Cuauhtémoc

King of the Aztec Empire (r. 1520-1521)

• Born: c. 1495
• Birthplace: Tenochtitlán, Aztec Empire (now in Mexico)
• Died: February 28, 1525
• Place of death: Honduras

Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec king and the nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma II, resisted incursions of the Spaniards and their Mexican Indian allies into the Aztec Empire. Despite ultimately losing the empire and being hanged by Hernán Cortés, he remains a symbol of national pride in Mexico because of his courage, fierce resistance, tenacity, and leadership.

Early Life

Born into the family of Aztec kings, Cuauhtémoc (kwow-TEHM-ohk) lived an early life of privilege. He was reared to become a warrior and devoted to the cult of the war god Huitzilopochtli. Cuauhtémoc’s childhood coincided with early Spanish expeditions into the Caribbean basin, when unsettling rumors drifted into Mexico.

His uncle, Montezuma II , who ruled during this time of growing uncertainty, continued Aztec expansion into the south, spreading toward Maya territory. As a warrior, Cuauhtémoc undoubtedly participated in the campaigns of expansion, taking prisoners whose hearts were offered in sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli, high atop the central pyramid of Tenochtitlán.

When Hernán Cortés and a small group of Spanish soldiers arrived on the coast of Mexico in 1519, Cuauhtémoc witnessed Montezuma’s concern about who they were and what they wanted. The arrival of the Spaniards transformed local politics. While Montezuma tried to convince the Europeans to return to the islands without coming to his capital city, enemies of the Aztecs joined with the invaders, hoping to remove the Aztecs from power. Cuauhtémoc was privy to the events that eventually brought the foreigners into Tenochtitlán, where they took Montezuma hostage.

Life’s Work

Cuauhtémoc was among those Aztec nobles who believed Montezuma was too cautious in dealing with the Spaniards. Although he respected his uncle’s authority, and his role as Huitzilopochtli’s high priest, Cuauhtémoc would have preferred more drastic measures to rid the Aztecs of the interlopers. He watched in dismay as the coarse Spanish soldiers moved into one of the palaces on the temple square. Montezuma, however, continued to insist that they be provided with food and gifts.

Another of Montezuma’s nephews, Cuitláhuac, also was determined to get rid of the Spaniards. The opportunity to attack the invaders came when, on the absence of Cortés from the capital city, one of his lieutenants ordered Spanish soldiers to attack unarmed Aztec warriors dancing at a festival to Huitzilopochtli. This act brought on the Spaniards the rage of the Aztecs, who could no longer be restrained by Montezuma’s orders. When Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán and found his men under siege, he prepared to evacuate them from the city under cover of darkness. In this tense situation, Montezuma attempted to address his people from a palace rampart; there he was struck by a rock and died.

With Montezuma’s death, the Aztecs elected Cuitláhuac to fill his position. Under the leadership of Cuitláhuac, armed opposition to the Spaniards intensified. As the Aztecs attacked the fleeing Spaniards and inflicted many casualties, their spirits rose. Their new leader, Cuitláhuac, however, came down with smallpox (brought into Mexico by the Spaniards) and died shortly after coming to power. To rule in his place, the Aztecs chose Cuauhtémoc. Still a young man, Cuauhtémoc faced an ominous situation. Cortés and his men, having found shelter among their Indian allies, were resting and regrouping, preparing for an assault on Tenochtitlán. This time they would lay siege to the city with ships that they planned to build in the heart of Mexico.

Unlike Montezuma, Cuauhtémoc had few doubts or illusions about who the Europeans might be and what they hoped to accomplish in Mexico. He was convinced that they were dangerous enemies who had duped his uncle and who were bent on seizing the empire. He brooked no compromise with them and prepared to fight them to the death. Cuauhtémoc was determined to feed the war god Huitzilopochtli with the hearts of Spanish soldiers. Thus began the battles for the city of Tenochtitlán and ultimate control of the Aztec Empire.

