In 1521, on this day Emperor Moctezuma II received the young nobleman Hernan Cortes in peace, hoping to get to know the Conquistadors weaknesses better and to crush them later.Mexico City Founded
Shortly afterwards, Cortes large Spanish Army besieged then raised the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
Many of the priests and Aztec soldiers preferred to die rather than surrender to the Spanish. To quell any resistance, Cortes demolished building by building, using the rubble to fill in the city's waterways that had served as streets in the manner of Venice.
It would prove a fatal mistake for the Conquistadors who would be massacred themselves - for under the city, they disturbed the demon Mictlantecutli.
The surviving Aztecs would build Mexico City upon the ruins of Tenochtitlan.