How 90% of a civilization disappeared

Summary

A few hundred Spanish conquistadors were able to destroy the Aztec Empire not because horses or muskets made them unbeatable, but because the empire’s people did not understand the threat they posed and made serious misjudgments.

The conquest was compounded by diseases brought unknowingly from the Old World. By some estimates, as many as 90% of people in Central America and other regions died, devastating cultures that never fully recovered. Descendants of the Aztecs and other peoples remain today.

Presenters and Contributors

• Yuval Noah Harari
• Rory Stewart