Summer History Talks: Where Columbus Almost Met Cortés and Montezuma
Live Presentation via Zoom
Virtual Screening Room
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025 12:00 PM
Arizona / Mountain Standard Time
Join the Arizona Historical Society and Dr. Matthew Restall for an installment of AHS Summer History Talks: Spanish Period in Arizona!
In a staircase mural in the old Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC, the Discoverer, the Conqueror, and the Emperor almost met. But in the end, only Columbus was preserved in paint, chosen over Cortés and Montezuma. Drawing upon a trio of his books, recent and upcoming, historian Matthew Restall uses the story of this mural to explore how the legends of these three men evolved over the past five centuries. Understanding that evolution, he argues, dramatically changes how we see much of the history of the Americas, from the Aztecs to the present day.
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