SOURCE: '"Fierce and Unnatural Cruelty': Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico," in Representations, Vol. 33, Winter, 1991, pp. 65-100.

In the following excerpt, Clendinnen exposes the miscommunications, arising from unbridgeable cultural differences between the Indians and the Spanish, that facilitated the conquest of Mexico.

The conquest of Mexico matters to us because it poses a painful question: How was it that a motley bunch of Spanish adventurers, never numbering much more than four hundred or so, was able to defeat an Amerindian military power on its home ground in the space of two years? What was it about Spaniards, or about Indians, that made so awesomely implausible a victory possible? The question has not lost its potency through time, and as the consequences of the victory continue to unfold has gained in poignancy….

First, an overview of the major events. Analysts and participants alike agree that the Conquest...