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Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires
Aztecs 1519–1521; Inca 1532–1572· War· Americas & Oceania
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Small Spanish forces, backed by huge numbers of Indigenous allies, toppled the Aztec Empire by 1521 and the Inca Empire from 1532.
See it on the History map →What happened
Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519 with about 500 soldiers, won tens of thousands of allies such as the Tlaxcalans, longtime Aztec enemies, and, after a smallpox epidemic, took Tenochtitlan in August 1521. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro, with about 170 men, seized the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca, collected a roomful of gold and silver as ransom, then executed him. Inca resistance held out in the Vilcabamba mountains until 1572.
Why it matters
It created Spain's American empire, poured silver into the world economy, and imposed Spanish language, Catholicism and colonial rule on millions for three centuries.
How we know
Cortés's letters to the emperor, Bernal Díaz's eyewitness memoir, Indigenous accounts such as the Florentine Codex and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, and archaeology in Mexico City and Peru.
Still debated
Historians debate the weight of steel, horses and guns versus Indigenous allies, disease and Inca civil war, and challenge the 'myth' of a few conquistadors winning alone.
Connections (4)
▸Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires destroyed Aztec EmpireWell documented
The connection
Cortés marched inland in 1519, gathered allies among Aztec subjects and enemies such as Tlaxcala, and took Emperor Moctezuma II hostage in Tenochtitlan. Driven out in 1520, the Spanish returned with small warships and perhaps 100,000 or more Native allies, besieging the smallpox-weakened city for nearly three months until it fell on August 13, 1521.
When and how
Central Mexico, 1519–1521; Hernán Cortés, his interpreter Malintzin (La Malinche), Moctezuma II, the last emperor Cuauhtémoc, and Tlaxcalan leaders.
How we know
Cortés's letters, Bernal Díaz's memoir, and Nahua accounts such as Book 12 of the Florentine Codex describe the siege from both sides.
Debates and open questions
Whether Moctezuma was killed by Spaniards or by his own people's stones is disputed. Siege deaths are put at about 100,000 to 240,000; estimates vary.
▸Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires toppled Inca EmpireWell documented
The connection
Pizarro arrived as the Inca were exhausted by civil war between the brothers Atahualpa and Huáscar. At Cajamarca in November 1532 his roughly 170 men ambushed Atahualpa's mostly unarmed escort and captured him. The Spanish took a huge ransom, executed Atahualpa in 1533, seized Cusco and ruled through puppet emperors. Resistance held out at Vilcabamba until 1572.
When and how
Cajamarca and Cusco, Peru, 1532–1533; Francisco Pizarro and his brothers, Atahualpa, and later Manco Inca and his son Túpac Amaru, the last Inca ruler, executed in 1572.
How we know
Accounts by Pizarro's secretaries and soldiers, later Inca and mestizo chroniclers such as Guaman Poma, and Spanish administrative records.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate how much Indigenous allies, epidemics and the civil war, rather than Spanish arms, decided the outcome; death tolls are uncertain.
▸Columbus's voyage to the Americas opened the way to Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresWell documented
The connection
Columbus made Hispaniola Spain's base and forced the Taíno into labor and slavery. From there the Spanish took Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba between 1508 and 1514. Expeditions from Cuba found Mexico, and Cortés sailed from Cuba in 1519. The Caribbean colonies gave conquistadors the ports, horses, experience and model of conquest-for-plunder they used on the mainland.
When and how
Caribbean, 1492–1519; Columbus, later governors such as Nicolás de Ovando, and Diego Velázquez, governor of Cuba, who sent Cortés.
How we know
Royal grants, governors' reports and the protests of the friar Bartolomé de las Casas document the Caribbean conquest and its links to the mainland.
Debates and open questions
How much the Caribbean experience, versus Spain's long reconquest of Muslim Iberia, shaped conquistador methods is debated.
▸Epidemics in the Americas helped make possible Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresMostly agreed
The connection
Smallpox struck Tenochtitlan in 1520, just after the Spanish were driven out, killing perhaps a third or more of the city, including the new emperor Cuitláhuac; estimates vary. In the Andes, disease killed the Inca ruler and set off civil war before Pizarro arrived. Epidemics left defenders sick, leaderless and grieving at decisive moments.
When and how
Tenochtitlan, autumn 1520; the Andes, about 1524–1532. Spanish sources say a sick man with Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition brought smallpox to Mexico.
How sure are we?
Nahua accounts in the Florentine Codex describe the smallpox epidemic; Spanish chroniclers record its timing alongside the conquest.
Debates and open questions
How decisive disease was, compared with Native allies and Spanish weapons, is debated; some historians think it is overemphasized, downplaying conquest's violence.