common diseases brought over by the settlers (John), the destruction of their culture, the forced conversion of Christianity imposed upon them, and the enslavement of the indigenous people. In fact, the first fifty years of contact almost killed the whole native population and other densely populated areas.

Personally, I was intrigued that Cortes found many similarities between his culture and the Natives to the point where he compares the great city of Technochtitlan to the Spanish city of Seville. Yet, he still finds one fault that lead to a great divide between the Natives and himself, leading onward to a culture clash, which unfolded into the mass extermination of the Natives and the elimination of their way of life: the fact that they were polytheistic and were not of the same religion as Cortes. Because of this fact, he continued to view the Natives as barbaric people who need to be brought the knowledge of God: “I will say only that these people live almost like those in Spain, and in as much harmony and order as there, and considering that they are barbarous and so far from the knowledge of God and cut off from all civilized nations, it is truly remarkable to see what they have achieved in all things” (Fiero). Although Cortes believed that the Natives needed to be Christian or Catholic, religion and beliefs were not the only reason why Cortes wanted to conquer the New World, one should note that there was wealth to be had by doing so. From a much broader perspective, economic interest also played a  major role in the conquest.

Although Cortes’ actions facilitated the growth of wealth into Europe’s economy and provided great detail of what was once the Aztec Empire before its fall, offering a perspective of the events during his conquest, much that could be learned from the Aztecs have been lost. Generations should look back at it and learn one of the most important lessons that is still very relevant in today’s world. As illustrated in Cortes’ letters, culture clashes happen when people are not able to be able to think beyond the context of their own culture, thus creating conflict. Cortes had no doubts in his belief of the superiority of the Christian faith and did what he believed was what should be done in his understanding of it, which was to conquer for “God, king, and country” no matter what it meant (Angel). In the end, Technochtitlan was leveled to the ground. All the gold on the structures of the city were melted down and sent to Spain.  The Natives lost much of their identity and forgotten many of the great achievements that they had, and experienced and generations of conflict. Many of what the Aztecs valued, ancient knowledge, and what future generations could also benefit from their achievements have been destroyed, lost in time.
<p style="text-align: center;">WORKS CITED</p>
Angel Delgado Gómez "Cortés, Fernando" The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican

Cultures. Ed. Davíd Carrasco. Oxford University Press, 2006.  Austin Community College. 25 April 2011 &lt;http://www.oxfordreference.com.lsproxy.austincc.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&amp;entry=t221.e151&gt;

"conquistadores"  A Dictionary of World History. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford

Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Austin Community College.  25 April 2011&lt;http://www.oxfordreference.com.lsproxy.austincc.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&amp;entry=t48.e917&gt;

"Cortés, Hernán"  The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. Gordon Campbell. Oxford

University Press, 2003.  Austin Community College.  25 April 2011 &lt;http://www.oxfordreference.com.lsproxy.austincc.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&amp;entry=t175.e963&gt;

John M. D. Pohl, Michael E. Smith, Deborah L. Nichols "Aztec Civilization"   <em>The Oxford </em>

<em>Companion to Archaeology</em>. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996. <em>Oxford Reference Online</em>. Oxford University Press. Austin Community College. 25 April 2011 &lt;http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&amp;entry=t136.e0043-s0004&gt;

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