Montezuma's Greeting to Hernan Cortes

1. How does King Moctezuma react to the arrival of the Europeans? Does he show fear?
2. Does he act superior to them, or does he address them as equals, or does he
subordinate himself to them?
3. How does he seem to explain the appearance of these strangers?
4. What ideas explain the behavior of the King?

The letter written by Hernan Cortes is presumably written for the king and queen of
Spain. Within his letter, it described his visit to the Aztec island city of Tenochtitlán (OpenStax
1.1) and his meeting with the king of the Aztecs, Montezuma. He explains how he enters
through a wooden bridge to enter the city. As soon as he crossed the bridge to enter the town,
he is immediately greeted by the king "and with him some two hundred lords" (Hernan Cortes:
Letter from Mexico, Paragraph 1). Here is one of the first-hand accounts of Cortes viewing the
Aztecs who came to greet him as "other." He describes the lords to have been "all barefoot and
dressed in a different costume, but also very rich in their way" (Hernan Cortes: Letter from
Mexico, Paragraph 1). The way he stated how their clothes was a costume and each different
from one another, he had no regard to the culture of Aztec, more so when he says they are very
rich in their own way. He acknowledges the fact that the Aztecs had wealth but not the same
wealth as in Spain. More accounts further into the letter show Cortes views the Aztecs as
inferior people.

Whereas, Moctezuma initially saw the Spaniards as gods children who came to reclaim
the land and the people. 1Initially, it is fair to assume Moctezuma was not afraid to meet the
Cortes. The 200 lords described by Cortes, are likely to be a combination of the king's army,
noblemen, and some commoners interested in seeing their gods child. If Moctezuma were
afraid to meet Cortes, then he would of meet him with his army rather than lords. Montezumas
religion causes him to make a poor decision on his view of Cortes. 2During the conversation
between the two, Moctezuma states "that we shall obey you and hold you as our Lord in place"
(Hernan Cortes: Letter from Mexico, Paragraph 3). He placed Spain as superior to his people.
3
As well as since they came from a place where the sun rises, it further enforced the belief that
Cortes is descendant of a god. Moctezuma likely saw the appearance of these Spaniards to be
very well dressed and mannered. 4The concept of "other," played a key role in the actions of
Moctezuma and Cortes. Since the Aztecs used religion as a means to communicate to the
gods, Cortes was able to manipulate the Aztecs into thinking he has been sent from God (CH1
Lecture 1). "Other" is a concept of how people view and interpret things that are different from
what they are used to seeing. The Aztecs and the Spaniards lived separate lifestyles which is
why the Spaniards appeared to superior to the Aztecs, whereas the Aztecs were inferior and
primitive to the Spaniards.