Eleventh king of Mexico, born in Mexico in 1466; died there in June, 1520. He was a son of Axáyácatl, the eighth king of that country, and on September 15, 1502, was chosen king. He improved his capital; in 1507 made war on the people of Guatemala, and conducted expeditions to Honduras and Nicaragua. In 1519, when Cortéz arrived in Mexico, he was met by an embassy from Montezuma with presents, and when he, with his followers, advanced to the capital, Montezuma lodged him in one of his palaces. Thereafter, Montezuma became, practically, a prisoner of the Spaniards, and lost the respect and control of his own subjects. In June, 1520, when his people rose against the Spaniards, he ordered them to desist: but they attacked him also, and severely wounded him with a stone, and he died three days afterward.
