Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who explored Central America, overthrew Montezuma and his vast Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

hernan cortes

(1485-1547)

Who Was Hernán Cortés?

He first set sail to the New World at the age of 19. Cortés later joined an expedition to Cuba. In 1518, he set off to explore Mexico.

Cortés strategically aligned some Indigenous peoples against others and eventually overthrew the vast and powerful Aztec empire. As a reward, King Charles I appointed him governor of New Spain in 1522.

Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was born around 1485 in Medellín, Spain. He came from a lesser noble family in Spain. Some reports indicate that he studied at the University of Salamanca for a time.

In 1504, Cortés left Spain to seek his fortune in New World. He traveled to the island of Santo Domingo, or Hispaniola. Settling in the new town of Azúa, Cortés served as a notary for several years.

He joined an expedition of Cuba led by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1511. There, Cortés worked in the civil government and served as the mayor of Santiago for a time.

Aztec Empire

In 1518, Cortés was to command his own expedition to Mexico, but Velázquez canceled it. In a mutinous act of defiance, Cortés ignored the order, setting sail for Mexico with more than 500 men and 11 ships that year.

In February 1519, the expedition reached the Mexican coast. By some accounts, Cortés then had all his ships destroyed except one, which he sent back to Spain. This brazen decision eliminated the possibility of any retreat.

Cortés became allies with some of the Indigenous peoples he encountered, but with others, he used deadly force to conquer Mexico. He fought Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors and then set his sights on taking over the Aztec empire.

He marched to Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital and home to ruler Montezuma II . After being invited into the royal palace, Cortés took Montezuma hostage and his soldiers plundered the city.

But shortly thereafter, Cortés hurriedly left the city after learning that Spanish troops were coming to arrest him for disobeying orders from Velázquez.

After fending off the Spanish forces, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán to find a rebellion in progress, during which Montezuma was killed. The Aztecs eventually drove the Spanish from the city, but Cortés returned again to defeat them and take the city in 1521, effectively ending the Aztec empire.

In their bloody battles for domination over the Aztecs, Cortés and his men are estimated to have killed as many as 100,000 Indigenous peoples. King Charles I of Spain (also known as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) appointed him the governor of New Spain in 1522.

Later Years and Death

Despite his decisive victory over the Aztecs, Cortés faced numerous challenges to his authority and position, both from Spain and his rivals in the New World. He traveled to Honduras in 1524 to stop a rebellion against him in the area.

In 1536, Cortés led an expedition to the northwestern part of Mexico, in the process exploring Baja California and Mexico's Pacific coast. This was to be his last major expedition.

Back in the capital city, Cortés found himself unceremoniously removed from power. He traveled to Spain to plead his case to the king, but he was not reappointed to his governorship.

In 1541, Cortés retired to Spain. He spent much of his later years desperately seeking recognition for his achievements and support from the Spanish royal court. Wealthy but embittered from his lack of support and acclaim, Cortés died in Spain in 1547.

QUICK FACTS

  • Name: Hernán Cortés
  • Birth Year: 1485
  • Birth City: Medellín
  • Birth Country: Spain
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who explored Central America, overthrew Montezuma and his vast Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.
  • Politics and Government
  • War and Militaries
  • Nacionalities
  • Death Year: 1547
  • Death date: December 2, 1547
  • Death City: Castilleja de la Cuesta
  • Death Country: Spain

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Guns, germs, and horses brought Cortés victory over the mighty Aztec empire

The Aztec outnumbered the Spanish, but that didn't stop Hernán Cortés from seizing Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, in 1521.

a painting showing Hernán Cortés at the gates of the capital of the Aztec Empire

After the expedition led by Vasco Núñez de Balboa who crossed Central America to reach the Pacific in 1513, Europeans began to see the full economic potential of this "New World." At first, colonization by the burgeoning new world power, Spain, was centered on the islands of the Caribbean, with little contact with the complex, indigenous civilizations on the mainland.

It was not long, however, before the lure of wealth spurred Spain’s adventurers beyond exploration and into a phase of conquest that would lay the foundations of the modern world. Whole swaths of the Americas rapidly fell to the Spanish crown, a transformation begun by the ruthless conqueror of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés. (See also: New clues to the lost fleet of Cortés   .)

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Cortés beginnings

Like other conquistadores of the early 16th century, Cortés had already gained considerable experience by living in the New World before embarking on his exploits. Born to modest lower nobility in the Spanish city of Medellín in 1485, Cortés stood out at an early age for his intelligence and his restless spirit of adventure inspired by the recent voyages of Christopher Columbus.

In 1504, Cortés left Spain for the island of Hispaniola (today, home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti), where he rose through the ranks of the fledgling colonial administration. In 1511 he joined an expedition to conquer Cuba and was appointed secretary to the island's first colonial governor, Diego Velázquez.

During these years, Cortés developed the skills that would stand him in good stead in his short, turbulent career as a conquistador. He gained valuable insights into the organization of the islands’ indigenous peoples and proved an adept arbiter in the continual squabbles that broke out among the Spaniards, forever vying to enlarge their estates or snag lucrative administrative positions.

