The Spanish Expansion

On February 8, 1517 Francisco de Cordoba set sail from Cuba with 110 ships full of men to investigate the new world in search of riches and glory. Twenty-one days after their departure Cordoba’s men found a small Mayan town. The natives fought a brief but bloody battle with the Spaniards and were defeated. This was but the beginning of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Two years after the first expedition by Cordoba, Hernando Cortes left from …

…city Tenochtitlan alone. The idea of an entire city floating on a lake was not even dreamed of in Europe at that time. At the same time the religion that the Aztecs practiced is frightening in its backwardness and demand for the gruesome sacrificing of humans to pagan gods that is now almost unimaginable. This topic and story has captured my mind for a lengthy time now and is most likely shared with many others.