Very cool question. Its one of those what-ifs that are actually plausible, at least in terms of immediate impact. I suspect another expedition would have been sent at least within a decade or so, but all we know is how it actually went down.

The sailors would know at least some shipwright skills, but the metallurgy required to make guns and the tools used to build the ships would be far beyond the sailors' knowledge.

And, of course, they'd not know where the ore comes from...

I think a real answer to this question would be writing the story for you. You have an idea and a goal. The missing gaps are the story you have to write. Maybe they can make use of it, maybe they can't. Btw, I want to note two things 1) Technology is often said to have played a major role in the conquest of the Aztecs and so on by the Spanish. That's only a very small part of it. You should consider refreshing your historic knowledge. 2) Technology cannot be found. You might have a car - do you know how to build one? Having stuff = being able to make it

@Raditz_35 I really disagree that this is story based ("the actions of characters").

Are you somehow assuming that Columbus's crew didn't infect the Aztecs with smallpox and typhus? Historically, that's what killed the Aztecs, not Spanish muskets.

In this ATL, there's unlikely to be enough Spaniards to completely destroy the Native empires via disease. The problem was not so much the disease but the not being able to recover from the disease. Clearly, there are loads of neo-Aztecs, neo-Maya, neo-Inca, etc. living now in the lands their ancestors lived in during the 15th century. The people recovered, in time, but ever more waves of Europeans toppled their political structures. Absent a successful Columbus, the Catholic Monarchs continue the Reconquista of Christian, but temporarily Moslem, North Africa, (cont)

(cont) leaving the Undiscovered World to the technologically awakening and now innoculated Natives. Who knows what Europeans would eventually meet -up with in another century? Sino-Buddhist Cahokia, Catholic Tenochtitlan, and an untouched Native Tawantinsuyu Hegemony in the south? Maybe it will be the junks of the Five Nations that traverse the Atlantic and make port in London?

@elemtilas I'm not sure how my question relies on actions of specific characters. I'm not asking if Columbus could betray the Spanish Crown to the Aztec Empire for whatever reasons, I'm asking if the Aztec civilization could learn European technology if given the possibility.

(A) I COMPLETELY DISAGREE this is OT:TSB. The OP is asking about systems, not circumstances. However, please read our meta posts about high concept questions and open-ended questions. Your question is borderline too broad and POB (gratefully, the only answer required is "yes.") Please remember that SE is not a discussion forum.

Just as a comment for some answers: the formula for gunpowder was widely known, the soldiers of the Sack of Rome (1527) even made jokes about using priests' urine for one ingredient, the potassium nitrate (which they called "sal amarga"). Unless the survivors are the most stupid members of the crew, they knew it.

The diseases actually ran thru the continents much faster than the conquerors. On the story side, its hard to avoid first-contact contagion. Columbus' crew evidently wiped out 95% of the native population of Hispaniola.

@Sava -- Your question is story based because the actual focus is placed upon Ahuitzotl's personality, his motives, his foresight & intelligence. If you'd like to edit out paragraphs 2 & 3, I'd be satisfied as that would remove the focus from the emperor and place it where it should be!

@elemtilas Edited the question, is that better?

@Sava -- Yes. This query is no longer story based; I have retracted my VTC accordingly. (Previous comment removed as unnecessary.) Now, the answer is simply "YES"; so go write your alt-history already! ;)

You should read a book "The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" which has a lot of interesting ideas along the lines of alternate histories etc.

The European powers focus on Africa and Asia. — but European powers were focusing on Asia and Africa in our timeline, only, you know, all those powerful islamic states don't let them do it in straight way, so they had to travel to Asia by circumventing the globe. Because that was much more easier.

PS. Any survivors would become human sacrifice. There would be no knowledge left to transmit.