27. The False Notion That the Aztecs Thought the Spanish Conquistadors Were Gods
One of the more pervasive narratives about the European conquest of the New World has it that the Native Americans thought that the strange new arrivals were gods. For example, it is often bandied about that the Spanish defeat of the Aztecs was helped by the natives’ belief that Hernan Cortes and his men were deities. That is false. It is true that the Aztecs were extremely religious, and had many notions that might strike us as weird today. However, they were not so idiotically naïve that they believed that the Conquistadors were gods.
For example, the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II was fully aware that the Spaniards who had landed in Mexico were humans who came from far away lands. Indeed, Moctezuma was sufficiently informed so as to know that Hernan Cortes was not acting with the consent of his king, Charles V (Charles I of Spain). The Aztec ruler even tried to go over Cortes’ head, by attempting to negotiate directly with king Charles. He failed, but it is clear that Moctezuma knew that he was dealing with people, not gods.
