The Cholula Massacre: Terror Before Tenochtitlan

In October 1519, Hernán Cortés and his army entered the great city of Cholula, home to the second largest pyramid in Mesoamerica and a major center of the cult of Quetzalcoatl. What began as a diplomatic meeting turned into one of the most brutal massacres of the Spanish conquest. Over the course of a few hours, thousands of unarmed Cholulan nobles and warriors were slaughtered in the main plaza. This episode examines the events leading up to the massacre, the role of La Malinche and the Tlaxcalan allies, the disputed motivations—was it a preemptive strike or a calculated act of terror?—and the lasting impact on indigenous resistance. We also explore the sources: Bernal Díaz del Castillo's eyewitness account versus the Florentine Codex's indigenous perspective, and what modern archaeology reveals about the scale of the killing. The Cholula Massacre was a turning point that shattered any hope of peaceful coexistence and set the pattern for the bloody conquest to come. #CholulaMassacre #HernanCortes #LaMalinche #BernalDiazdelCastillo #Tlaxcala #Quetzalcoatl #FlorentineCodex #Moctezuma #Mesoamerica #SpanishConquest #Aztecs #Xicotencatl #Cempoala #Totonac #IndigenousResistance #History #FexingoHistory #WarCrimes #Conquistadors #SpanishEmpire Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo