The Question

An Aztec poet once stood atop the Great Temple and boasted of the greatness of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán. He asked, “Who could conquer Tenochtitlán? Who could shake the foundation of the heavens?” You are about to learn the chilling answer to those questions.

The Answer

In 1519 Aztec emperor Moctezuma II ruled a mighty empire. One day a messenger arrived in Tenochtitlán. He had walked all the way from the Gulf of Mexico with shocking news. “My lord,” the exhausted man told Moctezuma, “it was a mountain, and it floated on the water.” What was the traveler talking about? The emperor’s men journeyed to the coast to find out for themselves. They returned with tales of white men with thick beards. Like the first messenger, they saw a “floating mountain.” They also saw other wonders, including “magic sticks” that belched smoke and “enormous dogs” with flat ears and long tongues.

The “floating mountain” was actually a Spanish ship. The “magic sticks” were cannons, and the “giant dogs” were horses. The Aztec had never seen horses or cannons, and they knew nothing of sailing ships or Spaniards. They could only guess who these strange beings might be.

Moctezuma remembered the troubling events of recent years. He guessed that the strangers might be gods come down to earth. To please them, the emperor sent golden robes and other gifts. When the Aztec messengers reached the coast, they presented these gifts to the leader of the Spanish expedition, Hernán Cortés (/er*nahn/kor*tez/).