Early Modern
Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521): Cortés
Tenochtitlan fell on 13 August 1521, the Mexica state was destroyed and central Mexico became the Spanish colony of New Spain.
Region
Americas
Early Modern
Battle of Otumba (1520): Cortés Survives the Retreat to Tlaxcala
Spanish and Tlaxcalan victory; Cortés's survivors escaped to Tlaxcala, where they rebuilt their forces for the siege of Tenochtitlan.
Early Modern
Smallpox Epidemic in Mexico (1520): Disease and the Conquest
Smallpox killed a large share of central Mexico's population, including the Mexica ruler Cuitláhuac, and weakened resistance to the Spanish conquest.
Early Modern
La Noche Triste (1520): The Spanish Flight from Tenochtitlan
A Mexica victory: the Spaniards escaped the city but lost an estimated 400-600 or more Spaniards, thousands of allies and most of their treasure.
Early Modern
Death of Moctezuma II (1520): The Last Days of the Aztec Ruler
Moctezuma died in Spanish custody during the Mexica uprising; Cuitláhuac succeeded him and the Spaniards fled the city days later.
Early Modern
Fall of Tenochtitlan (1521): Siege of the Aztec Capital
Spanish and Indigenous allied victory; the Mexica capital was destroyed, Cuauhtémoc was captured and Mexico City was built on the ruins.
Early Modern
Pedro de Alvarado's Conquest of Guatemala (1524-1527)
The main highland Maya kingdoms were defeated and Spanish Guatemala was founded, though Maya resistance continued for years.
Early Modern
Giovanni da Verrazzano's Voyage (1524): New York Harbor
Verrazzano mapped much of the Atlantic coast of North America for France and showed it was a continuous landmass, though he found no passage to Asia.
Early Modern
Middle Passage: The Atlantic Crossing of Enslaved Africans
An estimated 12.5 million Africans were forced aboard slave ships, of whom about 10.7 million survived the crossing to the Americas.
Early Modern
Sebastian Cabot's Río de la Plata Expedition (1526-1530)
The expedition never reached the Moluccas; it explored the Paraná and Paraguay rivers and founded a short-lived fort, but Cabot returned in disgrace.
Early Modern
Spanish Conquest of Yucatán (1527-1697): The Maya Resist
Northern Yucatán came under Spanish rule in the 1540s, but the independent Itza Maya kingdom of the Petén held out until 1697.
Early Modern
Narváez Expedition and Cabeza de Vaca's Odyssey (1527-1536)
The expedition was destroyed; of about 300 men who marched inland only four completed the journey, reaching Mexico City in 1536 after crossing much of the continent on foot.