Last Speech of Tlatoani Cuauhtemoc, August 12, 1521

"Our Sun has gone down. Our Sun has been lost from view and has left us in complete darkness. But we know it will return again that it will rise again to light us anew. But while it is there in the Mansion of Silence Let's join together, let's embrace each other and in the very center of our being hide all that our hearts love and we know is the Great Treasure. Let us hide our Temples our schools, our sacred soccer game our youth centers our houses of flowery song so that only our streets remain. Our homes will enclose us until our New Sun rises. Most honorable fathers and most honorable mothers, may you never forget to guide your young ones teach your children, while you live how good it has been and will be. Until now our beloved Anahuac sheltered and protected our destinies that our ancestors and our parents enthusiastically received and seeded in our being. Now we will instruct our children how to be good. They will raise themselves up and gain strength and as goodness make real their great destiny in this, our beloved mother Anahuac."

 

 


Brief Timeline 1492-1521

1492
Columbus Lands on an island, what is probably now called the Dominican Republic
1502
Moctezuma II becomes tlatoani, ruler of Tenochtitlan and a vast empire in Mexico
1511-14
Spaniards conquer Cuba and establish base there
1517
First Spanish expedition to explore Mexico, Mexicas observe omens of doom
1518
Juan de Grijalva explores Yucatán
Feb. 10, 1519
Defying Governor Velásquez's orders, Cortés Leaves Cuba to conquer Mexico
June 3, 1519
Spaniards arrive at Cempoala
Sept. 2-20, 1519
Spaniards fight with Tlaxcalans but end by winning Tlaxcalan allies
Oct. 1519
Massacre at Cholula
Nov. 8, 1519
Spaniards peacefully enter Tenochtitlan
Nov. 14, 1519
Cortés puts Moctezuma under house arrest
May, 1520
Cortés leaves Tenochtitlan to fight army brought by Panfílo de Narváez
May, 1520
Pedro de Alvarado and other Spaniards massacre people at Tóxcatl festival
June 24, 1520
Cortés returns to Tenochtitlan
June 1520
Moctezuma killed
June 1529
Cuitlahuac chosen as tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan
June 30, 1520
La noche triste, The Night of Sorrows, Spaniards suffer heavy losses leaving Tenochtitlan
July, 1520
Spaniards reach Tlaxcala and are welcomed
Oct., 1520
Plague ravages Tenochtitlan
Dec., 1520
Cuitlahuac dies from smallpox
Feb., 1521
Cuahtémoc becomes tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan
May, 1521
Spaniards besiege Tenochtitlan
May, 1521
Spaniards cut off water to the city
June, 1521
Spaniards attempt to enter city
July, 1521
Spaniards decide to destroy city
August 7, 1521
Pedro de Alvarado suffers heavy losses trying to take marketplace of Tlatelolco
August 13, 1521
Cuautémoc imprisoned; battle for Tenochtitlan is over

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Important Dates and Ceremonies for Danza Cuauhtemoc

Brief Timeline from 1492-1521

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Earth's Seasons

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