VISUAL ACTIVITYCortés Arrives in Tenochtitlán In this portrayal of Cortés and his army arriving in the Mexican capital, Malinali stands at the front of the procession, serving as the Spaniards’ translator and intermediary with Montezuma (not pictured). Painted by a Mexican artist after the conquest, the work displays the choices the Mexica faced: accept the peaceful overtures of Cortés (doffing his hat) or face his battle-ready soldiers.READING THE IMAGE: How did each of the different kinds of people illustrated in the portrait contribute to the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán?CONNECTIONS: How did Cortés’s conquest of Tenochtitlán compare to Mexicas’ conquest of the numerous people in their empire?

Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France/Bridgeman Images.