On May 22, 1521, Spanish forces and their indigenous allies laid siege to the capital of the powerful Aztec Empire (Tenochtitlan), which was now Mexico City.

The battle lasted about 3 months, and ended with the fall of the Aztec Empire, which was famous for its large cities, and the Spanish imposition of control over a large area of ​​North America.

In a report published by the American magazine "SMITHSONIANMAG", writer Livia Gershon says that Mexico City is currently commemorating the 500th anniversary of that battle, which profoundly affected the formation of Mexican society in the modern era.

Alternative historical reading

The city authorities planned to organize a number of events, including the celebration of the vernal equinox at the archaeological site of Quiquilco, and academic seminars on historical accounts and facts surrounding the battle.

According to the city's mayor,

Claudia Sheinbaum

, the celebrations will highlight Mexico's cultural diversity, without ignoring its violent history, in order to offer an alternative view of events different from that recorded by the Spaniards.

"The fall of Tenochtitlan began with the frequency of epidemics and attacks, and colonial rule lasted 300 years," Sheinbaum told the Associated Press in this regard.

As part of the celebrations of the anniversary of the historic battle, the city authorities will change the name of "Alvarado Street" to "Mexico-Tenochtitlan Street", which was revealed by Sheinbaum in a tweet on Twitter.

Por eso la calle Puente de Alvarado ahora llevará el nombre de México Tenochtitlan https://t.co/TWlf9LNKoX

— Claudia Sheinbaum (@Claudiashein) May 22, 2021

The Mexico Daily Post indicated that the tweet included a video of a massacre committed by "Pedro de Alvarado" - who bears his name - when he invaded the Aztec Empire with Hernán Cortés.

The video claims, according to the translation of the Mexican newspaper, that "when the celebration began, the crowd gathered in the temple courtyard to dance and sing, but the Spaniards blocked the exits, and attacked the defenseless men, women and children, who were celebrating in the great temple of Tenochtitlan...The Spaniards killed hundreds of nobles and commoners without discrimination, with their steel spears and swords, while others were run over in a desperate attempt to escape."

The controversy of history and identity

According to the Associated Press, since the 1920s the Mexican government has tried to enshrine a unified vision of the country's history in which all Mexicans can boast a common heritage between indigenous and Spanish;

But the persistence of discrimination against Aboriginal and black people has left many skeptical of this view.

The 500th anniversary of the Battle of Tenochtitlan coincides with the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, when the Spanish officially recognized Mexico as an independent country on August 24, 1821.

In 2019, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asked King Philip VI of Spain to apologize for the invasion of Mexico, citing "violations of what we now call human rights".

The Spanish Foreign Minister replied that "it is strange to receive this request now to apologize for the events that took place 500 years ago."

As part of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Spanish invasion, the British newspaper "Guardian" revealed that a number of indigenous members of the "Zapatista" movement, organized a trip from Mexico to Spain by boat, in order to draw attention to the continuing discrimination against the indigenous population. in different parts of the world.

The Aztecs built many pyramids in Central America (Getty Images)

The ancient civilization of Mexico

According to the British Museum, the Aztecs, also known as Mexico, arrived in the Tenochtitlan region in 1325. Over the next two centuries, they built the city and built pyramids, temples, palaces and aqueducts.

The Spanish Empire subsequently conquered most of central and southern Mexico, establishing a global trading network.

According to the writer, Cortes was able to occupy Tenochtitlan thanks to his alliance with the indigenous people, who were persecuted by the Aztec Empire, where they fought in the thousands alongside the Spanish forces, whose number did not exceed 900 fighters.

The main factor in deciding the battle was the spread of smallpox in the city.

Half of the city's 300,000 residents probably died before the Spaniards entered the city, leaving the Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc with "a few troops left to fight," Carlos Fiesca Trevino, a medical historian at Mexico's National Autonomous University, tells The Associated Press. .

The defeat of the Aztecs paved the way for continued Spanish control of the region, including Francisco Pizarro's campaign against the Inca kingdom in 1533.

"The Spaniards seemed so convinced that this model had worked so well that de Alvarado was about to invade China from the port of Acapulco, before he fought another battle in western Mexico and was killed in it," said David Carballo, an archaeologist and anthropologist at Boston University.

Carballo adds that the Spanish rule of Mexico "made the world a realistic globalization, because it linked the Atlantic Ocean with the oceans and all the inhabited continents. This led to what we call in our time globalization."