Modern City of Veracruz

 

"within half an hour of our anchoring two large canoes came out to us full of Mexican Indians. Seeing the large ship with its standards flying, they knew that it was there they must go speak with the Captain. So they made straight for the flagship, went aboard and asked who was the tlatoani, which in their language means the master…they said that their lord, a servant of the great Montezuma (sic), had sent them to find out what kind of men we were and what we were seeking, also to say that if we required anything for ourselves or our ships, we were to tell them and they would supply it (Diaz, 88)".

 

From Diaz's description it is evident that the Spaniards were immediately welcomed by the Mexica, who greeted the strangers reverently and hospitably, which was the custom among the people living in Anahuac. The following day, April 22, 1519, the Spanish landed on the coast opposite San Juan de Ulua, erected an altar to give thanks for their safe arrival, and spent the rest of the day "building huts and shelters" (Diaz, 88).

Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Cortes and his men were visited by a regional governor sent by Motecuzoma. According to Bernal Diaz, the name of the Mexica governor was Tendile. Tendile reverently greeted the foreigners, and welcomed them with gifts of jewelry, clothing, and food. Tendile also brought with him several painters who, according to Diaz, made "realistic full-length portraits of Cortes and all his captains and soldiers, also…the ships, sails, and horses…indeed the whole of our army, were faithfully portrayed, and the drawings taken to Montezuma (sic)" (Diaz, 91). Diaz also writes that Tendile was intrigued by the conquistador's helmets, and that Cortes used this interest as an opportunity to deceive Tendile. Cortes presented Tendile with a half-rusted helmet, and asked him to fill it with gold so that he could compare it to the gold they had back in Spain. This dishonesty on the part of Cortes to take advantage of Tendile's hospitality and to defraud Motecuzoma of gold indicates that the conquistadors' interactions with the Mexica were fraudulent from the beginning, and that their only objectives were to enrich themselves at the expense of the Nican Tlaca who welcomed them.

A week later, Tendile returned to the Spanish encampment. After sanitizing Cortes and his men with incense, Tendile presented the soldiers with a variety of expensive items given as gifts by Motecuzoma. According to Diaz, the gifts included, "a disk in the shape of the sun, as big as a cartwheel and made of very fine gold. It was a marvelous thing engraved with many sorts of figures…worth more than ten thousand pesos. There was another larger disk of brightly shinning silver in the shape of the moon…worth a great deal for it was very heavy" (Diaz, 93). Tendile also presented the soldiers with the helmet full of gold, worth "more than twenty thousand pesos," as well as "twenty golden ducks, of fine workmanship and very realistic...[as well as] crests of gold, plumes of rich green feathers, silver crests, some fans…models of deer in hollow gold….thirty loads of beautiful cotton cloth of various patterns, decorated with feathers of many colours" (Diaz, 93). In return, the Mexica ambassadors were given two holland shirts and some blue glass beads. Tendile also informed Cortes that a meeting with Motecuzoma was out of the question.

Cortes and his army occupied the coast near present day Veracruz for several weeks. During this period, they spent most of their time trading with the Nican Tlaca that lived in the surrounding towns. At some point, Motecuzoma declared that there was to be no further contact between the people of Anahuac and the Spaniards, so the daily interaction between the two groups came to an end. With their supplies dwindling, the Spaniards decided it was best to move their settlement north. Around this time Cortes and his men were approached by several dignitaries representing the ruler of Cempoala, who invited the strangers to their town.