The fall in 1519 of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Mexica or Aztec Empire, as it was later called, laid the foundation for the Spanish colonial empire on the North American mainland. It was the first time that Europeans had subjugated a highly organized state outside the world they had hitherto known. In the process, they created the basis for the first global colonial empires.

? ? ? ? ? 1519年，墨西加人的首都特諾奇蒂特蘭（后來(lái)被稱為阿茲特克帝國(guó)）的陷落，為西班牙在北美大陸的殖民帝國(guó)奠定了基礎(chǔ)。這是歐洲人第一次征服一個(gè)高度組織化的國(guó)家，而這個(gè)國(guó)家是在他們此前所熟知的世界之外的。在此過程中，他們?yōu)榈谝慌蛑趁竦蹏?guó)奠定了基礎(chǔ)。

阿茲特克人的衰亡

In the course of the 15th century, the Aztecs had created an empire of conquest demanding tribute from subjugated city-states. These tributes were pressing, and the spirit of discontent was widespread, especially in the recently invaded territories at the margins of the empire. When in 1519 a group of Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés arrived from Cuba, the situation changed. Indigenous communities such as the Totonacs and the Tlaxcaltecans decided to support the foreigners who wanted to reach the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.

? ? ? ? ? 15世紀(jì)，阿茲特克人通過征服建立了一個(gè)帝國(guó)，向其統(tǒng)治下的城邦征收貢品。稅收沉重，不滿情緒普遍存在，尤其是在最近被入侵的帝國(guó)邊緣地區(qū)。1519年，當(dāng)埃爾南·科爾特斯 (Hernán Cortes) 率領(lǐng)的一群西班牙征服者從古巴抵達(dá)時(shí)，情況發(fā)生了變化。托托納克人和特拉斯卡拉人等幾個(gè)土著社區(qū)決定支持想要到達(dá)阿茲特克首府特諾奇蒂特蘭的外國(guó)人。

When the allies after much fighting reached there, their leader Cortés was festively welcomed by the Aztec emperor Montezuma II who decided to let the troops enter the city. The long visit turned violent when in May 1520 Pedro de Alvarado, one of Cortés' officers massacred Aztec elites during the Toxcatl festival. What followed was the nocturnal evacuation of the allies who had been besieged in their camp within the city by the Aztecs in the so-called 'Noche triste' on June 30. After their retreat, the decimated allies regrouped in Tlaxcala and started a massive campaign against Tenochtitlan which resulted in the fall of the city in August 1521.

? ? ? ? ? ?經(jīng)過長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的戰(zhàn)斗，當(dāng)盟軍到達(dá)特諾奇蒂特蘭時(shí)，阿茲特克皇帝蒙特祖瑪二世向他們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人埃爾南·科爾特斯表示歡迎，并決定允許他的士兵進(jìn)入這座城市。1520年5月，科爾特斯的一名軍官佩德羅·阿爾瓦拉多 (Pedro Alvarado) 在 Toxcatl 節(jié)期間屠殺了阿茲特克精英，使這次漫長(zhǎng)的訪問變得十分激烈。隨后，盟軍在夜間撤離，其位于城內(nèi)的營(yíng)地在 6 月 30 日所謂的“悲傷之夜”期間被圍困。撤退后，遭到重創(chuàng)的盟軍在特拉斯卡拉重新集結(jié)，并開始對(duì)特諾奇蒂特蘭進(jìn)行大規(guī)模作戰(zhàn)，特諾奇蒂特蘭最終于1521年8月陷落。 ?

文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期歐洲的觀點(diǎn)

The victory led Spanish chroniclers and historians to regard their country as the legitimate successor to the Roman Empire, which they claimed Spain would even surpass. This resulted in the fundamental assumption of the superiority of Christian Europeans and the inferiority of other ethnic groups, which was characterized as a quasi-natural order of things.

