massacre at Cholula

E100944

The massacre at Cholula was a brutal 1519 slaughter of thousands of Indigenous inhabitants by Hernán Cortés and his forces during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
Cholula massacre 1
Matanza de Cholula 1
massacre at Cholula canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf event in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
massacre
war crime
alsoKnownAs massacre at Cholula
surface form: Cholula massacre

massacre at Cholula
surface form: Matanza de Cholula
associatedWith Hernán Cortés
Moctezuma II
Tlaxcalan leadership
commandedBy Hernán Cortés
context early phase of Spanish invasion of central Mexico
documentedBy Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s chronicle
Cartas de Relación by Hernán Cortés
surface form: Hernán Cortés’s letters to Charles V

Indigenous pictorial codices
estimatedDeathToll between 3,000 and 6,000 (approximate, debated)
thousands
followedBy Spanish entry into Tenochtitlan in November 1519
Spanish march to Tenochtitlan
hasCause Spanish desire to intimidate Indigenous polities
Spanish fear of an alleged ambush
strategic move to secure route to Tenochtitlan
hasDate October 1519
hasLocation Central Mexico
San Pedro Cholula
surface form: Cholula

Cholula
surface form: Cholula, Puebla
hasYear 1519
historicalInterpretation controversial event with differing Spanish and Indigenous accounts
example of early colonial terror tactics
involvedAlly Tlaxcala
languageOfPrimarySources Nahuatl
Spanish
method surprise attack
use of Indigenous auxiliary warriors
use of firearms and steel weapons
partOf Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
perpetratedBy Hernán Cortés
Spanish conquistadors
Tlaxcalan allies of the Spanish
precededBy Spanish alliance with Tlaxcala
result devastation of Cholula’s population
intimidation of other Indigenous cities
strengthening of Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance
targetedGroup Cholulteca people
Nahuatl-speaking Indigenous people
tookPlaceAtReligiousCenter Great Pyramid of Cholula
tookPlaceInPolity Aztec Empire
Triple Alliance sphere of influence
victims Cholulan nobles
Cholulan priests
Indigenous inhabitants of Cholula

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

massacre at Cholula alsoKnownAs massacre at Cholula
subject surface form: Massacre at Cholula
this entity surface form: Cholula massacre
massacre at Cholula alsoKnownAs massacre at Cholula
subject surface form: Massacre at Cholula
this entity surface form: Matanza de Cholula