Aztecs Case

On November 8, 1519, the Spaniards ventured into the Aztec empire for the very first time. In both selections in Worlds of History, Diaz and Broken Spears detail the events that occur between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. There were similarities such as both selections described mutual politeness, but that each side were apprehensive of the others true intensions. The differences in both selections were clear because in Diaz’s account, he highlighted the fact that the Spaniards were trying to bring Christianity to the Aztecs and show them that the barbaric lifestyles that they were living were wrong. While the Broken Spears’ account highlighted the Spaniards greed and blood thirst.

A similarity that had to do with the two accounts were that both sides, the Spaniards and the Aztecs, were very polite and cordial. When Montezuma and Cortes first met, they complimented each other (Broken Spears, 622-23), and gave each other gifts of gold and other ornaments. Cortes gave Montezuma a gold cord that was dipped in musk, while Montezuma had given Cortes a necklace made of golden crabs (Diaz, 614-15). Cortes and Montezuma were both trying to get the upper hand by being polite and by showing the other side that they had nothing to fear, by doing this they could understand the other side better while thinking of what they should do next.

Another similarity was that both sides seemed to be cautious of the other, despite their mutual politeness. In Diaz’s account, Cortes’ soldiers reminded him that he should be carful when it came to Montezuma because they could never be sure when Montezuma might decide to go against the Spaniards and attack (Diaz, 620). Montezuma said that he heard that the Spaniards shot out flashes of lightning, and killed many Indians with horses, and that they were angry gods (Diaz, 617), Montezuma also said that he was in agony for five days because he didn’t know what to expect (Broken Spears 622). These statements reveal that Montezuma was weary of the Spaniards true identities. Neither side could fully trust the other because they both had a goal in mind. Montezuma had to protect the Aztec way of life and his empire, while Cortes was in search of gold to take back to Spain.

Between the two accounts, a significant difference was that in the Diaz’s account, Diaz recounted Cortes talking to Montezuma about Christianity. He talked about how there was only One true God and that Montezuma should give up the gods that he worshipped because it will only lead him to hellfire, Montezuma replied to Cortes and said that he was aware of Christianity for some time and that although he thought that Cortes’ God was good, Montezuma had no doubt that his gods were good too (Diaz, 616). Diaz’s account highlighted this conversation because for the Spaniards, one of their goals along with finding gold was to spread Christianity. In the Broken Spears account, this conversation was not there at all, this is because