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Cortés and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire by Jon Manchip White (1971) ISBN 0-7867-0271-0; History of the Conquest of Mexico. by William H. Prescott ISBN 0-375-75803-8; 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 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés , and his small army of European soldiers and numerous indigenous allies ...
The Aztecs [a] (/ ˈ æ z t ɛ k s / AZ-teks) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among altepeme. After the Nahuas formed the empire in 1428 and the empire began its program of expansion through conquest, the altepetl remained the dominant form of organization at the local level.
Only the Aztec archenemies of Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco, and the Purépecha remained undefeated, as well as the Mixtec kingdoms of Tututepec and Yopitzinco which did not interest the Aztecs. Thus the Aztec Empire had its largest geographical extent when the Spaniards arrived in 1519.
In addition, indigenous accounts were written by the defeated from the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, a case of history being written by those other than the victors. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] The capture of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II , by Cortés was not a brilliant stroke of innovation, but came from the playbook that the Spanish developed ...
The attackers breached the city and engaged in fighting with the Aztec defenders in the streets. The Aztecs defeated the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces at the Battle of Colhuacatonco on 30 June 1521. Following this Aztec victory, 53 Spanish prisoners were paraded to the tops of Tlatelolco's highest pyramids and publicly sacrificed. [58]
This is a timeline of Mexican history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events and improvements in Mexico and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see history See also the list of heads of state of Mexico and list of years in Mexico .