End of the Aztec Empire

In the year 1521 we will find the end of one of the most important empires in America. Its form of government consisted of the annexation by force of other tribes or peoples of Mesoamerica. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will focus on conducting a summary of the end of the Aztec Empire, for which we will see the different triggers of it and its causes, in addition to the consequences. One of the most important episodes will be the fall of Tenochtitlán which we will talk about later.

We started this summary of the end of the Aztec Empire placing us in the year 1519 when Hernan CortesDisobeying the express orders of the governor of Cuba, he reached the coast of Mexico with some 450 soldiers. After a series of meetings with various towns, he decided to create a city, Veracruz. After this and thanks to some tribes and his wife Malinche, we will find that the Castilians became aware that there was an Empire in the interior of Mexico, which was very belligerent and also had enormous wealth, it was in this way that they learned about the existence of the Aztecs.

In the year 1520 we will find a series of contacts with said town, arriving to enter the same capital of the Empire, Tenochtitlán. Once inside the heart of the Empire they made the emperor, Moctezuma declared himself vassal of the emperor, Carlos V and in that way all the lands will belong to the Crown of Castile.

But the closer the Castilians got to the figure of their emperor, the faster the Aztecs lost faith in their leader. This reached a stress level that killed his emperor on June 29, 1520, when he was heading from the balcony of his palace to the people who were agitated on the esplanade. At that moment, a shower of stones began, hitting him directly on the head, producing a hemorrhage that would end his life.

This produced great instability and lack of protection for the Castilians, because the nephew of the late emperor, Cuauhtémoc, was suspicious of the Castilians to which at no time had he seen as gods (as Moctezuma claimed) and for that reason on June 30 they decided to march out of the city with all the riches possible.

This day is known as the Sad night, because during the march, many Castilians died and many others who ended up prisoners of the Aztecs and who would later be sacrificed to their gods.

Said loss of Spanish troops was undoubtedly due to the great complexity of bridges, gates and canals in the city, which were closing to catch a large number of these, most of which ended up being killed there directly, while others were enslaved. According to Chronicles of Bartolomé de las CasasWe know that there were many who ended up drowned in the lake trying to leave the city with the loot behind them (greed could).

We continue with this summary of the end of the Aztec Empire speaking, now, of the fall of the city. After the disaster caused by the death of Moctezuma, the Castilians who managed to save themselves regrouped in Otumba on July 7, where a bloody battle took place between the troops of the Aztecs who were persecuting the Castilians that had managed to escape and the allied tribes of the Castilians, Tlaxcala being the most representative. The result of this was victory for the Castilians and their allies, thus being able to reorganize and equip themselves for the next confrontation.

During the rest of the year 1520 and much of 1521 we will find that the Castilians were taking control of all the towns and cities controlled by the Mexica, until blocking the exits of the lake city. In the same way they proceeded to cut off the supply of drinking water that was brought by an aqueduct to the interior of the city. That way they would create a great tension within it.

On the other hand, we will find that they proceeded to bring unarmed brigantines by land that were modified for navigation on the lake and thus have naval support, 12 ships in which each carried a Canyon. Cortes's allied tribes would supply rafts for the attack on the city.

Due to this, a large part of the nobles of the city began to look favorably upon a negotiation with the conquerors to the hostilities ended, but the emperor, Cuauhtémoc executed them, disappearing the option of negotiations for full. That way when the attack on the city began, the Mexica would create an urban warIn other words, they were defending the city house by house, making it much more difficult to advance within it.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover a brief biography of Hernán Cortés.

Continuing with our summary on the end of the Aztec Empire, we must stop at the August 13, 1521 as we will find the surrender of the Mexica people and the fall of Cuauhtémoc, who after being taken hostage would be executed. This surrender came after eighty days of siege in which it is estimated that some 240,000 Aztecs (although it cannot be known exactly, since we do not know the statistics of before and later).

Cortés asked the Mexica to deliver all the treasures they lost in the sad night and for that reason a great looting in the city. Although there was a total surrender, we know that the troops of Cortés and more specifically the indigenous auxiliary troops in their army, they continued to chase the survivors, reaching a fairly high mortality rate. elevated.