A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Corts that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the AmericasOn November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Corts first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introductionthe prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americashas long been the symbol of Cortss 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 Corts uses the Meetingas Restall dubs their first encounteras the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Corts and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cortss and Montezumas posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures, and the worlds in which they livedleading, 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.
A re-evaluation of the meeting between the Spanish adventurer and the Aztec ruler that challenges history's perspective about the conquest of the Americas.
On November eight, 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 Latin American history professor Matthew 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.
"A new, startlingly persuasive picture of what actually happened during the Spanish Conquest, based on a radical question: What if the tough, canny leaders of these native military empires didn't suddenly fold up like wet cardboard at the arrival of a couple of hundred bearded oddities from some faraway place?" -Charles C. Mann, author of 1491
