The Fall of the Aztec Empire

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In August 1521 after a last stand on the steps of their temple buildings, the Aztec defenders of Tenochtitlan surrendered to the Spanish forces of Hernán Cortés and his Mesoamerican allies. In the aftermath of the battle, the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan was sacked. The Aztec empire was a large and sophisticated one stretching at its height from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. To talk about the fall of the Aztec Empire Dan is joined by Matthew Restall Director of Latin American Studies at Penn State University. Matthew has written extensively about the Spanish conquest of south and Central America. In this fascinating interview, he challenges some of the commonly held views on how Cortés was able to achieve this feat, how the fall of Tenochtitlan was not the end of the war and the myth of Spanish superiority.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. Welcome to Dance Know's History. I'm very excited to say this is one of those rare things.
0:05.6	It's an anniversary episode, but it's a 500th anniversary episode on the 13th of August, 1521.
0:13.6	After the defense of their capital, they involved a last stand on the steps of their religious buildings,
0:20.0	the Aztec defenders of Tenochtitland, now Mexico City surrendered to Cortez,
0:27.0	his spare troops and their Mesoamerican, their Mexican allies. What followed was the Aztec Emperor,
0:35.3	what's captured and their capital city was sacked. The Aztec Empire had ruled over what we now
0:43.0	think of as a fairly loose confederation of Mexican city states in the Central Valley of Mexico
0:50.0	from around 1428 until they were defeated in 1521. At its height, this empire stretched in a
0:59.1	non-contiguous way across much of Central Mexico from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico today.
1:07.3	Perhaps it's most famous emperor, Montezuma or Montezuma, had already been captured by the Spanish
1:12.3	allies at this point. Although the loss of their capital city was a fatal blow, the war and a
1:19.6	traditional struggle of conquest would go on for months and years to come. To talk about the
1:25.5	fall of this Aztec Empire in what is now Central Mexico, I've got Matthew Restel, he's the
1:31.5	historian of colonial Latin America. He's a professor of Latin American history and anthropology
1:36.3	at Pennsylvania State University. He's the right man to talk to on this enormous 500th anniversary
1:44.0	of one of the most important events as he points out in the last few centuries of world history.
1:50.0	The arrival of Europeans, Spanish speakers in particular in North America, Central America and South
1:56.4	America would be transformative. Even listen to other podcasts on the Aztecs we've got lots,
2:02.8	so without the hands available at historyhit.tv. You just go there and take out a subscription,
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2:11.2	and all of our TV shows as well. Head over to historyhit.tv. It's like Netflix,
2:16.8	history. You're going to absolutely love it. I'm very glad to say one of our previous podcasts,
	...

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