Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Phases
- 1.From the coast to Tenochtitlan
- 2.Uprising, retreat and regrouping
- 3.Siege and fall of Tenochtitlan
Sides
Cortés's expedition, for the Crown of Castile, Tlaxcala, Totonacs of Cempoala, Texcoco (Ixtlilxochitl's faction), Huejotzingo, and Chalco
Aztec Empire, Tlatelolco, Tlacopan, Texcoco (Coanacoch's faction), and Xochimilco
SpainWhat happened
In February 1519 Hernán Cortés sailed from Cuba with about 500 soldiers, against the orders of the island's governor. On the Gulf coast he founded Veracruz and won over the Totonacs of Cempoala, who paid tribute to Tenochtitlan. After weeks of fighting, the Tlaxcalans, long-standing enemies of the Mexica, joined him. Moctezuma II received the Spaniards in Tenochtitlan in November 1519, and they took him prisoner. In 1520 a massacre at the Toxcatl festival set off an uprising: Moctezuma died, and the expedition fought its way out of the city at night, losing hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of allies. Smallpox then spread through central Mexico. In 1521 Cortés returned with a large Indigenous allied army and thirteen brigantines, besieged Tenochtitlan for nearly three months and took it on 13 August, capturing its ruler Cuauhtémoc. The city was sacked and later rebuilt as Mexico City, capital of New Spain.
Outcome: Tenochtitlan fell to Cortés's forces and their allies on 13 August 1521; the Spanish crown made central Mexico the colony of New Spain.
Key events
Leaders
- Hernán Cortés · Commander of the expedition · Cortés's expedition and its Indigenous allies
- Pedro de Alvarado · Captain; held Tenochtitlan in 1520 while Cortés was away · Cortés's expedition and its Indigenous allies
- Gonzalo de Sandoval · Captain in the siege of Tenochtitlan · Cortés's expedition and its Indigenous allies
- Chichimecatecuhtli · Commander of Tlaxcalan warriors in the siege · Cortés's expedition and its Indigenous allies
- Ixtlilxochitl II · Leader of the Texcocan faction allied with Cortés · Cortés's expedition and its Indigenous allies
- Moctezuma II · Huey tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, to 1520 · The Mexica of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
- Cuitláhuac · Huey tlatoani of Tenochtitlan in 1520 · The Mexica of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
- Cuauhtémoc · Huey tlatoani from 1521; led the defence of Tenochtitlan · The Mexica of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
- Coanacoch · Ruler of Texcoco who fought for Tenochtitlan · The Mexica of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
Deaths
Death tolls are estimates and often contested. Each is a range from its sources; a figure one party gives is marked as theirs.
Total deaths · The Mexica of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
- 100,000 – 240,000
Warriors and civilians of the Triple Alliance killed over the whole campaign, 1519 to 1521, many of hunger and smallpox. Sources differ on the low end: some put it at 100,000, others at 200,000. The figures rest on conquest-era accounts and are contested.
Military deaths · Spaniards
- 1,800according to historian Hugh Thomas
Spaniards who died of all causes from the landing in 1519 to the fall of Tenochtitlan. The expedition's Indigenous allies, most of them Tlaxcalan, lost tens of thousands killed or wounded; no source gives a firm count.
Cultures it ended or changed
Meanwhile, elsewhere in
- Holy Roman EmpireHeiliges Römisches Reich
Europe · - Ming dynasty明
China · The brick-faced Great Wall that most visitors photograph near Beijing is largely a Ming creation, built two thousand years after the wall of the first Qin emperor and along a different line.
- MuiscaMuysca
South America · A small gold raft found near Bogotá, showing figures around a chief, is thought to depict the Guatavita gold-dust ceremony.
- Maya civilization
Mesoamerica · Oldest hereThe Maya Long Count calendar tracks days in an unbroken count from a mythical starting point in 3114 BCE.
- Inca EmpireTawantinsuyu
South America · Relay runners called chaskis carried messages along the roads, handing them on at waystations.
- Mixtec civilizationÑuu Dzahui Mesoamerica ·
Sources
- Cartwright, Mark. "The Fall of Tenochtitlan." World History Encyclopedia.
- Cartwright, Mark. "Hernán Cortés." World History Encyclopedia.
- Brown, Kendall W. "Cortés, Hernán (c. 1485–1547)." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Charles Scribner's Sons, via Encyclopedia.com.
- "Cortés, Hernán." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Macmillan Reference USA, via Encyclopedia.com.
- "Hernán Cortés." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale, via Encyclopedia.com.
- "Cortés, Hernán." Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. Macmillan Reference USA, via Encyclopedia.com.
- Wikipedia (English). "Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire."
- Wikipedia (español). "Conquista de México-Tenochtitlan."