? ? ? ? ? ?這次勝利使西班牙的編年史家和歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為他們的國(guó)家是羅馬帝國(guó)的合法繼承者，他們聲稱西班牙將超越羅馬帝國(guó)。這導(dǎo)致了歐洲基督教徒的優(yōu)越性與其他種族群體的劣等性的基本假設(shè)，這被描述為事物的準(zhǔn)自然秩序。

These aspects remained in the foreground in European historiography for centuries, though the original triumphalist attitude would reverse course in the 20th century. The events of that era were celebrated hundreds of times over in popular stories, novels, poems, songs, and operas, and scrutinized in scholarly papers. The academic literature alone fills libraries. The conquest of Tenochtitlan between 1519 and 1521 was certainly an unprecedented event. The urban center was probably one of the largest cities in the world and the capital of a sprawling and, for Europeans, totally alien empire. On the other hand, it was a devastating blow for the losers, the Mexica, who had been expanding their rule in Mesoamerica for decades.

? ? ? ? ? 盡管最初的必勝主義態(tài)度在 20 世紀(jì)發(fā)生了逆轉(zhuǎn)，但這些問題在歐洲史學(xué)中幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)一直是人們關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。那個(gè)時(shí)代的事件在通俗故事、小說、詩(shī)歌、歌曲和歌劇中被頌揚(yáng)了數(shù)百次，并在學(xué)術(shù)論文中得到了仔細(xì)研究。僅僅是學(xué)術(shù)文獻(xiàn)就充滿了圖書館。1519年至1521年期間對(duì)特諾奇蒂特蘭的征服無(wú)疑是史無(wú)前例的事件。這個(gè)城市中心可能是世界上最大的城市之一，而且是一個(gè)龐大的、對(duì)歐洲人來(lái)說完全陌生的帝國(guó)的首都。另一方面，這對(duì)失敗者墨西加人來(lái)說是一個(gè)毀滅性的打擊，此前他們已經(jīng)在中美洲擴(kuò)張了幾十年的統(tǒng)治。 ?

For Renaissance Europeans, who prized first-hand testimony and personal experience and no longer exclusively relied on classical authorities, information from the New World had garnered great interest since 1492. The sensation of the Columbus voyage had already faded by 1519, by which point the Genoese had been dead for over a decade. But in Mexico, new discoveries emerged – things that had never been heard of before in Europe. Even the Bible was unaware of these lands.

? ? ? ? ? 對(duì)于文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期的歐洲人來(lái)說，他們珍視第一手資料和個(gè)人經(jīng)驗(yàn)，不再完全依賴古典權(quán)威，自1492年以來(lái)，來(lái)自新世界的信息引起了極大的興趣。哥倫布航海的轟動(dòng)效應(yīng)到1519年已經(jīng)消退， 他（出生地：意大利熱那亞）已經(jīng)消亡十多年了。但在墨西哥，新的發(fā)現(xiàn)出現(xiàn)了（那些在歐洲從未聽說過的東西）。甚至連《圣經(jīng)》都不知道這些土地的存在。

At first, the news mainly spread through Hernán Cortés' letters. The leader of the Spanish conquistadors described with wonder all the things that were new and strange to him. His depictions of the rituals, art, cuisine, and jewelry of the Mexica captured the public imagination. Significantly, he put the social hierarchy of Mexican society on par with that of the Spanish by alluding to important Mexica as senores, vasallos, and senorios. The Latin translation of his reports even uses the capitalized term "Don" for the ruler of the Mexica, Moctezuma II Xocoyotzin (aka Montezuma).?

