# How Smallpox Toppled the Aztec Empire

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/how-smallpox-toppled-the-aztec-empire
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/how-smallpox-toppled-the-aztec-empire.md
Podcast: [The Conquistadors: Exploration, Greed, and Destruction — Fexingo History](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470)
Published: 2026-07-26T03:04:46+00:00
Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/episode-0176.mp3
Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-conquistadors/episode-0176.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-conquistadors-exploration-greed-and-destruction-fexingo-history-7864470/episodes/how-smallpox-toppled-the-aztec-empire
Duration seconds: 375

## Resource

In 1520, as Hernán Cortés and his allies fought to take Tenochtitlan, a far deadlier enemy arrived without a single sword drawn: smallpox. This episode explores how the cocoliztli—the 'great sickness'—swept through Mesoamerica, killing an estimated one-third of the population in just years. We trace the outbreak from the arrival of a enslaved African from the Narváez expedition to the death of the Aztec emperor Cuitláhuac. Drawing on the Florentine Codex and other indigenous accounts, we discuss the horrific symptoms, the psychological devastation, and how disease became an unintentional but decisive ally for the Spanish. We also touch on later epidemics of measles and typhus, and reflect on the demographic collapse that transformed the Americas forever. A sobering look at a silent conqueror. #Smallpox #AztecEmpire #Cocoliztli #HueyCocoliztli #Cuitláhuac #FlorentineCodex #HernánCortés #NarváezExpedition #Mesoamerica #DemographicCollapse #Conquistadors #NewSpain #Epidemics #SilentConqueror #History #FexingoHistory #IndigenousHistory #SpanishConquest Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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