9781422286883

Native and Spanish Government until 1810

The Toltec civilization predated the Aztecs and is believed to have been artistically and culturally sophisticated. These Toltec statues are located in what was once their capital, known as Tula (Place of the Reeds).

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the Americas. Their settlements on the islands of the Caribbean made it easy for them to expand into Mexico. In February 1519, the conquistador Hernán Cortés set sail with a large army for the mainland of Mexico. He then marched to

Tenochtitlán. The Spanish took the city quite easily, in part because the Aztec emperor, Montezuma, thought that Cortés might be a god. The Aztec revolted in 1520, but the Spanish defeated them after getting more reinforcements. By August 1521, the Spanish had complete control of Tenochtitlán. The Spanish built Mexico City on the site of Tenochtitlán. They called their new

When he sailed to Mexico in 1519, Hernán Cortés brought 16 horses along with his army. Before that, there were no horses in the Americas. The descendants of those horses, and others that the Spanish later brought to America, can be found in North and South America today.