? ? ? ? ? 起初，這一消息主要通過埃爾南·科爾特斯的信件傳播。這位西班牙征服者的領(lǐng)袖驚奇地描述了所有對(duì)他來(lái)說新奇的事物。他對(duì)墨西加儀式、藝術(shù)、美食和珠寶的描述激發(fā)了公眾的想象力。值得注意的是，他在提到墨西加領(lǐng)主、封臣和莊園主時(shí)，將墨西哥的社會(huì)等級(jí)制度與西班牙的社會(huì)等級(jí)制度放在一起。他的報(bào)告的拉丁文譯本甚至用大寫的“Don”一詞用于指墨西加統(tǒng)治者蒙特祖瑪二世·霍科約欽（Moctezuma?II Xocoyotzin），也稱為蒙特祖瑪（Montezuma）。

Cortés' emphasis on the discipline and remarkable social order in Mexican society starkly contrasts with the earlier experiences of Christopher Columbus. His first report of 1519 gave the impression that negotiations with a foreign ruler were carried out on an equal footing, just as the Catholic monarchs of Spain had expected when they sent Columbus on his journey in 1492. But Columbus had failed to discover any states or powerful kings in the Caribbean. What Cortés described was much closer to the original vision, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, therefore instructed him to treat the new subjects as well as he would vassals in Europe.

? ? ? ? ? ?科爾特斯強(qiáng)調(diào)墨西哥社會(huì)的紀(jì)律和令人敬佩的社會(huì)秩序，這與克里斯托弗·哥倫布早期的經(jīng)歷形成鮮明對(duì)比。他1519年的第一份報(bào)告給人的印象是，與外國(guó)統(tǒng)治者的談判是在平等的基礎(chǔ)上進(jìn)行的，就像西班牙的天主教君主在1492年派遣哥倫布出征時(shí)所期望的那樣。但哥倫布未能在加勒比地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)任何國(guó)家或強(qiáng)大的國(guó)王?？茽柼厮姑枋龅那闆r更接近最初的設(shè)想，因此神圣羅馬帝國(guó)皇帝查理五世指示他像對(duì)待歐洲的諸侯一樣善待這些新臣民。

對(duì)中美洲的影響

For the people of Mesoamerica, the impact of the encounter was no less novel or surprising. The sight of the Spaniards opened up a new world for them, too. Everything was strange to them, from their light skin, occasionally fair hair, and body hair to their clothes and hats, tools, and food and drink. They were particularly struck by the design of their ships and their animals, as horses and dogs were unheard of in Mesoamerica. They were also curious about the armaments, flags, and Christian symbolism, especially the ever-present cross. They depicted these novelties in their historical records in the form of glyphs, a pictorial language that was the counterpart of the written language of the Spanish.

? ? ? ? ? 對(duì)于中美洲的人們來(lái)說，這次邂逅的影響也同樣新穎或令人驚訝。西班牙人的出現(xiàn)也為他們打開了新世界的大門。對(duì)他們來(lái)說，一切都顯得很奇怪，從他們白色的皮膚，有時(shí)是金色的頭發(fā)，到他們的衣服、帽子、工具、飲料和食物。他們尤其對(duì)他們的船只設(shè)計(jì)和動(dòng)物感到震驚，因?yàn)轳R和狗在中美洲是聞所未聞的。他們還對(duì)武器裝備、旗幟和基督教象征意義感到好奇，特別是無(wú)處不在的十字架。他們?cè)跉v史記錄中以石刻的形式描繪了這些新事物，這是一種圖形語(yǔ)言，與西班牙人的書面語(yǔ)言相對(duì)應(yīng)。

The parties met each other with astonishment, but at eye level, even if both sides felt superior to the other. Indeed, until the end of the 18th century, the global dominance of the Europeans was hardly a given. At this time, around 80% of the world's gross national product was still being generated in Asia; Europeans had extensive colonial possessions only in America, and elsewhere they had established only trading stations. Furthermore, in the early modern period, imperial expansion was not exceptional. In this era, the Ottoman, Chinese, Russian, and Songhay empires in West Africa greatly expanded their dominions, as did the Inca and Mexica empires until the arrival of the Europeans. But these were land empires, whereas the Europeans were opening up utterly new horizons far away from home, across the ocean. The new insights and the knowledge they brought back with them figured prominently in the Renaissance conceptions of the world, which were imbued with humanistic ideals.

