Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador, or conqueror, who is best remembered for conquering the Aztec Empire in 1521 and claiming Mexico for Spain. He also helped colonize Cuba and became a ...

During Cortes’s absence, Alvarado’s execution of many Aztec chiefs enraged the people. After defeating Velázquez’s forces, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan on June 24, 1520, to find the ...

For centuries, the fall of Tenochtitlan, the majestic, lake-bound capital of the Aztecs or Mexica, has engaged historians and storytellers. To the admiring, conquest was neat, romantic and at once ...

Tenochtitlán was an Aztec city that flourished between A.D. 1325 and 1521. Built on an island on Lake Texcoco, it had a system of canals and causeways that supplied the hundreds of thousands of ...

Log-in to bookmark & organize content - it's free! Yale professor emeritus John Demos explained the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs by Conquistador Hernán Cortés. He spoke about the advantages ...

Aztecs and Mexicas For centuries, we have referred to the ancient civilization of people who inhabited Tenochtitlán as the Aztecs. It's the more commonly known term, but it's not the most accurate.

The Aztecs were remarkable innovators, particularly in agriculture and engineering. They developed chinampas, or floating gardens, to increase agricultural yields in swampy areas around Tenochtitlan.

Buried in the Mexico City palace of Hernan Cortes is a mysterious, centuries-old skeleton. Its true identity had been obscured for decades — until now. Following an earthquake that damaged the ...

For roughly 30 years, a 16th-century purchase order signed by the conquistador Hernán Cortés, who led the overthrow of the Aztec empire for the Spanish crown, had been missing from Mexico’s ...