Which Spanish conquistador conquered the Aztec Empire?

Hernán Cortés led the Spanish conquest that brought down the Aztec Empire. His campaign began in 1519 and ended with the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521.

Cortés did not conquer the empire with Spanish soldiers alone. He formed crucial alliances with Indigenous enemies and tributaries of the Mexica, especially the Tlaxcalans. These allies supplied thousands of warriors and local knowledge, making the Spanish campaign far more powerful than the size of Cortés’s European force suggests.

After entering Tenochtitlan in 1519, Cortés and his forces were driven out during the retreat remembered as La Noche Triste. He returned with Indigenous reinforcements and brigantines for a siege across Lake Texcoco. Disease, including a devastating smallpox epidemic, also weakened the defenders. The city fell on 13 August 1521 after Cuauhtémoc was captured.

The other options belong to different episodes of Spanish expansion. Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire, while Vasco Núñez de Balboa explored Panama and Juan Ponce de León led expeditions in the Caribbean and Florida.