50 Fun Facts About Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire

Legend says Cortés burned his ships in 1519, but what did he really do to stop his men sailing home?

Scuttled them after men loyal to the governor plotted to seize a ship and flee; the burning story traces to a remark by a chronicler in 1546.

Which enslaved woman became the interpreter and adviser of Hernán Cortés on the march to Tenochtitlan?

La Malinche was one of 20 enslaved women given to the Spaniards in 1519, and she later bore Cortés a son, Martín.

Which disease, brought to Mexico in 1520 by a rival Spanish expedition, ravaged Tenochtitlan before the final siege?

Smallpox had been endemic in Europe for centuries, so the Spaniards were barely touched while the city's defenders and many of its leaders died.

A legend spread after the conquest claims Moctezuma II mistook Hernán Cortés for which returning Aztec god?

Quetzalcoatl's supposed return appears in no document free of Spanish influence, and historians trace the tale to friars writing years after the war.

Which drink, then unknown in Europe, did Hernán Cortés see served at the court of Moctezuma II?

Chocolate was one of the two most important drinks to the Aztecs, yet there is no evidence that Cortés himself carried it home across the Atlantic.

Which people, old enemies of the Aztecs, sent thousands of warriors to fight beside Cortés against Tenochtitlan?

Tlaxcalans fought the Spaniards before joining them; their state was never conquered by the Aztec Empire, which kept it in a state of perpetual war.

What Spanish name is given to the 1520 rout in which Cortés and his army fled Tenochtitlan with heavy losses?

La Noche Triste means the Night of Sorrows; in 2021 the Mexico City tree where Cortés is said to have wept was renamed the Tree of the Victorious Night.

From which Caribbean island colony did Hernán Cortés sail for Mexico in 1519, ignoring its governor's order to stay?

Cuba had been his home for years: Cortés was twice appointed a magistrate on the island before he ignored the recall and sailed in open mutiny.

Which conquistador, a distant cousin of Hernán Cortés, went on to overthrow the Inca Empire in Peru?

Francisco Pizarro was a second cousin once removed of Cortés, and reports of the riches won in Mexico helped prompt his own expeditions south.

Which animals brought by Cortés, likened to deer in Aztec accounts, had died out in the Americas millennia earlier?

Horses evolved in North America but vanished there roughly 10,000 years ago, so a mounted soldier was a sight no Aztec warrior had faced.

What name did Hernán Cortés give the territory he seized from the Aztecs, later ruled by viceroys for almost 300 years?

New Spain had its capital, Mexico City, raised on the site of Tenochtitlan, and the viceroyalty was dissolved only in 1821.

Which last Aztec emperor had the soles of his feet burned by Spaniards searching for hidden treasure in 1521?

Cuauhtémoc was captured crossing the lake as his city fell, and the torture by fire failed to reveal the riches his captors expected.

Which Gulf coast town did Cortés found in 1519 so that its council could free him from his governor's authority?

Veracruz began as Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, named for the True Cross because Cortés had landed on Good Friday.

To which king did Hernán Cortés address five long letters defending the conquest he had begun in open mutiny?

Charles V was also Holy Roman Emperor and busy with wars in Europe; the first letter is lost, and one from the town council Cortés had set up stands in for it.

Into which language of the Aztecs did the interpreters of Hernán Cortés turn his words, using Maya as a bridge?

Nahuatl reached Cortés in two steps at first: one interpreter turned his words into Maya, and a second turned the Maya into the Aztec tongue.

Aztec warriors met Spanish steel with the macuahuitl, a wooden sword edged with blades of which razor-sharp material?

Obsidian can take an edge sharper than a high-quality steel razor, and rows of the blades were set into both sides of the weapon.

Which raised structures linked island Tenochtitlan to the mainland and funnelled the fleeing Spaniards in 1520?

Causeways ran north, south and west from the city with bridged gaps for canoes; the Aztecs had damaged the bridges, so the Spaniards built a portable one.

What kind of warships did Cortés have built inland and hauled overland to blockade Tenochtitlan during the 1521 siege?

Brigantines, thirteen of them, were built under the master shipbuilder Martín López and gave the besiegers control of the water around the city.

According to Spanish accounts, how was Moctezuma II fatally wounded in 1520 while appealing to his own people?

Struck by stones from his own subjects is the Spanish version; indigenous accounts instead say Cortés's men stabbed him, or that he was found strangled.

Which lieutenant of Cortés ordered the 1520 massacre of Aztec nobles at a festival while his commander was away?

Pedro de Alvarado was called Tonatiuh, the Sun, by the Aztecs for his blond hair, and his attack turned an uneasy occupation into open revolt.

Which commander, sent in 1520 to arrest Cortés for mutiny, lost an eye and most of his army to him instead?

Pánfilo de Narváez was overrun in a surprise night attack, and Cortés then persuaded the rest of the beaten army to join his own.

Which governor sponsored the 1519 expedition to Mexico, then tried to recall it over doubts about the loyalty of Cortés?

Diego Velázquez and Cortés had an old quarrel, and when the governor revoked the charter at the last minute, Cortés ignored the order and sailed anyway.

Which Spaniard, held by the Maya since a 1511 shipwreck, joined Hernán Cortés in 1519 as his first translator?

Gerónimo de Aguilar left behind a fellow castaway, Gonzalo Guerrero, who had married a Maya woman and risen to war chief among his captors.

Which soldier of Cortés wrote a famous eyewitness memoir of the conquest decades later, as an old man in Guatemala?

Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote to rebut a biography by the chaplain of Cortés, which he felt glorified the commander at the expense of the other soldiers.

In which sacred city, the second largest in central Mexico, did the forces of Cortés massacre thousands in October 1519?

