On August 13, 1521, when the Aztec ruler Cuauhtémoc surrendered to the conqueror Hernán Cortés and entered Spanish captivity, the end of the Aztec Empire was sealed. European expansion had achieved its first major victory in America. Berthold Riese tells the story of the empire for the first time directly from Aztec-language sources to document the Indigenous perspective on their own history and culture. According to their own tribal history, the Aztecs left an island called Aztlan in 1064 and embarked on a journey that ultimately led them, guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, to Tenochtitlan (in the heart of present-day Mexico City). There, they settled and established their own kingdom. Their rise to dominance in the Valley of Mexico began with their victory over the Tepanecs in 1430.