Cuitláhuac (, ) (c. 1476 – 1520) or Cuitláhuac (in Spanish orthography; , , honorific form: Cuitlahuatzin) was the 10th '' Huey Tlatoani'' (emperor) of the

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

city of

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

for 80 days during the year Two Flint (1520).Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 56–57, 164–165, 216–217. He is credited with leading the resistance to the Spanish and Tlaxcalteca conquest of the

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...

Empire, following the death of his kinsman

Moctezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin . ( – 29 June 1520), retroactively referred to in European sources as Moctezuma II, and often simply called Montezuma,Other variant spellings include Moctezuma, Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motē ...

Biography

Cuitláhuac was the eleventh son of the ruler

Axayacatl Axayacatl (; ; ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Biography Early life and background Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atotoztli II and her cousin, prince ...

and a younger brother of

, the late Emperor of

, who died during the Spanish occupation of the city. His mother's father, also called Cuitlahuac, had been ruler of

Iztapalapa Iztapalapa () is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City, located on the eastern side of the city. The borough is named after and centered on the formerly independent municipality of Iztapalapa (officially Iztapalapa de Cuitláhua ...

, and the younger Cuitláhuac also ruled there initially. Cuitláhuac was an experienced warrior and an adviser to Moctezuma, warning him not to allow the Spaniards to enter Tenochtitlan.

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

imprisoned both Moctezuma and Cuitláhuac. Cortes had to leave the city in order to meet a Spanish force sent by Diego Velasquez, Spanish governor of Cuba. Following the massacre of Aztec elites when Cortés was away from Tenochtitlan, the

besieged the Spanish and their indigenous allies. Cuitláhuac was released on the pretense to reopen the market to get food to the invaders. Moctezuma was stoned to death after trying to tell his people to withdraw from the battle between the Aztecs and the Spanish, and Cuitláhuac was elected ''tlatoani'' following the flight of the Spaniards and their allies from Tenochtitlan on June 30, 1520. Some sources claim he was serving in that role even before Moctezuma's death. Cuitláhuac was ritually married to Moctezuma's eldest daughter, a ten- or eleven-year-old girl, who later was called Isabel Moctezuma. Cuitláhuac ruled just 80 days, perhaps dying from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

that had been introduced to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

by an African suffering from the disease who was part of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition to capture Cortés. However, he played a really important role in the Aztec empire, and was best known for leading the Aztec resistance against the Spanish invaders. The early sources do not explicitly say from what he succumbed.Burkhart, "Cuitlahuac", p. 340. Immediately after Cuitláhuac's death,

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", an ...

was made the next ''tlatoani''.

Legacy

The modern Mexican municipality of Cuitláhuac, Veracruz and the

Mexico City Metro The Mexico City Metro () is a rapid transit system that serves Greater Mexico City, the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in the State of Mexico. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is the Lis ...

station Metro Cuitláhuac are named in honor of Cuitláhuac. The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

2275 Cuitláhuac is also named after this ruler. There is an Avenue in Mexico City Called Cuitláhuac (Eje 3 Norte) that runs from Avenue Insurgentes to Avenue Mexico-Tacuba and that is part of an inner ring; also many streets in other towns and villages in Mexico are so called.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuitlahuac Aztec nobility Tenochca tlatoque 16th-century monarchs in North America 16th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas 1470s births 1520 deaths Deaths from smallpox

Biography

Legacy

See also

Notes

References

External links