Quiahuiztlan

After Motecuzoma ordered the people of Mexico not to trade or barter with the Spanish invaders, Cortes and his men decided to move their settlement north from the present day site of Veracruz to a beach near the Totonac city of Quiahuiztlan. The Spaniards marched north from Veracruz and stopped in Cempoala, where they were welcomed by the ruler and treated to a sumptuous banquet. After gorging themselves in Cempoala, the Spaniards made their way north to the town of Quiahuiztlan, which they found deserted. The rulers of Quiahuiztlan had ordered the city evacuated once they learned that the Spaniards were heading towards them. The next morning Cortes and his men were greeted by a small party of Quiahuiztlans, who perfumed them with copal and apologized for not greeting them the day before. They explained that they had abandoned the city because they were unsure if the foreigners had come in peace or seeking war. Cortes assured them that they were in no danger, and the people of Quiahuiztlan slowly returned. Soon after, the ruler of Cempoala, known to the Spaniards as the "Fat Chief," arrived and encouraged the rulers of Quiahuiztlan to ask Cortes to help ease the burden of the Mexica taxation.

At this time five Mexica tax-gatherers, or calpixques, arrived in Quiahuiztlan, marking the first time that the Spaniards encountered the "Mexican imperial administration" (Davies, 244). According to the conquistador Bernal Diaz, the calpixques "passed where we were…but they didn't speak to Cortes or to any of the rest of us and went on with an insolent and presumptuous manner. They wore richly embroidered robes and breechcloths, and their hair glistened and was so dressed that it seemed to be part of their heads. Each bore a crooked staff and carried roses. While they sniffed these, servants followed, keeping away mosquitoes" (Davies, 244). The calpixques did not make a very good first impression with the Spaniards, who perceived them as arrogant, as well as effeminate for carrying around a bouquet of flowers to smell. But another interpretation of the Calpixques' penchant for flowers has been put forth. It is well documented that the majority of Europeans in the 1500s did not bathe. Add to this the reality of the conquistadors unwashed and soiled clothing, the smell permeating from their dogs and horses, and one can begin to better understand why the Calpixques passed by Cortes and his men with their noses in their flowers. The combined stench wafting around the conquistadors must have been atrocious.

The calpixques chastised the rulers of Quiahuiztlan and the "Fat Chief" for welcoming the Spaniards and going against the wishes of Motecuzoma. Through his interpreter Cortes realized what was unfolding, and encouraged the leaders of Quiahuiztlan to arrest the calpixques, and refuse to pay anymore taxes. The leaders of Quiahuiztlan refused, but Cortes bolstered their confidence by promising to militarily back them up should the Mexica retaliate. The leaders capitulated and the calpixques were put in chains. According to the historian Nigel Davies, Cortes' imprisonment of the tax-gatherers "was a fundamental step, marking the parting of the ways. The Totonacs now became committed to a defensive alliance with the Spaniards, as the only means of saving themselves from a hideous vengeance" (Davies, 244-45). Davies also writes that from this moment on, the Mexica no longer saw the Spaniards as "mere intruders," but "hostile invaders" (Davies, 245). The Spaniards soon left Quiahuiztlan, and headed a mile and a half east to the coast, where they established their first colony in Mexico, Villa Rica de la Veracruz.