The common defense is "it was different back then," but de las casas shows basic human decency is timeless and these assholes knew what they were doing
this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
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De las casas my beloved. The only good spaniard
When Columbus did similar things to the Taino, people back in Europe were horrified.
Cortes was acting directly against the orders of the Spanish crown when he went to conquer the Americas. But the people back in Europe at the time were more than happy to tut-tut and finger wag while also reaping the reward from their colonial conquests and not doing anything to actually stop them.
people back in Europe at the time were more than happy to tut-tut and finger wag while also reaping the reward from their colonial conquests and not doing anything to actually stop them.
The Eternal Liberal
It is insane to me that columbus is a celebrated figure. He was despicable even to people contemporary to him.
Read some of Columbus' journal entries, straight up psychopathic, the guy was a nutcase.
The renowned Mexican historian Miguel León-Portilla's 1962 book "Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico" compiles Aztec primary source documents where the trauma of what Spain inflicted really reaches across the centuries to agonizing parallels with modern day Palestinian accounts of suffering.
I remember, I will establish a little temple where we will place the new god that the men from Castile have given us. Truly this new god wants us to worship him. What will we do, my sons? Let us receive the water on our heads [be baptized], let us give ourselves to the men of Castile, perhaps in this way they will not kill us.
Let us remain here. Do not trespass [by] going on another’s land, perhaps in this way they will not kill us. Let us follow them; thus, perhaps we will awaken their compassion. It will be good if we surrender entirely to them. Oh, that the true god who resides in heaven will help us [coexist] close to the men of Castile.
And in order that they will not kill us, we will not claim all our lands. We will reduce in length the extension of our lands, and that which remains, our fathers will defend.
Now I declare that, in order for them not to kill us, . . . we accept to have water poured on our heads, that we worship the new god, as I declare he is the same as the one we had.
Now I reduce in length our lands. Thus it will be. Their limits will begin in the direction from which the sun rises and continue . . . [he mentions each of the limits].
I presume that for this small piece of land they will not kill us. It does not matter that it was much larger. This is my decision because I do not want my sons to be killed.
Therefore, we will work only this little piece of land, and thus our sons will do so. Let us hope in this manner they will not kill us.
Edit: Here's an old comment of mine sharing more excerpts from this book, with accounts of the Fiesta of Toxatl Massacre committed by the Spanish and the suffering endured during the Spanish siege of the city.
The accounts from the Fiesta of Toxatl are so horrifically vivid they make my stomach churn. They ring of immense collective trauma
Yes but on a lighter note, these renderings of Tenochtitlan are the coolest: https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl/
Definitely make a trip down asap, the overlay view is really cool if you've been there and have a bit of perspective on the city.
Do you know what else makes me angry? As seen in the pictures on that website, Tenochtitlan was a city of rivers, canals, and widespread boat travel. It was a marvel of city design and environmental engineering. It was as iconic as Venice, and truly one of the wonders of the world.
But then Marvel made a movie, Eternals (2021), and for some reason had a scene depicting the fall of Tenochtitlan. Did they show the ancient city how it truly was? Did they pay any attention to historical accuracy whatsoever? No, as pointed out in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZsAZE0MQ4 . In the movie, Tenochtitlan is in the middle of a jungle, and it is way smaller than in reality.
You spend $200,000,000 making a piece of shit movie and not one of those dollars was spent doing a google search of what Tenochtitlan actually looked like? And of course if a Marvel fight scene took place in Venice they would make SURE to have canals and gondolas in the scene, because portraying European cities correctly is of the utmost importance. 
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Oh yeah I visited this site for a research paper i did last year. Super fucking cool
Graeber talks about it in Debt and it makes Cortes look like an even bigger loser. He and all the conquistadors were terrible with money and in debt to European banks. They were trying to strip the place of everything they could to stay afloat.
And then after the Black Death the aristocracy clamped down on the workers by only accepting silver as payment, the main resource coming from the Americas at the time, which was already accounted for by the people importing it and most of which was going over to pay off the Ottoman Empire anyway. So it was a double whammy of oppression
I feel like conquistadores should be understood within the social forces that incentivized conquest but I also want to hate Cortes. We can do a little bit of both me thinks.
I'm just gonna hate all of them. No one had to go over there and do that
That's so valid!
where were you reading about it
The Conquest of Mexico by William H. Prescott and The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz. Can't recommend enough
I've read that second one but it was a decade ago when I was even more liberal. I should re-read it
It definitely needs to be read with an understanding of Bernal Diaz as a person. He romanticizes the conquest to an extreme degree at times and almost certainly left out details that would make them look bad. Really recommend Prescott's book, he uses the account of Bernal Diaz as a source and puts it in context well.
i have often fantasized about Cortes getting brutally owned and the timeline that might have emerged
When they were fleeing Tenochtitlan after the initial revolt I wish he had drowned. I have had genuine dreams about it and felt like this emoji
