Cuauhtémoc (also known as
Cuauhtemotzin,
Guatimozin or
Guatemoc; c. 1502– 28 February 1525) was the
AztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Often the term...
ruler (
tlatoaniTlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
) of
Tenochtitlan--Please DO NOT change the spelling of "Tenochtitlan" to "Tenochtitlán"There are some towns in Mexico which are spelled "Tenochtitlán", like San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, in which case the accent is used. However, the Aztec capital is not spelled that way in either Spanish --Please DO NOT change the...
from 1520 to 1521 and long-lasting myth of the Mexican nation.. The name
Cuāuhtemōc means "One That Has Descended Like an Eagle", commonly rendered in English as "Falling Eagle".
Cuauhtémoc took power in 1520 as successor of
CuitláhuacCuitlahuac or Cuitláhuac was the 10th tlatoani of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan for 80 days during the year Two Flint ....
and was a nephew of the emperor
Moctezuma IIMoctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin
, and his young wife was one of Moctezuma's daughters. He ascended to the throne when he was 18 years of age, as his city was being besieged by the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and devastated by an epidemic of
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
brought to the New World by Spanish Invaders. Probably after the
killings in the main templeThe massacre in the Main Temple of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan is an episode in the Spanish conquest of Mexico which occurred on May 10, 1520....
, there were few Aztec captains available to take the position.
Attempt to escape and capture
On August 13, 1521, Cuauhtémoc went to call for reinforcements from the countryside to aid the falling Tenochtitlán, after eighty days of continuous urban warfare against the Spanish. Of all the Nahuas, only Tlatelolcas remained loyal, and the surviving Tenochcas looked for refuge in
TlatelolcoTlatelolco Tlatelolco Tlatelolco ( (sometimes also called Xaltelolco) was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl (state) in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central...
where even women took part in the battle. Cuauhtémoc was captured while fleeing
Tenochtitlán--Please DO NOT change the spelling of "Tenochtitlan" to "Tenochtitlán"There are some towns in Mexico which are spelled "Tenochtitlán", like San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, in which case the accent is used. However, the Aztec capital is not spelled that way in either Spanish --Please DO NOT change the...
by crossing
Lake TexcocoLake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's central altiplano...
in disguise with his family and friends. He surrendered to
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
along with the surviving
pipiltin (nobles), and offered him his knife and asked to be killed.
At first, Cortés treated his foe chivalrously. "A Spaniard knows how to respect valor even in an enemy," he declared. However, he allowed Aldrete, the royal treasurer, to have Cuauhtemoc tortured to make him reveal the whereabouts of hidden treasure. Cuauhtémoc, insisting that there was no hidden treasure, stood up under the ordeal.
Torture
Cuauhtémoc was tortured by having his feet put to a fire, along with Tetlepanquetzal, the
tlatoani of
TlacopánTlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
, and the
Cihuacóatl (counselor)
TlacotzinJuan Velázquez Tlacotzin was Cihuacoatl during the tenure of Moctezuma II, and Cuauhtémoc. He was grandchild of the Cihuacoatl Tlacaeleltzin....
, but even so they refused to divulge information about the treasures the Spanish coveted. It is said that during the torture, Tetlepanquetzal asked him to reveal the location of the treasures in order to stop the pain given to them, and Cuauhtémoc is quoted to say "Do you think I am in a bath for pleasure?" This would be popularized in the 19th century as "Do you think I am in a bed of roses?" The date and details of this episode are unknown. In the end, a shamed Cortés delivered Cuauhtémoc from Aldrete's hands.
Eventually Cortés recovered some gold from a noble's house, but most of the tales about "Aztec gold" is a myth. Since for the Aztecs, gold had no intrinsic value, they did not have big solid pieces of gold, instead they preferred wood covered with gold. After those pieces were melted, they only gave a fraction of the gold that Cortés and his men expected.
Execution
In 1525, Cortés took Cuauhtémoc and several other indigenous nobles on his expedition to
HondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras...
