When Fernando Cortez initiated his conquest in 1519, he met and befriended the Tlaxcalans. They had suffered dreadfully at the hands of the Aztec enemies and looked upon the Spaniards as deliverers.

The Tlaxcalans furnished Cortez thousands of warriors to augment his small army of soldiers. Their help played a major role in bringing down the Aztec state.

The Spaniards never forgot this assistance and the king granted the Tlaxcalans a number of political, social and economic privileges denied to other Indians. For instance, they were exempted from certain tribute payments and allowed to carry European arms.

Because of the special status, the Tlaxcalan Indians loyally served the Spanish government and church. In the latter 1500s, many of them were recruited as colonists on Mexico’s dangerous northern frontier.

Missionaries liked to use them as teachers, believing that they served as a healthy role model for the wild Indians they were trying to convert. Mine owners found that they made excellent laborers and paid them well. And everyone agreed that Tlaxcalans were superior fighters.