Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that defeated the Aztec Empire and helped establish Spanish rule in Mexico.

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire: The campaign from 1519 to 1521 that brought the Aztec Empire under Spanish rule. Cortés led the Spanish campaign whose victories and alliances culminated in the empire’s defeat.
Tlaxcala: A Nahua polity that resisted Aztec domination and allied with the Spanish during the conquest. Tlaxcalan forces became indispensable military partners in Cortés’s campaign.
Spanish colonization of the Americas: The establishment of Spanish political control and settlements across the Americas from the late fifteenth century onward. Cortés’s expedition extended Spain’s colonial power from the Caribbean into mainland Mexico.
Moctezuma II: The Mexica ruler who governed the Aztec Empire when Cortés arrived in 1519. His encounters with Cortés and later captivity became a turning point in the conquest.
New Spain: The Spanish colonial viceroyalty established in North America after the conquest of Mexico. Cortés became its first governor and captain general after the conquest.
Fall of Tenochtitlan: The siege and capture of the Aztec capital by Spanish and Indigenous forces in 1521. Cortés commanded the siege that ended with the capital’s capture.
La Malinche: An Indigenous woman who interpreted and advised Cortés during the conquest of Mexico. Her translation and political mediation helped Cortés negotiate with Indigenous rulers.
Cuba: A Caribbean island colonized by Spain in the early sixteenth century and a base for expeditions to the mainland. Cortés organized his Mexican expedition from Cuba, where he had served as a colonial official.
Cuauhtémoc: The last Mexica ruler of Tenochtitlan, captured by Cortés’s forces in 1521. Cuauhtémoc led resistance during the final siege and was later held by Cortés.
Smallpox: A contagious viral disease that caused severe illness and high mortality before its eradication in 1980. The epidemic of 1520 devastated Indigenous communities during the struggle for Tenochtitlan.

Linked from 35 pages