Cholollan

By 1519 Cholollan was a privileged tributary of Tenochtitlan and an enemy of Tlaxcala, and it was Tlaxcalan allies who led Hernán Cortés and his men to its gates. The Spaniards became convinced that the Cholulans and Moctezuma II were preparing an ambush, gathered the Cholulan leaders and warriors in a courtyard, and attacked at the shot of a musket. Francisco López de Gómara counted 6,000 dead in under two hours, while the accounts collected by Sahagún say only unarmed civilians died; Tlaxcalan warriors then plundered the city until Cortés called them off.

A few years later Cortés vowed to raise a Christian church for every temple of the old city. Fewer than fifty were built, yet that still left Cholollan with an unusual crowd of churches for its size, and stone from the temple of Quetzalcōātl went into the new colonial buildings. The holy city of the highlands never regained its place: in the colonial era its importance passed to Puebla, the Spanish city founded nearby.