16th-century Mexican people

Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (c.– 29 June 1520; [moteːkˈsoːmaḁ ʃoːkoˈjoːt͡sĩn̥] modern Nahuatl pronunciation ), variant spellings include Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motēuczōmah, Muteczuma, and referred to retroactively in European sources as Moctezuma II, was the ninth Emperor of the Aztec Empire (also known as Mexica Empire), reigning from 1502 or 1503 to 1520. Through his marriage with queen Tlapalizquixochtzin of Ecatepec, one of his two wives, he was also king consort of that altepetl.

Doña Isabel Moctezuma (born Tecuichpoch Ichcaxochitzin; 1509/1510 – 1550/1551) was a daughter of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II. She was the consort of Atlixcatzin, a tlacateccatl, and of the Aztec emperors Cuitlahuac, and Cuauhtemoc and as such the last Aztec empress. After the Spanish conquest, Doña Isabel was recognized as Moctezuma's legitimate heir, and became one of the indigenous Mexicans granted an encomienda. Among the others were her half-sister Marina (or Leonor) Moctezuma, and Juan Sánchez, an Indian governor in Oaxaca.

Miguel López de Legazpi (c. 1502 – August 20, 1572), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish navigator and governor who established the first Spanish settlement in the East Indies when his expedition crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Viceroyalty of New Spain in modern-day Mexico, arriving in Cebu in the Philippine Islands in 1565. He was the first Governor-General of the Spanish East Indies, which was governed and mainly located in the Philippines. It also encompassed other Pacific islands namely Guam and the Mariana Islands. After obtaining peace with various indigenous nations and kingdoms, he made Cebu City the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1565 and later transferred to Manila in 1571. The capital city of the province of Albay bears his name.

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Leonor Cortés Moctezuma (born c. 1528) was the illegitimate child of Hernan Cortés, conquistador of Mexico, and Isabel Moctezuma the eldest daughter of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II.

Francisco de Aguilar (1479 — 1571?), born Alonso de Aguilar, was a Spanish conquistador who took part in the expedition led by Hernán Cortés that resulted in the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec state in the central Mexican plateau.

Beltrán de Cetina y del Castillo (Alcalá de Henares, 1521 – Mérida de Yucatán, 1600?) was one of the original conquistadors and founders of Mérida in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán. His siblings included: Renaissance poet Gutierre de Cetina; Ana Andrea del Castillo, self-described conquistadora and wife of Francisco de Montejo the Younger; and Gregorio de Cetina, also a conqueror of Yucatán.

Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal (Portuguese: Francisca Nunes de Carvalhal) (ca. 1540, Portugal – December 8, 1596, Mexico City) was a Marrana (Crypto-Jew) in New Spain executed by burning at the stake by the Inquisition for judaizing in 1596.

Cristóbal de Oñate (1504, Spain—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as other places in Nueva Galicia (western New Spain).

Gonzalo de Sandoval (1497, Medellín, Spain – late in 1528, Palos de la Frontera, Spain) was a Spanish conquistador in New Spain (Mexico) and briefly co-governor of the colony while Hernán Cortés was away from the capital (March 2, 1527 to August 22, 1527).