Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History / The Siege of Tenochtitlan: Cortés vs the Aztec Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about how European powers divided up the world on paper—treaties like Tordesillas and Zaragoza. But today I want to look at what that division actually looked like on the ground, in one of the most dramatic conquests of the sixteenth century: the fall of Tenochtitlan. Luna: The Aztec capital? The one built on a lake? Lucas: Exactly. Tenochtitlan was an island city in the middle of Lake Texcoco, connected by three long causeways. It was one of the largest cities in the world at that point, with perhaps 200,000 people. And in 1521, a small Spanish force and tens of thousands of native allies laid siege to it. Lucas: To understand how they got there, we have to go back to 1519, when Hernán Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with about 600 men. He wasn't the first—earlier expeditions had been repelled. But Cortés had something that gave him an edge: a translator named Malinche, an enslaved Nahua woman who spoke both Mayan and Nahuatl. Luna: She's sometimes called Doña Marina, right? And she became his interpreter and advisor? Lucas: Yes. Malinche quickly learned Spanish, and Cortés used her to communicate with the various indigenous groups he encountered. He wasn't just relying on swords and guns; he was building alliances. The most important alliance was with the city-state of Tlaxcala, which had been fighting the Aztecs for generations. Lucas: After months of marching and negotiating, Cortés entered Tenochtitlan in November 1519. Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor, received him courteously—partly out of confusion, partly because of longstanding prophecies, and partly because Cortés had already defeated his rivals. But the situation was tense. Luna: It sounds like the Aztecs were trying to figure out what these strangers wanted. Lucas: Exactly. Moctezuma housed the Spanish in a palace, but Cortés quickly took him hostage. For six months, the Spanish ruled through Moctezuma, controlling the city's resources. Then, in May 1520, while Cortés was away dealing with a rival Spanish expedition, his lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado massacred Aztec nobles during a festival. That sparked a massive uprising. Lucas: When Cortés returned, he found Tenochtitlan in chaos. He tried to use Moctezuma to calm the crowd, but the emperor was killed—whether by his own people or the Spanish is debated. Then, on the night of June 30, 1520, the Spanish tried to sneak out of the city. They were caught on the causeway. Hundreds drowned under the weight of their gold. It's called La Noche Triste—the Night of Sorrows. Luna: That sounds like a disaster. How did Cortés recover? Lucas: He retreated to Tlaxcala, licked his wounds, and started planning. Over the next year, he built a small fleet of brigantines—ships that could be assembled on the lake—and recruited even more indigenous allies. By April 1521, he had about 900 Spaniards, maybe 80 horses, a few cannons, and tens of thousands of Tlaxcalans and other warriors. And then he began the siege. Lucas: The siege was brutal. Cortés cut off the three causeways, preventing food and water from entering the city. The Aztecs, now led by the young emperor Cuauhtémoc, fought fiercely. They used canoes, threw spears from rooftops, and even captured some Spanish to sacrifice. But smallpox, introduced by the Spanish, was already devastating the population. Luna: So disease was doing as much damage as the fighting. Lucas: Absolutely. Historian Ross Hassig calculated that smallpox killed perhaps a third of the city's defenders before the siege even began in earnest. The Spanish and their allies pressed forward, house by house, canal by canal. They destroyed the aqueduct that brought fresh water from the mainland. The defenders were reduced to drinking brackish lake water. Lucas: The final assault came in August 1521. The Spanish pushed down the causeways into the city center. Cuauhtémoc tried to escape by canoe but was captured. On August 13, he surrendered. The city was in ruins. Cortés famously said, 'It is not a victory, for we have destroyed what we came for.' Luna: That's a heavy quote. He seemed to recognize the cost. Lucas: But that recognition didn't stop the destruction. The Spanish razed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City on top of it, draining the lake over centuries. The fall of the city effectively ended the Aztec Empire, and Spain now controlled a vast territory with millions of subjects. It's a pivotal moment in the rise of colonialism—not just a treaty line on a map, but an actual conquest. Lucas: And speaking of maps, it's these kinds of deep dives into history that we try to bring you every week. We spend hours researching and writing, and the show stays ad-free because of listeners like you who chip in a few dollars a month at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. If you've been getting something out of these conversations, it really does make a difference. Luna: Yeah, it keeps the whole thing going without ads or sponsors. Lucas: So back to that final siege. After Cuauhtémoc's capture, Cortés ordered the city's systematic destruction. Within a few years, the lake was being drained, and a new cathedral stood where the Templo Mayor had been. The conquest opened the door for the encomienda system, forced labor, and the massive extraction of silver from mines like Potosí. Luna: It really was the beginning of a whole new colonial order in the Americas. Lucas: Yes. And it's worth remembering that none of that could have happened without the indigenous allies—the Tlaxcalans, the Totonacs, and others who saw the Spanish as a chance to escape Aztec domination. They did most of the fighting, and they paid a heavy price as well. The Siege of Tenochtitlan is a story of brutality, but also of shifting alliances and cultures colliding. Lucas: In a way, the city Tenochtitlan never really disappeared. Its foundations lie under the Zócalo. The canals were turned into streets. The Aztec aqueduct became a colonial aqueduct. Today, when you walk through Mexico City, you're walking through layers of history—pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern. Luna: That's a powerful image. It makes you think about what else is buried beneath the cities we live in. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a good note to end on for now. Next time, we'll look at another key moment in the making of colonial America—the encomienda system and the backlash it created.