i wrote up some more on the resistance movement. this is everything from after the siege of tenochtitlan:
The Early Resistance Movement
Cortés and his allies enjoyed a year of relative peace following the Siege of Tenōchtitlān. It is believed that the reason there were only isolated incidents during this time was because many of the Aztecs were still suffering and recovering from the outbreak of smallpox that had descended upon Tenōchtitlān, and there are documented cases by Spaniards of Aztecs attempting to treat and cure smallpox with native medicines, to mixed results. While the Aztecs were licking their wounds, the Spanish and their indigenous allies were on the move. Tlaxcala in particular was a well-received group allied to Spain, and enjoyed more privileges than most of the other tribes. They were instrumental in much of the colonization done by Spain and were allowed to carry firearms and ride horses, all provided to them by Cortés. Consequently, one of the Aztec's first moves upon their return was to demonize the Tlaxcalans as traitors to the other people of the region.
It wasn't until late in 1522 that the resistance made its first real move. A Spanish patrol making its rounds in August one day came across a convoy that had been attacked. All of the merchants were dead, but the soldiers who had accompanied them were missing, and all of the supplies, even the cart and the horses, were gone. Clutched in one of the merchant's hands was a page torn from an Aztec codex with warnings in both Spanish and Nāhuatl that were written in the blood of the slain merchants: the Aztecs were back. While still staging geurilla strikes and skirmishes against the Spanish, the Aztecs had also been returning to their former tributary states to ask for help and be chosen as the lesser of two evils. Over time, the old tensions between the Aztecs and their former subjects lessened and eventually disappeared entirely. The resistance was led by Cuauhtémoc, the newly appointed Aztec emperor, who was a nephew of the late Moctezuma II. Early on in the days of the resistance, the Aztecs received help from a few other native groups that had already been affected by the incursions of the Spanish. Notably, a Mayan war leader sent some of his warriors to help the Aztec resistance, who by now were no longer just composed of the Aztecs but also numerous other natives and even some Spaniards who had come to the conclusion that Cortés was insane and deserted. These defecting Spaniards were often met with hostility at first, and many were thought to have been killed on sight, but after a while, and with the help of translators, more and more Spanish deserters were brought in to help the resistance. Their inclusion among the rebels helped not only to strengthen their numbers, but also gave the Aztecs a logistical advantage in knowing where to attack and when.
However, there were repercussions to the entry of Spaniards to the resistance: the smallpox that the natives had tried so hard to remove from their midst returned with one of the Spanish soldiers and they suffered as a result. Legend has it that some of the Spanish suggested inhaling powder from the smallpox scabs through the nose as a means of trying to prevent smallpox, to mixed results. The resistance remained a minor threat to Cortés and his forces for several more years, and, while he had been criticized by the Spanish Crown for not destroying the Aztecs, Cortés was nonetheless made the governor of México, or "New Spain," though Cortés reportedly tried to paint a more sympathetic image for himself by personally claiming and stating in his biography that he was treated unjustly. Today, though, it is thought that Cortés was simply greedy and arrogant, and blew the criticisms of him out of proportion, and even claiming that he was underappreciated for his deeds in the New World. Cortés was further frustrated when four royal officials from Spain were appointed to assist in his governance. It is thought that the king of Spain did this deliberately just to spite Cortés. As governor of the newly conquered lands, Cortés began the construction of México City directly over Tenōchtitlān, much to the anger of the Aztec resistance, who on numerous occasions, and against the better judgment of the rebel leaders, attacked the construction, sometimes to disastrous results. Even so, Cortés continued with the destruction of the original city and erected new, European-style buildings in their place. This only fueled Aztec hatred of Cortés and the Spanish who remained loyal to him, and a new wave of opposition appeared in the years to come.
The Mayaztec Alliance
Around 1526, the Spanish began their next major conquest in the New World: the invasion of the Yucatán, and the subjugation of the Mayans. It was around this time that Cortés and the Spanish began real efforts to convert the natives to Christianity and tried to grow sugar in the region. México became one of the corners in the transatlantic slave trade, and the first African slaves arrived on the continent. While the Spanish attempted to establish a colony in what would one day become South Carolina, Cortés himself marched on the Yucatán.
