Abstract
‘By a miracle of God’ examines how the Spanish gained control of the American empires so quickly. Their victory was an epic accomplishment at the time. The Spanish attributed their success to and ‘interior strength’, born both out of God's providence and the Spaniards' inherent superiority. However, most historians take Spanish superiority at face value, despite contrasting evidence. There is also little evidence that the Mesoamericans viewed the strange Spanish as ‘divine’. Many Mesoamerican accounts echo the Spanish viewpoints, due to alliances formed against the ruling Aztecs, but some embody true native views. In many ‘conquests’ there were few actual conflicts, and Spanish ‘strangeness’ allowed them to position themselves advantageously.
