In Mexico there were Indians and then there were the Aztecs. Most Indian tribes practiced limited human sacrifice, but the Aztecs used human sacrifice as a political tool to instill terror and fear in the competing tribes. The Aztecs were known for celebrations that led to the sacrifice of thousands of captives, and they used cannibalism for the sake of terror alone. Other Indians referred to the Aztecs as the “Sons of Dogs.” Cortes conquered 300,000 Aztecs with just six hundred Spanish soldiers, a few dozen horses and war dogs, and hundreds of thousands of Indian allies who absolutely hated the Aztecs. The Spaniards were not gentle with the native people, but they never came close to the kind of brutality the Aztecs had inflicted on the other Indians. European disease was the biggest destroyer of the people, and that was unintended.
Yes. As many as 90% of Native Americans died of Old World diseases. Most never even saw a white man when they succumbed.
The Spaniards and the Aztecs deserved each other-they shared a lot of the same really bad characteristics-and unfortunately for the rest of the tribes, their rumble ended up including everyone. The Spaniards devised certain methods of torture as a terror tool, too...
Cortez’ native interpreter-and mistress-Malinche was the daughter of a tribal chief who was a bitter enemy of Moctezuma’s-so she was more than eager to assist in his takedown, but even though she let Cortez take their son back to Spain when he left, she refused to go there with him, so maybe she’d just used him to get revenge for her tribe-I suppose you could say they both got what they wanted out of the deal...
These were Aztec allies. From the article...”Aztec-allied Texcocanos, or Acolhuas”.
To add to your post - The few hundred Spanish soldiers were not invulnerable in battle. Aztec weaponry was strong enough to pierce the armor the Spanish wore. The decisive advantage was the thousands of Indian allies.
“European disease” turned out not to be the biggest culprit in the native die off at that time. A few years ago the pathogen was ID’d as a hantavirus causing Hemorrhagic fever which is native to the New World. The same pathogen had caused a population crash before.