Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
| Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire | |||||||||
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| Part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and Mexican Indian Wars | |||||||||
Conquest of Mexico by Cortés, oil on canvas Spanish: Conquista de México por Cortés | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Indigenous allies:
Support or occasional alliesb: |
Aztec Triple Alliance (1519–1521)
Allied city-states: Independent kingdoms and city-states:
Governorate of Cuba (1520, see) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Spanish commanders: Hernán CortésPedro de Alvarado Gonzalo de Sandoval Cristóbal de Olid Chichimecatecuhtli Ixtlilxochitl II of Texcoco |
Aztec commanders:
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Spaniards (total):
~10,000 Totonac (~8,400 followed Cortés from Cempoala) and high number of other Indigenous allies | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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1,800 Spaniards dead
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200,000 Aztecs dead (including civilians)
Unknown casualties of other natives 15 Spaniards dead, many wounded at the Battle of Cempoala (1520) | ||||||||
| 10,500,000 deaths as a result of the conquest | |||||||||
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| Aztec civilization |
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| Aztec society |
| Aztec history |
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 with its Indigenous allies. Between 1519 and 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his small army of European soldiers and numerous Indigenous allies, overthrew the most powerful empire in Mesoamerica.
Led by the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, the Aztec Empire had established dominance over modern central Mexico through military conquest and intricate alliances. The Aztecs ruled hegemonically through local rulers, their power resting on the perception of unchallengeable Aztec military supremacy. This was an inherently unstable system vulnerable to a loss of prestige under even moderate challenges. The sudden downfall of the Aztec civilization was due to a combination of factors, including superior weaponry, strategic alliances with oppressed and rebellious Indigenous populations, and the impact of European diseases. In 1520, the first wave of smallpox killed 5–8 million people.
The Spanish campaign against the Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces under Cortés and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtémoc and the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the establishment of New Spain with its capital at Mexico City built on the ruins of the former capital.
The conquest had profound consequences, beginning Spanish rule in Mesoamerica, the wide expansion of Spanish culture, and the establishment of a new social hierarchy in the Americas dominated by the Spanish conquerors and their descendants.