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The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most significant campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger against the Aztec Empires.

Aztec omens for the conquest[link]

Many accounts from the conquest of the Aztec empire are predominantly Spanish. Most primary sources of the conquest come from Hernán Cortés' letters to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Bernal Díaz's written work, The Truthful History of the Conquest of New Spain. The primary sources from the people affected as a result of the conquest are seldom observed. Indigenous accounts, however, were documented as early as 1528. Written in the native tongue of Nahuatl, the natives of the Aztec empire described eight omens that were believed to have occurred 10 years prior to the arrival of the Spanish from the Gulf of Mexico. The eight omens included:

Aztec empire on the eve of the Spanish Invasion

1. fire falling from the sky.
2. fire consuming the temple of Huitzilopochtli.
3. a lightning bolt destroying the straw temple of Xiuhtecuhtli.
4. the appearance of streaking fire across the oceans.
5. the “boiling,” and water flooding, of a lake nearby Tenochtitlan.
6. a woman weeping in the middle of the night for them to flee while they could.
7. a two headed man running through the streets.
8. Montezuma saw images of fighting men in a mirror on his bird's head.

The emperor Motecuhzoma (often spelled Montezuma in English) was said to have consulted fortune tellers to determine the causes of these omens; but they were unable to provide an exact explanation until after the arrival of the Spaniards.

However, it should be noted that all sources depicting omens were written after the siege and fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Ethnohistorians say that when the Spanish second arrived, native peoples did not view them as supernatural in any sense but rather as simply another group of powerful outsiders.^[1] Many Spanish accounts incorporated omens to emphasize what they saw as the preordained nature of the conquest and their success as Spanish destiny. This means that native emphasis on omens and bewilderment in the face of invasion "may be a postconquest interpretation by informants who wished to please the Spaniards or who resented the failure of Montezuma and of the warriors of Tenochtitlan to provide leadership."^[2]

Spanish arrival in Yucatán[link]

In 1517 Cuban governor Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, commissioned a fleet of three ships under the command of Hernández de Córdoba to sail west and explore the Yucatán peninsula. Córdoba reached the coast of Yucatán. The Mayans at Cape Catoche invited the Spaniards to land, up the Spaniards read the Requirement of 1513 to them. Córdoba took two prisoners whom he named Melchor and Julián to be interpreters. On the western side of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Spaniards were attacked at night by Maya chief Mochcouoh (Mochh Couoh). Twenty Spaniards were killed. Córdoba was mortally wounded and only a remnant of his crew returned to Cuba.

Spanish conquest of Yucatán[link]

Not being part of the Aztec Empire, the conquest and initial subjugation of the independent city-state polities of the Late Postclassic Maya civilization came many years later. With the help of tens of thousands of Xiu Mayan warriors, it would take more than 170 years for the Spanish to establish full control of the Maya homelands, which extended from northern Yucatán to the central lowlands region of El Petén and the southern Guatemalan highlands. The end of this latter campaign is generally marked by the downfall of the Maya state based at Tayasal in the Petén region, in 1697.

Cortés' expedition[link]

Commissioning the expedition[link]

Map depicting Cortés' invasion route

Even before Grijalva returned to Cuba, Velázquez decided to send a third and even larger expedition to explore the Mexican coast. Hernán Cortés, then one of Velázquez's favorites, was named as the commander, which created envy and resentment among the Spanish contingent in the Cuban colony. Velázquez's instructions to Cortés, in an agreement signed on 23 October 1518, were to lead an expedition to initiate trade relations with the indigenous coastal tribes.

One account suggests that Governor Velázquez wished to restrict the Cortés expedition to being a pure trading expedition. Invasion of the mainland was to be a privilege reserved for himself. However, by calling upon the knowledge of the law of Castile that he gained while he was still a student in Salamanca and by utilizing his famous powers of persuasion, Cortés was able to maneuver Governor Velázquez into inserting a clause into his orders that enabled Cortés to take emergency measures without prior authorization if such were "...in the true interests of the realm."

Cortés ostentatiously invested a considerable part of his personal fortune to equip the expedition. Cortés committed the greater part of his assets and went into debt to borrow additional funds when his assets ran out. Governor Velázquez personally contributed nearly half the cost of the expedition.

The ostentatiousness of his endeavor probably added to the envy and resentment of the Spanish contingent in Cuba who were also keenly aware of the opportunity that this assignment offered for fame, fortune and glory.

Revoking the commission[link]

Velázquez himself must have been keenly aware that whoever conquered the mainland for Spain would gain fame, glory and fortune to eclipse anything that could be achieved in Cuba. Thus, as the preparations for departure drew to a close, the governor became suspicious that Cortés would be disloyal to him and try to commandeer the expedition for his own purposes, namely to establish himself as governor of the colony, independent of Velázquez' control.

For this reason, Velázquez sent Luis de Medina with orders to replace Cortés. However, Cortés' brother-in-law had Medina intercepted and killed. The papers that Medina had been carrying were sent to Cortés. Thus warned, Cortés accelerated the organization and preparation of his expedition.^[3]

He was ready to set sail on the morning of 18 February 1519 when Velázquez arrived at the dock in person, determined to revoke Cortés's commission. But Cortés, pleading that "time presses," hurriedly set sail thus literally beginning his conquest of American Indian territories and nations with the legal status of a mutineer.

Cortés' contingent consisted of 11 ships carrying about 100 sailors, 530 soldiers (including 30 crossbowmen and 12 arquebusiers), a doctor, several carpenters, at least eight women, a few hundred Cuban Natives and some Africans, both freedmen and slaves.

Cortés lands at Cozumel[link]

Cortés spent some time at Cozumel island, trying to convert the locals to Christianity and achieving mixed results. While at Cozumel, Cortés heard reports of other white men living in the Yucatán. Cortés sent messengers to these reported castilianos, who turned out to be the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck that had occurred in 1511, Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero.

Aguilar petitioned his Maya chieftain to be allowed leave to join with his former countrymen, and he was released and made his way to Cortés's ships. According to Bernal Díaz, Aguilar relayed that before coming he had unsuccessfully attempted to convince Guerrero to leave as well. Guerrero declined on the basis that he was by now well-assimilated with the Maya culture, had a Maya wife and three children, and he was looked upon as a figure of rank within the Maya settlement of Chetumal where he lived.^[4]

Although Guerrero's later fate is somewhat uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; it is speculated that he may have been killed in a later battle.

Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yucatec Maya as well as some other indigenous languages, proved to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator - a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Aztec Empire that was to be the end result of Cortés' expedition.^[5]

Cortés lands on the Yucatán peninsula[link]

After leaving Cozumel, Cortés continued round the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula and landed at Potonchan, where there was little gold. However, Cortés discovered a far more valuable asset in the form of a woman whom Cortés called Doña Marina. She is often known as Malinche and also sometimes called "Malintzin" or Mallinali. Later, the Aztecs would come to call Cortés "Malintzin" by dint of his close association with her.^[6]

Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote in his account The True History of the Conquest of New Spain that Doña Marina was "an Aztec princess sold into Mayan slavery." She was not actually an Aztec princess but was of noble birth, probably of Toltec or Tabascan origins.

Her lineage notwithstanding, Cortés had stumbled upon one of the keys to realizing his ambitions. He would speak to Gerónimo de Aguilar in Spanish who would then translate into Mayan for Malinche. Malinche would then translate from Mayan to Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. With this pair of translators, Cortés could now communicate to the Aztecs quite effectively.

Christened Marina by Cortés, she later learned Spanish, became Cortés' mistress and bore him a son. Native speakers of Nahuatl, her own people, would call her "Malintzin." This name is the closest phonetic approximation possible in Nahuatl to the sound of 'Marina' in Spanish. Over time, "la Malinche" (the modern Spanish cognate of 'Malintzin') became a term that denotes a traitor to one's people. To this day, the word malinchista is used by Mexicans to denote one who apes the language and customs of another country.^[7]

La Malinche was later made legendary through depictions in book and film.

