Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire

Tuesday, 8 November 1519

The expedition led by Hernán Cortés entered Mexico-Tenochtitlan on Tuesday, 8 November 1519 with Tlaxcalan, Huexotzinca and other Indigenous allies, and was received by the huey tlatoani Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin.

The meeting occurred at or near Xoloco, after the column crossed the bridge on the Iztapalapa causeway — not in a European-style throne-room audience.

Collars, and no transcript

According to Cortés, Motecuhzoma approached with two high-ranking lords; attendants prevented Cortés from touching him, and the two leaders then exchanged elaborate collars.

Motecuhzoma led the newcomers to a large palace prepared as their quarters, traditionally identified as the palace of Axayacatl, and food was supplied to them that day.

Malintzin rendered the negotiations into Nahuatl, so the recorded speeches cannot be treated as verbatim, unmediated dialogue.

Armed guests, not rulers

Fewer than 500 Spaniards entered the city, accompanied by Indigenous allies whose numbers remain uncertain — which makes describing the arrival as a purely Spanish achievement misleading.

Entry was not the conquest or surrender of Tenochtitlan. The force occupied prepared quarters in the heart of the capital without taking control of it.

Cortés's letter, the Florentine Codex and later chronicles differ over the physical contact, the exact speeches, and whether Motecuhzoma's language conveyed submission.