Appointed governor of Florida after his exploration of its coast (see entry for 1513), Juan Ponce de Leon organizes a party of 200 to establish a Spanish colony in the area. The men land on what is now Sanibel Island, where they are attacked by Calusa Indians. Ponce de Leon orders his men to retreat to Cuba, but before they can, he is hit in the thigh by a warrior’s arrow. Later, in Havana, the Spanish leader dies from the wound.
Hernan Cortes and his men conquer the Aztec.
With the help of their Indian allies in Tlaxcala, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and about 200 soldiers stage a second attack on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (see entry for 1519). They surround the city, cutting off the supply of food and water to an already beleaguered population. Since their initial encounter with the Spanish two years before, the Aztec have been decimated by epidemics of non-Indian diseases. One Aztec survivor will later remember, “Almost the whole population suffered from wracking coughs and painful, burning sores.”
Armed with cannons, the Spanish begin a long siege of Tenochtitlan. They methodically destroy building after building, effectively leveling what Cortes himself will call the “most beautiful city in the world.” After three months the Aztec surrender, and Cortes names himself the new leader of the region. On the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish will begin to build Mexico City as the capital of New Spain.
“Worms are swarming in the streets and plazas, and the walls are splattered with gore.
The water has turned red, as if it were dyed, and when we drink it, it has the taste of brine.”
“We have pounded our hands in despair
Against the adobe walls, for our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead.
The shields of our warriors were its defense, but they could not save it.”
—an Aztec account of the destruction of Tenochtitlan
World History
