Battles & Wars › Gunpowder empires
Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires
1519–1572· War· Americas
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Small Spanish forces, with huge Indigenous allied armies, overthrew the Aztec (1521) and Inca (from 1532) empires.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519 with about 500 men, allied with the Tlaxcalans and other enemies of the Aztecs, and took Tenochtitlan in 1521. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro, with about 170 men, seized the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca, collected a vast ransom and executed him. Inca resistance continued from Vilcabamba until 1572. Allies, epidemics, an Inca civil war, steel, horses and ruthlessness all played a part.
Why it matters
It created Spain's American empire, whose silver from Potosí and Zacatecas fueled European wars and global trade, and began colonial Latin America.
How we know
Cortés's letters to Charles V, Bernal Díaz's memoir, Nahua and Andean accounts such as the Florentine Codex and Guaman Poma's chronicle, and excavations including Mexico City's Templo Mayor.
Still debated
The weight of each factor is debated, and the idea that the Aztecs took Cortés for the god Quetzalcoatl is now widely seen as a post-conquest myth.
Inside this (2)
Connections (7)
▸Fall of Tenochtitlan was the decisive victory of Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresWell documented
The connection
With the Mexica capital gone, most former Aztec tributary states submitted or were conquered within a few years. Spain built Mexico City on the ruins as the capital of New Spain. The victory became the model for later expeditions, including Francisco Pizarro's campaign against the Inca from 1532.
When and how
Central Mexico, 1521 and after; Cortés, captains such as Pedro de Alvarado, and allied Indigenous lords who expected a share of power.
How we know
Royal decrees made Cortés governor of New Spain in 1522, and Mexico City's colonial center sits atop excavated Aztec temples.
Debates and open questions
Many regions resisted for decades, and the last independent Maya kingdom, Nojpetén in today's Guatemala, fell only in 1697, so whether one victory 'conquered' the region is a matter of framing.
▸Hernán Cortés led the first great campaign of Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresWell documented
The connection
Cortés's 1519–21 campaign was the first conquest of a large American empire. His playbook, exploiting local rivalries, seizing the ruler and recruiting Indigenous allies, was copied by Francisco Pizarro, a distant relative, who seized the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532.
When and how
Mexico, 1519–21; Cortés with about 500 men at first, interpreters Malintzin and Jerónimo de Aguilar, and allies from Tlaxcala and Cempoala.
How we know
Cortés's letters to Charles V, printed in Europe from 1522, made his methods famous, and Pizarro met Cortés in Spain in 1528.
Debates and open questions
Whether Pizarro consciously copied Cortés, or both simply followed conquistador habits already used in the Caribbean, such as seizing local rulers, is debated.
▸Smallpox and Old World epidemics in the Americas devastated the Aztec and Inca peoples during Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresWell documented
The connection
Disease ran ahead of and alongside the conquerors. Smallpox reached the Andes in the 1520s, before Pizarro, probably killing the Inca ruler Huayna Capac and his heir and setting off a civil war between his sons Huáscar and Atahualpa. Repeated epidemics, with war and forced labor, cut Native populations by an estimated 50 to 90 percent within a century.
When and how
Mexico from 1520, the Andes from about 1525–28, and later waves such as Mexico's cocoliztli epidemics of 1545 and 1576.
How we know
Spanish tribute counts and church records show the collapse, Nahua and Andean writers describe the epidemics, and a 2018 ancient-DNA study linked one cocoliztli outbreak to a salmonella fever.
Debates and open questions
Pre-conquest populations, whether Huayna Capac died of smallpox, and the relative weight of disease and colonial violence are all debated.
▸Gunpowder and cannon gave a small edge to Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresMostly agreed
The connection
Cortés landed with about a dozen arquebuses and some 14 light cannon; Pizarro had even fewer at Cajamarca. Slow to reload and short of powder, the guns mainly added shock and noise, plus some firepower in sieges and from the brigantines. Steel swords, armor, horses, Indigenous allies and disease did far more of the work.
When and how
Mexico, 1519–21, and Peru, 1532–36; Spanish arquebusiers and gunners, including cannon mounted on brigantines on Lake Texcoco.
How sure are we?
Spanish muster lists and accounts give small gun counts, and Nahua accounts in the Florentine Codex describe fear of the guns' noise and smoke.
Debates and open questions
How much the guns' psychological effect mattered is debated; historians increasingly stress allies and disease over technology.
▸The gun: arquebus and musket armed the conquistadors in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresWell documented
The connection
Cortés landed in 1519 with about 13 arquebusiers among some 500 men; Pizarro's 168 men at Cajamarca had about a dozen guns. They were few and slow, but their noise and smoke caused shock. Steel swords, horses, Native allies and epidemics mattered more.
When and how
Mexico, 1519–1521; Cajamarca, Peru, November 16, 1532.
How we know
Conquistador accounts, such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo's and those of Pizarro's secretaries, list men and weapons.
Debates and open questions
How big a role guns played is debated; many historians stress Native allies, like the Tlaxcalans, and disease as more decisive.
▸Magnetic compass guided the voyages that enabled the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresMostly agreed
The connection
With the compass, plus better charts and ships, Iberian sailors could hold a course across open ocean far from land. Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 steering by compass. That opened the route Cortés and Pizarro later followed to the Aztec and Inca empires, bringing horses, steel, guns and European diseases.
When and how
Atlantic crossings from 1492; conquest of Mexico (1519–1521) and Peru (1532–1572).
How sure are we?
Columbus's journal records compass courses and his alarm when the needle shifted; but the compass was one tool among many, needed rather than decisive.
Debates and open questions
Historians weigh the compass alongside the caravel, astrolabe, charts and knowledge of Atlantic winds; how much each mattered is a matter of emphasis.
▸Toledo steel: Spain's sword-making city armed the conquistadors of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empiresMostly agreed
The connection
Spanish soldiers in Mexico and Peru carried steel swords, many from Toledo or made in its style. Against warriors with quilted cotton armor and wooden, stone or obsidian-edged weapons, a steel blade that kept its edge and did not snap was a major advantage in close fighting.
When and how
Mexico, 1519–1521, and Peru, 1532–1572; conquistadors under Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro.
How sure are we?
Conquistador accounts stress the sword's importance, and Toledo's export trade is documented, though individual blades' origins are rarely recorded.
Debates and open questions
How many swords came from Toledo itself, rather than other Spanish or German makers, is unknown.