On May 22, 1521, Spanish forces and their indigenous allies imposed a suffocating siege on the capital of the powerful Aztec Empire (Tenochtitlan), which turned into Mexico City. The battle lasted for nearly 3 months, and ended with the fall of the Aztec Empire, which was famous for its large cities and the Spanish imposing their control over a large swath of North America.
In a report published by the American magazine “SMITHSONIAN-MAG”, writer Livia Gershon says that Mexico City is currently commemorating the 500th anniversary of that battle, which profoundly affected the formation of Mexican society in the modern era. Read also How did Mexico lose more than half of its land to America?Water Walls Become a Cultural Center … Mexico Shuts Down the Last “Island Jail”Arabic books on the memory of Mexican society … a legacy suffering from neglect in the Palliation Library Palestine from the angle of world literature.. the struggle of the indigenous peoples in Mexico
Alternative
historical reading
The city authorities planned to organize a number of events, including the celebration of the Spring Equinox at the Koquilco archaeological site, and academic seminars on historical accounts and facts surrounding the battle. According to Mayor Claudia Shinbaum , the celebrations will highlight Mexico’s cultural diversity, without ignoring its violent history, in order to offer an alternative vision of events different from those recorded by the Spaniards.
“The fall of Tenochtitlan began with the frequency of plagues and attacks, and a colonial rule that lasted 300 years,” Sheinbaum told The Associated Press.
As part of the celebrations of the anniversary of the historic battle, the city authorities will change the name of “Alvarado” Street, to “Mexico-Tenochtitlan” Street, which Shinbaum revealed in a tweet on Twitter.
The newspaper “Mexico Daily Post” (Mexico Daily Post) that the tweet included a video clip narrating the massacre committed by “Pedro de Alvarado” – who bears his name – when he invaded the Aztec empire with Hernan Cortes.
The video claims, according to the translation of the Mexican newspaper, that “when the celebration began, the crowd gathered in the courtyard of the temple to dance and sing; but the Spaniards closed the exits, and attacked the defenseless men, women and children, who were celebrating in the great Tenochtitlan temple .. The Spaniards killed hundreds of nobles and commoners without Distinction, with their steel spears and swords, while others were run over in a desperate attempt to escape. “
The History and Identity Controversy
According to the Associated Press, since the 1920s, the Mexican government has tried to establish a unified vision of the country’s history in which all Mexicans boast of the common heritage of indigenous people and Spaniards; But continuing discrimination against indigenous and black people left many skeptical of this vision.
The 500th anniversary of the Battle of Tenochtitlan coincides with the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain, as the Spanish officially recognized Mexico as an independent nation on August 24, 1821.
In 2019, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asked King Philip VI of Spain to make an apology for invading Mexico, citing “violations of what we now call human rights.” The Spanish foreign minister replied that “it is strange to receive this request now to apologize for the events that took place 500 years ago.”
As part of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquest, the British newspaper “Guardian” revealed that a number of indigenous members of the “Zapatista” movement organized a trip from Mexico to Spain by boat, in order to draw attention to the continuing discrimination against the indigenous population. around the world.
Mexico’s ancient civilization
According to the British Museum , the Aztecs, also known as Mexica, arrived in the Tenochtitlan region in 1325. Over the next two centuries, they built the city and constructed pyramids, temples, palaces and aqueducts. The Spanish Empire later conquered most of central and southern Mexico, establishing a global trading network.
According to the author, Cortes was able to occupy Tenochtitlan thanks to his alliance with the indigenous people, who were persecuted by the Aztec Empire, as they fought by the thousands on the side of the Spanish forces, which did not exceed 900 fighters. The main factor in deciding the battle was the spread of a smallpox epidemic in the city.
Half of the city’s 300,000 residents probably died before the Spanish entered the city, Carlos Fiesca Trivino, a medical historian at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told the Associated Press, leaving the Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc with “a few troops left to fight.” . The defeat of the Aztecs paved the way for the continued control of the Spanish in the region, including the campaign of Francisco Pizarro on the Inca in 1533.
“The Spaniards seemed so convinced that this model had worked so well that de Alvarado was about to invade China from the port of Acapulco, before he fought another battle in western Mexico and was killed in it,” said David Carballo, an archaeologist and anthropologist at Boston University.
Carballo adds that the Spanish rule of Mexico “made the world a realistic globalization because it connected the Atlantic Ocean with the oceans and all inhabited continents. This led to what we now call globalization.”