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The Cholula Massacre: Myth, Massacre, or Misunderstanding
Description
In 1519, months before the fall of Tenochtitlan, Cortés and his allies carried out a massacre at the great religious center of Cholula. Was it a preemptive strike against an ambush, or an unprovoked slaughter? In this episode, Lucas and Luna untangle the conflicting accounts—from Cortés's self-serving letters to the visceral testimony of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and the often-overlooked perspective of the Tlaxcalteca and Cholulteca sources. They explore the political calculus behind the attack, the role of La Malinche in uncovering the alleged plot, and the lasting legacy of an event that historians still argue over today. Drawing on the Florentine Codex and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, they ask what the massacre reveals about the nature of conquest—and how difficult it is to separate fact from propaganda.