? ? ? ? ? 雙方愕然相見，但卻處于同一水平線上，雖然都感覺自己高人一等。事實(shí)上，直到18世紀(jì)末，歐洲人的全球統(tǒng)治地位還很難說是既成事實(shí)。此時(shí)，世界上約80%的國(guó)民生產(chǎn)總值仍在亞洲產(chǎn)生；歐洲人只在美洲擁有廣泛的殖民地，在其他地方他們只建立了貿(mào)易站。此外，近代早期的帝國(guó)擴(kuò)張也不例外。在這個(gè)時(shí)代，奧斯曼帝國(guó)、大清國(guó)、俄羅斯帝國(guó)和西非的桑海帝國(guó)都進(jìn)行了巨大的疆域擴(kuò)張，印加帝國(guó)和墨西哥帝國(guó)也是如此，直到歐洲人的到來(lái)。這些帝國(guó)覆蓋了廣闊的土地，而歐洲人卻在遠(yuǎn)離家園、跨越海洋的地方開辟了全新的視野。他們帶回的新的欣賞和知識(shí)在充滿人文主義理想的文藝復(fù)興世界觀中占有重要地位。

小? ? ?結(jié)

The contact between cultures did not take place in a spirit of harmony but under the banner of warlike conquest. In self-portraits, the conquistadors stressed the fact that, like the heroes of the medieval chivalric novels that were very popular at the time, they had defeated a large empire with just a negligible force. This is the myth that has been passed down from generation to generation in modern schoolbooks and went virtually unquestioned for centuries. Recent scholarship, however, drawing more and more on indigenous sources has begun to provide a more complicated portrait of the conquest.

? ? ? ? ? 文化之間的接觸并不是在和諧的精神下進(jìn)行的，而是在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)征服的旗幟下進(jìn)行的。征服者們?cè)谧援嬒裰袕?qiáng)調(diào)，就像當(dāng)時(shí)非常流行的中世紀(jì)騎士小說中的英雄一樣，他們僅用微不足道的力量就打敗了一個(gè)龐大的帝國(guó)。這是現(xiàn)代教科書中代代相傳的神話，幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)幾乎沒有受到質(zhì)疑。然而，最近的學(xué)術(shù)研究，越來(lái)越多地借鑒本土資料，已經(jīng)開始提供關(guān)于征服的更復(fù)雜的描述。

In March 2019, the newly elected President of Mexico, Andres Manuel López Obrador, attracted global interest for letters sent to the Spanish king and the pope. In them, he entreated the recipients to apologize to the indigenous peoples of Mexico for the atrocities committed during the conquest of Mexico 500 years earlier. The letters' contents spread like wildfire across social media and sparked outrage in Spain. The crown swiftly rebuffed him, pointing out that the events of that time could not be judged by today's standards. It also maintained that the Spanish and Mexican people had always known how to "interpret our common past without anger and with a constructive attitude." Although the controversy over the conquest is many centuries old, it is still very much alive, and not just in the Spanish-speaking world.

? ? ? ? ? 2019年3月，墨西哥新當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)安德烈斯·曼努埃爾·洛佩斯·奧夫拉多爾因其寫給西班牙國(guó)王和教皇的信件而引起了全球的關(guān)注。在信中，他要求收信人為500年前征服墨西哥時(shí)犯下的暴行向墨西哥原住民道歉。這些信的內(nèi)容像野火一樣在社交媒體上傳播，在西班牙引發(fā)了憤怒。王室迅速回絕了他，指出當(dāng)時(shí)的事件不能用今天的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)評(píng)判。他還堅(jiān)稱，西班牙和墨西哥人民一直知道如何“不帶憤怒并以建設(shè)性態(tài)度解釋我們共同的過去”。盡管關(guān)于征服的爭(zhēng)議已經(jīng)存在了好幾個(gè)世紀(jì)，但它仍然非?；钴S，而且不僅僅是在西班牙語(yǔ)世界。

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2250/the-changing-interpretation-of-the-spanish-conques/