In an attempt to formalise the Emperor’s submission to Spain, Cortes installed Christian images in the Aztec temple. Montezuma, on his part, suggested a compromise and placed both Aztec and Christian images in the temple. At this point, Cortes had to leave his deputy in charge and hurry back to Cuba. The high-handedness of the Spanish occupation and their incessant demands for gold provoked a general uprising.
Alvarado ordered a massacre during the Aztec spring festival of Huizilpochtli. When Cortes returned on June , he had on his hands a full-blown crisis. The causeways were cut, the bridges taken away and the net closed. The Spaniards faced acute shortages of food and drinking water.
Cortes was forced to retreat. Around this time, Montezuma died under mysterious circumstances. The Aztecs continued to fight the Spaniards. conquistadores and many more of their Tlaxcalan allies were killed in what is known as the Night of Tears.
Cortes was forced to retreat to Tlaxcala to plan his strategy against the newly elected king, Cuatemoc. By then, the Aztecs were dying from the dreaded smallpox which had come with the Europeans. With just soldiers and horses, Cortes moved into Tenochtitlan as the Aztecs prepared for their final stand. The Aztecs thought they could see omens foretelling that their end was near, and because of this the Emperor chose to give up his life.
The conquest of Mexico had taken two years. Cortes became Captain- General of New Spain in Mexico and was showered with honours by Charles V. From Mexico, the Spaniards extended their control over Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Honduras. Above: a European sketch of Tenochtitlan, sixteenth century.
Below: the grand stairway that led to the temples in the centre of Tenochtitlan, now a ruin in Mexico City. C ONFRONTATION OF C ULTURES T HEMES IN W ORLD H ISTORY