WI: Portuguese conquer the Aztecs?

Portuguese Mexico? Though that would have to make whoever's going to be the Cortes analogue to have the same degree of luck that he had.
 
I don't think it'd necessarily end up better than it did under Spain, although given the outstanding cruelty of the original conquistadors maybe it'll be different. But the Portuguese back then had quite the penchant for slavery and even the Spanish thought them cruel.
 
I don't think it'd necessarily end up better than it did under Spain, although given the outstanding cruelty of the original conquistadors maybe it'll be different. But the Portuguese back then had quite the penchant for slavery and even the Spanish thought them cruel.

The Spanish authorities weren't exactly gleeful of the methods Cortes and the other conquistadors used to subjugate the natives though they didn't make too much noise about it either.
 
Though I think their approach would be much different then compared with Spain, they did not seem concerned with conquering large territories but maintaining strategic control on trade routes and the like. They would likely dismantle the Aztec Empire so they could play off the various different rulers but only maintain coastal prescence to continue trade and exploit the natives through other means.
 
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