The Spaniards continued to count on the support of those Indian allies who had chafed under Aztec rule. Despite valiant attempts by Cuauhtémoc to convince his Indian enemies that the Spaniards posed the greatest danger, he could not win back the support of those who felt their day of liberation from Aztec rule had finally come. Yet Cuauhtémoc was fully convinced that Huitzilopochtli would lead him to victory. When his armies inflicted casualties on the enemy forces, he took great pleasure in marching the captured Spanish soldiers up the steps of the great temple of Huitzilopochtli, where their hearts were ripped out and offered to the god as Aztec warriors feasted on their limbs. The Spaniards often watched in horror, praying to the Christian God and the Virgin Mary that they might be spared death at the hands of what they believed were heathens.

As the siege of Tenochtitlán tightened, the Aztecs stubbornly fought on, refusing to surrender even when the food and fresh water supplies to their island city were cut off. When the victorious Spaniards entered Tenochtitlán, they found a decimated population. Survivors had resorted to eating rats and grass in order to survive. Many had died from dehydration because the brackish water of the lake was unfit for human consumption.

Even with the horrible circumstances of the devastated city, Cuauhtémoc refused to surrender. Instead, he and his advisers decided that he would attempt to flee with his family across the lake to a safer spot where he might continue to lead the resistance against the invaders. When Spanish soldiers captured the vessel in which he was leaving Tenochtitlán, however, he was finally turned over to Cortés.

Many of the Spaniards hoped that Cuauhtémoc would reveal the location of the gold and other treasure they had lost when they were forced to flee Tenochtitlán. Because he steadfastly refused to reveal the location, he was tortured. His captors burned his feet with hot oil; he finally relented and told them that the treasure they had taken from Montezuma had been thrown into the lake. Even taking into account the sacrificial religion of the Aztecs, the barbarous torture of Cuauhtémoc and the Spanish greed for gold became enduring symbols of the crass violence of the invaders.

Cortés had assured Cuauhtémoc that he would allow him to continue as ruler of his people, but only if Cuauhtémoc did the bidding of the Spaniards. In 1524, however, when Cortés realized he had to take a group of men to Honduras to put down Spanish soldier Cristóbal de Olid’s challenge to his authority, he took with him the Aztec nobles he suspected would lead a rebellion in his absence. Cuauhtémoc and several other Indian leaders were forced to march south with the Spaniards. For reasons that remain unclear, some Spaniards became convinced that these men posed a danger to them even while traveling south. Consequently, in February of 1525, Cuauhtémoc and two other Mexican Indian rulers were found guilty of treason and were hanged in Honduras, marking the end of Aztec rule.

Significance

Cuauhtémoc’s life serves as a reminder that even in defeat, heroes are made. Cuauhtémoc was the last ruler of the great Aztec Empire. The Spanish siege of Tenochtitlán and Cuauhtémoc’s valiant death marked the end of Aztec rule and the beginning of colonial rule over Mexico by the Spanish. Into the twenty-first century, Cuauhtémoc is revered as a true symbol of Mexican pride for his perseverance and his refusal to be subjugated at the hands of the Spaniards.

Bibliography

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1963. This firsthand account of the conquest of Mexico provides a Spanish soldier’s view of Cuauhtémoc’s strategy, fierce resistance, and bravery.

Leon-Portilla, Miguel, ed. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. An excellent counterpoint to Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s account, this compilation of indigenous responses to the conquest contrasts Montezuma’s vacillation with Cuauhtémoc’s steadfast opposition to the Spanish presence in Mexico.

Meyer, Michael C., William L. Sherman, and Susan M. Deeds. The Course of Mexican History. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. This engagingly written and beautifully illustrated textbook gives an authoritative account of the rise of the Aztecs and their precipitous fall to the Spaniards.

Padden, R. C. The Hummingbird and the Hawk: Conquest and Sovereignty in the Valley of Mexico, 1503-1541. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. An account of the conquest of Mexico, steeped in adventure and drama, which provides a thorough description of the encounter between Cortés and Cuauhtémoc.

West, Rebecca. Survivors in Mexico. Edited by Bernard Schweizer. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. Provides a short account of the enduring influence of Cuauhtémoc on Mexican culture, focusing on the 250-foot monument erected in his honor on one of the principal thoroughfares of downtown Mexico City.