S4E187 - The Conquest of Cholula: Massacre or Misunderstanding

In 1519, Hernán Cortés and his army—along with thousands of Tlaxcalan allies—marched into the sacred city of Cholula, home to the great pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. What happened next is one of the most debated episodes of the conquest: a preemptive massacre, a brutal act of terror, or a misunderstood moment of political violence? This episode unpacks the evidence from Spanish accounts, including Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Cortés's own letters, against the Nahua perspective preserved in the Florentine Codex and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala. We explore the shifting alliances among the Cholulteca, the Mexica, and the...