See the path Spanish conquistadors took to conquer the Aztecs

The Aztec capital fell after a brutal 75-day siege

The violent Spanish conquest ended with a 75-day siege of Tenochtitlan, where thousands died as Spanish forces and their Indigenous allies overwhelmed the city of 200,000. This animated explainer breaks down how those alliances enabled the empire’s collapse.

The Aztec Empire began as a three-city military alliance

The Aztec Empire emerged in 1428 when Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formed the Triple Alliance, combining military power and tribute networks. This pact transformed the three city-states into a dominant regional empire that rapidly expanded across central Mexico.

The evolution of Mexico City, from the Aztecs to today

The sprawling modern city situated in the Valley of Mexico began a millennium ago as an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, connected to land through a series of causeways. Learn how the Aztecs built Tenochtitlan, how the Spaniards conquered it, why the lake disappeared, and more with this visually rich history and geography of a city of 9 million people.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

What were the Aztecs really like?

Does the society live up to its blood-thirsty stereotype? Archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma answers this question and more in this short article. Moctezuma was the principal excavator of the major Aztec archaeological site Templo Mayor in the 1970s. He shares how the culture grew from a combined emphasis on war and agriculture, and ruled one of the world's largest cities at the time.

See a map of the Maya civilization and its major historical sites

This interactive map showcases the full geographic extent of the Maya civilization, highlighting major archaeological sites across Mexico and Central America. Explore where Maya cities once stood—and where their ruins can still be visited today.

New research challenges the myth that Montezuma peacefully surrendered to Spain

For centuries, historians claimed Montezuma II willingly ceded control to the conquistadors, and that later Aztec resistance was a rogue uprising. Evidence now shows no peaceful handover occurred, revealing a far more turbulent and contested encounter between the two warring empires.

Using AI to rewrite and revive Aztec tales

Despite being vanquished by the conquering Spaniards in the 16th century, the Aztecs' culture endured through their descendants and rituals, as well as texts that escaped destruction at the hands of the Europeans. These texts, known as codices and preserved in part by Christian monks, revealed intimate details of life as an Aztec in the Middle Ages. Today, AI programs allow students to learn the Aztec's language, Nahuatl, further preserving their heritage.

Human sacrifice reinforced Aztec political control and religious belief

The Aztecs controlled a vast territory through military might and intimidation. One very key tactic of control was the ritual of human sacrifice. While an effective scare tactic, the ritual was also grounded in deeply held beliefs that the world was sustained by blood.

The Aztecs worshipped a vast pantheon of more than 200 gods

This detailed visualization breaks down how Aztec deities were identified through symbolic cues—colors, garments, poses, and objects—each reflecting specific powers and mythologies. It highlights fearsome figures like Tlaltecuhtli, the earth monster depicted with a gaping maw, said to devour the sun each night.

Play a game inspired by Aztec and Mayan mythology

This free online game, Descent of the Serpent, guides players through Mesoamerican myths as they challenge the god Tezcatlipoca. Along the way, it introduces monuments and artifacts with short explanations of their meaning in Aztec and Mayan cultures.

The Aztecs synced their solar calendar with a complex 260-day ritual cycle

Researchers have uncovered how the Aztecs aligned their agricultural solar calendar with a symbolic 260-day ritual calendar, utilizing celestial tracking and monuments. Evidence from ruins and writings explains why their new year corresponded to February 23 on the Gregorian calendar.

The Inca Empire: a timeline

When did the Inca Empire solidify into an empire? When was it invaded by the Spanish? What remains of it today? Click through this timeline to learn more.

Learn how Mexico’s anti-slavery stance shaped the US–Texas conflict

Historian Alice Baumgartner explores how Mexico’s abolition of slavery clashed with Anglo settlers' ambitions in Texas. The episode reveals how enslaved people fled south to freedom, reshaping the politics that led to Texas independence and the Mexican-American War.

See how the elite warriors of the Aztec Empire trained

This video explores the Aztec military’s elite Eagle and Jaguar warriors, known for their courage and combat skills, and highlights their rigorous training regimen. It concludes with a workout routine modeled on their methods.

See a day in the life of an Aztec midwife

This illustrated story follows Xoquauhtli, a midwife in the Aztec Empire, as she juggles childbirth duties during the festival of Teteoinnan, navigating the tension between professional responsibility and participation in the empire’s religious ceremonies, including ritual sacrifice.

Watch the British Empire expand and recede over 5 centuries

This interactive map traces the British Empire from 1450 to today—showing its explosive 19th-century expansion to one-quarter of the world's land and its steady contraction after World War II.

The Spanish consolidated power in California with 21 strategic missions

This map shows the order of establishment of the Franciscan-led missions whose saintly names still grace contemporary maps, from Santa Rosa in the north to San Diego in the south.

Catalonia and the War of the Spanish Succession

The War of Spanish Succession (1702-1715) was an international and civil war that reshaped Europe’s political landscape and brought Catalonia under Spanish rule. Created by the Museum of the History of Catalonia in Barcelona, this virtual exhibit guides readers through the 13-year war with a specific eye for its effects on Catalonia. Galleries of artwork from the period on the right-hand side of the page help immerse visitors in the history.

France invaded Mexico to install a puppet monarchy and recover debt

Napoleon III used Mexico's default on foreign loans as cover for a larger imperial ambition: overthrowing President Benito Juárez's government and installing a French-backed monarchy. The Mexican army's surprise victory at Puebla helped delay those plans by nearly a year.

One in five 16th century Spanish ships sank while crossing the Atlantic

Despite the incredibly high rate of catastrophic wrecks, during the Age of Exploration Spanish investors continued to fund voyages. Here, economists break down the incentives that led to increased risk, including short travel seasons and the propensity to overload ships.

Measles reached global transmission during the 15th- and 16th-century Columbian exchange

Devastating diseases like smallpox, influenza, measles, and other viruses were largely introduced into the Western Hemisphere beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus and the ensuing age of exploration.

A timelapse mapping more than 30,000 Transatlantic slave ship voyages

Roughly 12 million people from Africa were forcibly moved to North and South America over two centuries. This map meticulously showcases every ship's origin, destination, timeline, and more, revealing the scale of the Transatlantic slave trade.

European colonization dramatically reshaped Native American life

As European settlers expanded across North America, Native Americans faced displacement, violence, and forced negotiations. Colonial powers used trade relationships, treaties, and military force to reshape Indigenous communities and claim their territories.

Trade and conquest carried chess into Europe by the 11th century

After spreading through Persia, chess traveled along Islamic military and trade routes into North Africa and Moorish Spain by the 10th century. By the 11th century, it had taken root across much of Europe, flourishing in courts and monasteries.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Flour tortillas are more common in northern Mexico

Of the several hypotheses for the origins of flour tortillas, the most likely is that European colonists in the region began cultivating wheat, which they used instead of corn when making tortillas.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution