Editing Hernán Cortés (section)

==Conquest of Mexico (1519–1521)==
{{Main|Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire}}

[[Image:Ruta de Cortés.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|A map depicting Cortés's invasion route from the coast to the Aztec capital of [[Tenochtitlan]]]]
In 1518, Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old argument between the two, Velázquez changed his mind and revoked Cortés's charter. Cortés ignored the orders and, in an act of open [[mutiny]], went anyway in February 1519. He stopped in [[Trinidad, Cuba]], to hire more soldiers and obtain more horses. Accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men (including seasoned slaves<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vF0lcFF4pGoC&dq=slaves+at+San+Miguel+de+Guadalupe&pg=PA316 Jane Landers, ''Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America''], UNM Press, 2006, p. 43</ref>), 13 horses, and a small number of [[cannon]], Cortés landed on the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] in [[Maya civilization|Maya]] territory.<ref name="Grunberg">Bernard Grunberg, ''"La folle aventure d'Hernan Cortés''", in ''[[L'Histoire]]'' n° 322, July–August 2007</ref> There he encountered [[Geronimo de Aguilar]], a Spanish [[Franciscan]] priest who had survived a [[Shipwrecking|shipwreck]] followed by a period in captivity with the [[Maya peoples|Maya]], before escaping.<ref name="Grunberg" /> Aguilar had learned the [[Chontal Maya language]] and was able to translate for Cortés.<ref name="Crowe, John A 1992. p.75">Crowe, John A. The Epic of Latin America. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1992. 4th ed. p. 75</ref>

Cortés's military experience was almost nonexistent, but he proved to be an effective leader of his small army and won early victories over the coastal Indians.<ref>Gómez, Angel Delgado. "Cortés, Fernando." In ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''. : Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish crown]]. Then he proceeded to [[Tabasco]], where he met with resistance and won a [[Potonchán#Battle of Centla|battle]] against the natives. He received twenty young indigenous women from the vanquished natives, and he converted them all to Christianity.<ref name="Crowe, John A 1992. p.75" />

Among these women was [[La Malinche]], his future [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] and mother of his son [[Martín Cortés (son of Malinche)|Martín]].<ref name="CC" /> Malinche knew both the [[Nahuatl]] language and Chontal Maya, thus enabling Cortés to communicate with the Aztecs through Aguilar.<ref name="Diaz">Diaz, B. (1963), ''The Conquest of New Spain'', London: Penguin Books, {{ISBN|0140441239}}</ref>{{rp|82, 86–87}} At [[San Juan de Ulúa]] on [[Easter Sunday]] 1519, Cortés met with [[Moctezuma II]]'s [[Aztec Empire]] governors Tendile and Pitalpitoque.<ref name="Diaz" />{{rp|89}}

[[File:ScuttleFleetNHMDF.JPG|thumb|Cortés scuttling his own fleet off the coast of Veracruz in order to eliminate the possibility of retreat]]
In July 1519, his men took over [[Veracruz]]. By this act, Cortés dismissed the authority of the governor of Cuba to place himself directly under the orders of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|King Charles]].<ref name="Grunberg" /> To eliminate any ideas of retreat, Cortés [[Scuttling|scuttled]] his ships.<ref name="Longman94">Hassig, Ross. ''Mexico and the Spanish Conquest''. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 53–54</ref>

===March on Tenochtitlán===
In Veracruz, he met some of the tributaries of the Aztecs and asked them to arrange a meeting with [[Moctezuma II]], the ''[[tlatoani]]'' (ruler) of the Aztec Empire.<ref name="Longman94" /> Moctezuma repeatedly turned down the meeting, but Cortés was determined. Leaving a hundred men in Veracruz, Cortés marched on [[Tenochtitlán]] in mid-August 1519, along with 600 soldiers, 15 horsemen, 15 [[cannon]]s, and hundreds of indigenous carriers and warriors.<ref name="Grunberg" />

On the way to Tenochtitlán, Cortés made alliances with [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|indigenous peoples]] such as the [[Totonac]]s of [[Cempoala]] and the [[Nahua people|Nahuas]] of [[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]]. The [[Otomi people|Otomis]] initially, and then the [[Tlaxcalans]] clashed with the Spanish in a series of three battles from 2 to 5 September 1519, and at one point, Diaz remarked, "they surrounded us on every side". After Cortés continued to release prisoners with messages of peace, and realizing the Spanish were enemies of Moctezuma, [[Xicotencatl the Elder]] and [[Maxixcatzin]] persuaded the Tlaxcalan warleader, [[Xicotencatl the Younger]], that it would be better to ally with the newcomers than to kill them.<ref name="Diaz" />{{rp|143–155, 171}}

