The Conquest of The Aztecs
The Conquest of The Aztecs
The Conquest of The Aztecs
OF THE AZTECS
1520
Once upon a
time…
◦ 1492
◦ Taino
◦ Hispaniola (island)
◦ „Conquistadores“
◦ Hernán Cortés
◦ 1504 on Hispaniola
◦ Yucatán Peninsula
◦ 1519: Cortés entered Tenoctitlán, the capital of
Aztec / Mexica Empire
AT THAT
TIME…
MESOAMERICAN EMPIRES
◦ Cortés took Moctezuma hostage
◦ Spanish murdered high-ranking Mexica during a
religious festival And here‘s what
◦ Mexica retaliated and Cortés had to flee the Europeans
◦ Cortés created alliances and recruited Natives who
resented the Aztec Empire, using disunity of diverse
did…
groups
The Conquest
of
Tenochtitlán
◦ August 1521
◦ Claimed as Spanish
territory
◦ As the Indians did not know the remedy of the disease, they died in heaps, like bedbugs. In many places it
happened that everyone in a house died, and as it was impossible to bury the great number of dead, they
pulled down the houses over them, so that their homes became their tombs.” (a Franciscan monk who
accompanied Cortés)
Outcome?
◦ Here‘s an overview of the demographic situation in NM in 2019:
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/aztec-nm
◦ How might the development of Aztec culture and population be different if smallpox hadn‘t factored in
the conquest of the Spanish? Discuss this question with a partner.