CORONADO

Montezuma, the Aztec ruler of Mexico, thought Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl that Aztec legend said would come again to replace any regime then in power. In an attempt to placate the god, Montezuma had messengers deliver the contents of the god’s temples to Cortes as he proceeded inland from the Gulf coast. As summarized by

Herbert E. Bolton, Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains, (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1949), p.1:

[these items included] a gold necklace set with emeralds and hung with pearls, a huge golden disk, as large as a wagon wheel, representing the sun, and another of silver to simulate the moon. There were gold and silver orna­ments and toys, feather headdresses decorated with gems, pearl-pointed tridents, amazing feather-work, garments of finely woven cotton, and what were called ‘books’ written in hieroglyphics. The bare list of items comprised in the gift occupies several pages of modern print.

Cortes surmised he was on to something, and what he accepted as gifts simply whet his appetite for what he would soon take by force.

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