500 Years Ago Mexico

500 years ago Mexico-Tenochtitlan fell. With the taking of the City, which was considered by the Aztecs as the “Navel of the Moon”, the Spanish occupation began, which lasted until 1821.

What happend 500 Years Ago in México was a Conquest or rebellion?

It is mistakenly believed that the Spanish defeated the Aztecs. The army that defeated the Aztecs was an Alliance formed by other indigenous peoples that were under the rule of the so-called Mexicas. The achievement of Hernán Cortes was, precisely, having achieved and commanded that alliance, with which they took and occupied Mexico City-Tenochtitlán on August 13, 1521.

The information available from April 22, 1519, the day Hernán Cortes landed for the first time on the coasts of Veracruz, until August 13, 1521, the day of the fall of Tenochtitlán, is distorted and inaccurate. All the information that is known is based on the letters that Hernán Cortes himself sent to the King of Spain, and on the chronicles written after the taking of the City. The history that we know today, beyond historical facts, is full of fantasy and romanticism.

The same mysticism that surrounds the arrival of the Aztecs to what we now know as the Valley of Mexico, surrounds the fall of Tenochtitlán. Historians have contrasting views of what happened on August 13, 500 years ago in Mexico. For some it was a conquest, for others an invasion, there are those who dare to say that it was a liberation or those who go further by stating that it was the independence of the indigenous peoples from the Aztec domain.

What is clear is that every civilization has a beginning, a rise and a fall. However, the fall of Tenochtitlán occurred exactly during its heyday. It is considered as the date of the founding of the City of Tenochtitlán, today Mexico City, on March 13, 1325. Taking this date as a reference, we can say that it took the Aztecs less than 200 years to dominate the entire central part of the Mexican territory. It is considered that in 1521 there were more than 400 indigenous peoples subjugated by the Mexicas.

The Colony

The Spanish rule or occupation in Mexico remained for 300 years, it was until 1821 when the country achieved its independence from Spain. For 300 years Mexico was called New Spain and was considered a viceroyalty of the Spanish crown.

This year 2021, the Government of Mexico has established to commemorate the 700 years of the founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, the 500 years of its fall and 200 years of Independence. However, the question remains as to what would have happened to the Aztec people if the Spaniards had not reached America; as well as the doubt why they did not assassinate Hernán Cortes when they had the opportunity, why did they let him live when they could kill him?

It is clear that sooner or later Europe would have occupied America, what is not clear is how many more years the Aztecs would have remained as the ruling people of Mexico. Many civilizations fell after several centuries or even millennia. The Aztecs ruled for 200 years, their dominance was so immense and lethal, that no people in Mexico or America at that time were so powerful militarily. Paradoxically, that immense and lethal domain also led to its destruction at the hands of alliances between other indigenous peoples, and the Spanish of Hernán Cortés.