, fearing that Cuauhtémoc could have led an insurrection in his absence. While the expedition was stopped in the Chontal Maya capital of Itzamkanac, known as
AcalanAcalan was a Chontal Maya region in what is now southern Campeche, Mexico. Its capital was Itzamkanac. The people of Acalan were called Mactun in the Chontal Maya language....
in Nahuatl, Cortés had Cuauhtémoc executed for allegedly conspiring to kill him and the other Spaniards.
There are a number of discrepancies in the various accounts of the event. According to Cortés himself, on 27 February 1525 it was revealed to him by a citizen of
Tenochtitlan--Please DO NOT change the spelling of "Tenochtitlan" to "Tenochtitlán"There are some towns in Mexico which are spelled "Tenochtitlán", like San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, in which case the accent is used. However, the Aztec capital is not spelled that way in either Spanish --Please DO NOT change the...
named Mexicalcingo that Cuauhtémoc,
CoanacochCoanacochtzin was the seventh tlatoani of Texcoco.One of Nezahualpilli's sons, he succeeded to throne after the death of his half-brother Cacama in 1520....
(the ruler of
TexcocoTexcoco was a major Acolhua city-state in the central Mexican plateau region of Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic period of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology. It was situated on the eastern bank of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico, to the northeast of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan...
) and Tetlepanquetzal (the ruler of
TlacopanTlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
) were plotting his death. Cortés interrogated them until each confessed, and then had Cuauhtémoc, Tetlepanquetzal, and another lord named Tlacatlec hanged. Cortés wrote that the other lords would be too frightened to plot against him again, as they believed he had uncovered the plan through magic powers. Cortés's account is supported by the historian
Francisco López de GómaraFrancisco López de Gómara was a Spanish historian at Seville, who is particularly noted for his works in which he described the early 16th century expedition undertaken by Hernán Cortés in the Spanish conquest of the New World...
.
According to
Bernal Díaz del CastilloBernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés. Born in Medina del Campo , he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal...
, a
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
serving under Cortés who recorded his experiences in his book
The Conquest of New SpainHistoria verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España is the first-person narrative of Bernal Díaz del Castillo , a 16th-century military adventurer, settler and conquistador who served with the expeditions of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernán Cortés in Mexico and...
, the supposed plot was revealed by two men, named Tapia and Juan Velásquez. Díaz portrays the executions as unjust and based on no evidence, and admits to having liked Cuauhtémoc personally. He also records Cuauhtémoc giving the following speech to Cortés, through his
interpreterLanguage interpretation is the practice of facilitating oral and sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between two or more users of different languages...
Malinche:
Díaz wrote that afterwards, Cortés suffered from
insomniaInsomnia is a symptom of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both"...
due to
guiltGuilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes - whether justified or not - that he or she has violated a moral standard, and is responsible for that violation...
, and badly injured himself while wandering at night.
Fernando de Alva Cortés IxtlilxóchitlFernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl was a Novohispanic historian.-Life:A Mestizo born between 1568 and 1580, Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl was a direct descendant of Ixtlilxochitl I and Ixtlilxochitl II, who had been tlatoque of Texcoco...
, a
MestizoMestizo is a Spanish and Portuguese term that was used in the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire to refer to Latin people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in the Americas....
historian and descendant of Coanacoch, wrote an account of the executions in the 17th century partly based on Texcocan
oral traditionOral tradition, oral culture and oral lore are messages or testimony transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
. According to Ixtlilxóchitl the three lords were joking cheerfully with each other, due to a rumor that Cortés had decided to return the expedition to Mexico, when Cortés asked a spy to tell him what they are talking about. The spy reported honestly, but Cortés invented the plot himself. Cuauhtémoc, Coanacoch and Tetlepanquetzal were all hanged, as well as eight others. However, Cortés cut down Coanacoch, the last to be hanged, after his brother began rallying his warriors. Coanacoch did not have long to enjoy his reprieve—Ixtlilxóchitl wrote that he died a few days later.