In 1518 Velázquez appointed his secretary to lead an expedition to Mexico. Cortés—as Velázquez was to discover to his cost—was set on becoming a leader rather than a loyal follower. He set off for the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in February 1519 with 11 ships, about 100 sailors, 500 soldiers, and 16 horses. Over the following months Cortés would take matters into his own hands, disobey the governor’s orders, and turn what had been intended to be an exploratory mission into a historic military conquest.

Aztec introductions

To the Aztec, 1519 was a year that began with their empire as the uncontested power in the region. Its capital city, Tenochtitlan, ruled 400 to 500 small states with a total population of five to six million. The fortunes of the kingdom of Moctezuma, however, were doomed to a swift and spectacular decline once Cortés and his men disembarked on the Mexican coast. (See also: Rare Aztec Map Reveals a Glimpse of Life in 1500s Mexico. )

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Having rapidly imposed control over the indigenous population in the coastal region, Cortés was given 20 slaves by a local chieftain. One of them, a young woman, could speak several local languages and soon learned Spanish too. Her linguistic skills would prove crucial to Cortés’s invasion plans, and she became his interpreter as well as his concubine. She soon came to be known as Malinche, or Doña Marina. The conquistador had a son with her, Martín, who is often regarded as the first ever mestizo—a person of mixed European and American Indian ancestry. (See also: Call the Aztec midwife: Childbirth in the 16th century. )

The news of the foreigners’ arrival soon reached the Aztec emperor, Moctezuma, in Tenochtitlan. To appease the Spaniards, he sent envoys and gifts to Cortés, but he only succeeded in inflaming Cortés’s desires for more Aztec riches. Cortés once described the land near Veracruz, the city he founded on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, as rich as the mythical land where King Solomon obtained his gold. As a mark of his ruthlessness, and to quash any misgivings his crew may have had in disobeying the orders of Governor Velázquez, Cortés ordered the destruction of the fleet he had sailed with from Cuba. There was now no turning back.

a mosaic mask representing the Aztec God Tezcatlipoca

Mosaic mask of turquoise and lignite covers a human skull and represents an Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca.

Cortés had a talent for observing and manipulating local political rivalries. On the way to Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards gained the support of the Totonac peoples from the city of Cempoala, who hoped to be freed from the Aztec yoke. Following a military victory over another native people, the Tlaxcaltec, Cortés incorporated more warriors into his army. Knowledge of the divisions among different native peoples, and an unerring ability to exploit them, was central to Cortés’s strategy.

The Aztec had allies too, however, and Cortés was especially belligerent toward them. The holy city of Cholula, which joined with Moctezuma in an attempt to stall the Spaniards, was sacked for two days at Cortés’s command. After a grueling battle lasting more than five hours, as many as 6,000 of its people were killed. Cortés’s forces seemed invincible. In the face of their unstoppable advance, Moctezuma stalled for time, allowing the Spaniards and their allies to enter Tenochtitlan unopposed in November 1519.

Fighting on two fronts

Fear gripped the huge Aztec capital on Cortés’s entry, the chroniclers wrote: Its 250,000 inhabitants put up no resistance to Cortés’s small force of a few hundred men and 1,000 Tlaxcaltec allies. At first Moctezuma formally received Cortés. Seeing the value of the emperor as a captive, Cortés seized him and guaranteed his power over the city.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Establishing a pattern that would recur throughout his career, Cortés soon found himself as much at threat from his own compatriots as from the peoples he was trying to subdue. At the beginning of 1520 he was forced to leave Tenochtitlan to deal with a punitive expedition sent from Cuba by the enraged Diego Velázquez. In his absence, Cortés left Tenochtitlan under the command of Pedro de Alvarado and a garrison of 80 Spaniards.

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The hotheaded Alvarado lacked Cortes’s skill and diplomacy. During Cortes’s absence, Alvarado’s execution of many Aztec chiefs enraged the people. After defeating Velázquez’s forces, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan on June 24, 1520, to find the city in revolt against his proxy. For several days, the Spaniards vainly used Moctezuma in an attempt to calm tempers, but his people pelted the puppet king with stones. Moctezuma died a few days later, but his successors would fare no better than he did.

On June 30, 1520, the Spanish fled the city under fire, suffering hundreds of casualties. Some Spaniards died by drowning in the surrounding marshes, weighed down by the vast amounts of treasure they were trying to carry off. The event would come to be known as the Night of Sorrows.

Technology Triumphs

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Although the Aztec had the superior numbers, advanced Spanish weaponry ultimately gave them the upper hand. With firearms and steel blades at his disposal, just one Spaniard might annihilate dozens or even hundreds of opponents: “On a sudden, they speared and thrust people into shreds,” wrote one indigenous chronicler, having witnessed the terrifying impact of European arms. “Others were beheaded in one swipe... Others tried to run in vain from the butchery, their innards falling from them and entangling their very feet.”

