The Conquest

The Conquest

March 25, 1519. Cortés and his soldiers defeated native troops at Centla, Tabasco. The chiefs presented him with 20 women, among whom was a young girl of noble family called Malitzin. She was baptized Marina by the Spaniards, and later was of great help to Cortés during the Conquest with her command of three languages, Maya, Náhuatl and Totonac.

April 22, 1519. Cortes and his soldiers landed on the beaches of what is now the city of Veracruz.

April 23, 1519. Captain Cortés founded the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz and also the first municipal council on the continent of America.

July 16, 1519. Cortés destroyed his ships and marched towards Zempoala, a nearby Totonac town.

Cortés then marched to the Valley of Mexico and, having defeated the Tlaxcaltecs, on September 23, 1519 signed a pact of alliance with this warlike people who were sworn enemies of the Aztecs.

October 18, 1519. Cortés, his soldiers and troops of his allies were responsible for the massacre of Cholula.

Hernán Cortés with his soldiers and allies continued his march towards the capital of the Aztec Empire through what is now called the Pass of Cortés, between the two volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccíhuatl. They reached Great Tenochtitlán on November 8, 1519 and were received by Moctezuma II, who gave them lodgings in the Palace of Axayácatl.

November 14, 1519. Cortés and his officers took Moctezuma prisoner.

April 19, 1520. An expedition sent by the governor of Cuba arrived in Vera Cruz, under the command of Panfilo de Narváez. He was to arrest Cortés and take him back to Cuba to answer various charges that had been made against him.

May 20, 1520. Captain Pedro de Alvarado, who had been left in charge of the garrison that remained in Tenochtitlán when Cortés left to meet Panfilo de Narváez, was responsible for a tremendous massacre of Aztec nobles in the High Temple. This caused a general rebellion against the Spaniards and their allies, who were besieged in their quarters.

On May 29, 1520. Cortés defeated the forces of Panfilo de Narváez at Zempoala and the very people who had been sent to detain him joined his troops.

June 27, 1520. Cortés returned to Mexico-Tenochtitlan and decided that he was unable to hold off the attacks of the infuriated Mexicas.

June 29, 1520. Moctezuma was forced to try to calm his people by speaking to them from a rooftop. However, he was stoned and died as a result of his injuries.

Cortés decided to leave Mexico-Tenochtitlán on the night of June 30, 1520 but the Aztecs took him by surprise and destroyed his army. Cortés, however, managed to escape, leaving many of his soldiers dead or captured in the attempt. This event is known as the Sad Night.

July 7, 1520. Cortés and the remains of his army succeeded in defeating an Aztec army that was pursuing him at Otumba (State of Hidalgo). He then withdrew to Tlaxcala, where he arrived on July 11, 1520.

September 7, 1520. Prince Cuitlahuac was elected Emperor of the Aztecs (tenth Aztec Lord). From September to November a smallpox epidemic raged in Tenochtitlán killing off morethan five hundred people, among them Cuitláhuac, who died on November 25.

In November 1520. Cortés began building thirteen brigs so as to be able to besiege Mexico-Tenochtitlán by both land and water.

December 28, 1520. Ixtlixóchitl, lord of Texcoco, joined the Spaniards. A canal was begun to link Texcoco with the lake of Mexico along which to transfer the brigs.

Between January and February 1521 Cortés conquered lztapalapa, Chalco and Mixquic, then in March Azcapotzalco and Tlacopan.

March 1521. Cortés began operations to the south of the city of Tenochtitlán, taking Churubusco, Coyoacán, and Xolotl.

April 1521. The young prince Cuauhtémoc was elected Emperor (eleventh and last Aztec Lord).

June 1, 1521. The siege of Mexico-Tenochtitlán began after the city's supply of drinking water had been cut off.

August 13, 1521. As the emperor Cuauhtémoc and his family, who had been taken prisoner by Garcia Holguin, captain of one of the brigs, were trying to escape, the Aztec capital fell to the conquistadors.

on to: Rule of Hernán Cortés