INTRODUCTION Q7 
A year was spent in recuperation, n building boats 
for an attack from the lake, and in putting down the 
Aztecan outposts. Finally Tenochtitlan was besieged 
again. ‘The buildings were leveled with the ground as 
the Spaniards advanced. The brave defense of 
Cuauhtemoc availed for naught against cannon and 
steel armor. On the 13th of August, 1521, the con- 
quest of Tenochtitlan was achieved and the spirit of a 
warlike people forever broken. 
The Valley of Mexico having been taken, numerous 
expeditions were sent out to subdue the more distant 
provinces and to establish colonies. Alvarado invaded 
the south and by 1524 he had captured Utatlan and 
other native strongholds on the highlands of Guate- 
mala and had invaded Salvador. Cortez himself under- 
took a wonderful march from Vera Cruz to the Gulf 
of Honduras to punish an unruly subordinate. His 
course lay through the swamps and jungles of the 
Usumacinta basin, thence across the savannahs of 
southern Yucatan to Lake Peten, and, finally, over the 
mountains to Lake Izabal and the Motagua River. 
Even today much of his route would be called impass- 
able for an army. Puerto Cortez, on the northern 
coast of Honduras, was founded at the conclusion of this 
expedition. The exploitation of Yucatan and Tabasco 
was granted to Francisco Montejo, who began the con- 
quest of this lowlying territory in 1527. Soon after 
entering the country he won a costly victory at Aké and 
later made his quarters at Chichen Itza. But the odds 
were too great and by 1535 all the Spaniards had been 
killed or expelled. The son of Montejo renewed the 
struggle. In 1540 Campeche was founded and early 
in 1542 the city of Mérida was established upon the site 
of an earlier Mayan town. 
Progress was also rapid in the north. Nufio de Guz- 
