Hernan Cortez Acted on his own fleeing from the spanish authorities in Cuba. He arrived in Veracruz and burned his ships to make sure his crew would not flee. He made alliances with the Totonacs and stayed more than one year in the region before he decided to go to Tenochtitlan with the support of the local tribes.
He understood the political situation prevailing and planned carefully his incursion into the Aztec Empire.
He did not have the support of Spain and after the conquest, he gave it to the Crown of Castilla.
Our president and his crew have a very biased idea of History. As an example here nobody talks about the battle of San Jacinto where we lost more than half of our territorry due to our ignorance. When Napoleon Sold the Louisiana he had no idea what he was selling to this newly constituted USA.
We have to blame all this to the ignorance of certain decision makers and the ability to visualize the potential od others.
JLS
Patrick O'Heffernan - 3 years ago
Yes. It is true the Spanish were helped in their conquest by local tribes and a native eoman, but they went on to brutalize the natives and replace thrir culture with Catholocism
Jürgen - 3 years ago
Absolutely NOT. There were no “human rights” to be respected back then. Besides, the Spaniards did nothing worse to the e.g. Aztecs than the Aztecs did to their neighbors when THEY subjugated the people around them when building their own empire. To make my point: should Mexico City apologize to the Tepanec for destroying their culture with egregious “human rights” violations?
Donald Diel - 3 years ago
Having lived all over the world, and learned different versions of the same historical incidents in different countries, I know to read historical accounts with a strong skepticism as to the degree of their accuracy. Until we learn what really happened and then made any necessary amends, humanity will never achieve stability and peace.
Birgitta M. Small - 3 years ago
Absolutely they should apologize! It's never too late and always the best way to go. And the wonderful Mexican people deserve all the support and reassurance they can get.
ARMANDO ACERO - 3 years ago
The Spaniards would have never succeeded had it not been because other tribes helped them take down the Aztecs. The same tribes the Aztec had brutalized. They joined the Spaniards to defeat a common enemy. Those were the times then, and that's how it played out. We are the result of that conflict. No apology is needed.
Herb Cochrane - 3 years ago
John Vanover couldn't have stated it any better. Right on M. Vanover!
"Part of moving on is bringing awareness (to BOTH sides) of what happened. This public awareness of new generations hopefully helps prevent humanitarian disasters in the future and makes us all more sensitive and better humans. That is why I voted yes."
Linda - 3 years ago
I think it's time to get over all this "wordy" apologizing rhetoric and get on with showing the way of peace, working together, and living in the present world. People spend WAY too much time thinking about all the atrocities of hundreds of years ago when all of that energy could be spent doing the good that can be done today. What about focusing a whole lot more on the atrocities of today instead of spending time and energy on the past? I guess, though, it's easier to focus on the past than to clean up the present with the people who are alive now and living in the world of today! That would mean laying aside the differences, the offenses, the issues of 500 or so years ago, and really getting into changing the things we can change today, such as abuse of human beings, poverty, lack of training for meaningful work, and much more.
We have enough to work with in the present without going into the past and having "word wars" over apologies people think need to be made. No one is saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying let's get on with the job of making the world we have a safe, healthy, unfrightening place to live together.
If we can spend our time agonizing over getting apologies for the way distant past, it takes up time that could be spent building a positive future. Perhaps focusing on the past is possibly, or simply a way to avoid getting deeply involved in positive, effective, long-lasting change in the present.
Janet - 3 years ago
What really was the travesty was the introduction of small pox. The Spaniards had no idea they were carrying a deadly disease to which the native population had no immunity. If apologies are due, I think all descendants in the Americas of Europe descent should participate.
ROBERT P MUNGER - 3 years ago
Yes apologize.. for many reasons.. First, Those who do not honestly remember history, may be bound to repeat it.. Second if we modern humans cannot accept and know that we are just as capable of murder and mayhem as were our ancestors then how can we ever evolve and improve ourselves our dark and sinister natures notwithstanding ?
Yes, it happened centuries ago but symbols matter and go a long way towards right human/world relations. So an apology even though committed by ancestors is a powerful symbol of goodwill.
John Martlew - 3 years ago
I vote no because Mexico is run by the descendants of Spanish colonists. They are Mexican by nationality but descended from the conquistadors non the less. The US didn’t ask European countries, where they originated, to apologize.