A smallpox epidemic prevented the Aztec forces from finishing off Cortés’s defeated and demoralized army. The outbreak weakened the Aztec while giving Cortés time to regroup. Spain would win the Battle of Otumba a few days later. Skillful deployment of cavalry against the elite Aztec jaguar and eagle warriors carried the day for the Europeans and their allies.“Our only security, apart from God,”Cortés wrote,“is our horses.”

Victory allowed the Spaniards to rejoin with their Tlaxcaltec allies and launch the recapture of Tenochtitlan. Waves of attacks were launched on settlements near the Aztec capital. Any resistance was brutally crushed: Many indigenous enemies were captured as slaves and some were even branded following their capture. The sacking also allowed the Spaniards to build up their large personal retinues, taking captives to use as servants and slaves, and kidnapping others for exchanges and ransoms. Growing in number to roughly 3,000 people, this group of captives vastly outnumbered the fighting Spaniards.

Fall of the Aztec

For an assault on a city the size of Tenochtitlan, the number of Spanish troops seemed paltry—just under 1,000 soldiers, including harquebusiers, infantry, and cavalry. However, Cortés knew that his superior weaponry, coupled with the additional 50,000 warriors provided by his indigenous allies, would conquer the city, which was already weakened from starvation and thirst. In May 1521 the Spaniards had cut off the city’s water supply by taking control of the Chapultepec aqueduct.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Even so, the siege of Tenochtitlan was not a given. During fighting in July 1521, the Aztec held strong, even capturing Cortés himself. Wounded in one leg, the Spanish leader was ultimately rescued by his captains. During this setback for the conquistador, the Aztec warriors managed to regain lost ground and rebuild the city’s fortifications, pushing the Spanish onto the defensive for nearly three weeks. Cortés ordered the marshland to be filled with rubble for a final assault. Finally, on August 13, 1521, the city fell.

“Not a single stone remained left to burn and destroy,” one witness wrote. The loss of human life was staggering, both in absolute figures and in its disproportionality. During the siege, around 100 Spaniards lost their lives compared to as many as 100,000 Aztec.

Ladies' Man

a painting of Cortés and Malinche

According to the chronicler Francisco López de Gómara, Cortés was “very given to women and always gave into temptation.” His biography abounds in romantic entanglements. Throughout his career, Cortés's personal life held a selfish, manipulative streak. In 1514 he married a young Spanish woman named Catalina Suárez, a relative of Governor Diego Velázquez, who soon promoted Cortés after the wedding. But Cortés was not faithful. After the conquest of Mexico, he and Malinche, an Aztec woman who served as his interpreter, had a son together. The marriage to Caralina only ended when she was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 1522. Cortés was suspected of her murder, but nevery charged. Cortés then took as a consort Princess Isabel Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor's daughter. She and Cortés had a daughter, but he later abandoned them. In 1529 Cortés took a Spanish noblewoman, Juana de Zúñiga, as his bride and became a marquis, securing both a high social status and a rather rakish reputation.

The conquest of Tenochtitlan and the subsequent consolidation of Spanish domination over the former Aztec Empire was the first major possession in what became the Spanish Empire. This vast territory would reach its greatest extent in the 18th century, with territory throughout North and South America.

Cortés’s triumph would be short-lived. In just a few years, he would lose many of his lands in the New World. Despite being made a marquis years later, the Conqueror of Mexico did not have a glorious end. In 1547, at the age of 62, he died in a village near Sevilla, Spain, embroiled in lawsuits and his health broken by a series of disastrous expeditions. Decades of rapid expansion in the Americas seemed to have eclipsed his own exploits, and few bells tolled for the man whose ruthlessness and cunning transformed the Americas.

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How Hernán Cortés Conquered the Aztec Empire

By: Karen Juanita Carrillo

Updated: June 26, 2023 | Original: May 20, 2021

How Hernán Cortés Conquered the Aztec Empire

The Aztec Empire , Mesoamerica’s dominant power in the 15th and early 16th centuries controlled a capital city that was one of the largest in the world. Itzcoatl, named leader of the Aztec/Mexica people in 1427, negotiated what has become known as the Triple Alliance —a powerful political union of the city-states of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, Tetzcoco and Tlacopán. As that alliance strengthened between 1428 and 1430 it reinforced the leadership of the Aztecs, making them the dominant Nahua group in a landmass that covered central Mexico and extended as far as modern-day Guatemala.

And yet Tenochtitlán fell into decline after the siege and destruction of the city by the Spanish in 1521—less than two years after Hernándo Cortés and Spanish conquistadors first set foot in the Aztec capital on November 8, 1519. How did Cortés manage to overthrow the seat of the Aztec Empire?

Tenochtitlán: A Dominant Imperial City 

Tenochtitlan, the ancient capital of the Aztec empire, Mexico

When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Aztec imperial city in 1519, Mexico-Tenochtitlán was led by Moctezuma II. The city had prospered and was estimated to host a population of between 200,000 and 300,000 residents.

At first , the conquistadors described Tenochtitlán as the greatest city they had ever seen. It was situated on a human-made island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. From its central location, Tenochtitlán served as a hub for Aztec trade and politics. It featured gardens, palaces, temples and raised roads with bridges that connected the city to the mainland.

