Cortés
Spanish conquerors who explored and claimed land in the Americas.
What are conquistadors?
Signs believed to predict future events.
What are omens?
Indigenous group that became one of Cortés’ strongest allies.
Who are the Tlaxcalans?
Capital city of the Aztec Empire.
What is Tenochtitlan?
Disease that devastated the Aztec population.
What is smallpox?
The year Hernán Cortés arrived in Meso-America.
What is 1519?
The feathered serpent god some believed Cortés was connected to.
Who is Quetzalcoatl?
Woman who translated and advised Cortés.
Who is La Malinche?
Cortés placed this ruler under his control inside the palace.
Who is Moctezuma?
Animals that terrified many Indigenous peoples because they had never seen them before.
What are horses?
Cortés destroyed these to prevent his men from returning to Cuba
What are his ships?
One omen described a sacred building doing this unexpectedly.
Catching fire
Many Indigenous groups joined Cortés because they disliked Aztec demands for this.
What is tribute?
Event where Spanish soldiers attacked Aztec nobles during a religious celebration.
What is the Festival Massacre?
Metal used in Spanish swords and armour that gave them an advantage.
What is steel?
The governor of Cuba whose orders Cortés ignored.
Who is Velasquez?
Moctezuma reportedly saw warriors in this reflective object.
What is a mirror?
Aztec ruler who hesitated when the Spanish arrived.
Who is Moctezuma?
The Spanish name meaning “The Sad Night.”
What is Noche Triste?
Spanish weapons described by some Aztecs as “sticks that spit fire and thunder.”
What are guns?
The phrase often used to describe the motivations of conquistadors.
What is God, Glory, and Gold?
The overall feeling many Aztecs experienced after hearing about the omens.
What is fear and uncertainty?
Without these groups, historians believe the Spanish likely would not have defeated the Aztec Empire.
What are Indigenous allies?
Final military action that surrounded Tenochtitlan and cut off food and water.
What is the Siege of Tenochtitlan?
Name THREE major reasons the Spanish defeated the Aztec Empire.
Any three: Indigenous allies, smallpox, horses, guns/cannons, steel weapons, military strategy, Moctezuma’s hesitation.