Michael Stoner - 3 years ago
NO! Come on folks. 500 years ago!!!! There is no way you can put yourselves in there shoes. They had a whole different set of ideas they dealt with in that time. Sorry. Exploring and exploiting was the way it was then.
It is NECESSARY as USA presidents hav been doing with the massacres of NativeAmericans by the thousands On the same token those barbarian, invaders gold mentally sick destroyed 3 American empires for nothing because they stole millions and still they are a sorry divided nation. THEY NEVER were and willnever be a powerful nation but, in bankruptcy THEY MUST APOLOGIZE FOR EVER.
.
John Vanover - 3 years ago
Part of moving on is bringing awareness (to BOTH sides) of what happened. This public awareness of new generations hopefully helps prevent humanitarian disasters in the future and makes us all more sensitive and better humans. That is why I voted yes.
George - 3 years ago
That was then. This is now. Slavery has been around for thousands of years, as well as the brutal conquests of and treatment of others to maintain superiority, territorial expansion/riches and control.
And it’s still going on today. How about focusing on the present?
Richard - 3 years ago
I agree 100% with Brent.
Brad Boner - 3 years ago
Absolutely, they should apologize! WTH is wrong with you people? How can any relationship go forward when you're lugging soiled memories? Clear the air, I say, although, truth be told, only a Japanese apology is sincere. A Spanish apology? No different than a soulless, lying, hollow Mexican apology. What happened a hundred years ago is still relevant.
The USA should apologize for its long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long list of shenanigans across the world. Why, Virginia, just every corner of the planet has been fondled, mauled and abused by American geopolitics. Like the Spanish invaders, the USA worked its own massacres as the country moved west. John Wayne was a villain, a poser and a symbol of all that is wrong with the USA. Same for Trump, the epitome of the so-called Ugly American.
Apology?
Claro que si...
Werner - 3 years ago
To admit a grave error is never too late, the Spanish Conquistadores were very tough and did a lot of damage to what were great cultures in Mexico. Together with the catholic church they destroyed some very special cultures. YES Spain should apologize!
Bruce Gelman - 3 years ago
I think the Earth should apologize to all of us for taking so long to cool down.
Brent - 3 years ago
We don't need to apologize for something that happened hundreds of years ago and that nothing to do with us. Doesn't mean it didn't happen and if it was right or not .
Javier Sebástian - 3 years ago
The horror and the atrocities committed by the European invaders are undeniable. Yet an apology now?? A bit late and pointless.
Hernan Cortez Acted on his own fleeing from the spanish authorities in Cuba. He arrived in Veracruz and burned his ships to make sure his crew would not flee. He made alliances with the Totonacs and stayed more than one year in the region before he decided to go to Tenochtitlan with the support of the local tribes.
He understood the political situation prevailing and planned carefully his incursion into the Aztec Empire.
He did not have the support of Spain and after the conquest, he gave it to the Crown of Castilla.
Our president and his crew have a very biased idea of History. As an example here nobody talks about the battle of San Jacinto where we lost more than half of our territorry due to our ignorance. When Napoleon Sold the Louisiana he had no idea what he was selling to this newly constituted USA.
We have to blame all this to the ignorance of certain decision makers and the ability to visualize the potential od others.
JLS
Yes. It is true the Spanish were helped in their conquest by local tribes and a native eoman, but they went on to brutalize the natives and replace thrir culture with Catholocism
Absolutely NOT. There were no “human rights” to be respected back then. Besides, the Spaniards did nothing worse to the e.g. Aztecs than the Aztecs did to their neighbors when THEY subjugated the people around them when building their own empire. To make my point: should Mexico City apologize to the Tepanec for destroying their culture with egregious “human rights” violations?
Having lived all over the world, and learned different versions of the same historical incidents in different countries, I know to read historical accounts with a strong skepticism as to the degree of their accuracy. Until we learn what really happened and then made any necessary amends, humanity will never achieve stability and peace.
Absolutely they should apologize! It's never too late and always the best way to go. And the wonderful Mexican people deserve all the support and reassurance they can get.
The Spaniards would have never succeeded had it not been because other tribes helped them take down the Aztecs. The same tribes the Aztec had brutalized. They joined the Spaniards to defeat a common enemy. Those were the times then, and that's how it played out. We are the result of that conflict. No apology is needed.