Cortés founds Veracruz[link]

Coat of arms of Villa Rica, Veracruz. First town council founded by Spaniards. Tile mosaic located in Mexico City.

Cortés landed his expedition force on the coast of the modern day state of Veracruz. He learned of an indigenous settlement called Cempoala and marched his forces there. On their arrival in Cempoala, they were greeted by 20 dignitaries and cheering townsfolk.

Cortés quickly persuaded the Totonac chief Chicomecoatl (misspelled as Chicomacatt by Spanish writers) to rebel against the Aztecs.

Faced with imprisonment or death for defying the governor, Cortés' only alternative was to continue on with his enterprise in the hope of redeeming himself with the Spanish Crown. To do this, he directed his men to establish a settlement called La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. The legally constituted "town council of Villa Rica" then promptly offered him the position of adelantado.

This strategy was not unique.^[8] Velásquez had used this same legal mechanism to free himself from Diego Columbus' authority in Cuba. In being named adelantado by a duly constituted cabildo, Cortés was able to free himself from Velásquez's authority and continue his expedition. To ensure the legality of this action several members of his expedition, including Francisco Montejo, returned to Spain to seek royal acceptance of the cabildo's declaration.

The Totonacs helped Cortés build the town of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, which was the starting point for his attempt to conquer the Aztec empire. This settlement eventually grew into the city now known as Veracruz ("True Cross").

Scuttling the fleet[link]

Cortés scuttling fleet off Veracruz coast

Those of his men still loyal to the Governor of Cuba conspired to seize a ship and escape to Cuba, but Cortés moved swiftly to squash their plans. To make sure such a mutiny did not happen again, he decided to scuttle his ships, on the pretext that they were no longer seaworthy. There is a popular misconception that Cortés burned the ships to prevent further mutiny. This misconception has been attributed to the reference made by Cervantes de Salazar in 1546 as to Cortés burning his ships.^[9] This may have also come from a mistranslation of the version of the story written in Latin.^[10]

With all of his ships scuttled except for one small ship with which to communicate with Spain, Cortés effectively stranded the expedition in Mexico and ended all thoughts of loyalty to the Governor of Cuba. Cortés then led his band inland towards the fabled Tenochtitlan. The ship was loaded with the Royal Fifth (the King of Spain claimed 20% of all spoils) of the Aztec treasure they had obtained so far in order to speed up Cortés's claim to the governorship.

In addition to the Spaniards, Cortés force now included 40 Cempoalan warrior chiefs and 200 other natives whose task was to drag the cannon and carry the supplies. The Cempoalans were accustomed to the hot climate of the coast, but they suffered immensely from the cold of the mountains, the rain, and the hail as they marched towards Tenochtitlan.

Alliance with Tlaxcala[link]

Spanish alliance with Tlaxcalteca

Cortés arrived at Tlaxcala, a confederacy of about 200 towns, but without central government. Their main city was Tlaxcala. After almost a century of fighting the Flower wars, a great deal of hate and bitterness had developed between the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans knew that eventually the Aztecs would try to conquer them. It was just a matter of time before this tension developed into a real conflict. The Aztecs had already conquered much of the territory around Tlaxcala. It is possible that the Aztecs left Tlaxcala independent so they would have a constant supply of war captives to sacrifice to their gods.^[11]

The Tlaxcalans initially greeted the Spanish with hostile action and the two sides fought a series of skirmishes, which eventually forced the Spaniards up onto a hill where they were surrounded. Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo describes the first battle between the Spanish force and the Tlaxcalteca as surprisingly difficult. He writes that they probably would not have survived, had not Xicotencatl the Elder persuaded his son, the Tlaxcallan warleader, Xicotencatl the Younger, that it would be better to ally with the newcomers than to kill them.

On 18 September 1519, Cortés arrived in Tlaxcala and was greeted with joy by the rulers, who already saw the Spanish as a possible ally against the Aztecs. Due to a commercial blockade by the Aztecs, Tlaxcala was poor, lacking, among other things, both salt and cotton cloth, so they could only offer Cortés and his men food and women. Cortés stayed 20 days in Tlaxcala. Cortés seems to have won the true friendship of the old leaders of Tlaxcala, among them Maxixcatzin and Xicotencatl the Elder, although he could not win the heart of Xicotencatl the Younger. The Spaniards agreed to respect parts of the city, like the temples, and only took the things that were offered to them freely.

All that time Cortés offered to talk about the benefits of Christianity. Legends say that he convinced the four leaders of Tlaxcala to become baptized. Maxixcatzin, Xicotencatl the Elder, Citalpopocatzin and Temiloltecutl received the names of Don Lorenzo, Don Vicente, Don Bartolomé and Don Gonzalo.

It's difficult to know if they understood the Catholic faith. In any event, they apparently had no problems in adding "Dios" (God in Spanish), the lord of the heavens, to their already complex pantheon of gods.

An exchange of gifts was made and thus began the alliance between Cortés and Tlaxcala.^[12]

Cortés marches to Cholula[link]

Meanwhile Mexican ambassadors continued to press Cortés to leave Tlaxcala, the "city of poor and thieves" and go to the neighbouring city of Cholula, which was under Aztec influence. Cholula, founded in the year 2^{[clarification needed]}, was one of the most important cities of Mesoamerica, the second largest, and probably the most sacred. Its huge pyramid made it one of the most prestigious places of the Aztec religion. However, it appears that Cortés perceived Cholula as a military power rather than a religious center. He sent emissaries first.

The leaders of Tlaxcala urged Cortés to go instead to Huexotzingo, a city allied to Tlaxcala. Cortés, who had not yet decided to start a war by going to Huexotzingo, decided to make a compromise. He accepted the gifts of the Mexica ambassadors, but also accepted the offer of the Tlaxclateca to provide porters and warriors. He sent two men, Pedro de Alvarado, and Bernardino Vázquez de Tapia, on foot (he did not want to spare any horses), directly to Tenochtitlan, as ambassadors.

On 12 October 1519, Cortés and his men, accompanied by about 1,000 Tlaxcalteca, marched to Cholula.

Massacre of Cholula[link]

There are contradictory reports of what happened at Cholula. Moctezuma had apparently tried to stop the advance of Cortés and his troops, and it seems that he ordered the leaders of Cholula to try to stop him. Cholula had a very small army, since as a sacred city, they put their confidence in their prestige and their gods. According to the chronicles of the Tlaxcalteca, the priest of Cholula expected to use the power of Quetzalcoatl against them.

La Malinche told Cortés, after talking to the wife of one of the lords of Cholula, that the locals planned to murder the Spaniards in their sleep and although he did not know if the rumor was true or not, Cortés ordered a pre-emptive strike, urged on by the Tlaxcalans, the enemies of the Cholulans. The Spaniards seized and killed many of the local nobles to serve as a lesson. After Cortés arrived in Cholula he seized their leaders Tlaquiach and Tlalchiac and then ordered the city set fire. The troops started in the palace of Xacayatzin, and then on to Chialinco and Yetzcoloc. In his letters, Cortés claimed that in three hours time his troops (helped by the Tlaxcalans) killed 3,000 people and burned the city.^[13] Another witness, Vázquez de Tapia, claimed the death toll was as high as 30,000.

The Azteca and Tlaxclateca histories of the events leading up to the massacre differ. The Tlaxcalteca claimed that their ambassador Patlahuatzin was sent to Cholula and had been tortured by the Cholula. Thus, Cortés was avenging him by attacking Cholula. (Historia de Tlaxcala, por Diego Muñoz Camargo, lib. II cap. V. 1550).

The Aztec version put the blame on the Tlaxcalteca claiming that they resented Cortés going to Cholula instead of Huexotzingo.^[14]

The massacre had a chilling effect on the other Mesoamerican cultures and on the Mexica themselves. The tale of the massacre inclined the other cultures in the Aztec empire to submit to Cortés' demands rather than risk the same fate.