Other city-states were forced to pay periodic tributes to Tenochtitlán’s public markets and to its religious center, the Templo Mayor or “Great Temple.” Religious tributes sometimes took the form of human sacrifices . While the Aztec’s monetary and religious demands empowered the empire, it also fostered resentment among surrounding city-states. 

Hernándo Cortés Makes Allies with Local Tribes

Hernándo Cortés, Moctezuma II

Hernándo Cortés formed part of Spain’s initial colonization efforts in the Americas. While stationed in Cuba, he convinced Cuban Governor Diego Velázquez to allow him to lead an expedition to Mexico, but Velázquez then canceled his mission. Eager to appropriate new land for the Spanish crown, convert Indigenous people to Christianity and plunder the region for gold and riches, Cortés organized his own rogue crew of 100 sailors, 11 ships, 508 soldiers and 16 horses. He set sail from Cuba on the morning of February 18, 1519, to begin an unauthorized expedition to Mesoamerica.

Arriving on the Yucatán coast, Cortés encountered Indigenous people who told him about other Europeans who had been shipwrecked and captured by local Mayans. Cortes freed Jerónimo de Aguilar , a Franciscan friar, from the Mayans and made Aguilar part of his crew. Aguilar turned out to be an invaluable asset to Cortes due to his ability to speak Chontal, the local Mayan language. With Aguilar at his side, Cortés and his conquistadors continued traveling the region, battling Indigenous groups along the way.

Cortés and his men then acquired another asset when an Aztec chief gifted them some 20 enslaved young Mayan women, including Malinalli, a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast. Malinalli became baptized with the Christian name Marina and was later known as La Malinche. La Malinche spoke both the Aztec language of Náhuatl and Mayan Chontal and worked alongside the Spanish invaders, providing the conquistadors with the ability to communicate with any Indigenous groups they encountered.

With La Malinche and Aguilar in tow, the conquistadors made their way to the island city of Tenochtitlán where they were initially welcomed by Emperor Moctezuma II. When Cortés became concerned that Moctezuma's people would turn against his men, he placed Moctezuma under house arrest and Cortés attempted to rule through the detained Moctezuma.

Soon Cortés received word that the Cuban governor had sent a Spanish force to arrest Cortés for insubordination. Leaving his top lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado in charge of Tenochtitlán, Cortés took men to attack the Spanish forces at the coast. Cortes's men defeated the troops and took the surviving Spanish soldiers back with him as reinforcements to Tenochtitlán. In Cortés' absence, Alvarado had hundreds of Aztec nobles killed during a ceremonial feast, leading to further unrest among the Aztec people. 

Tenochtitlán residents demanded the Spanish be removed from the city. When the detained Moctezuma could no longer control Tenochtitlán’s residents, the Spaniards either allowed him to die during a skirmish in 1520 or killed him—depending on varying accounts .

Driven from the capital, the Spanish later circled back with a small fleet of ships. Working in alliance with some 200,000 Indigenous warriors from city-states, particularly the Tlaxcala and Cempoala (groups who had resented the Aztec/Mexicas and wanted to see them vanquished), the Spanish conquistadors held Tenochtitlán under siege from May 22 through August 13, 1521—a total of 93 days.

Disease Further Weakens the Aztec

With Tenochtitlán encircled, the conquistadors relied on their Indigenous allies for key logistical support and launched attacks from local Indigenous encampments. Meanwhile, another factor began to take its toll. Unbeknownst to the Spanish, some among their ranks had been infected with smallpox when they had departed Europe. Once these men arrived in the Americas, the virus began to spread—both among their indigenous allies and the Aztecs. (Some research has suggested that salmonella , not smallpox, had weakened the Aztecs.)

The first known case reportedly emerged in Cempoala—one of the city-states that had allied with the Spanish—when an enslaved African came down with the disease. The virus then spread. As the Spaniards and their allies later attacked Tenochtitlán, even when they lost battles, the smallpox virus infected the Aztecs. Aztec troops, members of the noble class, farmers and artisans all fell victim to the disease. 

While many Spaniards had acquired immunity to the disease, the virus was new in the Americas and few Indigenous understood it. The bodies of smallpox victims piled up in the streets of Tenochtitlán and, with the city under siege, there were few available ways to dispose of the bodies.

Spaniards and their allies were taken in as prisoners (the Aztecs tended to hold captured prisoners for sacrifice to the gods, rather than kill them in battle) and traces of the virus were left on the clothes, hair and on dead bodies of those who had had the disease. As Tenochtitlán residents contracted smallpox they had no place to turn for help. Aztec priests and medicinal practitioners knew of no remedy and Tenochtitlán residents had little immunity.

The Spanish Wielded Better Weaponry

The conquistadors arrived in Mesoamerica with steel swords, muskets, cannons, pikes, crossbows, dogs and horses. None of these assets had yet been used in battle in the Americas. The Aztecs fought the Spanish with wooden broadswords, clubs and spears tipped with obsidian blades. But their weapons proved ineffective against the conquistadors’ metal armor and shields.

