La Noche Triste: The Night That Changed an Empire

June 30, 1520 - Tenochtitlan A Turning Point in the Conquest of Mexico On the night of June 30, 1520, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire reached its most desperate and defining moment. Known to history as La Noche Triste-"The Sad Night"-this was the night Hernán Cortés and his forces were violently expelled from Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec world. What unfolded was not ju...