![]() ![]() Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte would be the first Bonaparte King of Spain. King Ferdinand VII and his father had accepted an invitation from Napoleon to settle the matter diplomatically but were forced to renounce their positions and accept the Bonaparte family as their replacements. In 1808 Bourbon King Ferdinand VII became King of Spain but was subsequently removed by Napoleon Bonaparte, causing a crisis, which reverberated throughout the Spanish Empire. Museo Histórico Nacional, Santiago, Chile However Napoleon betrayed Spain and French troops also occupied Spanish territory. The Spanish monarchy co-operated because it hoped to secure Southern Portugal for itself. Initially Spain was an ally of France and Napoleon sought co-operation from Spain for his invasion of Portugal. In 1807 Spain’s problems were compounded when Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops entered the Iberian Peninsula. In 1805 it became increasingly difficult for Spain to traverse the Atlantic and in 18 Britain attempted to take the port of Buenos Aires from Spain. The French Revolution, for example, brought about the end of the monarchy in France and provided a model of governance that inspired people in the Spanish empire. There were also changes in intellectual thought, which led to civil wars and the emergence of new forms of governance. Cuitláhuac had died in an outbreak of smallpox which decimated the local population.There were major power struggles between European nations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the conflicts between them becoming increasingly globalized as they fought for overseas territories. In June 1521, Cortés started the final assault on Tenochtitlán armed with small ships to use on the lake, and with thousands of local Indian allies.īy August that year he had captured the city, and made a prisoner of the new Aztec leader Cuauhtémoc. Cortés afterwards took refuge with his Tlaxcalteca allies. The Spanish attempted to escape one night, known as the Noche Triste (somber night): they were discovered as they crept along one of the roadways that led out of the city, and a fierce battle ensued in which Cortés lost many of his men. He died several days later, and under the war-like leader Cuitláhuac, the Aztecs continued their fight against the invaders. Cortés made Moctezuma go onto the roof of the palace to tell his people to withdraw, but the Aztec chief was received with a barrage of stones, wounding him. When he returned, the Aztecs were fighting to expel the Spanish. ![]() Problems began when Cortés had to leave the city to meet a Spanish force sent by Velazquez to arrest him. Moctezuma received the Spanish with honors, fearing that they may be gods, according to an ancient prophecy. ![]() Using a mixture of terror and persuasion, Cortés gained allies during his march toward Tenochtitlán. Cortés had more ambitious plans, however, and after landing on the coast of Veracruz, in 1521, made his way to Tenochtitlán-today, ruins of the Templo Mayor archaeology site in the center of Mexico City-the then center of power of the Aztec empire, which was built in the middle of a lake. The Spanish governor of Cuba, Diego Velazquez, then sent a larger force under Hernán Cortés, with instructions to trade with the inhabitants. A subsequent expedition by Juan de Grijalva confirmed a land dominated by a powerful people who were despised by those forced to pay tribute to them. The first contact with Mexico occurred in 1517, when explorer Francisco Hernández de Córdoba landed on the Yucatan coast. That was also the time that Spanish adventurers were swarming by the hundreds to the West Indies, following the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The Aztec empire reached its height in the early 16th century, under Emperor Moctezuma. ![]()
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