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It is November the 8th, 1519. The morning sun shines down on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City stands today.

The settlement sits on an island on the western side of Lake Texcocco, an enormous body of water around 10 miles across and twice that in length.

The marshy valley beyond the lakes shores is encircled by mountains whose peaks are etched on the horizon.

Ennan Cortez rides on horseback, leading a cavalcade towards the island city

across the clean-swept man-made causeway straddling the glittering water.

The Aztecs are out in droves to witness the arrival of the strangers.

On the water many are sitting in canoes, staring warily at Cortez, his men and their horses,

a species long extinct in the Americas.

The Spanish-born Cortez is an explorer or conquistador in his early 30s.

He has a neat dark beard and a character that some describe as

mischievous, others as ruthless. And though his arrival here is peaceful, it's

only because Muktizuma II, the Aztec king, knows he cannot prevent it.

Even so, the atmosphere is tense.

...