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Cuauhtémoc

Cuauhtémoc

1495 CE1525 CE · Tenochtitlan

Cuauhtémoc, a son of Ahuitzotl, became the eleventh and last independent tlatoani of Tenochtitlan in 1520. He led the Mexica through the long Spanish siege of 1521, defending the capital until its fall in August of that year. Taken prisoner, he was carried along on Cortés's later expedition to Honduras and put to death in 1525; he is remembered as the final emperor of the Mexica.

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Stop 1 of 31520–1521Tlatoani Of The Mexica

Tenochtitlan

What they did here

Cuauhtémoc became tlatoani of Tenochtitlan around 1520 and led the city's defense through the roughly three-month Spanish-led siege until its fall on 13 August 1521, when he was captured attempting to withdraw across the lake.

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The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Cuauhtémoc’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

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