Summary

These four essays tell of four explorers of the Americas in the sixteenth century. In “The Destruction of Tenochtitlan,” the author narrates in a straightforward third-person how Cortez enters the city-state of Tenochtitlan, demands that Montezuma recognize the sovereignty of Spain and the Christian faith, and ultimately destroys the city and most of its inhabitants. Montezuma is elegant, aristocratic, ironic, and centuries more sophisticated than Cortez. Montezuma’s empire is a marvel of engineering, beauty and wealth beyond the European’s imagining. Williams ends this essay, when the proud and noble city and its inhabitants have been utterly destroyed, with the Spanish motto, Viva quien vence! Long live he who conquers! It is an ironic statement because in his conquest, Cortez destroys a unique and astonishing civilization...