Cortés then sent emissaries to Moctezuma with the message that the people of Cholula had treated him with disrespect and had therefore been punished. Cortés' message continued that the Aztecs need not fear his wrath if Moctezuma treated him with respect and gifts of gold.

Tenochtitlan[link]

Map of the Valley of Mexico on the eve of the Spanish conquest

Meeting place of Montezuma and Hernán Cortés

On 8 November 1519 after nearly three months, Cortés arrived at the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, the island capital of the Mexica-Aztecs. It is believed that the city was one of the largest in the world at that time. Of all the cities in Europe, only Constantinople was larger than Tenochtitlan. The most common estimates put the population at around 60,000 to over 300,000 people.

Cortés welcomed by Moctezuma[link]

According to the Aztec chronicles recorded by Sahagún, the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II welcomed him with great pomp. Sahagún reports that Moctezuma welcomed Cortés to Tenochtitlan on the Great Causeway into the "Venice of the West".^{[citation needed]}

A fragment of the greetings of Moctezuma says: "My lord, you have become fatigued, you have become tired: to the land you have arrived. You have come to your city: Mexico, here you have come to sit on your place, on your throne. Oh, it has been reserved to you for a small time, it was conserved by those who have gone, your substitutes... This is what has been told by our rulers, those of whom governed this city, ruled this city. That you would come to ask for your throne, your place, that you would come here. Come to the land, come and rest: take possession of your royal houses, give food to your body."^[15]

According to Sahagún's manuscript, Moctezuma personally dressed Cortés with flowers from his own gardens, the highest honour he could give, although probably Cortés did not understand the significance of the gesture.

Many historians^{[citation needed]} are skeptical of Sahagun's account that Moctezuma personally met Cortés on the Great Causeway because of the many proscriptions and prohibitions regarding the emperor vis-à-vis his subjects. For instance, when Moctezuma dined, he ate behind a screen so as to shield him from his court and servants. There were various restrictions on seeing and touching his person.

This contradiction between "the arrogant emperor" and the "humble servant of Quetzalcoatl" has been problematic for historians to explain and has led to much speculation. All the proscriptions and prohibitions regarding Moctezuma and his people had been established by Moctezuma, and were not part of the traditional Aztec customs. Those prohibitions had already caused friction between Moctezuma and the pillis (noble classes). There is even an Aztec legend in which Huemac, the legendary last lord of Tollan Xicotitlan, instructed Moctezuma to live humbly, and eat only the food of the poor, to divert a future catastrophe. Thus, it seems out of character for Moctezuma to violate rules that he himself had promulgated.

Moctezuma had the palace of his father Axayácatl prepared to house the Spanish and their 3000 native allies. Cortés asked Moctezuma to provide more gifts of gold to demonstrate his fealty as a vassal of Charles V. Cortés also demanded that the two large idols be removed from the main temple pyramid in the city, the human blood scrubbed off, and shrines to the Virgin Mary and St. Christopher be set up in their place. All his demands were met. Cortés then seized Moctezuma in his own palace and made him his prisoner as insurance against Aztec revolt, and demanded an enormous ransom of gold, which was duly delivered.

Knowing that their leader was in chains and being required to feed not just a band of Spaniards but thousands of their Tlaxcalteca allies, the populace of Tenochtitlan began to feel a strain weighing upon them.^{[citation needed]}

Defeat of de Narváez[link]

At this point, Cortés received news from the coast that a much larger party of Spaniards under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez had arrived. Narváez had been sent by Governor Velázquez not only to supersede Cortés, but to arrest him and bring him to trial in Cuba for insubordination, mutiny, and treason.

Cortés' response was arguably one of the most daring of his many exploits. Some describe it as absolutely reckless but he really had few other options.^{[citation needed]} If arrested and convicted, he could have been executed. Leaving only one hundred and forty men under Pedro de Alvarado to hold Tenochtitlan, Cortés set out against de Narváez, who had nine hundred soldiers, whereas Cortés, reinforced as he approached the coast, mustered about two hundred and sixty. With this much smaller force, Cortés surprised his antagonist with a night attack during which Cortés' men took de Narváez prisoner.

The move was a desperate one but the secret of Cortés' success lay in his quick movements, for which de Narváez was not prepared, as well as in his rapid return to the plateau, by which he surprised the Natives who held Alvarado and his people at their mercy.

The desperate defense of the Spaniards in the absence of Cortés would have been unavailing had the latter not moved quickly. In contrast with that quickness, but equally well adapted to the necessities of the case, was the methodical investment and capture of Tenochtitlan, showing the flexibility of Cortés in adapting his tactics to various situations. When Cortés told the defeated soldiers about the city of gold, Tenochtitlan, they agreed to join him (de Narváez lost an eye, and was eventually killed during the exploration of Florida.)

Cortés then had to lead the combined forces on an arduous trek back over the Sierra Madre Oriental. Years later, when asked what the new land was like, Cortés crumpled up a piece of parchment, then spread it part way out: "Like this", he said.

The Aztec response[link]

Meanwhile, other Aztec nobles were in dismay at the royal submissive attitude and planned a successful, but temporary, rebellion that drove Cortés and his allies out of Tenochtitlan.

When Cortés returned to the city, he found that Alvarado and his men had attacked and killed many of the Aztec nobility (see The Massacre in the Main Temple) during a festival. Alvarado's explanation to Cortés was that Alvarado had learned that the Aztecs planned to attack the Spanish garrison in the city once the festival was complete, and so he had launched a preemptive attack. Considerable doubt has been cast by different commentators on this explanation, which may have been self-serving rationalization on the part of Alvarado, who may have attacked out of fear (or greed) where no immediate threat existed. In any event, the population of the city rose en masse after the Spanish attack.

The Aztec troops besieged the palace housing the Spaniards and Moctezuma. The people of Tenochtitlan chose a new leader, Cuitláhuac. Cortés ordered Moctezuma to speak to his people from a palace balcony and persuade them to let the Spanish return to the coast in peace. Moctezuma was jeered and stones were thrown at him, injuring him badly. Moctezuma died a few days later (accounts as to who was actually guilty of his death do not agree; Aztec informants in later years insisted that Cortés had him killed.) After his death Cuitláhuac was elected as Huey Tlatoani (Emperor).

The Spaniards and their allies had to flee the city, as the population of Tenochtitlan had risen against them and the Spanish situation could only deteriorate. Because the Aztecs had removed the bridges over the gaps in the causeways that linked the city to the mainland, Cortés' men constructed a portable bridge with which to cross the openings. On the rainy night of 1 July 1520, the Spaniards and their allies set out for the mainland via the causeway to Tlacopan. They placed the bridge unit in the first gap, but at that moment their movement was detected and Aztec forces attacked, both along the causeway and by means of canoes on the lake. The Spanish were thus caught on a narrow road with water on two sides. The retreat quickly turned into chaos. The Spanish discovered that they could not remove their bridge unit from the first gap, and so had no choice but to leave it behind. The bulk of the Spanish infantry, left behind by Cortés and the other horsemen, had to cut their way through the masses of Aztec warriors opposing them. Many of the Spaniards, weighed down by their armor, drowned in the causeway gaps or were killed by the Aztecs. Much of the wealth the Spaniards had acquired in Tenochtitlan was lost in this manner. During the escape, Alvarado is alleged to have jumped across one of the narrower channels. The channel is now a street in Mexico City, called "Puente de Alvarado" (Alvarado's Bridge), because it seemed Alvarado escaped across an invisible bridge.

In this retreat the Spaniards suffered heavy casualties, losing probably more than 600 of their own number and several thousand Tlaxcalan warriors. It is said that Cortés, upon reaching the mainland at Tlacopan, wept over their losses. This episode is called "La Noche Triste" (The sad night), and the old tree ("El árbol de la noche triste") where Cortés allegedly cried is still a monument in Mexico.

