Which explorer conquered the aztec empire

He fought Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors and then set his sights on taking over the Aztec empire. He traveled to Honduras in to stop a rebellion against him in the area. This was to be his last major expedition. He traveled to Spain to plead his case to the king, but he was not reappointed to his governorship.

He spent much of his later years desperately seeking recognition for his achievements and support from the Spanish royal court. He was born around in Trujillo, Spain. Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian-born merchant and explorer who took part in early voyages to the New World on behalf of Spain around the late 15th century. By that time, the Vikings had established settlements in present-day North America as early as 1, A.

The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in , , and He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not really A decade later, he was serving as governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola when he decided to explore a nearby island, which became Sir Francis Drake participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions.

In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan c. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the On the way to Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards gained the support of the Totonac peoples from the city of Cempoala, who hoped to be freed from the Aztec yoke. After a grueling battle lasting more than five hours, as many as 6, of its people were killed.

In the face of their unstoppable advance, Moctezuma stalled for time, allowing the Spaniards and their allies to enter Tenochtitlan unopposed in November For several days, the Spaniards vainly used Moctezuma in an attempt to calm tempers, but his people pelted the puppet king with stones.

Moctezuma died a few days later, but his successors would fare no better than he did. On June 30, , the Spanish fled the city under fire, suffering hundreds of casualties. Some Spaniards died by drowning in the surrounding marshes, weighed down by the vast amounts of treasure they were trying to carry off. The event would come to be known as the Night of Sorrows.

Although the Aztec had the superior numbers, advanced Spanish weaponry ultimately gave them the upper hand. Others tried to run in vain from the butchery, their innards falling from them and entangling their very feet. Spain would win the Battle of Otumba a few days later. Skillful deployment of cavalry against the elite Aztec jaguar and eagle warriors carried the day for the Europeans and their allies.

Victory allowed the Spaniards to rejoin with their Tlaxcaltec allies and launch the recapture of Tenochtitlan. Waves of attacks were launched on settlements near the Aztec capital. Any resistance was brutally crushed: Many indigenous enemies were captured as slaves and some were even branded following their capture.

The sacking also allowed the Spaniards to build up their large personal retinues, taking captives to use as servants and slaves, and kidnapping others for exchanges and ransoms. Growing in number to roughly 3, people, this group of captives vastly outnumbered the fighting Spaniards. For an assault on a city the size of Tenochtitlan, the number of Spanish troops seemed paltry—just under 1, soldiers, including harquebusiers, infantry, and cavalry.

Even so, the siege of Tenochtitlan was not a given. None of these assets had yet been used in battle in the Americas. The Aztec fought the Spanish with wooden broadswords, clubs and spears tipped with obsidian blades. When the Spanish arrived in the Americas they came from a war-oriented culture that had seen battle against other European nations for dominance and against North Africans for sovereignty.

The conquistadors arrived in Mesoamerica with better guns and had been trained in tactical strategies. They deployed a cavalry that could chase down retreating warriors, dogs trained to track down and encircle enemies and horses capable of trampling adversaries.

Up against large armies of Spanish and Indigenous forces, surrounded and cut off from the mainland, and with a population succumbing to an unknown, devastating virus, the Aztec Empire was unable to fight off the invading Spanish conquistadors.

Weiner, Stanford University Press , , p. Oldstone, Oxford University Press , , p. War in History, vol.