# Canonical recap data for Spanish Conquest of Aztec Empire (1521)
# Source: https://recap.at/1521/conquest-aztec-empire
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: conquest-aztec-empire
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1521/conquest-aztec-empire"
title: Spanish Conquest of Aztec Empire
subtitle: Cortés's conquest of Tenochtitlan ended the Aztec Empire and triggered colonial reorganization of the Americas.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1521-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1521
decade: 1520
country:
name: Mexico
slug: mexico
summaryShort: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire with its Indigenous allies. Between 1519 and 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his small army of European soldiers and numerous Indigenous a
summaryLong: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire with its Indigenous allies. Between 1519 and 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his small army of European soldiers and numerous Indigenous allies, overthrew the most powerful empire in Mesoamerica.
lede: In 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his allied Indigenous forces besieged Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, and destroyed it. The conquest reshaped the Americas, ending Aztec rule and establishing Spanish colonial dominion over Mexico.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Conquista-de-M%C3%A9xico-por-Cort%C3%A9s-Tenochtitlan-Painting.png/1280px-Conquista-de-M%C3%A9xico-por-Cort%C3%A9s-Tenochtitlan-Painting.png"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire"
  title: Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- war
metaDescription: Hernán Cortés and Spanish forces destroyed the Aztec Empire in 1521, reshaping the Americas and establishing Spanish colonial rule in Mexico.
wikidataQid: Q828435
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- invasion
- war
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- transformation
- collapse
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: cascading
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: death
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260609143838/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-09
  label: Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire"
