Of course, Cortes was not a god but only a man. Princess Papantzin had said, “The strangers will bring knowledge of the true God.” Montezuma’s pagan beliefs were about to cause the downfall of his empire.
Cortes and only 650 men and 11 horses began the march across Mexico to Tenochtitlan. But on the way, many men from the neighboring Mexica tribes, already angry and hostile toward the Aztecs, joined him. A woman named Malinche, whom the Spaniards called Doña Marina, translated for Cortes. The band of Spaniards and native warriors swelled to an army of 5,000 before they reached the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
Montezuma welcomed Cortes and his huge army of Indians into Tenochtitlan. “Yes! Yes! Readily!” the emperor responded when he was asked to become a vassal, or servant, of Cortes’ Spanish king. “I promise to observe the laws of your ruler.”
Cortes and his followers were overwhelmed by the city of Tenochtitlan, where 200,000 people lived in four distinct neighborhoods, each with a large open square at its center. Districts were linked by a system of walkways of pounded earth rising above the surface of the lake on which the city was built. The names of the neighborhoods gave an idea of their nature. There was “Mosquito Fen,” “Heron’s Home,” and “Flowery Meadow.” Each neighborhood had its own character, determined by that of the family-based clans who lived there. Each clan, or Calpulli, elected a leader, built its own temple, maintained the law of the Aztecs, and made its own tribute to the emperor.
Bernal Diaz del Castilo, a Spanish chronicler, wrote, “Montezuma’s palace was so huge that even though I walked through it until I was tired, I never saw all of it. Not only did it contain vast apartments for lodging, but a courthouse, a pagan temple, offices for scribes, a library for their writings, meeting rooms so large that some of them could comfortably seat 3,000 people.
“Montezuma had separate apartments for each of his wives and her daughters. In comfort, the royal ladies passed much of their time weaving fine cloths and embroidering them with exquisite threads made not only of the finest materials, but also of spun gold, silver, and copper.”
“Enchanting!” the Spaniards exclaimed as they walked through the sprawling palace gardens, smelled the exotic flowers and watched thousands of hummingbirds hovering. In the emperor’s zoo they got their first look at many of the unusual creatures of this new country.
But the time for admiring the Aztecs’ achievements soon ended. The problem Cortes had left behind in Cuba soon caught up with him. Diego Velasquez, his commander in Cuba, had sent 18 vessels and almost 1,000 men to punish Cortes for his disobedience. Cortes took 250 of his men and left the great city of the Aztecs, on a march to the coast. Not wanting to lose the ground he gained with Montezuma, he instructed the rest of his soldiers, “Stay here in Tenochtitlan, as guests of the emperor.”