Spaniards find refuge in Tlaxcala[link]

The Aztecs pursued and harassed the Spanish, who, guided by their Tlaxcalan allies, moved around Lake Zumpango toward sanctuary in Tlaxcala. On 8 July 1520 the Aztecs attempted to destroy the Spanish for good at the battle of Otumba. Although hard-pressed, the Spanish infantry was able to hold off the overwhelming numbers of enemy warriors, while the Spanish cavalry under the leadership of Cortés charged through the enemy ranks again and again. When Cortés and his men killed one of the Aztec leaders, the Aztecs broke off the battle and left the field. The Spanish were able then to complete their escape to Tlaxcala. There they were given assistance and comfort, since almost all of them were wounded, and only 20 horses were left. The Aztecs sent emissaries and asked the Tlaxcalteca to turn over the Spaniards to them, but Tlaxcala refused.

While the flower wars had started as a mutual agreement, the Tlaxcala and the Aztecs had become entangled in a true war. The Aztecs had conquered almost all the territories around Tlaxcala, closing off all commerce with them. The Tlaxcalteca knew it was just a matter of time before the Aztecs tried to conquer Tlaxcala itself. Therefore, most of the Tlaxcalan leaders were receptive when Cortés, once his men had the chance to recuperate, proposed an alliance to conquer Tenochtitlan. Xicotencatl the Younger, however, opposed the idea, and instead connived with the Aztec ambassadors in an attempt to form a new alliance with the Mexicans, since the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs shared the same language and religion. Finally the elders of Tlaxcala accepted Cortés' offer under stringent conditions: they would not be required to pay any form of tribute to the Spaniards, they should receive the city of Cholula in return, they would have the right to build a fortress in Tenochtitlan, so they could have control of the city, and they would receive a share of the spoils of war.

Cortés knew that without tributes as any of the other indigenous cultures the capital would be forced to capitulate.

Siege of Tenochtitlan[link]

Model depicting the first lake battle between Spanish and Aztecs

The joint forces of Tlaxcala and Cortés proved to be formidable. One by one they took over most of the cities under Mexica control, some in battle, others by diplomacy. At the end, only Tenochtitlan and the neighboring city of Tlatelolco remained unconquered.

Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan and mounted a siege of the city that relied on cutting the causeways from the mainland, while controlling the lake with armed brigantines constructed by the Spanish. The siege of Tenochtitlan lasted eight months. The besiegers cut off the supply of food and destroyed the aqueduct carrying water to the city. Even worse, many of the inhabitants of the city were also being ravaged by the effects of smallpox, which spread rapidly across most of Central Mexico (and beyond), killing hundreds of thousands. In fact, a third of the inhabitants of the entire valley died in less than six months from the new disease brought from Europe. Despite the resistance (during which the defenders cut the beating hearts from 70 Spanish prisoners-of-war at the altar to Huichilobos^[16]), Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco fell on 13 August 1521 when the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered to Cortés. Cortés then ordered the Aztec gods in the temples taken down and replaced with icons of Christianity. He also announced that the temple would never again be used for human sacrifice.

The city had been almost totally destroyed by fire and cannon shot during the siege, and once it finally fell the Spanish continued its dismantlement, as they soon began to establish the foundations of what would become Mexico City on the site. Meanwhile the surviving Aztec people were forbidden to live in Tenochtitlan and the surrounding isles. The survivors went to live in Tlatelolco.

Integration into the Spanish Empire[link]

History of New Spain
This article is part of a series
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Spanish conquest of Guatemala
Spanish conquest of Yucatán
Columbian exchange
History of the Philippines (1521–1898)
Piracy in the Caribbean
Spanish missions in the Americas
Queen Anne's War
Bourbon Reforms
Spanish–Moro conflict
Spanish American wars of independence
Casta
New Spain Portal v t e

The Council of the Indies was constituted in 1524 and the first Audiencia in 1527. In 1535, the Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish King Charles V named Antonio de Mendoza the first viceroy of New Spain. The name "New Spain" had been suggested by Cortés and was later confirmed officially by Mendoza.

Chichimeca Wars[link]

"The Last Days of Tenochtitlan, Conquest of Mexico by Cortez", a 19th century painting by William de Leftwich Dodge.

The fall of Tenochtitlan usually is referred to as the main episode in the process of the conquest of Mesoamerica. However, this process was much more complex and took longer than the three years that it took Cortés to conquer Tenochtitlan. It took almost 60 years of wars for the Spaniards to suppress the resistance of the Indian population of Mesoamerica.

After the Spanish conquest of central Mexico, expeditions were sent further northward in Mesoamerica, to the region known as La Gran Chichimeca. The expeditions under Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán were particularly harsh on the Chichimeca population, causing them to rebel under the leadership of Tenamaxtli and thus launch the Mixton War.

In 1540, the Chichimecas fortified Mixtón, Nochistlán, and other mountain towns then besieged the Spanish settlement in Guadalajara. The famous conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, coming to the aid of acting governor Cristóbal de Oñate, led an attack on Nochistlán. However, the Chichimecas counter-attacked and Alvarado's forces were routed. Under the leadership of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish forces and their Indian allies ultimately succeeded in recapturing the towns and suppressing resistance. However, fighting did not completely come to a halt in the ensuing years.

In 1546, Spanish authorities discovered silver in the Zacatecas region and established mining settlements in Chichimeca territory which altered the terrain and the Chichimeca traditional way of life. The Chichimeca resisted the intrusions on their ancestral lands by attacking travellers and merchants along the "silver roads." The ensuing Chichimeca War (1550–1590) would become the longest and costliest conflict between Spanish forces and indigenous peoples in the Americas. The attacks intensified with each passing year. In 1554, the Chichimecas inflicted a great loss upon the Spanish when they attacked a train of sixty wagons and captured more than 30,000 pesos worth of valuables. By the 1580s, thousands had died and Spanish mining settlements in Chichimeca territory were continually under threat. In 1585, Alonso Manrique de Zuñiga, was appointed viceroy. The viceroy was infuriated when he learned that some Spanish soldiers had begun supplementing their incomes by raiding the villages of peaceful Indians in order to sell them into slavery. With no militaristic end to the conflict in sight, he was determined to restore peace to that region and launched a full-scale peace offensive by negotiating with Chichimeca leaders and providing them with lands, agricultural supplies, and other goods. This policy of "peace by purchase" finally brought an end to the Chichimeca War.^[17]

Yucatán peninsula[link]

The Spanish conquest of Yucatán took almost 170 years. The whole process could have taken longer were it not for three separate epidemics that took a heavy toll on the Native Americans, killing almost 75% of the population and causing the collapse of Mesoamerican cultures. Some believe that Old World diseases like smallpox caused the death of 90 to 95 percent of the native population of the New World.^[18]

The Aztec empire under Spanish rule[link]

It seems that Cortés' intention was to maintain the basic structure of the Aztec empire under his leadership, and at first it seemed the Aztec empire could survive. The upper Aztec classes, at first, were considered as noblemen (to this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family). The upper classes learned Spanish, and several learned to write in European characters. Some of their surviving writings are crucial in our knowledge of the Aztecs. As well, the first missionaries tried to learn Nahuatl and some (somewhat), like Bernardino de Sahagún, decided to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture. Sahagún, in his studies of the Meixica and the nobility of Tlatelolco, compiled a 12 volume reference, entitled the Florentine Codex, of the life and culture of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire before the arrival of the Spanish. The Florentine Codex were subsequently banned in the New World because they contained religious tradition of the Mexica. Cortés banned all human sacrifice in Mesoamerica.^[19]

But soon all that changed. To reward the Spanish army that captured what is now contemporary Mexico, the soldiers and officers were granted large areas of land and native labor under the Spanish land management system of Encomienda. Although officially the natives were not to become slaves, the system became one of oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent^{[citation needed]}.

