Cuitlahuac
Cuitláhuac (in Nahuatl: Kwitlawak; 1476-November 25 to November 28, 1520, last day of the Quecholli month), also called Cuauhtláhuac, was the penultimate Mexica tlatoani huey, lord of Iztapalapa and brother of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin.
Etymology
There are several versions of the etymological meaning of the word Cuitláhuac:
- According to some scholars, it derives from the verb nahuatl cuitlahuiā, "to be in charge of something", whose form of participation is cuitlahuac"who's been in charge of something." Curiously, such a verb derives metaphorically from Cuitla-"excrement, difficult thing", from which the common word was derived cuitlahuiā.
- This name would have been a derivation by La Malinche, referring to the real name of the tlatoani that was Cuauhtláhuac"Eagle over the water." She called him in the name of mockery or contempt. Cuitláhuac. The Spaniards took this name as real without knowing the true meaning and thus it was reflected in history.
- Angel Maria Garibay K. confirmed translation as waterlike the linguist Patricia Máynez, who also translates it as place of tecuitlatl and dry dirt (soil dry). Bernardino de Sahagún wrote it with the graph Cujtlaoac, toponymous that today has been shortened to Tláhuac, place located in the southeast of Mexico City, and that it was an island of the late Lake of Chalco. Historian Manuel Orozco and Berra—considering Mendoza's codex—he said that Tlatoani had simply taken the name of that place.
- Bernal Díaz del Castillo named him as Coadlabaca in his True history of the conquest of New Spain.
Biography
Son of Axayácatl and therefore brother of the tlatoani king or emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. The honorific form of Cuitláhuac is Cuitlahuatzin (the suffix -tzin is used to designate a dignity similar to "don" or "lord" in Spanish). In June 1521 he was already a prisoner of Hernán Cortés for having plotted an uprising against the Spanish. When Cortés returned after having defeated Pánfilo de Narváez in Cempoala, he found that Tenochtitlan had risen up due to the massacre carried out in the Templo Mayor ordered by Pedro de Alvarado.
Cortés demanded that Moctezuma Xocoyotzin reestablish the market and return the town to tranquility. Then, at Moctezuma's request, Cortés released Cuitláhuac to take care of things. But when he was released, he led the uprising and attacked the barracks where the Spaniards and their allies were with such ferocity that Cortés, fearful of being completely annihilated, demanded that Moctezuma go up to the roof of the palace to harangue his Mexica subjects and ask them to be in peace. The most accepted version is that Moctezuma was injured on that occasion by a stone and died two days later. However, other historians mention that the Spanish had already killed Moctezuma, or that they killed him at that moment. In 1520, Cuitláhauac was a man of approximately forty-four years old, he had been a tlacochcálcatl or great general of the Mexica army.
Cuitláhuac was the main strategist in the battles that gave victory to the Mexicas on the so-called Sad Night (June 30, 1520, now called Victory Night or Victorious Night, to tell the history from the perspective of the defeated and not of the victors).
When Moctezuma died, the Mexica nobles and priests elected Cuitláhuac as the new tlatoani and chief of war, who displayed great activity to enlist troops, seek alliances with some towns and try to destroy the invaders. On September 7, 1520 of the Julian calendar, which was the day "13 Miquiztli" of the year "2 Tekpat", during the coronation tributes, all the Spaniards and allies who had fallen prisoners in the palace of Axayácatl and the rear guard of the conquistadors who did not manage to escape when the ship sank were sacrificed. portable bridge that they placed to pass the ditches.
The chroniclers agree that Córtes, heartbroken, sad, cries for having been defeated. He then asked Malitzin & # 34; Who commanded the Mexica? & # 34;. The latter, who was logically also overwhelmed by the recent defeat, responded with irony and mockery "A certain Cuitláhuac", which translated colloquially and taking it within the context of spite for the defeat, would be "a brave man" or "a strong man".[citation needed]
His government lasted eighty days. Smallpox killed Cuitláhuac in November 1520, just weeks after defeating the Spanish. He had already assembled an army of three divisions with a total of more than 500,000 soldiers, thousands of times more numerous than Cortés's forces, and even more than the total Spanish forces installed in Cuba. Cuitláhuac died at the age of 44.
He was succeeded to the throne by his cousin Cuauhtémoc, the last Mexica tlatoani of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.