Daily History Challenge · No. 65 · Tuesday 1 September 2026 · Chain
Puzzle No. 65: Chain
The anchor was Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519 CE). Every challenger is listed below with its year.
The anchor
On 13 August 1521 the Mexica (Aztec) capital Tenochtitlan fell to a coalition of Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés and tens of thousands of Indigenous allies, above all the Tlaxcalans. After Cortés landed in 1519 and entered the city, relations collapsed into war; the Spanish were expelled in 1520 but returned to besiege Tenochtitlan for some ninety-three days. A devastating smallpox epidemic, introduced from the Old World, ravaged the defenders and killed much of the population before the final assault. The capture of the emperor Cuauhtémoc ended one of the Americas' greatest states and inaugurated the viceroyalty of New Spain, with Mexico City rising on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The conquest demonstrated how European steel and firearms, exploitation of internal rivalries, and above all imported disease combined to topple a populous empire, and it opened central Mexico to Spanish colonisation, evangelisation and the extraction of its wealth.
The 10 challengers, in order of date
Before Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
Before Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
Before Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
Before Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
Before Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
After Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
After Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
After Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
After Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire
After Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire