Year 8 History: Outcomes

A short description of the fall of the Aztecs with an interactive illustration.

This article provides a summary of the downfall of the Aztec empire and then a discussion of the legacy of the Aztecs, including the genetics of the local population, the language of the region, and the creation of modern day Mexico City.

After Christopher Columbus tried to reach Asia in 1492 by sailing west of Africa, the Old World’s view of the planet changed. While Columbus wasn’t the first to discover the Americas, he was the first to establish settlements. The conquistadors who followed would forever change the lives of the indigenous people in the New World.

Scroll through this mind-map to learn more about how the arrival of the Spanish affected the Aztec Empire and the Mesoamerica region. The mind-map includes a reference list and images.

A pivotal moment in the shift to the modern world was the arrival of Europeans in what they would name America. The people of the Americas had been isolated from those of Asia and Europe for about 12,000 years. When the Europeans arrived they brought with them livestock, weapons and disease. And when they returned home they took with them new crops and diseases. This is often called the Columbian Exchange. This article discusses how the European colonisation of the Americas completely changed the biodiversity of the entire planet.

Mexico changed forever Aug. 13, 1521 -- the day Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez conquered Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire and site of present-day Mexico City. Read through this article to learn about the impact that colonisation had on language in Mexico.