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The fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was an important event in the Spanish conquest of the empire.It occurred in 1521 following extensive negotiations between local factions and Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
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 Conquest of Mexico ISBN 0-091-77629-5; (US title) Conquest: Cortés, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico (1993) ISBN 0-671-51104-1; White, Jon Manchip. Cortés and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire (1971) ISBN 0-7867-0271-0; Ward, Thomas. Formation of Latin American Nations. From Late Antiquity to Early Modernity. University of Oklahoma ...
The Aztec emperors who ruled much of the land that became Mexico were defeated by a Spanish-led force that seized the city on August 13, 1521. Mexico City marks fall of Aztec capital 500 years ago ...
It is said that the Aztec god, Huitzilopochtli, instructed the Aztecs to found their city at the location where they saw an eagle, on a cactus, with a snake in its talons (which is on the current Mexican flag). The Aztecs, apparently, saw this vision on the small island where Tenochtitlan was founded.
The word Aztec in modern usage would not have been used by the people themselves. It has variously been used to refer to the Aztecs or Triple Alliance, the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico prior to the Spanish conquest, or specifically the Mexica ethnicity of the Nahuatl-speaking tribes (from tlaca). [7]
La Noche Triste ("The Night of Sorrows", literally "The Sad Night"), officially re-branded in Mexico as La Noche Victoriosa [2] ("The Victorious Night"), was an important event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, wherein Hernán Cortés, his army of Spanish conquistadors, and their native allies were driven out of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.
The Aztecs were already antagonistic towards the Spaniards for being inside their city and for holding Moctezuma under house arrest. When Cortés and his men, including those who had come under Narváez, returned, the Aztecs began full-scale hostilities against the Spaniards.