When Montezuma met Cortés : the true story of the meeting that changed history /
On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction, the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas, has long been...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,
[2018]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
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| Summary: | On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction, the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas, has long been the symbol of Cortés's bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched off a wave of colonial invasions across the hemisphere. But is this really what happened? In a departure from traditional tellings, When Montezuma Met Cortés uses "the Meeting," as Restall dubs their first encounter, as the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Cortés and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cortés's and Montezuma's posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures and the worlds in which they lived, leading, step by step, to a dramatic inversion of the old story. As Restall takes us through this sweeping, revisionist account of a pivotal moment in modern civilization, he calls into question our view of the history of the Americas, and, indeed, of history itself. |
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| Physical Description: | xxxiii, 526 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates (some color) : illustrations, maps, genealogical tables ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780062427267 0062427261 |