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To: Verginius Rufus

Yeah, i read Cortez’s account. Don’t underestimate the Conquistador’s toughness though. They (100-200 men) had to fight their way OUT of the capital city - surrounded by tens of thousands of Aztec warriors.


12 posted on 03/30/2026 9:26:56 PM PDT by BereanBrain
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To: BereanBrain
Bernal Diaz wrote a vivid first-hand narrative of the conquest of New Spain (the abridged Penguin translation is still pretty long).

One of the young soldiers involved in the conquest was Juan Cabrillo, later the first European to explore the coast of California.

19 posted on 03/31/2026 6:04:29 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: BereanBrain; Verginius Rufus; Texan5; SunkenCiv

Cortez’ letters to King Carlos are one good source, another is the book written by his officer, Bernal Diaz. When studying in Mexico City, I took a linguistics class and covered some Aztec language (Nahuatl). The people who helped Cortez were of the Tlaxcalla tribe. Not long in the past a prior Aztec governor decided the people needed more protein, so developed the institution of the “flowery” war. The prisoners taken in those wars were sacrificed and eaten. They had no large meat animals like cattle, buffalo, antelope, etc. Only turkeys and chickens and some fish. The Nahuatl word for tortillas is Tlaxcali. Aztecs and other Indians did not die immediately of the flu. Over a century, millions of Indians died of various new diseases. Some estimate the North American Indian population was cut to 1/10th of the number from before the Spaniards showed up.


31 posted on 03/31/2026 7:59:54 PM PDT by gleeaikin (Question Authority: report facts, and post their links in your message)
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