A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Cortés that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the Americas On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction—the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas—has long been the symbol of Cortés’s bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched off a wave of colonial invasions across the hemisphere. But is this really what happened? In a departure from traditional tellings, When Montezuma Met Cortés uses “the Meeting”—as Restall dubs their first encounter—as the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Cortés and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cortés’s and Montezuma’s posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures, and the worlds in which they lived—leading, step by step, to a dramatic inversion of the old story. As Restall takes us through this sweeping, revisionist account of a pivotal moment in modern civilization, he calls into question our view of the history of the Americas, and, indeed, of history itself.

Places Aztec civilization and history in the context of world history Montezuma (ca. 1466-1520), who had been educated as a priest and had served well as a military commander, ascended to the Aztec throne in about 1502 on the basis of his military record and reputation for piety. As Peter G. Tsouras demonstrates, almost immediately Montezuma transformed himself from a man of good judgment to a pitiless autocrat. He killed indiscriminately at home and waged wars of conquest against his neighbors, adding territory in contemporary Honduras and Nicaragua to his empire. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico at the head of a Spanish expedition. Montezuma believed the invaders to be gods fulfilling the prophecy that the god Quetzalcoatl would return. He failed to resist and cautiously offered gifts. As a result, Cortés and the conquistadors marched on the capital and seized Montezuma. The monarch fell, surrendering his power, wealth, and even the sovereignty of his people, almost gladly. He became a puppet of the Spaniards and finally allied himself in battle against his own people. When the emperor's brother at last led an uprising, the ungrateful Spaniards killed Montezuma. Against the backdrop of ancient Mexico's rich cultural heritage, Tsouras captures the tragedy that befell Mexico during Montezuma's reign.

The convergence of Cortés and Montezuma is the most emblematic event in the birth of what would come to be called "America."

The ultimate maquiladora. Montezuma Strip: First world tech and Third World wages, sprawling from L.A. to East Elpaso Juarez, Guyamas to Phoenix; a thousand gangs, a million locos; and a few wealthy beyond the dreams of god.

In this astonishing work of scholarship that reads like an edge-of-your-seat adventure thriller, acclaimed historian Buddy Levy records the last days of the Aztec empire and the two men at the center of an epic clash of cultures perhaps unequaled to this day. It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in carrying out his intentions by virtually annihilating a proud and accomplished native people is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, commander of the most powerful military machine in the Americas and ruler of a city whose splendor equaled anything in Europe. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astounding battles ever waged. The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.

"An archaeological history of SDSU told through artifacts"--Book jacket.

Charts the adventures of a farmyard cat.