Description

A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Cort s that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the Americas

On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cort s first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introductionthe prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americashas long been the symbol of Cort ss 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 Cort s uses the Meetingas Restall dubs their first encounteras the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Cort s and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cort ss and Montezumas posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures, and the worlds in which they livedleading, 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.

Author: Matthew Restall
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 01/15/2019
Pages: 576
Weight: 1.4lbs
Size: 9.00h x 5.90w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780062427274
Language: English