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Montezuma II
Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador. When he and his people reached the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1519, they were the first Europeans to set foot in Mexico. Cortés ordered his army to execute Aztec leader Montezuma II after a series of poor translations between Cortés and Montezuma (who spoke only Nahuatl, an Aztec language) led Cortés to believe (incorrectly) that Montezuma deemed him a god and gifted him the city. Montezuma’s execution resulted in a bloody war that took the lives of 20 million Aztecs. Gladwell presents this historical scene in the Introduction to show how misunderstanding strangers can result in deadly consequences.
Hernán Cortés Quotes in Talking to Strangers
The Talking to Strangers quotes below are all either spoken by Hernán Cortés or refer to Hernán Cortés. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Introduction
Quotes
Today we are now thrown into contact all the time with people whose assumptions, perspectives, and backgrounds are different from our own. The modern world is not two brothers feuding for control of the Ottoman Empire. It is Cortés and Montezuma struggling to understanding each other through multiple layers of translators. Talking to Strangers is about why we are so bad at that act of translation.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Talking to Strangers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Hernán Cortés Quotes in Talking to Strangers
The Talking to Strangers quotes below are all either spoken by Hernán Cortés or refer to Hernán Cortés. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Introduction
Quotes
Today we are now thrown into contact all the time with people whose assumptions, perspectives, and backgrounds are different from our own. The modern world is not two brothers feuding for control of the Ottoman Empire. It is Cortés and Montezuma struggling to understanding each other through multiple layers of translators. Talking to Strangers is about why we are so bad at that act of translation.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