John Vanover couldn't have stated it any better. Right on M. Vanover!
"Part of moving on is bringing awareness (to BOTH sides) of what happened. This public awareness of new generations hopefully helps prevent humanitarian disasters in the future and makes us all more sensitive and better humans. That is why I voted yes."
I think it's time to get over all this "wordy" apologizing rhetoric and get on with showing the way of peace, working together, and living in the present world. People spend WAY too much time thinking about all the atrocities of hundreds of years ago when all of that energy could be spent doing the good that can be done today. What about focusing a whole lot more on the atrocities of today instead of spending time and energy on the past? I guess, though, it's easier to focus on the past than to clean up the present with the people who are alive now and living in the world of today! That would mean laying aside the differences, the offenses, the issues of 500 or so years ago, and really getting into changing the things we can change today, such as abuse of human beings, poverty, lack of training for meaningful work, and much more.
We have enough to work with in the present without going into the past and having "word wars" over apologies people think need to be made. No one is saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying let's get on with the job of making the world we have a safe, healthy, unfrightening place to live together.
If we can spend our time agonizing over getting apologies for the way distant past, it takes up time that could be spent building a positive future. Perhaps focusing on the past is possibly, or simply a way to avoid getting deeply involved in positive, effective, long-lasting change in the present.
What really was the travesty was the introduction of small pox. The Spaniards had no idea they were carrying a deadly disease to which the native population had no immunity. If apologies are due, I think all descendants in the Americas of Europe descent should participate.
Yes apologize.. for many reasons.. First, Those who do not honestly remember history, may be bound to repeat it.. Second if we modern humans cannot accept and know that we are just as capable of murder and mayhem as were our ancestors then how can we ever evolve and improve ourselves our dark and sinister natures notwithstanding ?
Yes, it happened centuries ago but symbols matter and go a long way towards right human/world relations. So an apology even though committed by ancestors is a powerful symbol of goodwill.
I vote no because Mexico is run by the descendants of Spanish colonists. They are Mexican by nationality but descended from the conquistadors non the less. The US didn’t ask European countries, where they originated, to apologize.
NO! Come on folks. 500 years ago!!!! There is no way you can put yourselves in there shoes. They had a whole different set of ideas they dealt with in that time. Sorry. Exploring and exploiting was the way it was then.
It is NECESSARY as USA presidents hav been doing with the massacres of NativeAmericans by the thousands On the same token those barbarian, invaders gold mentally sick destroyed 3 American empires for nothing because they stole millions and still they are a sorry divided nation. THEY NEVER were and willnever be a powerful nation but, in bankruptcy THEY MUST APOLOGIZE FOR EVER.
.
Part of moving on is bringing awareness (to BOTH sides) of what happened. This public awareness of new generations hopefully helps prevent humanitarian disasters in the future and makes us all more sensitive and better humans. That is why I voted yes.
That was then. This is now. Slavery has been around for thousands of years, as well as the brutal conquests of and treatment of others to maintain superiority, territorial expansion/riches and control.
And it’s still going on today. How about focusing on the present?
I agree 100% with Brent.
Absolutely, they should apologize! WTH is wrong with you people? How can any relationship go forward when you're lugging soiled memories? Clear the air, I say, although, truth be told, only a Japanese apology is sincere. A Spanish apology? No different than a soulless, lying, hollow Mexican apology. What happened a hundred years ago is still relevant.
The USA should apologize for its long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long list of shenanigans across the world. Why, Virginia, just every corner of the planet has been fondled, mauled and abused by American geopolitics. Like the Spanish invaders, the USA worked its own massacres as the country moved west. John Wayne was a villain, a poser and a symbol of all that is wrong with the USA. Same for Trump, the epitome of the so-called Ugly American.
Apology?
Claro que si...
To admit a grave error is never too late, the Spanish Conquistadores were very tough and did a lot of damage to what were great cultures in Mexico. Together with the catholic church they destroyed some very special cultures. YES Spain should apologize!
I think the Earth should apologize to all of us for taking so long to cool down.
We don't need to apologize for something that happened hundreds of years ago and that nothing to do with us. Doesn't mean it didn't happen and if it was right or not .
The horror and the atrocities committed by the European invaders are undeniable. Yet an apology now?? A bit late and pointless.
Absolutely! Crimes against humanity