Almost as soon as Spanish soldiers set foot in the Yucatán, the Mayans began to fight back. Mayan warriors would leap out of hiding when the Spaniards approached and stab them to death with spears. However, these attacks usually ended disastrously because of the Spaniard's superior weaponry. Therefore, in 1527, another leader appeared in the resistance, and from an unlikely source. Though Spaniards had become members of the resistance practically from its creation, the Aztecs and other natives were surprised when a company of Mayans led by a tattooed white man in full battle dress approached one day. It was Gonzalo Guerrero, one of the Spaniards who had been shipwrecked in 1511. Years before, Cortés had tried to convince Guerrero to join him, but Guerrero had refused because, by that time in his life, Guerrero had become an accomplished Maya war leader and had almost entirely assimilated into Mayan culture, and even had three children with a Mayan wife. Though he was still Catholic, Guerrero no longer held any love or loyalty for Spain, especially after seeing the devastating that his former countrymen had inflicted upon the Aztecs and knowing that it could very well happen to the Mayans.
Though at first distrustful of the Spaniard-turned-Mayan, Cuauhtémoc had Guerrero brought before him. If the Spanish defectors before him had been helpful, Guerrero was like a walking miracle to Cuauhtémoc. He held great knowledge of Spanish battle plans and made suggestions for how to most effectively harm the Spanish by stealing firearms, armor, and horses from them. When Cortés' forces heard of a tattooed Spaniard leading Mayan soldiers aligned to the resistance, Cortés came to the conclusion that it was Guerrero and declared him a traitor to his country. When Gerónimo de Aguilar, the other shipwrecked survivor and an old friend of Guerrero, heard of this, he had a change of heart. Some speculate that this may have been in part because Doña Marina, the native woman who had been one of Cortés' personal translators and by now his mistress, had learned Spanish herself, so Aguilar's role as translator had effectively ended, and he chose to forsake Cortés' forces and returned to Guerrero.
Aguilar was a monk, and his presence in the resistance movement had a profound effect on the natives' views of Christianity. After the conversion of many of the Tlaxcalans and what Cortés did to the Aztecs, many of the natives looked very poorly on Christianity. When Aguilar came to the resistance, he not only tended to the religious needs of the Spaniards that had deserted Cortés, but also helped to soften the beliefs of the natives. He worked to convince the natives that Cortés was not to be trusted under any circumstances, even going so far as demonizing the governor. The leadership of Cuauhtémoc and Guerrero, coupled with the unifying force of Christianity supplied by Aguilar, allowed the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish traitors, and other natives to effectively join forces in spite of past differences. The resistance came to be known as the "Mayaztecs" because of their allegiances and because of Spanish confusion over their identities, though the resistance gladly adopted this term. Within months, Cuauhtémoc and his wife, Tecuichpo, were expecting an heir to be born in the hopes of betrothing their child to one of Guerrero's, on the Mayan leader's suggestion, to create a feasible heir to both the Mayan and Aztec thrones. The Aztecs and the other natives now had something to work and fight for, having been given a second chance. With Guerrero's help, the rebel army modernized with stolen rifles and horses. During this time, Cuauhtémoc's wife began to take an interest in Catholicism, perhaps being inspired by Aguilar, and was eventually baptized by the friar as Isabel Moctezuma, though she was only known by this name to the Spanish among the resistance. Similarly, Tlacotzin--one of the few remaining Aztec nobility--began flirting with Catholicism as well and was eventually baptized as Juan Velázquez Tlacotzin while still serving as a counselor to Cuauhtémoc, and served both him and Guerrero as emissary to the Mayan people, riding a white horse and wearing a combination of Aztec, Mayan, and Spanish dress, both of which were given to him by Guerrero.
The resistance was quite successful for the first two and a half years of the union between the Aztecs and the Maya, but by that time the Spanish Crown had sent reinforcements to México and brought about a crushing defeat of the Mayaztec Alliance in 1529, which was scattered following the battle. However, neither Cuauhtémoc nor Guerrero were captured or killed. Cortés had managed to keep himself in México until this first defeat of the Mayaztecs, after which he returned to Spain to try to appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V. Cortés returned to México in 1531 as Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley. By this time, though, the Mayaztecs had reorganized themselves
annd then, BLANK. WRITER'S BLOCK. any suggestions for what direction i can go in, or any changes to be made for plausibility?