@cunning.conquests: Hernán Cortés · Santiago de Cuba – Trinidad – Havana – Cozumel – Potonchán – San Juan de Ulúa – Cempoala – Villa Rica – Tlaxcala – Cholula – Tenochtitlan · 18 November 1518 – 14 November 1519 In 1519, Hernán Cortés entered Tenochtitlan. He had been mayor of Santiago de Cuba. Governor Diego Velázquez gave him command of an expedition to the new-found coast of Mexico and then tried to take it back. Cortés sailed from Santiago on 18 November 1518 with about 300 men and recruited more at Trinidad and Havana. In February 1519 he left Cuba with 11 ships. Bernal Díaz was one of his soldiers. He counted 508 soldiers, about 100 sailors, and 16 horses. At Cozumel they found Gerónimo de Aguilar, shipwrecked in 1511, who had learned Maya. On the Grijalva River the Chontal Maya of Potonchán fought them. After the battle of Centla on 14 March the lords made peace and gave 20 women. One was Malinche, baptized Marina, who spoke Nahuatl and Maya. On 21 April the fleet anchored at San Juan de Ulúa. Envoys of the emperor Moctezuma brought gold and told them to leave. Cortés allied with the Totonac city of Cempoala and founded Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Its council made him answer to the king, not Velázquez. On 26 July one ship sailed for Spain with gold. He had the rest run aground. On 16 August he marched inland with 15 horsemen and 300 foot soldiers. Tlaxcala, long at war with the Aztecs, fought him for about 2 weeks and then became his ally. At Cholula on 18 October his men and the Tlaxcalans killed about 3,000 people by his count. He said he had learned of an ambush. On 8 November Moctezuma met him on the Iztapalapa causeway and lodged the Spaniards in his father's palace. About a week later Cortés made him a prisoner. Why it matters: holding the emperor gave a few hundred Spaniards control of an empire's capital for 7 months. Tlaxcalan warriors made up much of the army that took the city in 1521. #hernancortes #aztecs #History #maps #onthisday

Cunning Conquests

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Monday 21 September 2026 20:12:19 GMT