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be sure to check out the wiki for the codex that illustration is from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Borgia

there's a really excellent podcast series i listened to a few months ago about the conquest of mexico a few months ago, beginning here:

http://historyonfirepodcast.com/episodes/2017/5/25/episode-2...

it's genuinely one of the most incredible stories in human history. if you, like me, only possess a cursory awareness of the events, i can't recommend listening through the whole thing enough.

and a supplementary podcast series about human sacrifice particularly by the aztecs (though quite meandering, in an enjoyable way):

http://www.martyrmade.com/8-how-to-serve-man-sacrifice-canni...



Even more absurd to me than Cortes' conquest of Mexico was Pizarro's conquest of the Incas, an empire which was larger than both the Mayans or Aztec.

IIRC Cortes had ~1500 conquistadors on his side and Pizarro had ~500


Both conquistadors were helped by native fighters, so these numbers only show the Spanish warriors not their massive allied army.




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