In short order, the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas suggested importing black slaves to replace them. Bartolomé later repented when he saw the even worse treatment given to the black slaves.^[20]

The other discovery that perpetuated this system was extensive silver mines discovered at Potosi, in Peru and other places that were worked for hundreds of years by forced native labor and contributed most of the wealth that flowed to Spain. Spain spent enormous amounts of this wealth hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation and to halt the Turkish invasions of Europe. The silver was used to purchase goods, as European manufactured goods were not in demand in Asia and the Middle East. The Manila Galleon brought in far more silver direct from South American mines to China than the overland Silk Road, or even European trade routes in the Indian oceans could.

The Aztec education system was abolished and replaced by a very limited church education. Even some foods associated with Mesoamerican religious practice, such as amaranto, were forbidden^{[citation needed]}.

In the 16th century, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century.^[21] Unlike the English-speaking colonists of North America, the majority of the Spanish colonists were single men who married or made concubines of the natives^{[citation needed]}, and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage^{[citation needed]} and secret mistresses, a vast class of people known as "Mestizos" and mulattoes came into being.

Cultural depictions[link]

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is the subject of an opera, La conquista (2005) and of a set of six symphonic poems, La nueva España (1992–99) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero.

Cortes's conquest has been depicted in numerous television documentaries. These include in an episode of Engineering an Empire as well as in the BBC series Heroes and Villains, with Cortes being portrayed by Brian McCardie. The expedition was also partially included in the animated film The Road to El Dorado as the main characters Tulio and Miguel end up as stowaways on Hernán Cortés' fleet to Mexico. Here Cortés is a merciless and ambitious villain, leading a quest to find El Dorado the legendary city of gold in the New World, he is voiced by Jim Cummings.

The aftermath of the Spanish conquest, including the Aztecs' struggle to preserve their cultural identity, is the subject of the acclaimed Mexican feature film, The Other Conquest, directed by Salvador Carrasco.

See also[link]

	Latin America portal
	Mexico portal
	Spain portal
	New Spain portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

Primary sources[link]

• Anonymous Conqueror, the (1917) [1550]. Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan. Marshall Saville (trans). New York: The Cortés Society. 
• Hernán Cortés, Letters – available as Letters from Mexico translated by Anthony Pagden (1986) ISBN 0-300-09094-3
• Francisco López de Gómara, Hispania Victrix; First and Second Parts of the General History of the Indies, with the whole discovery and notable things that have happened since they were acquired until the year 1551, with the conquest of Mexico and New Spain
• Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain – available as The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico: 1517-1521 ISBN 0-306-81319-X
• León-Portilla, Miguel (Ed.) (1992) [1959]. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Ángel María Garibay K. (Nahuatl-Spanish trans.), Lysander Kemp (Spanish-English trans.), Alberto Beltran (illus.) (Expanded and updated ed.). Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-5501-8. 

Secondary sources[link]

• History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes By William H. Prescott ISBN 0-375-75803-8
• Conquest: Cortés, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas (1993) ISBN 0-671-51104-1
• Cortés and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire by Jon Manchip White (1971) ISBN 0-7867-0271-0
• The Rain God cries over Mexico by László Passuth
• Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall, Oxford University Press (2003) ISBN 0-19-516077-0
• The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov (1996) ISBN 0-06-132095-1
• Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico by Ross Hassig, Texas University Press (2001) ISBN 0-292-73139-6
• The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society by Frances F. Berdan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, (1982) ISBN 0-03-055736-4

External links[link]

• Hernán Cortés on the Web – web directory with thumbnail galleries
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)
• Conquistadors, with Michael Wood – website for 2001 PBS documentary
• Ibero-American Electronic Text Series presented online by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
• La Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (Spanish)

v t e Part of the series on Spanish colonization of the Americas History of Conquest Inter caetera Pacific Northwest California Chile Colombia Florida Guatemala Aztec Empire Inca Empire Yucatán Conquistadores Diego de Almagro Pedro de Alvarado Vasco Núñez de Balboa Sebastián de Belalcázar Francisco Vásquez de Coronado Hernán Cortés Luis de Carabajal y Cueva Bernal Díaz del Castillo Juan Ponce de León Francisco de Montejo Pánfilo de Narváez Juan de Oñate Francisco de Orellana Francisco Pizarro Hernando de Soto Pedro de Valdivia

The farthest expansion of Spanish colonialization in America.

Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions. It lasted for over four hundred years, from 1492 to 1898.

Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus, over nearly four centuries the Spanish Empire would expand across: most of present day Central America, the Caribbean islands, and Mexico; much of the rest of North America including the Southwestern, Southern coastal, and California Pacific Coast regions of the United States; and though inactive, with claimed territory in present day British Columbia Canada; and U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon; and the western half of South America.^[1][2][3] In the early 19th century the revolutionary movements resulted in the independence of most Spanish colonies in America, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico, given up in 1898 following the Spanish-American War, together with Guam and the Philippines in the Pacific. Spain's loss of these last territories politically ended Spanish colonization in America. The cultural influences, though, still remain.

Exploration[link]

Christopher Columbus[link]

Since the early 15th century, Portuguese explorers, sailing in caravels, had established new southward routes to Asia, by travelling along the coast of West Africa. In 1488, they rounded the Cape of Good Hope and explored East Africa; later, they discovered rich trading regions in Indonesia, and established trading ports on the western coast of Indonesia, and later India. In 1485, Christopher Columbus unsuccessfully tried to persuade King John II of Portugal (João II) to sponsor an expedition to Asia, meant to be reached by sailing westwards, across the Atlantic Ocean. That alternative route, different from the theoretical eastward route, was based on the conviction that the Earth was round. The Portuguese Court rejected that proposal because they believed that the distance to Asia was greater than what Columbus had calculated; in 1488, Columbus re-presented his plan to John II of Portugal, who refused him, based on the recent discovery, by Bartholomeu Dias, of the eastward route to Asia along the African coast and across the Indian Ocean.

Undeterred, Columbus went to the Spanish Court, where he proved more persuasive with the Catholic Monarchs, the recently enthroned Isabella I Queen of Castile and her husband Ferdinand II King of Aragon. Although Columbus had presented his navigational plan to the Spanish Court as early as 1486, proposing to reach Asia by sailing West, across the Atlantic Ocean, he was unconvincing to the Catholic Monarchs until 1491, when Queen Isabella approved it. In August 1492, Columbus sailed from the Andalusian port of Palos de la Frontera in Southern Spain, and arrived on the island of Guanahani, in the Bahamas, on 12 October 1492. On that first trans-Atlantic voyage, Columbus and his sailors were greeted by the Arawak people of the Bahamas, who were kind and curious about the Spanish sailors, and offered food, water, and gifts. Yet, in his log, Columbus wrote that “. . . They would make fine servants . . . With fifty men we could subjugate them all, and make them do whatever we want.” In 1495, Columbus and crew rounded up 1,500 Arawak men, women, and children, from which group they selected 500 “best specimens” to take to his sponsors; of those people, some 200 died en route to Spain.^[4] At the Spanish Court, Columbus presented the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, with the captured Arawaks, gold trinkets, parrots, and other exotic things. Impressed with the human and material bounties yielded by the first expedition, they commissioned Columbus for a second expedition, and provided 17 ships, some 1,500 soldiers, cavalry, and weapons (cannon, crossbows, guns, and attack dogs). In 1493, Columbus returned to the New World and claimed Spanish ownership of the island of Hispaniola (contemporary Haiti and the Dominican Republic) from the indigenous Taíno people.^{[citation needed]} The Spanish Monarchs granted Columbus the governorship of the new territories, and financed more of his trans-Atlantic journeys. Although considered an excellent navigator, Columbus wrecked the Santa María during the initial voyage of 1492, the flagship of his fleet; he proved a poor administrator and was stripped of the governorship in 1500; he was jailed for six weeks upon returning to Spain; yet Ferdinand and Isabel financed his fourth voyage to the New World, but denied him the governorship of the land.^{[citation needed]}