According to the account of the Chontal Maya inhabitants of Itzamkanac recorded in the 17th century, Cuauhtémoc approached Paxbolonacha, the local Maya ruler, telling him of the evils of the Spaniards, and suggesting that the Mayas and Nahuas join forces to kill them. Paxbolonacha refused, observing the Spaniards to be peaceful and well-behaved, and after Cuauhtémoc continued to ask repeatedly, went to Cortés and informed him of Cuauhtémoc's plan. Cortés kept Cuauhtémoc in chains for three days. He was then
baptizedIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
, although his baptismal name was unknown—"some say he was named don Juan and some say he was named don Hernando". Finally, he was
beheadedDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
, and his head impaled on a
ceibaCeiba is the name of a genus of many species of large trees found in tropical areas, including Mexico, Central and South America, The Bahamas, Belize and the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia...
tree in front of the
templeA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
at Yaxdzan.
Legacy
Tlacotzin, Cuauhtémoc's
cihuacoatlThe cihuacoatl was a supreme leader or advisor within the Aztec system of government....
, was appointed his successor as
tlatoani. He died the next year before returning to Tenochtitlan.
The modern-day town of Ixcateopan in the state of
GuerreroThe State of Guerrero is a state in the southern meridional region of Mexico. With an area of , it occupies about 3.3% of Mexican territory. It borders the Pacific Ocean to the south , Michoacán to the west , Oaxaca to the east , and Mexico State , Morelos , and Puebla to the north...
is home to an
ossuaryAn ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...
purportedly containing Cuauhtémoc's remains.
Many places in Mexico are named in honour of Cuauhtémoc. These include
Ciudad CuauhtémocCiudad Cuauhtémoc is a city located in the west-central part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as the seat of the municipality of Cuauhtémoc....
in Chihuahua and the
CuauhtémocCuauhtémoc is one of the 16 delegaciones of the Mexican Federal District. It was formed in 1970 when the former subdivision of Mexico City was split up; the delegaciones of Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez, and Venustiano Carranza also resulted from this split.The borough is named after Cuauhtémoc,...
borough of the Mexican Federal District. There is also a
Cuauhtémoc stationMetro Cuauhtémoc is a metro station on the Mexico City Metro.It is located at the northern extreme of Avenida Cuauhtémoc, in the Cuauhtémoc borough, in the centre of Mexico City.The station logo depicts the head of an eagle...
on the
Mexico City metroThe Mexico City Metro is a rubber-tyred metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City...
and the Monterrey Metrorrey. Cuauhtémoc is also one of the few non-Spanish
given nameA given name is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
s for Mexican boys that is perennially popular. In the Aztec campaign of the
PC gameA personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
Age of Empires II: The ConquerorsAge of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios...
, the player plays as Cuauhtémoc, despite the name
MontezumaMoctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin
for the campaign itself. In the next installment to the series,
Age of Empires 3: The War Chiefs, Cuauhtémoc was the leader of Aztecs.
In the 1996
Rage Against The MachineRage Against the Machine , is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1991...
single
People of the Sun"People of the Sun" is the second single by the American band Rage Against the Machine for their 1996 album Evil Empire. The song is about the Zapatista revolution. Lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha wrote the song after a visit to the Chiapas in southern Mexico. "People of the Sun" also has a music...
, lyricist
Zack De La RochaZacarías Manuel de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist of Mexican, American, German, and Irish descent...
rhymes "When the fifth sun sets get back reclaimed, The spirit of Cuauhtémoc alive an untamed".
Cuauhtémoc, in the name Guatemoc, is portrayed sympathetically in the adventure novel
Montezuma's DaughterMontezuma's Daughter, first published in 1893, was a novel written by the Victorian adventure writer H. Rider Haggard.Narrated in the first person by Thomas Wingfield, an Englishman whose adventures include having his mother murdered, a brush with the Spanish Inquisition, shipwreck, and slavery...
, by
H. Rider HaggardSir Henry Rider Haggard KBE , was a prolific English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
. First appearing in Chapter XIV, he becomes friends with the protagonist after they save each other's lives. His coronation, torture, and death are described in the novel.