posted on Mar, 13 2010 @ 10:31 PM
reply to post by hoghead cheese
Not sure whether "Melinche" or "Donna Angelina" is referred to here.
Suffice to say that both the Aztecs and Incas were not universallly popular. Cortes was massivelly supported by Tlaxclalans and the feudal city states
oppressed by the Aztecs. Legend has it that Melinche's father was killed by the Aztecs, and she came from a Mayan town that harboured a severe hatred
for them. However, there is little proof for that?
What is true is that both Pizarro and Cortes had thousands of native troops, yet this is hardly mentioned.
I recently saw a History Channel documentary (the name escapes me) about the battle of Lima between the Incas and Pizarro. Excavations show that all
the dead were native peoples, killed by native weapons, and only three were killed by Spanish weapons (one had his skull crushed by a horse's hoof).
Nevertheless, it was largely an indigenous battle. They mentioned in the program that Pizarro's Incan mistress - Donna Angelina - organized the
native reinforcements.
That casts a very different light on the conquests, because we still learnt at University that a handful of Spaniards did all this conquering. More
likely it now seems like a case of divide and rule. The taking of local mistresses thus seems to have been an important political act of building
alliances.
Some sites claim Angelina was a relative of Atahualpa.
But how sad, what were Mrs Cortes and Pizarro doing all alone at home? I wonder if they knew? But back then in Christian Europe what the wife thought
was probably of little concern.
[edit on 13-3-2010 by halfoldman]