Brief biography of Moctezuma

When the Castilians arrived in America they could never imagine the great diversity of cultures that would be found scattered throughout the vast territory that had to be discovered. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to focus on making a brief biography of Moctezuma, one of the most important emperors of the aztec civilization, as he was the one who had to make contact with the Castilians upon his arrival, something that produced a series of problems with his own people that would end up causing them to assassinate him.

Index

1. Lineage of Moctezuma
2. Moctezuma's early years in social life
3. Campaigns carried out during his tenure
4. The arrival of the Castilians and the beginning of the end of the Mexica Empire
5. Death of Moctezuma

To start with this brief biography of Moctezuma we have to place ourselves in the origin of his family, he was the son of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin who had been the ruler of the city of Tenochtitlán. Therefore, we will see that he belonged to the great elite of the Mexica people.

On the maternal side, he was the son of Nezahualcóyotl, that is, a Mexica princess (princess in this case comes to define member of the nobility), whose father had also held certain positions of considerable influence within the capital.

The exact date of birth of the emperor is not known, although it seems that he was probably born by the year 1466 in Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Mexica Empire, being named emperor in the year 1502 Y dying on June 29, 1520 at the hands of his own people, also in the same city.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover a short summary about the Aztec Empire.

We will find that in the year 1502 Moctezuma was elected as high priest after his predecessor died in a great flood that same year. One of the main reasons why he was selected for this position was that he had previously held the position of tlacochcálcalt, that is to say, of military chief during the military campaigns of the emperor, Ahuizotl.

From that moment on he was doing everything possible to prepare his rise to power and in this way we will find that between the regions of Tlaxcala and Xoconochco a large amount of lands dependent on him that generated a large amount of tributes.

Continuing with our brief biography of Moctezuma we must know that from 1503 we will find a strong performance in military campaigns. That same year he annexed Achiotlan (belonging to the Oxaca region), which was also the first conquest made as Tlatoani (emperor).

Between 1505-1507 we will find a certain halt in the conquests due to a series of famines that flogged the said town, so it will not be surprising that during that period what they did the most outside upgrade templesIn order to silence the gods and that they stop sending him misery, from that time they are the Teocalli of the Sacred War, which belonged to the Greater Temple. Even so, there were two conquests, one in 1505 over Yanhuitlan and in 1506 over Zozollan.

In the year 1507 we will find the conquest of Teutepec, for later between the years 1508-1513 to attack the populations of Huexotzinco and Cholollan. Although within the same time there will be two other conquests as well, as was the one of the year 1510 on Amatlan and in the year 1511 would act on Tlachquiyauhco, Icpactepec, Nopallan and Izquixochitepec, thus ending up controlling all the territory belonging to to Oxaca.

For these years his army was enormous and acted at the same time on various points as we have been observing. Therefore these first moments as Tlatoani, gave to the figure of him a certain importance, since the Mexica Empire every time had more tributes pertaining to the new incorporations, besides having a great number of slaves and personnel for sacrifices.

As a summary of the campaigns that occurred up to the year 1517 we can say that Moctezuma managed to conquer 450 populations of all Mesoamerica.

Image: Mexicanísimo

Continuing with our short biography of Moctezuma we must stop at a critical point for said civilization, since the Castilian presence in the new world was an obvious sign of the beginning of the decline of other civilizations.

In the first place we must emphasize the importance that pre-Columbian peoples gave to their mythologies, for which natural phenomena were consequences of the gods, which were very dangerous. For this reason, these peoples created large temples where they made human sacrifices to appease the wrath of the gods.

Among the most bloodthirsty civilizations, we have to say that it was the Mexica or Aztecs who most carried out these activities. Well, for the Mexica people, a series of acts followed one another that implied that something very important was about to happen and it terrified Moctezuma:

• The appearance of a "pillar of fire" is probably a comment.
• The Huitzilopochtli temple began to burn and although they poured water it did not go out.
• Big noises in the jungle (very thunderous noises).
• Part of Tenochtitlán was flooded.
• Appearance of figures with strange heads on never seen beasts (possibly Castilian conquerors on their horses).

All this series of elements made the Mexica themselves believe that the Castilians were the envoys of Quetzalcóatl, a god who returned from the ocean to claim what was his and destroy the Mexica people. In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover a list with aztec gods so that you know them in detail.

In the year 1519 the first contact with the Castilians was had, as they were seen on the coast, where they founded the city of Veracruz, being the interview with between Cuts and Moctezuma the 8 of November of 1519, in which the emperor yielded before all the requests of the Castilian, believing that they were sent by the gods. Although a very important element for all of this to happen was that when Cortés met with Moctezuma, he decided to arrest him and in exchange for keeping him alive, he should swear fidelity.

That way we will find that he became a vassal of Castile, granting the Empire to the Crown, also agreed to be baptized. All these acts were not well seen by the Aztecs, who, being a great warrior people, had allowed invaders to arrive and take control without any problem.

Image: The Bite

Once under the power of the Castilians, we will see how the puppet of Moctezuma was ordering that the tributes that arrived at the Mexica people from the other conquered tribes (discussed above) were being handed over to the troops of Cuts. This was seen by his own people as an element of weakness on the part of the emperor.

One of the most important moments in the brief biography of Moctezuma is found in the events that occurred between the June 28 and 29, 1520, because in the course of the night towards the 29th a series of riots took place in the city, as the people cried out to the tlatoani to act against his allies the Castilians, since they were devastating the entire city to loot everything they had of value, even entering their temples and devastating everything.

On the other hand, they also carried out delegated acts against the women of the Mexica themselves. All this made Cortés himself instigate Moctezuma to go out to the balcony of his palace to calm the population. But this one no longer had faith in him and thus they began to stone him, being a accurate shot that hit him in the head causing death.

After his death, what is known by Castilian historiography as The sad night, since many Castilians perished in the escape from the city that was once again controlled by the Mexica, as well as dying in sacrifices to their gods to quench their thirst for blood.

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