Cuitláhuac

[3] He is credited with leading the resistance to the Spanish and Tlaxcalteca conquest of the Mexica Empire, following the death of his kinsman Moctezuma II.Cuitláhuac was the eleventh son of the ruler Axayacatl and a younger brother of Moctezuma II, the late Emperor of Tenochtitlan, who died during the Spanish occupation of the city.[7] Following the massacre of Aztec elites when Cortés was away from Tenochtitlan, the Mexica besieged the Spanish and their indigenous allies.Moctezuma was stoned to death after trying to tell his people to withdraw from the battle between the Aztecs and the Spanish,[8] and Cuitláhuac was elected tlatoani following the flight of the Spaniards and their allies from Tenochtitlan on June 30, 1520.[10] Cuitláhuac ruled just 80 days, perhaps dying from smallpox[3] that had been introduced to the New World by an African suffering from the disease who was part of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition to capture Cortés.