As a businessman of his time, Christopher Columbus profited from the agricultural and gold-mining labour of native slaves; he took back to Europe some 500 American natives whom he tried to sell as slaves in Spain.^{[citation needed]} In the New World, the Taíno people began resisting their Spanish enslavement; they refused to plant crops, and abandoned their Spanish-occupied villages; their rebellion progressed from disobedience to violence, and they fought the Spanish invaders with guerrilla warfare, such as booby traps, ambushes, and attrition warfare to exhaust the Spanish soldiers. Although stone arrowheads could not penetrate the armour of the Spanish soldier, they were effective as shrapnel against the breast plates of the soldiers; however, stone and copper maces proved more effective in close combat; yet it was the sling that proved most effective, because the rocks hurled could readily crush an armoured cavalryman (caballero).^[5] In 1522, the Taíno Cacique Enriquillo (Little Henry) successfully rebelled against Spanish rule, forcing them to agree to a treaty that granted the natives the human rights of Freedom and of Possession; yet that forced concession proved inconsequential, because European diseases, slavery, and ritual infanticide and suicide (meant to avoid adult and infantile enslavement) quickly killed most of the Taíno people.^{[citation needed]}

In 1502, on the fourth, and final, expedition to the American continent, Christopher Columbus encountered a large canoe, filled with goods, off the coast of Honduras; after boarding it, he found cacao beans, axes with heads of copper and of flint, bells, pottery, and cotton garments — .^{[citation needed]}

[edit] First mainland explorations

In 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, to find gold but instead led the first European expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the west coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown. It was 1517 before another expedition from Cuba explored Central America. It landed on the coast of the Yucatán peninsula in search of slaves.

Conquests[link]

The Caribbean: First settlements in America[link]

The first mainland explorations were followed by a phase of inland expeditions and conquest. The Spanish crown extended the Reconquista effort, completed in Spain in 1492, to non-Catholic people in new territories. In 1500 the city of Nueva Cádiz is founded on the island of Cubagua, Venezuela and it was shortly followed by the founding by Alonso de Ojeda of Santa Cruz in present day Guajira peninsula. In 1502 on the coast of present day Colombia, near the Gulf of Urabá, Spanish explorers led by Vasco Núñez de Balboa explored and conquered the area near the Atrato River. The conquest was of the Chibchan speaking nations, mainly the Muisca and Tairona indigenous people that lived here. The Spanish founded San Sebastian de Uraba in 1509—abandoned within the year, and in 1510 the first permanent Spanish mainland settlement in America, Santa María la Antigua del Darién.^[6] These were the first European settlements in America.

Mexico[link]

Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Map depicting Cortes' invasion route

There is a difference in the 'Spanish conquest of Mexico' between the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Yucatán. The former is conquest of the campaign, led by Hernán Cortés from 1519–21 and his Tlaxcala and other 'indigenous peoples' allied against the Mexica/Aztec empire. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán is the much longer campaign, from 1551–1697, against the Maya peoples of the Maya civilization in the Yucatán Peninsula of present day Mexico and northern Central America. The day Hernán Cortés landed ashore at present day Veracruz, April 22, 1519, marks the beginning of 300 years of Spanish hegemony over the region.

Peru[link]

Vasco Núñez de Balboa claiming possession of the South Sea (Pacific Ocean)

Map depicting the route of Pizarro from Panama to Cuzco

In 1532 at the Battle of Cajamarca a group of Spanish soldiers under Francisco Pizarro and their indigenous Andean Indian auxiliaries native allies ambushed and captured the Emperor Atahualpa of the Inca Empire. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in the Americas. In the following years Spain extended its rule over the Empire of the Inca civilization.

The Spanish took advantage of a recent civil war between the factions of the two brothers Emperor Atahualpa and Huáscar, and the enmity of indigenous nations the Incas had subjugated, such as the Huancas, Chachapoyas, and Cañaris. In the following years the conquistadors and indigenous allies extended control over the greater Andes region. The Viceroyalty of Perú was established in 1542.

Río de la Plata and Paraguay[link]

European explorers arrived to Río de la Plata in 1516. Their first Spanish settlement in modern this zone was the Fort of Sancti Spiritu established in 1527 next to the Paraná River. Buenos Aires, a permanent colony, was established in 1536 and in 1537 Asunción was established in the area that is now Paraguay. Buenos Aires suffered attacks by the indigenous peoples that forced the settlers away, and in 1541 the site was abandoned. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay). He dubbed the settlement "Santísima Trinidad" and its port became "Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires." The city came to be the head of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata and in 1776 elevated to be the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Governing[link]

Spain's administration of its colonies in the Americas was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain 1535 (capital, México City), and the Viceroyalty of Peru 1542 (capital, Lima). In the 18th century the additional Viceroyalty of New Granada 1717 (capital, Bogotá), and Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires) were established from portions of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

This evolved from the Council of the Indies and Viceroyalties into an Intendant system, in an attempt for more revenue and efficiency.

19th century[link]

During the Peninsular War in Europe between France and Spain, assemblies called juntas were established to rule in the name of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The Libertadores (Spanish and Portuguese for "Liberators") were the principal leaders of the Latin American wars of independence from Spain. They were predominantly criollos (local-born people of European ancestry, mostly Spanish or Portuguese), bourgeois and influenced by liberalism and in most cases with military training in the mother country.

In 1809 the first declarations of independence from Spanish rule occurred in the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The first two were in present day Bolivia at Sucre (May 25), and La Paz (July 16); and the third in present day Ecuador at Quito (August 10). In 1810 Mexico declared independence, with the Mexican War of Independence following for over a decade. In 1821 Treaty of Córdoba established Mexican independence from Spain and concluded the War. The Plan of Iguala was part of the peace treaty to establish a constitutional foundation for an independent Mexico.

These began a movement for colonial independence that spread to Spain's other colonies in the Americas. The ideas from the French and the American Revolution influenced the efforts. All of the colonies, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, attained independence by the 1820s. The British Empire offered support, wanting to end the Spanish monopoly on trade with its colonies in the Americas.

In 1898, the United States won victory in the Spanish-American War from Spain, ending the colonial era. Spanish possession and rule of its remaining colonies in the Americas ended in that year with its ownership transfer to the United States. The U.S. took occupation of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The latter possession now officially continues as a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States.

Demographic impact[link]

It has been estimated that in the 16th century about 240,000 Spaniards emigrated to America, and in the 17th century about 500,000, predominantly to Mexico and Ecuador.^[7]

Before the arrival of Columbus, in Hispaniola the indigenous Taíno pre-contact population of several hundred thousand declined to sixty thousand by 1509. Although population estimates vary, Father Bartolomé de las Casas, the “Defender of the Indians” estimated there were 6 million (6,000,000) Taíno and Arawak in the Caribbean at the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492.^{[citation needed]}

The population of the Native Amerindian population in Mexico declined by an estimated 90% (reduced to 1 - 2.5 million people) by the early 17th century. In Peru the indigenous Amerindian pre-contact population of around 6.5 million declined to 1 million by the early 17th century.^{[citation needed]}

Of the history of the indigenous population of California, Sherburne F. Cook (1896–1974) was the most painstakingly careful researcher. From decades of research he made estimates for the pre-contact population and the history of demographic decline during the Spanish and post-Spanish periods. According to Cook, the indigenous Californian population at first contact, in 1769, was about 310,000 and had dropped to 25,000 by 1910. The vast majority of the decline happened after the Spanish period, in the Mexican and U.S. periods of Californian history (1821–1910), with the most dramatic collapse (200,000 to 25,000) occurring in the U.S. period (1846–1910).^[8][9][10]

Cultural impact[link]

The Spaniards were committed, by Vatican decree, to convert their New World indigenous subjects to Catholicism. However, often initial efforts were questionably successful, as the indigenous people added Catholicism into their longstanding traditional ceremonies and beliefs. The many native expressions, forms, practices, and items of art could be considered idolatry and prohibited or destroyed by Spanish missionaries, military, and civilians. This included religious items, sculptures, and jewelry made of gold or silver, which were melted down before shipment to Spain.

