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From the northern Mexican plateau the Aztec people migrate southward into Mesoamerica in perhaps the 12th century CE. Their success in creating a great state and ultimately a powerful empire is due in part to their remarkable system of agriculture. -
The Aztec establish the city of Tenochtitlán, which becomes the capital of the empire. Tenochtitlán is built on two islands in Lake Texcoco and is connected to the mainland by several causeways and is located at the site of what is now Mexico City, Mexico. -
Itzcoatl, named leader of the Aztec/Mexica people in 1427, negotiated what has become known as the Triple Alliance—a powerful political union of the city-states of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, Tetzcoco and Tlacopán. -
During the reign of the Aztec ruler Itzcóatl, an alliance is formed between Tenochtitlán and the neighboring states of Texcoco and Tlacopan. The Aztec became the dominant power in central Mexico through this alliance. -
Ahuitzotl becomes the Aztec ruler in 1486. The following year Ahuitzotl’s new temple at Tenochtitlán is dedicated to the gods in a ceremony that lasts four days and with as many as 20,000 prisoners of war sacrificed at the altar. The prisoners’ chests were cut open and their hearts were torn out. -
Montezuma II succeeds his uncle Ahuitzotl and begins his 18-year reign as leader of the empire. The empire has reached its greatest extent. However, the increasing demands for tribute and victims for sacrifice weakened the empire. -
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and about 500 soldiers and 100 sailors set sail from Cuba on February 18, 1519, with 11 ships. The local Indians offered gifts from their tribe, including enslaved women. -
Cortés enters Tenochtitlán. Montezuma receives Cortés with great honor. Cortés, however, soon decides to take Montezuma captive in order to control the empire through its monarch. -
Cortés finds the Spanish garrison in Tenochtitlán besieged by the Aztecs after Alvarado massacred many leading Aztec chiefs. Montezuma dies in Spanish custody. -
Cortés mounts an offensive against Tenochtitlán, beginning on May 22 with the help of native rivals of the Aztec. He defeats Cuitláhuac’s successor, Cuauhtémoc, on August 13, and the capital falls into the hands of the Spanish, marking the end of the Aztec Empire.