La Conquista
Hernan Cortes and the fall of Tenochtitlan
The Beginning of the End

Destruction- Montezuma II was the ruler of the
Aztecs by 1500 AD when the Spaniards arrived
(1519 AD) Hernan Cortes and a group of Spanish
adventurers arrived at Veracruz and led an expedition
to Mexico in 1519. This year also marked the end of
the Aztecs; 52 year cycle when they feared that the
god Quetzalcoatl would return from exile and
destroy them. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico
Montezuma dared not fight because he thought they
were gods and instead sent gifts of gold so they
would go away. Instead, it made the Spaniards even
more hungry for gold and more decided to reach the
City Capital.
La Ruta Cortes
Cortes was 34 years
old, landed in Tabasco
on February of 1519
with 678 men and 200
natives.
Jeronimo de Aguilar
joined him because he
had explored these
lands a few years before
and spoke the Mayan
language
La Malinche

After a tough battle, the Tabascans
give in and offer food, gold, and
20 women to Cortes. One of them
being Malintzin which Cortes
baptizes as Dona Marina. She
spoke both Nahuatl and Mayan.
She is forever known as Malinche.

From there they stayed 20
days among the
Tlaxcalansheaded towards
Cholula, a holy city for the
Aztecs south of Tenochtitlan
(now Puebla). Here, they
were well received at first, but
the Cholula leaders did not
allow the 5,000 Tlaxcalans to
enter their city. With
Malinche’s help, Cortes
uncovers the plot to attack
the Spaniards and the
Tlaxcalans enter the city and
together massacre 3,000
Cholulans.
Sword and Cross

Cortes destroyed many of the
temples and statutes placing the
Christian cross in their place.
Cortes allowed some of
Moctezumas ambassadors to
return back to Tenochtitlan to tell
him that he did not hold him
responsible for the Cholulans
deceit and would still wish to visit
the great city. On November 8th,
1519 Cortes finally met the great
Emperor at the doors of the entry
city of Xolotl (Salmoral 1988).
-Aztec Marketplace by
Bernal Diaz del
Castillo-
Primary Source
Murals by Diego Rivera at the
Palacio Nacional in Mexico City
Moctezuma II

Moctezuma was about 40
years of age and was the 9th
ruler of the Mexicas. The
Emperor took the Spaniards to
one of his palaces in
Tenochtitlan. The city is
estimated to have had between
150,000 and 300,000
inhabitants. Following a few
days of his arrival the Emperor
was taken prisoner by Cortes
in its own palace.
La Noche Triste
Cortes has to leave Tenochtitlan to
head back to the Coast because the
Governor Velazquez had sent 1,500
men to capture him under the
leadership of Panfilo Narvaez. Cortez
is able to quickly defeat the force and
more Spaniards are added to his
force.
While celebration festivities for the
god Tezcatlipoca, Pedro Alvarado
recreates what Cortes had done in
Cholula and decides to interrupt the
ceremonial festivities and massacres
2,000 to 3,000 Aztecs in fear that they
were plotting to kill the Spaniards.
The Aztecs started to attack and fight
back the Spaniards. Cortes hurried
back with his men to assist Alvarado.

By now, Moctezumas’ nephew,
Cuauhtemoc had assumed the
military leadership of the
Mexicas and began an attack on
the Spaniards day and night. In
one attack to the Palace were
Cortes was staying cost him 46
of his men (Salmoral 1988). On
June 30, 1520 Cortes and his
men decide to escape the city by
night with all the gold they could
carry. Many sank due to the
weight of their gold when the
Aztecs caught their escape and
intercepted them at the bridges.
Many Spaniards and native
allies were killed that night. A
total of 800 Spaniards perished
that night. Cortes is said to have
retreated that night to a solitary
tree and cried that night for his
men (or at least for his gold!).
Old World
Diseases
Eventually, they make it back to
Tlaxcala and begin to recuperate to
attack Tenochtitlan once again. On
December 29, 1520 he decides to
retake the great city again with
10,000 Tlaxcalans. By now, many
citizens of Tenochtitlan had
contracted the small pox brought by
one of Narvaez men and were dying
by the thousands. By April of 1521,
Cortez began the suffocation of
Tenochtitlan by surrounding the city
and depriving it of water and food.
On June 30, 1521 he decides to
attack the city but many of his men
are either killed or taken prisoners to
be sacrificed. The city held off for
another 85 days but it was finally
defeated.
The End of the Aztec
Empire

According to Bernal Diaz, all the houses had dead
natives and the few that were left alive were skinny
and smelly. Most were just eating weeds and grasses,
even the bark of trees. (Salmoral 1988:102). Cortes
estimates they killed 100,000 natives in the siege
(Cockcroft 1988:19).
He sends his captains to conquer other lands in Central
America and north of Mexico. He himself explores
the Baja Peninsula. Within 12 years of Cortez
landing, most of Mesoamerica was under Spanish
rule! In 1539 he returns to Spain but is eventually
ignored by the Crown and retires to live in Sevilla
where he dies in 1547.
Ritual or Cannibalism?

Huitzilopochtli was said to be in
a constant struggle with the
darkness and required
nourishment in the form of
sacrifices to ensure the sun
would survive the cycle of 52
years, which was the basis of
many Mesoamerican myths.
While popular accounts claim it
was necessary to have a daily
sacrifice, sacrifices were only
done on festive days. There were
18 especially holy festive days,
and only one of them was
dedicated to Huitzilopochtli.