The Mexica Aqueduct: How Chapultepec's Water Shaped Tenochtitlan

The Xicotencatl Rivalry: Cortés's Fateful Tlaxcalan Split

While Tlaxcalan help is famous, less known is the internal war that nearly stopped Cortés before Tenochtitlan. This episode dives into the clash between Xicotencatl the Elder and his son Xicotencatl the Younger over whether to ally with the Spanish. We explore the younger Xicotencatl's battlefield brilliance, his stubborn resistance, and how his eventual betrayal and execution by Cortés foreshadowed the fate of indigenous allies. Drawing on the Lienzo de Tlaxcala and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, we trace how a single family's division shaped the conquest's outcome. Plus: the role of Tizatlán, the Tlaxcalan senate, and the enigmatic Maxixcatzin. A story of strategy, honor, and the high cost of choosing sides. #Xicotencatl #Tlaxcala #Cortés #AztecEmpire #ConquestOfMexico #LienzoDeTlaxcala #BernalDíaz #Maxixcatzin #Tizatlán #Mesoamerica #Nahuatl #SpanishConquest #IndigenousAllies #BattleOfTlaxcala #History #FexingoHistory #Mexica #Conquistadors Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Cortés's Missing Body: The Mystery of His Final Resting Place

In 1547, Hernán Cortés died in Spain, but his body began a centuries-long journey across continents and through secret vaults, hidden chapels, and threatened desecrations. This episode traces the bizarre afterlife of the conquistador's remains — from his first burial in Seville to his reburial in Mexico City, the threats from Mexican nationalists who wanted to destroy his bones, and the secret Freemason plot to smuggle them to Italy. We explore how Cortés's body became a political football: hidden during the Mexican War of Independence, exhumed by a Spanish diplomat in 1794, and finally sealed in a wall for safekeeping. Along the way, we delve into the myth of his 'immortal' legacy, the controversy over whether his bones were mixed with those of his allies, and the strange 1946 discovery that his tomb had been broken into. The episode also examines why no one has ever definitively proven whose bones lie in the Hospital de Jesús Nazareno in Mexico City — and why that ambiguity might be the most fitting epitaph for a man whose life was built on conquest, contradiction, and mystery. #CortésBody #HernánCortés #MexicoHistory #ConquestOfMexico #HospitalDeJesús #SpanishConquistadors #MexicanHistory #BurialMystery #16thCentury #ColonialMexico #CortésTomb #MexicoCity #FreemasonPlot #MexicanIndependence #RelicControversy #HistoryMystery #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Cortés's Cannon: How a Few Guns Conquered an Empire

In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico with a handful of iron cannon and a clutch of arquebuses — weapons that had never been seen in the New World. This episode examines the tactical role of European gunpowder artillery in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. We break down the types of cannon Cortés carried: lombards, falconets, and the massive bronze pieces he later cast from church bells. We trace their use from the initial skirmishes at Cempoala through the siege of Tenochtitlan, where Spanish gun crews and their Tlaxcalan allies used cannon to breach causeways and terrorize Mexica warriors. But we also confront the limits of gunpowder: the slow reloading, the unreliability of early matchlocks in the humid highlands, and the fact that the Spanish often had to rely on crossbows and native slingers. Drawing on Bernal Díaz del Castillo's account and archaeological evidence from the Templo Mayor excavations, we explore how the psychological impact of cannon fire — the thunderous noise, the smoke, the unseen death — may have been as decisive as the physical damage. We also discuss the Mexica adaptation: their attempts to capture and use Spanish guns, and how the sound of cannon became a tool of psychological warfare for both sides. This is the story of how a few dozen tubes of bronze and iron reshaped the fate of Mesoamerica. #CortésCannon #AztecEmpire #Gunpowder #ConquestOfMexico #HernánCortés #Tenochtitlan #BernalDíaz #Falconet #Lombard #Arquebus #Tlaxcala #SiegeOfTenochtitlan #MesoamericanWarfare #MilitaryHistory #BronzeCannon #TemploMayor #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Mexica Jaguar Warriors: Cortés's Most Feared Foes

When Hernán Cortés marched into the Valley of Mexico in 1519, he faced an enemy unlike any the Spanish had encountered: the Mexica military machine, led by its most elite shock troops—the jaguar warriors. These weren't just skilled fighters; they were initiates of a warrior society that blended religion, politics, and warfare into a single ferocious identity. In this episode, Lucas and Luna follow the path of a typical cuāuhocēlōtl—an eagle or jaguar warrior—from his training in the calmecac school to his first captive in battle, to his role in the desperate defense of Tenochtitlan in 1521. We explore the warrior grades, the rituals behind the iconic jaguar suits, the weapons they wielded—like the macuahuitl and atlatl—and how their battlefield tactics nearly broke Cortés's siege. Drawing on the Florentine Codex and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, we separate myth from reality and ask: were these warriors truly the Aztec special forces, or have they been romanticized? And we uncover one overlooked factor—the role of the cuāchicqueh, or 'shorn ones,' who fought without armor and terrified the Spanish. #Mexica #JaguarWarriors #Cuauhocelotl #AztecMilitary #Mesoamerica #ConquestOfMexico #HernanCortes #Tenochtitlan #FlorentineCodex #BernalDiazDelCastillo #Macuahuitl #Calmecac #Cuachicqueh #Tlaxcala #Nahuatl #Huitzilopochtli #SiegeOf1521 #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Mexica Warrior-Spider Goddess and Cortés's Siege

Episode 160 of How Hernan Cortes Destroyed the Aztec Empire with 500 Men turns to a figure often overlooked: the Mexica spider-goddess of war, death, and childbirth, Toci, also known as Tlazolteotl or, in her warrior aspect, Teotenantzin. We explore how Mexica women—and the goddess who embodied their power—shaped the defense of Tenochtitlan during the siege of 1521. Lucas and Luna discuss ritual warfare, female warriors (the cuachicqueh and even rare women trained in combat), and how Cortés used indigenous gender roles to his advantage. We look at the archaeological evidence from the Templo Mayor, the Florentine Codex's accounts of women in battle, and the legacy of the Altepetl of Tlatelolco. The conversation also touches on the role of midwives as spiritual warriors and how the siege itself became a kind of sacrificial ritual. A fresh angle on the conquest that highlights the often-ignored contributions of Mexica women. #Toci #Teotenantzin #MexicaWomen #Cuachicqueh #FlorentineCodex #TemploMayor #Tenochtitlan #Tlatelolco #Cortés #Malintzin #Xicotencatl #BernalDíaz #FlowerWars #Mesoamerica #Aztec #Conquest #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]