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas they came from a war-oriented culture that had seen battle against other European nations for dominance and against North Africans for sovereignty. The conquistadors arrived in Mesoamerica with better guns and had been trained in tactical strategies. They deployed a cavalry that could chase down retreating warriors, dogs trained to track down and encircle enemies and horses capable of trampling adversaries.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Up against large armies of Spanish and Indigenous forces, surrounded and cut off from the mainland, and with a population succumbing to an unknown, devastating virus, the Aztec Empire was unable to fight off the invading Spanish conquistadors. The Aztecs, including members of the Aztec royal family—then were forced to adjust to life under Spanish rule.  

"Cada Uno En Su Bolsa Llevar Lo Que Cien Indios No Llevarían: Mexica Resistance and the Shape of Currency in New Spain, 1542-1552.”  by Allison Caplan, American Journal of Numismatics (1989-), vol. 25, 2013, pp. 333–356. JSTOR .

“Jeronimo de Aguilar,”  American Historical Association . 

“Aztec Warfare Imperial Expansion and Political Control,” by Ross Hassig, University of Oklahoma Pres s, 1988, p. 244. 

“Searching for the Secrets of Nature The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernández,” by Dora B. Weiner, Stanford University Press , 2000, p. 86.

“Viruses, Plagues, and History Past, Present, and Future,” by Michael B. Oldstone, Oxford University Press , 2020, p. 46.

“So Why Were the Aztecs Conquered, and What Were the Wider Implications? Testing Military Superiority as a Cause of Europe's Pre-Industrial Colonial Conquests,” by George Raudzens. War in History, vol. 2, no. 1, 1995, pp. 87–104. JSTOR . Accessed May 18, 2021.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

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hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Hernán Cortés: Master of the Conquest

On Aug. 13, 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés received the surrender of Cuauhtémoc, ruler of the Aztec people. The astonishing handover occurred amid the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the shattered capital of a mighty empire whose influence had stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and extended from central Mexico south into parts of what would become Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. After an 80-day siege Cortés had come to a terrible resolution: He ordered the city razed. House by house, street by street, building by building, his men pulled down Tenochtitlan’s walls and smashed them into rubble. Envoys from every tribe in the former empire later came to gaze on the wrecked remains of the city that had held them in subjection and fear for so long.

But how had Cortés accomplished his conquest? Less than three years had passed since he set foot on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, yet he had destroyed the greatest power in Mesoamerica with a relative handful of men. His initial force comprised 11 ships, 110 sailors, 553 soldiers—including 32 crossbowmen and 13 bearing harquebuses (early firearms)—10 heavy guns, four falconets and 16 horses. The force size ebbed and flowed, but he never commanded more than the 1,300 Spaniards he had with him at the start of the final assault.

On its face such a victory would suggest Cortés was a commander of tremendous ability. Yet scholars of the period have long underrated his generalship, instead attributing his success to three distinct factors. First was the relative superiority of Spanish military technology. Second is the notion smallpox had so severely reduced the Aztecs that they were unable mount an effective resistance. And third is the belief Cortés’ Mesoamerican allies were largely to credit for his triumph.

That the Spaniards enjoyed distinct technological, tactical and cultural advantages over their Mesoamerican foes doesn’t mean Cortés’ victories came easy

The conquistadors’ military technology was unquestionably superior to that of every tribe they encountered. The warriors’ weapons and armor were made of wood, stone and hide, while those of the Spaniards were wrought of iron and steel. Atlatls, slings and simple bows—their missiles tipped with obsidian, flint or fish bone—could not match the power or range of the crossbow. Clubs and macuahuitls—fearsome wooden swords embedded with flakes of obsidian—were far outclassed by long pikes and swords of Toledo steel, which easily pierced warriors’ crude armor of cotton, fabric and feathers. And, finally, the Spaniards’ gunpowder weapons—small cannon and early shoulder-fired weapons like the harquebus—wreaked havoc among the Mesoamericans, who possessed no similar technology.

The Spaniards also benefitted from their use of the horse, which was unknown to Mesoamericans. Though the conquistadors had few mounts at their disposal, tribal foot soldiers simply could not match the speed, mobility or shock effect of the Spanish cavalry, nor were their weapons suited to repelling horsemen.

When pitted against European military science and practice, the Mesoamerican way of war also suffered from undeniable weaknesses. While the tribes put great emphasis on order in battle—they organized their forces into companies, each under its own chieftain and banner, and understood the value of orderly advances and withdrawals—their tactics were relatively unsophisticated. They employed such maneuvers as feigned retreats, ambushes and ambuscades but failed to grasp the importance of concentrating forces against a single point of the enemy line or of supporting and relieving forward assault units. Such deficiencies allowed the conquistadors to triumph even when outnumbered by as much as 100-to-1.

