S4E189 - The First Smallpox in Mexico

In 1520, a single infected African slave named Francisco de Eguía stepped ashore in Veracruz and changed the world. Within months, smallpox — which the Nahua called cocoliztli — swept through Mesoamerica, killing up to half of the population in Tenochtitlan and beyond. It killed the emperor Cuitláhuac, decimated the Aztec leadership, and paved the way for Cortés's final siege. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the disease arrived, why it was so devastating, and how it shaped the fate of empires — including the legend of Moctezuma's prophecy and the role of the Florentine Codex in preserving Nahua acc...