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August 13, 1521Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Cuauhtemoc Surrenders and Tenochtitlan Falls

After 93 days of siege, starvation, and street-by-street fighting, the last independent Aztec ruler is captured fleeing by canoe

On the timeline · around August 13, 1521 · Cortes and the Fall of TenochtitlanCortes and the Fall of TenochtitlanCuauhtemoc Surrenders and Tenochtitlan Falls15201521

Quick facts

Fall of the city
August 13, 1521
Siege length
93 days
Captured ruler
Cuauhtemoc
Result
Mexico City founded on Tenochtitlan's ruins

What happened

By August 1521, Tenochtitlan's defenders under Cuauhtemoc, who had become ruler after Cuitlahuac's death from smallpox, had been pushed back to the city's central core after months of fighting, their food and water supplies exhausted and the surrounding causeways blocked by Spanish brigantines. On August 13, after 93 days of siege, Cuauhtemoc attempted to escape across the lake by canoe with loyal nobles and advisors but was discovered and captured. World History Encyclopedia records this date as the moment the Aztec capital fell into Spanish hands, ending the independent existence of the empire the Triple Alliance had built over the preceding century. The Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies then began construction of a new colonial capital, Mexico City, directly on top of Tenochtitlan's ruins, reusing stone from the demolished Templo Mayor in the foundations of the new city's cathedral and other buildings.

Why it matters

The fall of Tenochtitlan ended Aztec political independence and became the foundational event of New Spain, with Mexico City rising on the exact site of the Mexica capital rather than beside it, physically layering colonial rule over the conquered civilization. Cuauhtemoc's capture and eventual execution years later, in 1525, closed the line of independent Aztec rulers that had begun with the migration from Aztlan roughly four centuries earlier.

How we know

The final days of the siege and Cuauhtemoc's capture are described by Spanish participants including Bernal Diaz del Castillo and Cortes's own letters to the Spanish crown, both written within a few years of the events.

Sources

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Related timelines

  • The Age of Exploration → · The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the founding of New Spain, the first major mainland colony of Spain's American empire.
Part of a timelineThe Aztec Empire25 events · From a wandering clan on a swampy island to the dominant power of Mesoamerica, and its end in a 93-day siegeView all →