After an extended siege, forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés capture Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
Hernán Cortés, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador, military commander, explorer, captain general, and writer who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century.
Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Watch: 1521 - Hernán Cortés
From the Mexicanisimo / Paralelo 21 channel.
Sources and further reading: Wikipedia — Hernán Cortés, Fall of Tenochtitlan, Conquistador, Tlatoani (CC BY-SA). Images: Wikimedia Commons.
