Cortes Enters Tenochtitlan

November 8, 1519

With five hundred Spaniards, sixteen horses, and thousands of Tlaxcalan allies, Hernan Cortes walked along a causeway into the island city of Tenochtitlan, a metropolis larger than any in Europe. Moctezuma received him with gifts of gold and feathers. Within two years the city would be rubble. The encounter, mediated by the interpreter Malinche, was one of history's most consequential meetings, bringing two civilizations face to face.