Hernan Cortes laid siege to Tenochtitlan for 80 days, cutting off the fresh wate

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Cortes Captures Aztec Capital: An Empire Falls

Hernan Cortes laid siege to Tenochtitlan for 80 days, cutting off the fresh water supply from Chapultepec and using thirteen brigantines to control Lake Texcoco. By August 13, 1521, when the last Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc was captured trying to escape by canoe, the city was in ruins. An estimated 100,000 to 240,000 Aztecs died during the siege from combat, starvation, and smallpox. Tenochtitlan, which had been one of the largest cities in the world with a population of perhaps 200,000, was systematically demolished. Cortes built Mexico City on top of the rubble. Within a century, European diseases had killed roughly 90% of the indigenous population of central Mexico.

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August 13, 1521

505 years ago

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Cortes Captures Aztec Capital: An Empire Falls

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