Conquest of Aztec Empire

Spaniards had finally landed on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on 1519. The Aztec's empire was well advanced. It occupied a great amount of territory along the Valley of Mexico and its capital was Tenochtilan. Spaniards were fascinated by the wealth the Aztecs had. Their wealth consisted of trading and heavy payments of tribute from conquered peoples. During the time period from 1200-1520, the Aztecs expanded and had prosperity in their empire. However, when Hernan Cortes (Spaniard) arrived at the empire, the spanish conquest ended the expansion.
Religion played a huge role in Aztec's life. The god Quetzalcoatl, light eyes, light skin, and red hair, was supposed to come back to earth. Since the spaniards appearance was very similar, they gifted them with food, women, and a lot of significant gold. Spaniards, with a strong sense of supremacy, tried to convert the Aztecs into Christianity. However, the Aztecs couldn't understand what the spaniards were saying. Since the Aztecs didn't do what they were told to do, the spaniards took this as a sign of rejection and war.
In 1519, Hernando Cortes founded the colony of New Spain in Mexico. The aztecs didn't want to give up their land so they fought. The Spaniards were aided by the advantage of disease. They brought sicknesses that the Aztecs had no immunity to. Approximately three-quarters of the native population died of violence or diseases like small pox in just the first century of the conquest. Finally, the Aztec capital fell on August 13, 1521. After capturing Tenochititlan, the Spaniards destroyed the city to build New Mexico, destroying most of the aztec culture. This was the end of the Aztec empire.

In my opinion, the spaniards made a terrible mistake by not leaving one bit of Aztec culture for us.
TRICKY QUESTION: If you were a spanish conquerer, what would your methods of conquering be?



http://www.aztec-history.com/fall-of-the-aztec-empire.html
http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/americas/cortes.cp.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/16325/y-conq.html[img]

I believe that if i would be Hernando Cortes i would of conquered the aztecs by a simple and easy way. All you need to do is to learn their language and then make an allience with them. If they disiered war i would of got all my man and i would of all shot them down with muskets and cannons. I believe that the power of gun powder and military strength would of destroyed the empire in gut a few years.