Deeply ingrained aspects of their culture also hampered the Aztecs. Social status was partly dependent on skill in battle, which was measured not by the number of enemies killed, but by the number captured for sacrifice to the gods. Thus warriors did not fight with the intention of killing their enemies outright, but of wounding or stunning them so they could be bound and passed back through the ranks. More than one Spaniard, downed and struggling, owed his life to this practice, which enabled his fellows to rescue him. Further, the Mesoamerican forces were unprepared for lengthy campaigns, as their dependence on levies of agricultural workers placed limits on their ability to mobilize and sustain sufficient forces. They could not wage war effectively during the planting and harvest seasons, nor did they undertake campaigns in the May–September rainy season. Night actions were also unusual. The conquistadors, on the other hand, were trained to kill their enemies on the field of battle and were ready to fight year-round, day or night, in whatever conditions until they achieved victory.

That the Spaniards enjoyed distinct technological, tactical and cultural advantages over their Mesoamerican foes does not mean Cortés’ victories came easy. He engaged hundreds of thousands of determined enemies on their home ground with only fitful opportunities for reinforcement and resupply. Two telltale facts indicate that his success against New World opponents was as much the result of solid leadership as of technological superiority. First, despite his sparse resources, Cortés was as successful against Europeans who possessed the same technology as he was against Mesoamerican forces. Second, Cortés showed he could prevail against the Aztecs even when fighting at a distinct disadvantage.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

In April 1520, as the position of the conquistadors in Tenochtitlan became increasingly precarious, then Aztec ruler Montezuma II—whom the Spaniards had held hostage since the previous November—was informed Cortés’ ships had arrived at Cempoala on the Gulf Coast bearing the Spaniard’s countrymen, and he encouraged the conquistador to depart without delay. While Cortés’ troops were elated at what they assumed was impending deliverance, the commander himself rightly suspected the new arrivals were not allies. They had been sent by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, governor of Cuba, whose orders Cortés had disobeyed in 1519 to launch his expedition, and their purpose was to punish rather than reinforce.

Reports from the coast indicated the fleet comprised 18 ships bearing some 900 soldiers—including 80 cavalrymen, 80 harquebusiers and 150 crossbowmen—all well provisioned and supported by heavy guns. The captain-general of the armada was Pánfilo de Narváez, a confidant of Velázquez, who made no secret of his intention to seize Cortés and imprison him for his rebellion against the governor’s authority.

Cortés could not afford to hesitate and thus allow Narváez time to gather strength and allies. Yet to march out of Tenochtitlan to engage the new arrivals also presented significant risks. If Cortés took his entire force, he would have to abandon the Aztec capital. Montezuma II would reassume the throne, and resistance would no doubt congeal and stiffen, making re-entry a matter of blood and battle, in contrast to the tentative welcome he had initially received. But to leave behind a garrison would further reduce the size of the already outnumbered force he would lead against Narváez. With the swift decision of the bold, a factor indeterminable by numerical calculation, the Spanish commander chose the latter course.

Cortés marched out with only 70 lightly armed soldiers, leaving his second-in-command, Pedro de Alvarado, to hold Tenochtitlan with two-thirds of the Spanish force, including all of the artillery, the bulk of the cavalry and most of the harquebusiers. Having done all he could to gain an edge over Narváez by feeding his couriers misinformation and undermining the loyalty of his officers with forwarded bribes of gold, Cortés marched with all speed. He crossed the mountains to Cholula, where he mustered 120 reinforcements, then marched through Tlaxcala and down to the coast at Veracruz, picking up another 60 men . Though still outnumbered more than 3-to-1, Cortés brought all his craft, daring and energy to bear and, in a rapid assault amid heavy rain on the night of May 27, overwhelmed his foes. Narváez himself was captured, while most of his men, enticed by stories of Aztec riches, readily threw in their lot with Cortés. Soon after his surprise defeat of Narváez, the bold conquistador proved himself equally capable of defeating Mesoamerican forces that held a numerical advantage.

The bold conquistador proved himself equally capable of defeating Mesoamerican forces that held a numerical advantage

On his return to Tenochtitlan, Cortés discovered Alvarado had indulged in an unprovoked massacre of the Aztecs, stirring the previously docile populace to murderous fury. The Spaniards quickly found themselves trapped and besieged in the capital, and hard fighting in the streets failed to subdue the enemy. Not even Montezuma could soothe his people, who met their emperor’s appeal for peace with a shower of stones that mortally wounded him. With the Spanish force growing short of food and water, and losing more men by the day, Cortés decided to withdraw from the city on the night of June 30–July 1. After a brutal running fight along a causeway leading to shore, the column was reduced to a tattered remnant, leaving Cortés with no more than one-fifth of the force he had originally led into Tenochtitlan. The overnight battle—the worst military disaster the conquistadors had suffered in the New World—would go down in Spanish history as La Noche Triste (“The Night of Sorrows”).

The debacle left Cortés with few materiel advantages. Only half of his horses survived, and the column had lost all of its powder, ammunition and artillery and most of its crossbows and harquebuses during the retreat. Yet the Spanish commander managed to hold together his flagging force. Skirting north to avoid a cluster of hostile villages, he headed toward Tlaxcala, home city of his Mesoamerican allies.

