Contact__The_Aztecs_And_The_Spaniards

Contact: The Aztecs And The Spaniards Contact: The Aztecs and the Spaniards The Spaniards landed on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in 1519, where they where amazed to find the advanced society of the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire stretched along the Valley of Mexico, and Tenochititlan was the capital. The Aztecs were a powerful tribe; they were always conquering many other small tribes. They built amazing cities and had a powerful army. The expansion of the Aztecs, however, ended when the Spanish took over. The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, led by Hernando Cortes, was a victory that was a big deal for all European settlers. After the Spanish Conquest, there appeared to be two major disadvantages for the Aztecs because of contact with the Spaniards. The first was the huge reduction in the size of the Aztec population because of a lot warfare and especially because of disease. The Spaniards had the so-called “gruesome advantage” of disease because they carried many European illnesses that the Aztecs were not immune (resistant) to. It is estimated that half of the Aztecs died of now a-day minor diseases like small pox and measles. The second disadvantage was a long aztecs, spaniards, european, spanish, aztec, because, minor, empire, contact, advantages, now, new, europeans, conquest, a-day, ways, victory, times, technologies, small, powerful, population, people, over, mexico, lot, long, living, huge, europe, disease, disadvantage, diet, debate, culture