9781422275764

to the ancient Maya, Toltec, Zapotec, and Mixtec, and then a new empire of the Maya.These civilizations made advances in science and agriculture, building huge cities that can still be found in ruins today, sometimes deep within Mexico’s tropical rain forests. The last Amerindian civilization to control Mexico was the Aztecs, who lived and ruled their empire from the city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. When Spanish conquistadors first attempted to land on the coast of the Yucatán peninsula in 1517, the Aztecs drove them off. A second Spanish expedition resulted in the exchange of gifts with the Aztecs. But the third expedition, led by Hernando Cortés in 1519, would become a permanent Spanish conquest.Cortés founded the city ofVeracruz and, within three years, defeated the might of the Aztec empire, thanks to advanced European weaponry and the assistance of Amerindian rivals to Aztec power. Tenochtitlan fell to Cortés in 1521, and the rest of Mexico soon followed. NewSpainandMexican Independence The Spanish colonial period lasted for 300 years after the conquest ofMexico by Cortés. Spanish holdings stretched from what is now Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California in the United States, all the way down into South

Engravings like this can be found all throughout Tenochtitlan. They were left behind by the Aztec people. The Aztecs were advanced in building, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and theology.

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