Tenochtitlan: A Retelling of The Conquest

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NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

In a sense, 1521 is Mexico's 1619. A foundational moment that has for a long time been shaped by just one perspective, a European one. The story of how Hernán Cortés and his small army of conquistadors conquered the mighty Aztec Empire, in the heart of what's now modern Mexico City, has become a foundational myth of European dominance in the Americas. This is the story that for centuries was largely accepted as the truth. But in recent decades researchers have pieced together a more nuanced, complicated version based on indigenous accounts, a version that challenges many of the bedrock assumptions about how European Christians came to control the Western Hemisphere. In this episode, the story of the fall of Tenochtitlán.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Many years ago, it is said that the God of sun and war instructed the people of a valley
0:27.2	in what's now Mexico's capital to build a new city wherever they saw an eagle perched
0:33.2	on a cactus eating a snake. They searched and searched until finally they came across
0:39.8	that eagle on an island in the middle of a lake. And it was there they built the floating
0:46.9	city, Tenochtitna. Over the next 175 years, this city grew, becoming an economic and political
0:57.1	powerhouse. And by the year 1500, Tenochtitlawn was the beating heart of a great civilization,
1:04.8	the Aztec Empire.
1:18.6	So in the year 1500, Tenochtitlawn is one of the largest cities in the world at that time.
1:24.7	It has probably about 150,000 people. At this point, London might have like 60,000 Rome has maybe
1:36.4	25,000. Tenochtitlawn hummed with life.
1:44.5	It had enormous markets where tons of goods were bought and sold. Traders and customers
1:50.4	came for the goods but stayed for the gossip. Festive celebrations marked the calendar,
1:59.1	inspiring song and dance.
2:03.2	Valiant warriors traversed the countryside, conquering village after village,
2:07.5	expanding the reach of this great city. It said you would know the Aztec warriors were
2:12.5	approaching your village when you heard this whistle.
2:15.5	And like all great cities, it had temples and places for worship.
2:25.4	At the center of the city, these temples, pyramids, rose so high you might feel the
2:31.4	winds of paradise blow through your hair at their peak. Many met their end here. Humans
2:40.6	were sacrificed to please or plead with the gods. And not far from there,
2:47.0	so to lavish palace that housed the emperor, who is Muqtazuma. Muqtazuma and his close circle
2:53.0	of ruling elite. These elite lived better than most. Whereas the commoners of the city,
	...

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