Cantares Mexicanos

This is a poem in grief of the loss of the Aztec capitol city of Tenochtitlan. This document can be of use to modern day historians because they can use it as a historical description of what happened when Tenochtitlan was taken over. It was designed to be a poem to show the emotions of the people who had just lost so much, but the poem contains many accurate details about what happened during the invasion of Tenochtitlan that historians can use to better understand how Cortez took the great city. Cortez took the Aztec kings as prisoners, and the Princes of Mexico were taken prisoner before the siege began; this shows that Cortez took out the peoples leadership before he besieged the city to create confusion. This tactic by Cortez was one of the reasons he was successful in his conquest of the Aztecs. It is also clear from this poem that Cortez burned down the city during the siege.