{"podcast":{"title":"The Conquistadors: Exploration, Greed, and Destruction — Fexingo History","slug":"the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470","podcast_index_feed_id":7864470,"rss_url":"https://feeds.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors.xml","website_url":"https://www.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/","image_url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/cover.png","author":"Fexingo","episode_count":182,"summary":"From the moment Hernán Cortés burned his ships on the Veracruz shore to the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521, the Spanish conquistadors remade the Americas through a volatile mix of courage, cruelty, and greed. Lucas and Luna guide listeners through the brutal collision of two worlds, examining not only the well-known figures—Cortés, Pizarro, Moctezuma, Atahualpa—but also the indigenous allies, enslaved Africans, and forgotten women who shaped the conquest. Each episode dissects a specific campaign or cultural encounter: the siege of Tenochtitlan, the conquest of the Inca Empire, the protracted Maya resistance, and the lesser-known expeditions into Florida and the Amazon. They explore the legal and moral debates of the Valladolid Controversy, the devastating impact of Old World diseases, and the encomienda system that bound native peoples to Spanish lords. The show also confronts the long legacy: how conquest myths were constructed, how indigenous memory survives, and how modern movements grapple with statues, repatriation, and historical memory. This is not a simple story of heroes or villains—it is a search for understanding amid the rubble of empires. Can we truly grasp the scale o…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T06:20:17.143281+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470"},"episode":{"title":"The Longest Siege: Tlatelolco's Last Stand, 1521","slug":"the-longest-siege-tlatelolco-s-last-stand-1521","published_at":"2026-06-06T14:40:07+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/the-longest-siege-tlatelolco-s-last-stand-1521","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470","url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/episode-0080.mp3","audio_url":"https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/episode-0080.mp3","summary":"When Cortés laid siege to Tenochtitlan in 1521, the final stand happened not in the central island city but in its twin, Tlatelolco. This episode focuses on the last 93 days of the Aztec empire, from the cutting of the Chapultepec aqueduct to the final desperate resistance in Tlatelolco's marketplace. Lucas and Luna explore the tactical decisions of Cuauhtémoc, the role of Tlaxcalan allies in the canal warfare, and the devastating impact of smallpox on the defenders. They also discuss the controversial figure of Xicotencatl the Younger, who led Tlaxcalan forces but was later executed by Cortés. The episode draws on the Florentine Codex and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala to reconstruct the battle from both Spanish and indigenous perspectives, ending with Cortés's ambiguous victory and the sack of the city. #Tlatelolco #Tenochtitlan #Cuauhtémoc #Cortés #Tlaxcala #Xicotencatl #smallpox #Chapultepec #FlorentineCodex #LienzodeTlaxcala #Aztecs #Mesoamerica #Conquistadors #SiegeWarfare #1521 #FexingoHistory #History #MilitaryHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo","meta_description":"When Cortés laid siege to Tenochtitlan in 1521, the final stand happened not in the central island city but in its twin, Tlatelolco. This episode focuses…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":602,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/episodes/the-longest-siege-tlatelolco-s-last-stand-1521/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/the-longest-siege-tlatelolco-s-last-stand-1521.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}