When boats arrived in Tenochtitlan is 1519, those living there thought it was a god.

In reality, the
couple hundred people who had just arrived were Spanish conquistadors, and they were ultimately
responsible for the end of the Aztec empire just two years later. There were three primary factors the
lead to the Spanish conquering the Aztec Empire: Technological differences, particularly the weapons,
Smallpox, and illness due to the Aztecs’ immune systems not being used to it, and the use of
translators, who broke language barrier, making allies.
One of the primary factors leading to the collapse of the Aztec empire is the technological advantage
held by the Spanish. Because the Spanish had access to iron, their weapons were significantly
stronger, and they also had armour. The Aztecs, on the other hand, did not have any iron and didn’t
really use weapons, other than “nothing more than stick, though some have fish-bones or other things
at the ends”, according to a 1493 letter written the Christopher Columbus. He goes on to say the
Aztecs are “unprovided with any sort of iron, and they are destitute of arms”. These quotes provide an
insight into the technological differences between the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec people.
The second excerpt also explains why there were technological differences; the Aztecs had no iron to
make durable weaponry. Westin Michaud of Colorado College suggests another reason Aztec weapons
were not as advanced. “Aztec warriors had a completely different approach to warfare than most
civilizations. Forms of battle consisted of hand to hand combat with “specialists with ropes.” This
battle technique required the warrior to capture his enemy alive.” Since Aztec battle mostly just
consisted of kidnapping people, there was little to no fighting, it is completely different to any other
culture where they instead battle and kill one another. Because of the Aztec’s approach to war, they
had no need for weapons, the other reason for the technological difference becoming a key factor in
the eventual conquering and demise of the Aztec empire.
Another one of the main factors that led to the collapse of the Aztec Empire is the spread of smallpox.
The disease was brought in by the Spanish, and it spread quickly, as the immune systems of the
Aztecs were not used to it. Smallpox ended up killing much as a quarter of the Aztecs, drastically
reducing their armies. Those we survives the illness were left much weaker and some were even
blinded. With the Aztec armies mush smaller, there were less people for the conquistadors to conquer,
contributing to their win. In the Florentine Codex, Bernadino de Sahagun describes the impact of
smallpox on those who got it. “No longer could they walk; they only lay in their abodes, in their
beds,” he writes. “Like a covering, covering-like, were the pustules. Indeed, many people died of
them, and many just died of hunger…” These quotes show the devasting effects of disease on the
Aztecs and demonstrate just how severe and fatal it was. But being infected by smallpox was not the
only way disease contributed to the collapse of the Aztec empire. An article by the PBS says many
were ‘caring for sick relatives or neighbors, or simply lost the will to resist the Spaniards. Finally,
people could no longer tend to their crops, leading to widespread famine, further weakening the
immune systems of the survivors of the epidemic.’ This quotation gives an insight into the chain
reaction of consequences smallpox had on the Aztec, and those things such as tending to the infected
further took away from their armies, which in turn meant the Spanish has less people to fight when
they conquered the Aztec Empire.
The last of the three factors that ultimately caused the collapse of the Aztec empire is translation.
Cortez had several translators who spoke Spanish and Aztec languages including Nahuatul and Maya,
breaking communication barriers. This allowed them to get allies, meaning it was easier for the
Spanish to conquer the Aztec empire. It has even been speculated that without translators,
Tenochtitlan would not have been conquered. The most prominent of the translators was a girl known
as La Malinche, though she is also referred to as Malintzin, Dona Marina, or as Cortez called her, la
Lengua, meaning the tongue. An excerpt from The Broken Spears shows how La Malinche helped the
Spanish. ‘he said to Montezuma: We have come to your house in Mexico as friends. There is nothing
to fear. La Malinche translated this speech.’ In this excerpt, La Malinche helps Hernan Cortez to make
important communication with Montezuma, the emperor of the Aztecs at the time. Interaction such as
this were crucial in the conquistadors effort to take over the Aztec Empire, and therefore the use of
translators was a key contributor to the fall of the Aztec empire. A more recent article agrees that the
work of La Malinche and other translators led to the collapse of the Aztec empire. ‘Malintzin quickly
became an asset to Cortés during the conquest. Her role as a translator allowed Cortés to obtain safe
passage and allowed him to network.’ This further backs up how impactful the usage of translators
was to the Spanish conquering of the Aztecs, as la Malinche is described as an ‘asset’.

To summarise, though there are many factors that eventually lead up to the conquering and collapse of
the Aztec empire, the three most significant were technological differences, as the Spanish had
advances, swords, cannons, and armour, while the Aztecs had little more than sharpened sticks. The
introduction and spread of smallpox wiped out 40% of the population and had long lasting effects on
countless others, shrink down their army. Finally, translators were used to communicate and forge
allies, allowing the Spanish to conquer.

Bibliography:

Primary Sources

- Bernardino de Sahagún (1590) Florentine codex (republished by American Historical

Association) https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-
historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-
of-mexico/florentine-codex

- Excerpt from The Broken Spears, an Aztec account of the meeting of Cortes and
Motecuhzoma, (1519). Translated from Nahuatl into Spanish by Miguel Leon-Portilla
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/textidx?
c=acls;cc=acls;view=toc;idno=heb02772.0001.001
- Christopher Columbus (1493) Columbus reports on his first voyage. Gilder Lehrman
Collection (republished by The Gilder Institute of American
History) https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-byera/exploration/resources/columbus-
reports-his-first-voyage-1493
Secondary Sources

- Michaud, Westin (April 20, 2019) How Advanced Spanish Technology Vanquished Aztec
Civilization in 1521
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://digitalccbeta.coloradocollege.e
du/pid/coccc:31194/datastream/OBJ Colorado College, USA
- Savanah Nicole Burns, (accessed June 12, 2023) “Hernán Cortés's translator
Malintzin,” HistoricalMX, , https://historicalmx.org/items/show/49. Historical Mexico,
USA
- Richard Gunderman (Feb 23, 2019) How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain
conquer an American civilization 500 years ago https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-
smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-
years-ago PBS. USA