Yesterday, 02:16 PM
There is real history and there is fake history.
Here's some real history.
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From the moment Cortes learned from the Indian chief of Cempoal that the Aztec rule was heavy on the subject tribes, and that disloyalty seethed throughout the Empire only waiting the propitious moment to throw off the supremacy of fear, his plan to unite all the discontented elements in the land under his standard, and to overthrow Montezuma by the very instrument his own cruelties and extortions had created, took shape. His first move was to persuade the Cacique of Cempoal to refuse the tribute of twenty men for sacrifice, and to imprison the collectors sent by Montezuma; by this act of open rebellion the Totonac tribes exposed themselves to the summary vengeance of the Aztecs, and were left with the sole hope of alliance with the Spaniards to save themselves from the consequences of their insubordination. This much accomplished, the next step was to win the gratitude of the tax collectors, and put Montezuma under obligations. This was done by opposing the Cempoalans' wish to sacrifice the collectors forthwith, and by later arranging for the escape by night of two of them, and sending them to Montezuma with his expressions of regret at the indignities they had suffered, and his assurance to the Emperor that he would also effect the escape of the remaining three. These he held as hostages, for when the escape of the two became known the next day, Cortes feigned great wrath at the negligence of the guards and, in order to secure the remaining prisoners, he put them in irons and sent them on board one of his own caravels. The news of these events spread quickly, and the Totanacs, convinced that the hour of successful revolt against Aztec oppression was at hand, rose as one man against Montezuma, and committed their lives and fortunes to the Spaniards. This result was a diplomatic victory of no mean value.(p.31)
Except the independent Tlascalans, all the other peoples of Anahuac were held in stem subjection by the Aztec emperor; heavy taxes were collected from them, human life was without value, torture was in common use; their sons were seized for sacrifice, their daughters replenished the harems of the confederated kings and great nobles, so that Cortes was welcomed as the Hberator of subject peoples, the redresser of wrongs. (p.48)
Every day, before they undertake any work, they burn incense in the said mosques, and sometimes they sacrifice their own persons, some cutting their tongues and others their ears, and some hacking the body with knives ; and they offer up to their idols all the blood which flows, sprinkling it on all sides of those mosques, at other times throwing it up towards the heavens, and practising many other kinds of ceremonies, so that they undertake nothing without first offering sacrifice there.
They have another custom, horrible, and abominable, and deserving punishment, and which we have never before seen in any other place, and it is this, that, as Human often as they have anything to ask of their Sacrifices idols, in order that their petition may be more acceptable, they take many boys or girls, and even grown men and women, and in the presence of those idols they open their breasts, while they are alive, and take out the hearts and entrails, and bum the said entrails and hearts before the idols, offering that smoke in sacrifice to them. ^ Some of us who have seen this say that [it is the most terrible and frightful thing to behold that has ever been seen. So frequently, and so often do these Indians do this, according to our information, and partly by what we have seen in the short time we are in this country, that no year passes in which they do not kill and sacrifice fifty souls in each mosque; and this is practised, and held as customary, from the Isle of Cozumel to the country in which we are now settled. Your Majesties may rest assured that, according to the size of the...
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