Cortés Lands in Mexico: Aztec Empire Falls

Hernan Cortes landed on the Yucatan coast on March 4, 1519, with roughly 500 soldiers, 100 sailors, and 16 horses. Within two and a half years, his small force had toppled the Aztec Empire, which controlled a territory of over five million people. Cortes achieved this through a combination of military technology, alliances with indigenous peoples who resented Aztec domination, and catastrophic disease. Smallpox, brought unknowingly by the Spaniards, killed roughly half the Aztec population during the siege of Tenochtitlan. The Tlaxcalans, longtime enemies of the Aztecs, provided thousands of warriors to fight alongside the Spanish. Cortes exploited Aztec religious beliefs, arriving during a period associated with the return of the god Quetzalcoatl, which may have contributed to Emperor Montezuma's initial hesitation to resist. The conquest funneled enormous quantities of gold and silver to Spain, funded the Habsburg Empire, and launched three centuries of colonial rule that fundamentally reshaped Mesoamerican civilization.