Over the days that followed Aztec skirmishers shadowed Cortés’ retreating column, and as the Spaniards neared the Tlaxcalan frontier, the skirmishers joined forces with warriors from Tenochtitlan and assembled on the plain of Otumba, between the conquistadors and their refuge. The trap thus set, on July 7 the numerically superior Aztecs and beleaguered Spaniards met in a battle that should easily have gone in the Mesoamericans’ favor. Again, however, Cortés turned the tables by skillfully using his remaining cavalry to break up the enemy formations. Then, in a daring stroke, he personally led a determined cavalry charge that targeted the enemy commander, killing him and capturing his colors. Seeing their leader slain, the Aztecs gradually fell back, ultimately enabling the conquistadors to push their way through. Though exhausted, starving and ill, they were soon among allies and safe from assault.

One long-standing school of thought on the Spanish conquest attributes Cortés’ success to epidemiological whim—namely that European-introduced smallpox had so ravaged the Aztecs that they were incapable of mounting a coherent defense. In fact, Cortés had defeated many enemies and advanced to the heart of the empire well before the disease made its effects felt. Smallpox arrived in Cempoala in 1520, carried by an African slave accompanying the Narváez expedition. By then Cortés had already defeated an army at Pontonchan; won battles against the fierce, well-organized armies of Tlaxcala; entered the Aztec capital at Tenochtitlan and taken its ruler hostage.

Smallpox had ravaged the populations of Hispaniola and Cuba and indeed had equally disastrous effects on the mainland, killing an estimated 20 to 40 percent of the population of central Mexico. But as horrific as the pandemic was, it is by no means clear that smallpox mortality was a decisive factor in the fall of Tenochtitlan or the final Spanish victory. The disease likely reached Tenochtitlan when Cortés returned from the coast in June 1520, and by September it had killed perhaps half of the city’s 200,000 residents, including Montezuma’s successor, Cuitláhuac. By the time Cortés returned in the spring of 1521 for the final assault, however, the city had been largely free of the disease for six months. The conquistadors mention smallpox but not as a decisive factor in the struggle. Certainly they saw no perceptible drop in ferocity or numbers among the resistance.

On the subject of numbers, some scholars have suggested the conquest was largely the work of the Spaniards’ numerous Mesoamerican allies. Soon after arriving in the New World, Cortés had learned from the coastal Totonac people that the Aztec empire was not a monolithic dominion, that there existed fractures of discontent the conquistadors might exploit. For nearly a century Mesoamericans had labored under the yoke of Aztec servitude, their overlords having imposed grievous taxes and tributary demands, including a bloody harvest of sacrificial victims. Even cities within the Valley of Mexico, the heart of the empire, were simmering cauldrons of potential revolt. They awaited only opportunity, and the arrival of the Spaniards provided it. Tens of thousands of Totonacs, Tlaxcalans and others aided the conquest by supplying the Spaniards with food and serving as warriors, porters and laborers. Certainly their services sped the pace of the conquest. But one cannot credit them with its ultimate success. After all, had the restive tribes had the will and ability to overthrow the Aztecs on their own, they would have done so long before Cortés arrived and would likely have destroyed the Spaniards in turn.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

To truly assess the Spanish victory over the Aztecs, one must also consider the internal issues Cortés faced—logistical challenges, the interference of hostile superiors, factional divides within his command and mutiny.

Cortés established coastal Veracruz as his base of operations in Mexico and primary communications link to the Spanish empire. But the tiny settlement and its fort could not provide him with additional troops, horses, firearms or ammunition. As Cortés’ lean command suffered casualties and consumed its slender resources, it required reinforcement and resupply, but the Spanish commander’s strained relations with the governor of Cuba ensured such vital support was not forthcoming. Fortunately for himself and the men of his command, Cortés seems to have possessed a special genius for conjuring success out of the very adversities that afflicted him.

After defeating the Narváez expedition, Cortés integrated his would-be avenger’s force with his own, gaining men, arms and equipment. When the Spaniards lay exhausted in Tlaxcala after La Noche Triste , still more resources presented themselves. Velázquez, thinking Narváez must have things well in hand, with Cortés either in chains or dead, had dispatched two ships to Veracruz with reinforcements and further instructions; both were seized on arrival, their crews soon persuaded to join Cortés. Around the same time two more Spanish vessels appeared off the coast, sent by the governor of Jamaica to supply an expedition on the Pánuco River. What the ships’ captains didn’t know is that the party had suffered badly and its members had already joined forces with Cortés. On landing, their men too were persuaded to join the conquest. Thus Cortés acquired 150 more men, 20 horses and stores of arms and ammunition. Finally, a Spanish merchant vessel loaded with military stores put in at Veracruz, its captain having heard he might find a ready market for his goods. He was not mistaken. Cortés bought both ship and cargo, then induced its adventurous crew to join his expedition. Such reinforcement was more than enough to restore the audacity of the daring conquistador, and he began to lay plans for the siege and recovery of Tenochtitlan.

