Summary
Highlights
In the early 16th century, Spanish exploration led them to a vast, unexplored landmass, believed to be a new continent. Rumors of abundant gold fueled their ambitions. Governor Velázquez of Cuba organized an expedition led by Hernán Cortés, an ambitious Spaniard who aimed for personal glory. Cortés defied orders, sailing to the Yucatán Peninsula. There, he remarkably acquired two crucial translators: Gerónimo de Aguilar, a Spanish friar shipwrecked years earlier who spoke Mayan, and Marina (La Malinche), a young indigenous woman who spoke both Mayan and Nahuatl, the Aztec language. These two individuals proved invaluable for Cortés, enabling communication with various native groups, particularly the Aztecs, and playing a pivotal role in the conquest.
The Aztec Empire, formed by a Triple Alliance of city-states, was a powerful but loosely governed entity that exacted heavy tributes from its conquered subjects. This system fostered widespread resentment among these subjugated peoples. Cortés, despite his small force and inferior military technology compared to the vast Aztec army, recognized this inherent weakness. Leveraging his translators, he began to exploit these divisions. He first allied with the Totonac people in Cempoala, who were eager to rebel against Aztec rule, providing Cortés with warriors and labor for his new settlement, Veracruz.
Emperor Moctezuma II, initially cautious of the Spanish, opted for diplomacy and gifts rather than direct military confrontation, fearing an unknown, distant empire with advanced weaponry. Meanwhile, Cortés faced internal threats from his own men who wished to return to Cuba. He brutally suppressed this mutiny, executing leaders and sinking his own ships to eliminate any possibility of retreat, effectively stranding his forces and committing them entirely to the conquest. He then marched towards the Tlaxcala Confederacy, a fiercely independent group that despised the Aztecs.
The Tlaxcalans, long-standing enemies of the Aztecs, initially attacked Cortés's forces. However, through a shrewd diplomatic move where Cortés released prisoners and expressed his desire to help them defeat the Aztecs, he secured their crucial alliance. The Spanish spent three weeks in Tlaxcala, solidifying their bond through alliances, conversions, and marriages. This powerful alliance was a game-changer. Next, Cortés marched to Cholula, a holy city under Aztec control. Upon receiving intelligence from Marina about an Aztec plot to ambush them, Cortés preemptively launched the Cholula Massacre, killing thousands of unarmed citizens and burning the city. This brutal act hardened the resolve on both sides, making an all-out war inevitable.
On November 8, 1519, Cortés and his forces arrived at Tenochtitlan, the magnificent Aztec capital. Built on an island in Lake Texcoco, it was a marvel of civil engineering with a population of 300,000, dwarfing most European cities of the time. Moctezuma II welcomed Cortés with elaborate ceremonies and gifts. However, Cortés's intentions were clear. He somehow managed to capture Moctezuma, placing him under house arrest and using him as a puppet to control the Aztec populace. The exact details of this capture remain a mystery, but it effectively put the Spanish in a precarious position of power within the heart of the empire.
While Cortés was consolidating his control, a larger Spanish force, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, arrived from Cuba with orders to arrest Cortés for mutiny. Leaving a lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, in charge of Tenochtitlan, Cortés marched to confront Narváez. Through a surprise night attack, Cortés defeated Narváez's forces, and seeing the riches Cortés had acquired, most of Narváez's men defected to him, significantly bolstering his army. Upon returning to Tenochtitlan, Cortés found the city in chaos. Alvarado, known for his hot temper and greed, had massacred Aztec nobles during a religious festival in the Great Temple, leading to a full-scale rebellion.
With the city in open revolt, Moctezuma, now a despised figure, was killed (either by his own people or the Spanish). Cortés and his men were trapped and outnumbered. On the 'Noche Triste' (Night of Sorrows), June 30, 1520, they attempted a desperate nighttime escape from Tenochtitlan, carrying as much gold as possible. They were discovered and suffered devastating losses, with hundreds of Spanish and thousands of Tlaxcalan allies killed. However, during their retreat, the Spanish inadvertently left behind something far deadlier than their weapons: smallpox. Brought by Narváez's men, the disease ravaged Tenochtitlan, killing 50% of its population in three months, including the new Aztec emperor. This epidemic critically weakened the Aztecs, giving Cortés time to regroup and rebuild his forces.
After six months of rebuilding and gathering allies, Cortés returned to besiege Tenochtitlan in December 1520, now commanding around 1,300 Spanish soldiers and an astonishing 200,000 native warriors. He systematically conquered surrounding cities and isolated the capital, cutting off food and water supplies by destroying aqueducts and patrolling the lake with a newly built fleet. For eight months, the Aztecs fiercely resisted, but weakened by smallpox, starvation, and constant bombardment, Tenochtitlan finally fell on August 13, 1521. The city was almost entirely destroyed in the aftermath. Cortés then began building Mexico City on its ruins, which today sprawls over the drained Lake Texcoco, causing ongoing urban challenges like subsidence due to its unstable foundation.
Mexico City became the capital of New Spain, and Cortés's mutiny was overlooked due to his immense success. The Spanish Crown, however, appointed another nobleman to govern, wary of Cortés's ambition. The conquest marked the beginning of vast Spanish expansion across the Americas. The most devastating impact of the conquest was the introduction of Old World diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza to which Native Americans had no immunity. The native population of Mexico plummeted from an estimated 30 million to just 3 million in a few years. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire remains a profoundly influential and controversial historical event, leaving a complex legacy that still sparks debate about historical accountability and apologies for past human rights abuses.