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The big idea: In just over thirty years, small Spanish forces toppled the two largest empires in the Americas. The Aztec Empire in Mexico fell to Hernán Cortés by 1521, and the Inca Empire in Peru fell to Francisco Pizarro by 1533.
These men were conquistadors conquistador, not royal armies. They came looking for gold, glory and land, and each led only a few hundred men against empires of millions.
How did they win? The short answer is that they never fought alone.
Native allies, disease and a lot of luck did as much of the work as Spanish swords and guns.
This micro is about the key events and actors — the who, what and when. You need these facts firmly in place before you can explain why the Spanish won or judge how sources describe it.
Keep the two stories separate in your head: Mexico and the Aztecs first (1519–1521), then Peru and the Inca a decade later (1532–1533).
Two names, two empires: Cortés → Aztecs → Mexico → 1521. Pizarro → Inca → Peru → 1533. If you mix these up in the exam you lose easy marks, so lock them in now.
Both conquests followed a strikingly similar pattern: land, gather native allies, seize the emperor, then take the capital. Let us walk through each empire in turn, then meet the people who mattered most.
The fall of the Aztecs (1519–1521)
Hernán Cortés landed on the Mexican coast in 1519 and founded the town of Veracruz. He made allies of the Tlaxcalans, who hated Aztec rule.
Cortés reached the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and took its ruler, Moctezuma II, prisoner. After a Spanish retreat known as the 'Noche Triste' (Sad Night) in 1520, he besieged the city, which finally fell on 13 August 1521.
The fall of the Inca (1532–1533)
Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru just as a civil war between two royal brothers, Atahualpa and Huáscar, was ending. This split left the Inca weak.
At Cajamarca in November 1532, Pizarro ambushed and captured the emperor Atahualpa. The Inca filled a room with gold and silver as ransom, but the Spanish executed Atahualpa in 1533 anyway and seized the capital, Cusco.
The actors who made it happen
The conquistadors were not the whole story. Doña Marina (also called La Malinche), an enslaved native woman, was Cortés's interpreter and adviser, and she was vital to his alliances.
Tens of thousands of native allies did most of the fighting, and unseen carriers of smallpox killed far more Aztecs and Inca than any weapon. Spanish steel, horses and guns simply finished what disease and division began.
The shared conquest pattern
Land and found a base
The conquistadors landed with a few hundred men and set up a coastal foothold, like Cortés at Veracruz in 1519.
Win native allies
They recruited peoples who resented the empire — the Tlaxcalans against the Aztecs, rival Inca factions against Atahualpa.
Seize the emperor
They captured the ruler by surprise: Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan, Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532.
Take the capital
With the leader gone, they stormed the capital — Tenochtitlan fell in 1521, Cusco in 1533.
Land · Ally · Seize the emperor · Take the capital.
Why 1519–1551, not just 1533?: Taking the capital did not end the story. The Inca fought on from the mountain refuge of Vilcabamba, and the Spanish conquerors then turned on each other.
Pizarro himself was assassinated in 1541 by rival Spaniards, and Peru sank into civil wars among the conquistadors. Royal control was only firmly restored by around 1551, which is why the case study runs that far.
| Year | Event | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1519 | Cortés lands in Mexico | The conquest of the Aztecs begins |
| 1521 | Fall of Tenochtitlan | The Aztec Empire is destroyed |
| 1532 | Atahualpa captured at Cajamarca | The Inca emperor falls into Spanish hands |
| 1533 | Atahualpa executed; Cusco taken | The Inca Empire collapses |
| 1541 | Pizarro assassinated | Spanish conquerors turn on each other |
| 1551 | Royal control restored in Peru | The conquest period settles |
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How this is tested (Paper 1): Paper 1 is source-based, so you often meet a described source — a letter, chronicle or picture — and must judge how useful it is. A common 4-mark task asks for the value and limitation of a source using its origin, purpose and content (OPVL). Knowing the key actors lets you judge who made a source and why.
A source is a letter written in 1521 by Hernán Cortés to the King of Spain, describing his capture of Tenochtitlan and asking for rewards and more soldiers. With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the values and limitations of this source for a historian studying the conquest of the Aztecs.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Common mistakes: Do not just retell the story of the conquest — the marks are for judging the source, not narrating events. And never write 'it is biased' on its own; always say why, using its origin, purpose or content.