Spanish conquest of Mexico

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of America. The most important conquistador in this conquest was Hernán Cortés.It is important to distinguish between the separate campaigns, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Yucatán. Although the Yucatán Peninsula is part of the modern-day country of Mexico, the Spanish conquest of Mexico refers to the conquest of the Aztec Empire by Hernán Cortés from 1519-1521. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán, on the other hand, refers to the conquest and initial subjugation of the independent city-state polities of the Late Postclassic Maya civilization. It would take more than 170 years for the Spanish to establish control of the Maya homelands, which extended from northern Yucatán to the central lowlands region of El Petén and the southern Guatemalan highlands. The end of this latter campaign is generally marked by the downfall of the Maya state based at Tayasal in the Petén region, in 1697.
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