The fall of Tenochtitlan
Cortés takes the Mexica capital with a few hundred Spaniards and tens of thousands of allies.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 2 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
Cortés lands in 1519 and by August 1521 has destroyed Tenochtitlan after a three-month siege. The conquest is usually told as a handful of Europeans overcoming an empire; it was substantially a revolt of subject peoples — above all Tlaxcala — against Mexica tribute, with the Spanish as a catalyst and beneficiary. Smallpox swept the city during the siege. The Spanish built Mexico City on the ruins and drained the lake.