The European sailor, Christopher Columbus, arrives in the Caribbean in 1492. Although he was commonly thought to be from Genoa, Italy, it is actually unknown where he was born. Within a generation the native Arawak and Carib peoples were conquered and almost wiped out by warfare and disease. Small numbers of Carib and Arawak Indians still survive to this day, however.

In 1519 the expanding Aztec empire was governed by the "emperor" Moctezuma II. He ruled over a highly stratified society of nobles, commoners, serfs and slaves. His title in Aztec, "huey tlatoani", meant great speaker. Nobody could disobey an order by the huey tlatoani, although he could be dismissed by the council of nobles, just as happened to Moctezuma during the Spanish invasion. Unhappy by his failure to drive out the Spanish invaders, he was replaced by the young general, Cuahutemoc.

While the new great speaker was often a relative of the last one, it was the Council of Wise Men, very similar to the Roman Senate, that decided by election who the next huey tlatoani was to be. Once the great speaker was elected, he was obeyed in everything, since he was now considered a god in human form. He was also head of the government, and the main priest of the Great Temple.

The Council of Wise Men were the usually the greatest warriors and wisest priests, themselves elected by their local "calpullis". A calpulli was the Aztec form of local government, a combination trade union, clan and town council. All people belonged to a calpulli based on profession or trade. All priests, for example, would belong to the priest's calpulli, all pottery makers would belong to the potter's calpulli and so on. Each calpulli had its own council and speaker, and its own schools. Important calpullis would even have their own army. Anyone could get to be a member of the Council of Wise Men, but only the men belonging to the noble families could be great speaker.

Moctezuma II was the nephew of the last great speaker and son and grandson of previous ones. His magnificent palace stood at the centre of the empire's capital Tenochtitlan, the sacred and secular heart of the Aztec state. This beautiful island city, located where Mexico City stands today, was constructed on a series of artificial islands with canals for streets, towering pyramids and splendid public buildings. The city was connected to the mainland by three great causeways. Along these causeways ran aqueducts carrying fresh water to the pools and public fountains of the town. The canal system supplied efficient transportation and thousands of canoes carried goods and people through the city and to surrounding villages on the lake shore.

The Aztec economy was based on a highly organized local market system which supplied the daily needs of the city and a long distance trade system controlled by the Pochtech, an hereditary group of specialized traders. These rich and powerful merchants were responsible for importing exotic items of great value from distant realms of the empire. The markets were laid out daily in the central plazas of the city. They offered an incredible diversity of goods. Slaves, pottery, baskets, foodstuffs, textiles, featherwork, building materials, tobacco, wild game, medicines and many other products could be purchased. Barter was the usual method for exchange but money in the form of chocolate beans, cotton mantles and quills of gold dust were used to make up a difference in value.

1519 was the year Cortes and a small group of Spanish adventurers set sail from Cuba. The Aztec warriors were at first surprised by the horses, muskets and cannon used by the Spanish, but then recovered and defeated the Spanish, almost killing Cortes. The Spanish introduced European diseases for which the Aztecs and other Mexican Indians had no immunity. Most deadly was small pox. Like the Black Plague in Europe 150 years before, some cities lost up to 90% of their population. Aztec demands for prisoners and tribute from of its conquered city states had left bitterness and resentment behind. Cortes was to use this smoldering resentment to enlist native allies, such as the city state of Tlaxcala, to help him in his conquest of the great city of Tenochtitlan. Disease and revolt fatally weakened the Aztecs led by their last emperor, Cuauhtemoc. The final battle for Tenochtitlan was fought in August of 1521. Eighty days of siege and hand to hand combat led to many casualties on both sides and left the city in ruins. Systematic plunder of precious objects and the burning of Aztec books was a huge cultural loss.