🪶 1519-20 | Spanish in Mexico (Part II) What you’re seeing:
The Spanish enter Tenochtitlan in November 1519 with thousands of Tlaxcalan allies. Within months, Motecuhzoma II is seized, the city erupts, and the Spanish are nearly destroyed during their night escape. Cortés survives, rebuilds, and prepares to return, but a deadlier force is already spreading through the Valley of Mexico. Where is this?
Tenochtitlan, the island capital of the Mexica-led Triple Alliance, and Tlaxcala to the east, where Cortés rebuilt his forces. Who was Motecuhzoma?
Motecuhzoma II was the Mexica tlatoani (ruler). In English and Spanish he is often called Moctezuma, but a closer Nahuatl-based form is Motecuhzoma, roughly pronounced moh-teh-kwoo-SOH-mah. What was La Noche Triste?
La Noche Triste means “The Sad Night.” In June 1520, the Mexica drove the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan during a night escape across the causeways. Many Spaniards drowned, some weighed down by looted gold, while survivors fled ea...