Though the Spanish did not impose their language to the extent they did their religion, some indigenous languages of the Americas evolved into replacement with Spanish, and lost to present day tribal members. When more efficient they did evangelize in native languages. Introduced writing systems to the Quechua, Nahuatl and Guarani peoples may have contributed to their expansion.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

	New Spain portal
	Mexico portal
	Puerto Rico portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Spanish colonization of the Americas

• Spanish Exploration and Conquest of North America
• Spain in America (Edward Gaylord Bourne, 1904) 'Spain in America'
• The Spanish Borderlands (Herbert E. Bolton, 1921) 'The Spanish Borderlands'
• Indigenous Puerto Rico DNA evidence upsets established history
• The short film Spanish Empire in the New World (1992) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

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Aztec Triple Alliance
1428–1521 →
Middle section of page 34 of Codex Osuna, from 1565, showing the glyphs for Texcoco, Tenochtitlan, and Tlacopan.
Capital	Tenochtitlan
Language(s)	Nahuatl
Religion	Aztec religion
Government	Monarchy
Huehuetlatoani of Tenochtitlan	complete list
- 1427–1440	Itzcoatl (founder of alliance)
- 1520–1521	Cuauhtémoc (last)
Huetlatoani of Texcoco	complete list
- 1431–1440	Nezahualcoyotl (founder of alliance)
- 1516–1520	Cacamatzin (last)
Huetlatoani of Tlacopan
- Unknown	Totoquihuaztli (founder of alliance)
Historical era	Pre-Columbian
- Foundation of the alliance	March 13, 1428
- Spanish conquest	August 13, 1521
Currency	Quachtli Cocoa Beans
King list:[1]

The Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states or "altepeme": Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These city-states ruled the area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428 until they were defeated by the Spanish conquistadores and their native allies under Hernán Cortés in 1521.

The Triple Alliance was formed from the victorious faction in a war between the city of Azcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces.^[1] Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three cities, Tenochtitlan quickly established itself as the dominant partner.^[2] By the time the Spanish arrived in 1520, the lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled from Tenochtitlan, and the other partners in the alliance had assumed subsidiary roles.

The alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded rapidly after its formation. At its height, the alliance controlled an empire that covered most of central Mexico as well as some more distant lands. Aztec rule has been described by scholars as "hegemonic" or "indirect".^[3] Rulers of conquered cities were usually left in power as long as they agreed to pay semi-annual tribute to the alliance or provided military support in wars with enemy states.

Etymology[link]

The word "Aztec" is a modern invention and would not have been recognized by the people themselves. It has variously been used to refer to the Triple Alliance empire, the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico prior the Spanish conquest, or the Mexica ethnicity specifically.^[4] The name comes from a Nahuatl word meaning "people from Aztlan", reflecting the mythical place of origin for Nahua peoples.^[5]

Aztec civilization
Human sacrifice
Warfare · Aztec codices
Aztec Triple Alliance
Spanish conquest of Mexico
Fall of Tenochtitlan
La Noche Triste
v t e

History[link]

Before the Empire[link]

The Valley of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest.

Nahua peoples were not originally indigenous to central Mexico, and are instead descended from Chichimec peoples who migrated into the region from the north in the early 13th century.^[6] According to the pictographic codices in which the Aztecs recorded their history, the place of origin was called Aztlán. The early migrants settled the Basin of Mexico and surrounding lands by establishing a series of independent city-states. These early Aztec cities were ruled by petty kings called "tlatoque" (singular "tlatoani"). Most of the cities and towns in the region prior to the Aztec migration were assimilated into Aztec culture.^[7]

These early city-states fought various small-scale wars with each other, but due to the shifting nature of alliances no individual city gained dominance.^[8] The Mexica were the last of the Aztlan migrants to arrive in Central Mexico. They entered the Basin of Mexico around the year 1250 AD, when most of the good agricultural land was taken.^[9] The Mexica persuaded the king of Culhuacan to reluctantly allow them to settle in a relatively infertile patch of land called Tizaapan or Grasshopper hill, the Mexica became hired mercenaries for Culhuacan.^[10]

After serving the king of Culhuacan in battle, the Mexica were granted one of his daughters to rule over them. According to mythological native accounts, the Mexica sacrificed her by flaying the skin from her bones and having a priest wear her skin, they said this was done on the command of their god Huitzilopochtli.^[11] When the king of Culhuacan witnessed this, he attacked and used his army to drive the Mexica from Tizaapan by force. The Mexica then moved to an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, where an eagle nested on a nopal cactus. The Mexica interpreted this as a sign from their god, and founded their new city, Tenochtitlan, on this island in the year 2 House (1325 AD).^[3]

The new Mexica city allied itself with the city of Azcapotzalco and paid tribute to its king, Tezozomoc.^[12] With Mexica assistance, Azcopotzalco began to expand into a small tributary empire. Until this point, the Mexica did not have a legitimate king. Mexica leaders successfully petitioned one of the kings of Culhuacan to provide a daughter to marry into the Mexica line. Their son, Acamapichtli, was enthroned as the first tlatoani of Tenochtitlan in the year 1372.^[13]

As the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco continued to expand their kingdom with the assistance of the Mexica, the Acolhua city of Texcoco grew in power in the eastern portion of the lake basin. War eventually erupted between the two states, and the Mexica played a vital role in the conquest of Texcoco. By this time, Tenochtitlan had grown into a major city and was rewarded for its loyalty to the Tepanecs by receiving Texcoco as a tributary province.^[14]

The Tepanec Civil War and the Triple Alliance[link]

In 1426, the Tepanec king Tezozomoc died, and the resulting succession crisis precipitated a civil war.^[14] The Mexica supported Tezozomoc's preferred heir Tayahauh who was initially enthroned as king. His brother, Maxtla, soon usurped the throne and turned against those factions that opposed him, including the Mexica king Chimalpopoca. Chimalpopoca died shortly after this, possibly assassinated by Maxtla.^[9]

The new Mexica king Itzcoatl remained defiant to Maxtla, and in response Maxtla had Tenochtitlan blockaded and demanded increased tribute payments.^[15] Maxtla similarly turned against the Acolhua, and the king of Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl fled into exile. Nezahualcoyotl recruited the military assistance of the king of Huexotzinco, and the Mexica gained the support of a dissident Tepanec city, Tlacopan. In 1427, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan, and Huexotzinco went to war with Azcapotzalco and emerged victorious in 1428.^[15]

After the war, Huexotzinco withdrew and the three remaining cities formed a treaty known today as the Triple Alliance.^[15] The Tepanec lands were carved up between the three cities who agreed to cooperate in future wars of conquest. Land acquired from these conquests was to be held by the three cities together. Tribute was to be divided so that two fifths each went to Tenochtitlan and Texcoco and one fifth went to Tlacopan. Each of the three kings of the alliance in turn assumed the title "huetlatoani" ("Elder Speaker", often translated as "Emperor"), which placed them in a de jure position above the rulers of other city-states ("tlatoani").^[16]

The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan would, in the next 100 years, come to dominate the Valley of Mexico and extend its power to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific shore. Over this period, Tenochtitlan gradually became the dominant power in the alliance. Two of the primary architects of this alliance were the half-brothers Tlacaelel and Motecuzoma, nephews of Itzcoatl. Motecuzoma would eventually succeed Itzcoatl as the Mexica huetlatoani in 1440. Tlacaelel occupied the newly created title of "Cihuacoatl", roughly equivalent to "Prime Minister".^[15]

Imperial Reforms[link]

Jaguar Warrior, from the Codex Magliabechiano.

Shortly after the formation of the Triple Alliance, Itzcoatl and Tlacaelel instigated sweeping reforms on the Aztec state and religion. Tlacaelel ordered the burning of most of the extant Aztec books, claiming that they contained lies and that it was "not wise that all the people should know the paintings".^[17] He thereafter rewrote the history of the Aztec people, placing the Mexica in a more central role.

