Atlas of Hispanic-American History

prisoner and forced him to take up resi-
dence in the Spanish headquarters. He
required Montezuma to swear allegiance
to the Spanish king, Charles I, who had
come to the throne in 1516 and reigned to
1556 (he also reigned simultaneously as
Holy Roman emperor Charles V,
1519–1558). Cortés also ordered
Montezuma to provide a great tribute in
gold and jewels. But before he could fully
establish his control of the Aztec Empire,
Cortés had to pause to crush a different
enemy: Velázquez.
The governor of Cuba had sent an
expedition under Pánfilo de Narváez (ca.
1480–1528) to arrest his rebellious cap-
tain, and Cortés now learned that they
had arrived on the coast. Cortés left 200
men at Tenochtitlán under the command
of Pedro de Alvarado and swiftly marched
to meet his enemies. He defeated
Narváez and convinced most of that
leader’s men to join him, giving him an
army of more than 1,000.
By the time that Cortés returned to
Tenochtitlán, Alvarado had made a mess
of things, launching an unprovoked mas-
sacre that prompted a revolt against the
Spanish. The Aztec allowed Cortés to

rejoin Alvarado in their headquarters only

so they could surround and attack all the

Spanish at once. A battle ensued, forcing

the Spanish to retreat inside their fortress.

Cortés persuaded Montezuma to address

his people from a rooftop and urge them

to cease their rebellion. In contempt for

what they viewed as a show of weakness,

his people stoned and shot arrows at the

emperor. The Aztec leader died of his

wounds three days later.

The Fall of

the Aztec Empire

With Montezuma gone, Cortés had no

shield against the fury of the Aztec. On

June 30, 1520, a rainy night commemo-

rated in Mexican history as the Noche

Triste, or “Sad Night,” Cortés ordered a

retreat from the city while the Aztec slept.

But the Aztec awoke, raining arrows on

the fugitives. Cortés’s men carried

portable bridges to fill gaps in the cause-

ways leading out of the city and across the

lake. But the bridges collapsed and many

soldiers drowned in the lake, dragged

down by all the gold they were trying to

SPAIN IN THE AMERICAS 35

The Spanish Conquest of Mexico, 1519–1579