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Quiz for American Voices: The Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Question

1. According to Bernal Diaz’s account, how did Moctezuma’s people regard their leader?

With love and adoration

With fearful reverence

With resentful disdain

With religious devotion

Correct. The answer is b. Diaz’s account suggests that Moctezuma’s Caciques and Lords did not even dare to look him in the face and kept their eyes lowered even as they carried him, suggesting that they both feared and revered him.

Incorrect. The answer is b. Diaz’s account suggests that Moctezuma’s Caciques and Lords did not even dare to look him in the face and kept their eyes lowered even as they carried him, suggesting that they both feared and revered him.

Question

2. What do these documents suggest about why Moctezuma paid “great reverence” to Cortés and his men when they arrived outside the city of Tenochtitlán?

Moctezuma feared the Spaniards and their weapons and decided that submission would be a more effective strategy than aggression.

He feigned a respectful welcome in order to win the Spaniards’ cooperation with and devotion to his government.

Moctezuma sought to convince the Spaniards of his peaceful intentions so that he could attack them more effectively.

He believed that the Spaniards were gods and that he had a sacred duty to house and feed them and to submit to all of their demands.

Correct. The answer is a. The Aztec elders’ description suggests that Moctezuma feared the Spaniards and their weapons and that he “submitted himself entirely to whatsoever he was to see.”

Incorrect. The answer is a. The Aztec elders’ description suggests that Moctezuma feared the Spaniards and their weapons and that he “submitted himself entirely to whatsoever he was to see.”

Question

3. What did Bernal Diaz suggest as a reason why the Spaniards were welcomed into the city of Tenochtitlán so peacefully?

The Aztecs believed that Cortés and his men were princes who brought gifts to honor them.

Moctezuma believed that Cortés was a god and that he and his men needed food and rest.

The Spaniards fascinated the Aztecs and the people of Tenochtitlan wanted to learn about them.

Jesus Christ gave them the grace and courage to enter the city safely.

Correct. The answer is d. Diaz suggested that he had come to believe that “our Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to give us grace and courage to dare to enter into such a city.”

Incorrect. The answer is d. Diaz suggested that he had come to believe that “our Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to give us grace and courage to dare to enter into such a city.”

Question

4. According to Bernal Diaz’s account, why did Cortés make peaceful overtures to Moctezuma upon their initial meeting?

Cortés feared the Aztecs and their leader and hoped to win their favor.

He believed that the Lord Jesus Christ had instructed him to do so.

Cortés and his men were exhausted and they needed food and a place to rest.

He hoped to win Moctezuma’s trust in order to ease his conquest of the Aztecs.

Correct. The answer is d. Diaz’s account suggests that Cortés and his men made peaceful overtures to Moctezuma in order to win his trust and facilitate their entry into Tenochtitlán so that they could more easily conquer the city and its people.

Incorrect. The answer is d. Diaz’s account suggests that Cortés and his men made peaceful overtures to Moctezuma in order to win his trust and facilitate their entry into Tenochtitlán so that they could more easily conquer the city and its people.

Question

5. Which of the following statements describes a feature these two documents share?

Both of these documents tell the story from the Spaniards’ point of view.

Diaz’s and the elders’ accounts were both written long after the event took place.

Both of these documents indicate that Moctezuma believed Cortés was a god.

Neither of these documents reflects an Aztec perspective on the Spanish conquest.

Correct. The answer is b. Both of these accounts were written in retrospect, long after the original events described had taken place.

Incorrect. The answer is b. Both of these accounts were written in retrospect, long after the original events described had taken place.