After Motecuzoma I succeeded Itzcoatl as the Mexica emperor, more reforms were instigated to maintain control over conquered cities.^[18] Uncooperative kings were replaced with puppet rulers loyal to the Mexica. A new imperial tribute system established Mexica tribute collectors that taxed the population directly, bypassing the authority of local dynasties. Nezahualcoyotl also instituted a policy in the Acolhua lands of granting subject kings tributary holdings in lands far from their capitals.^[19] This was done to create an incentive for cooperation with the empire; if a city's king rebelled, he lost the tribute he received from foreign land. Some rebellious kings were replaced by "calpixque", or appointed governors rather than dynastic rulers.^[19]

Motecuzoma issued new laws that further separated nobles from commoners and instituted the death penalty for adultery and other offenses.^[20] By royal decree, a religiously-supervised school was built in every neighborhood.^[20] Commoner neighborhoods had a school called a "telpochcalli" where they received basic religious instruction and military training.^[21] A second, more prestigious type of school called a "calmecac" served to teach the nobility, as well as commoners of high standing seeking to become priests or artisans. Motecuzoma also created a new title called "quauhpilli" that could be conferred on commoners.^[18] This title was a form of non-hereditary lesser nobility awarded for outstanding military or civil service (similar to the English knight). In some rare cases, commoners that received this title married into royal families and became kings.^[19]

One component of this reform was the creation of ritual wars called the Flower Wars. These wars created a steady supply of experienced Aztec warriors and war captives for human sacrifice. Flower wars were pre-arranged by the emperors and enemy cities and conducted specifically for the purpose of collecting prisoners for sacrifice.^[22] According to native historical accounts, these wars were instigated by Tlacaelel as a means of appeasing the gods in response to a massive drought that gripped the Basin of Mexico from 1450-4.^[23] The flower wars were mostly waged between the Aztec Empire and the neighboring cities of Tlaxcala.

Early Years of Expansion[link]

Map showing the expansion of the empire showing the areas conquered by the Aztec rulers.^[24]

After the defeat of the Tepanecs, Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl rapidly consolidated power in the Basin of Mexico and began to expand beyond its borders. The first targets for imperial expansion were Coyoacan in the Basin of Mexico and Cuauhnahuac and Huaxtepec in the modern Mexican state of Morelos.^[25] These conquests provided the new empire with a large influx of tribute, especially agricultural goods.

On the death of Itzcoatl, Motecuzoma I was enthroned as the new Mexica emperor. The expansion of the empire was briefly halted by a major four-year drought that hit the Basin of Mexico in 1450, and several cities in Morelos had to be re-conquered after the drought subsided.^[26] Motecuzoma and Nezahualcoyotl continued to expand the empire east towards the Gulf of Mexico and south into Oaxaca. In 1468, Motecuzoma I died and was succeeded by his son, Axayacatl. Most of Axayacatl's thirteen-year-reign was spent consolidating the territory acquired under his predecessor. Motecuzoma and Nezahualcoyotl had expanded rapidly and many provinces rebelled.^[9]

At the same time as the Aztec Empire was expanding and consolidating power, the Tarascan Empire in West Mexico was similarly expanding. In 1455, the Tarascans under their king Tzitzipandaquare had invaded the Toluca Valley, claiming lands previously conquered by Motecuzoma and Itzcoatl.^[27] In 1472, Axayacatl re-conquered the region and successfully defended it from Tarascan attempts to take it back. In 1479, Axayacatl launched a major invasion of the Tarascan Empire with 32,000 Aztec soldiers.^[27] The Tarascans met them just across the border with 50,000 soldiers and scored a resounding victory, killing or capturing over 90% of the Aztec army. Axayacatl himself was wounded in the battle, retreated to Tenochtitlan, and never engaged the Tarascans in battle again.^[28]

In 1472, Nezahualcoyotl died and his son Nezahualpilli was enthroned as the new huetlatoani of Texcoco.^[29] This was followed by the death of Axayacatl in 1481.^[28] Axayacatl was replaced by his brother Tizoc. Tizoc's reign was notoriously brief. He proved to be ineffectual and did not significantly expand the empire. Due to his apparent incompetence, Tizoc was likely assassinated by his own nobles five years into his rule.^[28]

Later Years of Expansion[link]

The maximal extent of the Aztec Empire

Tizoc was succeeded by his brother Ahuitzotl in 1486. Like his predecessors before him, the first part of Ahuitzotl's reign was spent suppressing rebellions which were commonplace due to the indirect nature of Aztec rule.^[28] Ahuitzotl then began a new wave of conquests including the Valley of Oaxaca and the Soconusco Coast. Due to increased border skirmishes with the Tarascans, Ahuitzotl conquered the border city of Otzoma and turned the city into a military outpost.^[30] The population of Otzoma was either killed or dispersed in the process.^[27] The Tarascans subsequently established fortresses nearby to protect against Aztec expansion.^[27] Ahuitzotl responded by expanding further west to the Pacific Coast of Guerrero.

By the reign of Ahuitzotl, the Mexica were the largest and most powerful faction in the Aztec Triple Alliance.^[31] Building upon the prestige the Mexica had acquired over the course of the conquests, Ahuitzotl began to use the title "huehuetlatoani" ("Eldest Speaker") to distinguish himself from the rulers of Texcoco and Tlacopan.^[28] Even though the alliance still technically ran the empire, the Mexica Emperor now assumed nominal if not actual seniority.

Ahuitzotl was succeeded by his brother Motecuzoma II in 1502. Motecuzoma II spent most of his reign consolidating power in lands conquered by his predecessors.^[30] In 1515, Aztec armies commanded by the Tlaxcalan general Tlahuicole invaded the Tarascan Empire once again.^[32] The Aztec army failed to take any territory and was mostly restricted to raiding. The Tarascans defeated them and the army withdrew.

Motecuzoma II instituted more imperial reforms.^[30] After the death of Nezahualcoyotl, the Mexica Emperors had become the de facto rulers of the alliance. Motecuzoma II used his reign to attempt to consolidate power more closely with the Mexica Emperor.^[33] He removed many of Ahuitzotl's advisors and had several of them executed.^[30] He also abolished the "quauhpilli" class, destroying the chance for commoners to advance to the nobility. His reform efforts were inevitably cut short by the Spanish Conquest in 1519.

Spanish conquest and Aztec defeat[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The empire reached its height during Ahuitzotl's reign in 1486–1502. His successor, Motehcuzōma Xocoyotzin (better known as Moctezuma II or Moctezuma), had been Hueyi Tlatoani for 17 years when the Spaniards, led by Hernán Cortés, landed on the Gulf Coast in the spring of 1519.

Despite some early battles between the two, Hernán Cortés allied himself with the Aztecs' long-time enemy, the Confederacy of Tlaxcala, and arrived at the gates of Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519.

The Spaniards and their Tlaxcallan allies became increasingly dangerous and unwelcome guests in the capital city. In June 1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Main Temple and the death of Moctezuma II. The Spaniards fled the town on July 1, an episode later characterized as La Noche Triste (the Sad Night). They and their native allies returned in the spring of 1521 to lay siege to Tenochtitlan, a battle that ended on August 13 with the destruction of the city. During this period the now crumbling empire went through a rapid line of ruler succession. After the death of Moctezuma II, the empire fell into the hands of severely weakened emperors, such as Cuitláhuac, before eventually being ruled by puppet rulers, such as Andrés de Tapia Motelchiuh, installed by the Spanish.

Despite the decline of the Aztec Empire, most of the Mesoamerican cultures were intact after the fall of Tenochtitlan. Indeed, the freedom from Aztec domination may have been considered a positive development by most of the other cultures. The upper classes of the Aztec empire were considered noblemen by the Spaniards and generally treated as such initially. All this changed rapidly and the native population were soon forbidden to study by law, and had the status of minors^{[citation needed]}.

The Tlaxcalans remained loyal to their Spanish friends and were allowed to come on other conquests with Cortés and his men.

See also[link]

• Aztec
• Spanish conquest of Mexico
• Flower war

References[link]

Bibliography[link]