Aztec Guard Spots Spanish Ship, 1519

Moctezuma (1466-1520) was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520. In 1517, Moctezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on the east coast of his empire. Moctezuma ordered that he be kept informed of any new sightings of foreigners at the coast and posted extra watch guards to accomplish this. When Cortes arrived in 1519, Moctezuma was immediately informed. The first contact between Indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Conquistador Hernan Cortes and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. This image was drawn by Diego Duran (1537-1588) a Dominican friar best known for his authorship of one of the earliest Western books on the history and culture of the Aztecs, The History of the Indies of New Spain, (The Duran Codex) a book that was much criticized in his lifetime for helping the heathen maintain their culture

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1519 Aztec Codex Colonization Conquer Conqueror Conquistador Cortes Cortez Duran Hernan Mesoamerica Moctezuma Montezuma Motecuhzoma Moteuczoma Xocoyotzin

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