Reader Question Igor Gustavo, Caxias do Sul, RS
He was an Aztec leader of the 16th century. Under his rule, between 1502 and 1520, the civilization that occupied the current Mexican territory reached its economic and military peak. But the emperor was best known for a mistake: being friendly with European colonists. “At the time, the region where Mexico City is today was one of the richest and most populous in the world, largely due to the system of domination and collection of tributes, which attracted the Spaniards”, explains Eduardo Natalino dos Santos, USP historian.
The meeting between Montezuma and Hernán Cortez, chief of the Spanish troops, at the end of 1519, was the beginning of the end of the Aztecs. The relationship started out friendly, but turned into a bloody battle. Cortez won, took subjects and gold from the Aztecs, buried temples and destroyed the city of Tenochtitlán – it was on its rubble that the Mexican capital was built. Montezuma’s death in 1520 divides historians. In the most accepted version, he would have been stoned by the Aztecs themselves, as they considered him weak and obedient to the Spaniards.
Read too:
– Who were the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs?
– Who are the main Mayan gods?
– What are the biggest mistakes committed by great explorers?
– The biggest mistakes of great leaders in history