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Why Did Moctezuma Let Cortés Into Tenochtitlan?

Si Sheppard says letting Cortés into Tenochtitlan was Moctezuma's best option, whether the emperor saw it that way or not.

Moctezuma already knew someone had landed and was determined to meet him. He asked Cortés to leave and sent precious gifts. Aztec gold made Cortés more determined to reach the center. Advisors said not to let him proceed. His own brother warned that if he allowed the man inside the house, the man would take the house. Moctezuma let him in anyway. Sheppard's reason is practical: a guest inside the capital was safer than a loose Cortés in the empire, free to talk with subject peoples and turn them against the center.

Moctezuma may also have believed Cortés was an envoy from a great emperor across the ocean. Cortés had no warrant for that claim. He told listeners he spoke for Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, while Charles V had no idea who Hernán Cortés was.

Transcript

Si Sheppard – How did a few hundred Spanish soldiers topple two empires? ·

Dwarkesh Podcast

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