In October 1519, Cortés and his men, accompanied by about 1,000 Tlaxcalteca,<ref name="Diaz" />{{rp|188}} marched to [[Cholula (Mesoamerican site)|Cholula]], the second-largest city in central Mexico. Cortés, either in a pre-meditated effort to instill fear upon the Aztecs waiting for him at Tenochtitlan or (as he later claimed, when he was being investigated) wishing to make an example when he feared native treachery, massacred thousands of unarmed members of the nobility gathered at the central plaza, then partially burned the city.<ref name="Diaz" />{{rp|199–200}}

[[File:Cortez & La Malinche.jpg|thumb|left|Cortés and [[La Malinche]] meet Moctezuma in Tenochtitlán, November 8, 1519.]]
By the time he arrived in Tenochtitlán, the Spaniards had a large army. On November 8, 1519, they were peacefully received by Moctezuma II.<ref>Hassig, Ross. ''Mexico and the Spanish Conquest''. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 82, 86</ref> Moctezuma deliberately let Cortés enter the Aztec capital, the island city of Tenochtitlán, hoping to get to know their weaknesses better and to crush them later.<ref name="Grunberg" />

Moctezuma gave lavish gifts of gold to the Spaniards which, rather than placating them, excited their ambitions for plunder. In his letters to King Charles, Cortés claimed to have learned at this point that he was considered by the Aztecs to be either an emissary of the feathered serpent god [[Quetzalcoatl]] or Quetzalcoatl himself—a belief which has been contested by a few modern historians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Townsend |first1=Camilla |title=Inventing a God |url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/inventing-god |website=Roundtable |language=en |date=7 November 2019}}</ref><ref>Restall, Matthew (2003). ''Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest''. Oxford University Press; Townsend, Camilla (2003). "Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico." ''American Historical Review ''108, no. 3: 659–687.</ref> But quickly Cortés learned that several Spaniards on the coast had been killed by Aztecs while supporting the Totonacs, and decided to take Moctezuma as a hostage in his palace, indirectly ruling Tenochtitlán through him.<ref>Hassig, Ross. ''Mexico and the Spanish Conquest''. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 88–89</ref>

[[File:Jal-ixco.jpg|thumb|[[Cristóbal de Olid]] leads Spanish soldiers with [[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]]n allies in the conquests of Jalisco, 1522.]]
Meanwhile, Velázquez sent another expedition, led by [[Pánfilo de Narváez]], to oppose Cortés, arriving in Mexico in April 1520 with 1,100 men.<ref name="Grunberg" /> Cortés left 200 men in Tenochtitlán and took the rest to confront Narváez. He overcame Narváez, despite his numerical inferiority, and convinced the rest of Narváez's men to join him.<ref name="Grunberg" /> In Mexico, one of Cortés's lieutenants [[Pedro de Alvarado]], committed the ''[[massacre in the Great Temple]]'', triggering a local rebellion.<ref>Hassig, Ross. ''Mexico and the Spanish Conquest''. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 91–92</ref>

Cortés speedily returned to Tenochtitlán. On July 1, 1520, Moctezuma was killed (he was stoned to death by his own people, as reported in Spanish accounts; although some claim he was murdered by the Spaniards once they realized his inability to placate the locals). Faced with a hostile population, Cortés decided to flee for Tlaxcala. During the ''[[La Noche Triste|Noche Triste]]'' (June 30 – July 1, 1520), the Spaniards managed a narrow escape from Tenochtitlán across the Tlacopan causeway, while their rearguard was being massacred. Much of the treasure looted by Cortés was lost (as well as his artillery) during this panicked escape from Tenochtitlán.<ref name="Grunberg" />

===Destruction of Tenochtitlán===
After [[Battle of Otumba|a battle in Otumba]], they managed to reach Tlaxcala, having lost 870 men.<ref name="Grunberg" /> With the assistance of their allies, Cortés's men finally prevailed with reinforcements arriving from [[Cuba]]. Cortés began a policy of [[attrition warfare|attrition]] towards Tenochtitlán, cutting off supplies and subduing the Aztecs' allied cities. During the siege he would construct [[brigantine]]s in the lake and slowly destroy blocks of the city to avoid fighting in an urban setting. The Mexicas would fall back to [[Tlatelolco (altepetl)|Tlatelolco]] and even succeed in ambushing the pursuing Spanish forces, inflicting heavy losses, but would ultimately be the last portion of the island that resisted the conquistadores. The [[Fall of Tenochtitlan|siege of Tenochtitlan]] ended with Spanish victory and the destruction of the city.<ref name="CC" /><ref>Hassig, Ross. ''Mexico and the Spanish Conquest''. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 108–143</ref>

In January 1521, Cortés countered a conspiracy against him, headed by Antonio de Villafana, who was hanged for the offense.<ref name="Grunberg" /> Finally, with the capture of [[Cuauhtémoc]], the ''[[tlatoani]]'' (ruler) of Tenochtitlán, on August 13, 1521, the Aztec Empire was captured, and Cortés was able to claim it for Spain, thus renaming the city [[Mexico City]]. From 1521 to 1524, Cortés personally governed Mexico.<ref name="Grunberg" /><references group="References "/>