Cholula trusted its gods more than its small army; Cortés called the killing a strike against an ambush, while Indigenous accounts say the dead were unarmed.

At which battle in July 1520 did the battered survivors of Cortés's retreat break a far larger Aztec army?

Otumba turned when Cortés picked out the Aztec commander by his elaborate armour and banner and led a charge straight at him.

Which brother of Moctezuma II succeeded him as Aztec emperor in 1520 but ruled for only 80 days?

Cuitláhuac commanded the Aztec forces on the night the Spaniards were driven from the city, and he probably died in the epidemic that followed.

By what name did the people of Tenochtitlan call themselves, long before the label Aztec became common after 1810?

Mexica were the Valley of Mexico people who ruled the Triple Alliance, and it is only since 1810 that the broader term Aztec has often been used for them.

In which poor region of western Spain was Hernán Cortés born, in the small town of Medellín, around 1485?

Extremadura was a poor and desolate province of Castile, and Cortés, born into the lesser nobility, chose to seek adventure and riches overseas.

To which Central American land did Cortés lead an expedition in 1524, hanging the captive Aztec emperor on the way?

Honduras was where a captain had renounced his authority; Cortés took the emperor along for fear he would lead an insurrection if left behind.

Hernán Cortés was denied the post of viceroy but made Marquess of the Valley of which region of southern Mexico?

Oaxaca gave Cortés his noble title after he overthrew the Aztec Empire, while the more prestigious office went to a high-ranking nobleman from court.

Which coastal people, heavily taxed by the Aztecs, became the first to ally with Cortés at their capital Cempoala?

Totonacs had been coerced into sending hundreds of people as tribute for sacrifice and slavery, a grievance Cortés turned into his first alliance.

Spanish besiegers of Tenochtitlan cut the aqueduct that carried fresh water into the city from springs on which hill?

Chapultepec had fed the island city through aqueducts since the 15th century, and Cortés blocked the supply and eventually destroyed the channel.

Which volcano did Diego de Ordaz, a captain of Cortés, climb in 1519 on the march to Tenochtitlan?

Popocatépetl was erupting in those years; the first recorded European ascent impressed the expedition's native allies, and Ordaz was later granted a coat of arms showing the volcano.

In which sister city of Tenochtitlan, home to Mexico's largest market, did the Aztec defenders make a final retreat?

Tlatelolco shared the island with its larger neighbour, and Cortés wrote that 60,000 buyers and sellers gathered at its marketplace every day.

On which island off the Caribbean coast of Mexico did Cortés stop in 1519 before sailing on to the mainland?

Cozumel's Maya received the fleet peacefully and kept supplying food and water even after Cortés destroyed some of their idols.

Maya lords of which present-day state of Mexico gave Hernán Cortés twenty enslaved women after losing a battle in 1519?

Tabasco's peace offering changed the war: among the women was the interpreter who would let Cortés speak with the Aztecs.

Near which city in southern Spain did Hernán Cortés die in 1547, six years after returning from Mexico for good?

Seville province holds Castilleja de la Cuesta, where Cortés died of pleurisy; his will asked that his remains eventually be buried in Mexico.

Which loot, handed out before the 1520 night retreat from Tenochtitlan, weighed down many Spaniards who then drowned?

Gold weighed most on the newest arrivals, less experienced men who had loaded up before the escape, and many of them never reached the shore.

Which term for people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry described the son of Cortés and his interpreter?

Mestizo described Martín, born to Cortés and the woman who translated for him, and he is counted among the first in the colony.

The elite of the Aztec army that fought the Spanish were the eagle warriors and warriors named for which animal?

Jaguar warriors, like their eagle counterparts, were full-time soldiers, and men who reached the rank were treated as nobles.

Under which Spanish labour system were conquistadors like Cortés rewarded with the work of conquered peoples?

Encomienda means entrusting: in theory the conquerors owed their labourers benefits such as military protection and education.

Twelve missionaries of which religious order reached Mexico City in 1524 to convert the peoples Cortés had conquered?

Franciscans known as the Twelve Apostles of Mexico came after Cortés himself asked for friars to evangelize the new colony.

Which American historian with badly damaged eyesight wrote the classic 1843 History of the Conquest of Mexico?

William Prescott was hit in the eye by a crust of bread in a student food fight, and he wrote with a noctograph, a device that let him work despite his weak sight.

In which European capital is the quetzal-feather headdress traditionally linked to Moctezuma II kept in a museum?

Vienna keeps a piece that has sat in Austrian collections since the late 1500s; no known evidence proves it was the emperor's, and Mexico has asked for its return.

What was the tzompantli that stood in the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan when the Spanish arrived in 1519?

A skull rack displayed the heads of war captives on rows of poles; since 2015 archaeologists have uncovered more than 650 skulls from the largest one.

Which nobleman became the first viceroy in Mexico City in 1535, a post Hernán Cortés had expected for himself?

Antonio de Mendoza was told to govern without making an enemy of Cortés, whom the crown judged too independent to be trusted with the office.

The Sea of Cortés, named for the conqueror of the Aztecs, is another name for which body of water?

Gulf of California is the marginal sea dividing a long peninsula from the mainland, and the voyages of Cortés are among its earliest records.

Which Canadian-born rock musician released the 1975 song Cortez the Killer about the conquest of the Aztecs?

Neil Young has said in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school in Winnipeg.

Which English poet pictured Cortés, rather than Balboa, gazing at the Pacific for the first time in an 1816 sonnet?

John Keats chose Cortés for his sonnet on reading Chapman's Homer, although members of Balboa's expedition were the first Europeans to see that ocean, in 1513.