While the ever-resourceful Cortés had turned these occasions to his advantage, several episodes pointed to an underlying difficulty that had cast its shadow over the expedition from the moment of its abrupt departure from Cuba—Velázquez’s seemingly unquenchable hostility and determination to interfere. Having taken leave of the governor on less than cordial terms, Cortés was perhaps tempting fate by including of a number of the functionary’s friends and partisans in the expedition. He was aware of their divided loyalties, if not overtly concerned. Some had expressed their personal loyalty to Cortés, while others saw him as their best opportunity for enrichment. But from the outset of the campaign still other members of the Velázquez faction had voiced open opposition, insisting they be permitted to return to Cuba, where they would undoubtedly report to the governor. Cortés had cemented his authority among the rebels through a judicious mixture of force and persuasion.

But the problem arose again with the addition of Narváez’s forces to the mix. While headquartered in Texcoco as his men made siege preparations along the lakeshore surrounding Tenochtitlan, Cortés uncovered an assassination plot hatched by Antonio de Villafaña, a personal friend of Velázquez. The plan was to stab the conquistador to death while he dined with his captains. Though Cortés had the names of a number of co-conspirators, he put only the ringleader on trial. Sentenced to death, Villafaña was promptly hanged from a window for all to see. Greatly relieved at having cheated death, the surviving conspirators went out of their way to demonstrate loyalty. Thus Cortés quelled the mutiny.

Whatever advantages the Spaniards enjoyed, victory would have been impossible without his extraordinary leadership

But hostility toward the conquistador and his “unlawful” expedition also brewed back home in the court of Spanish King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In Cortés’ absence his adversaries tried every means to undermine him, threatening his status as an agent of the crown and seeking to deny him the just fruits of his labors. The commander was forced to spend precious time, energy and resources fighting his diplomatic battle from afar. Even after successfully completing the conquest, Cortés received no quarter from his enemies, who accused him of both defrauding the crown of its rightful revenues and fomenting rebellion. On Dec. 2, 1547, the 62-year-old former conquistador died a wealthy but embittered man in Spain. At his request his remains were returned to Mexico.

Setting aside long-held preconceptions about the ease of the conquest of Mexico—which do disservice to both the Spanish commander and those he conquered—scholars of the period should rightfully add Cortés to the ranks of the great captains of war. For whatever advantages the Spaniards enjoyed, victory would have been impossible without his extraordinary leadership. As master of the conquest, Cortés demonstrated fixity of purpose, skilled diplomacy, talent for solving logistical problems, far-sighted planning, heroic battlefield command, tactical flexibility, iron determination and, above all, astounding audacity. MH

Justin D. Lyons is an assistant professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Ohio’s Ashland University. For further reading he recommends Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control , by Ross Hassig; The Spanish Invasion of Mexico 1519–1521 , by Charles M. Robinson III; and Conquest: Cortés, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico , by Hugh Thomas.

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500 Years Later, The Spanish Conquest Of Mexico Is Still Being Debated

James Fredrick

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

An artistic rendering of the retreat of Hernán Cortés from Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, in 1520. The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to present-day Mexico, landing in 1519. Although the Spanish forces numbered some 500 men, they managed to capture Aztec Emperor Montezuma II. The city later revolted, forcing Cortés and his men to retreat. Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption

An artistic rendering of the retreat of Hernán Cortés from Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, in 1520. The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to present-day Mexico, landing in 1519. Although the Spanish forces numbered some 500 men, they managed to capture Aztec Emperor Montezuma II. The city later revolted, forcing Cortés and his men to retreat.

Five-hundred years ago, two men met and changed much of the world forever.

About 500 Spanish conquistadors — ragged from skirmishes, a massacre of an Indigenous village and a hike between massive volcanoes — couldn't believe what they saw: an elegant island city in a land that Europeans didn't know existed until a few years before.

"It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before," wrote conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

The date was Nov. 8, 1519. Bernal's leader, Hernán Cortés, walked them down a causeway leading into the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, and was greeted by this land's most powerful man: Emperor Montezuma II. (Montezuma was Mexica, but the term Aztec is often used to denote the triple alliance of civilizations that made up his empire.)

According to Cortés, Montezuma immediately recognized the divine right of the Spanish and the Catholic Church to rule these lands and he surrendered his empire.

But according to historian Matthew Restall, author of the book When Montezuma Met Cortés, this is simply wrong.

"The more that I thought about [the surrender], the more I decided it just didn't quite make sense," he tells NPR. "But then what really got me interested was this question, 'If it's a lie, how has it lasted for 500 years?' "

The meeting of Montezuma and Cortés — in what today is Mexico City — and the true story of the conquest that followed it still weigh heavily in Mexico half a millennium later.

Twice this year, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has publicly asked the Spanish crown to apologize for atrocities against native people.

"We have not forgotten this issue and continue believing they should offer an apology for the invasion," he said during a news briefing in October. So far, Spain has rejected that request.

The story of the Spanish conquest, as it has been commonly understood for 500 years, goes like this: Montezuma surrendered his empire to Cortés. Cortés and his men entered Tenochtitlán and lived there peacefully for months until rebellious Aztecs attacked them. Montezuma was killed by friendly fire. The surviving conquistadors escaped the city and later returned with Spanish reinforcements. They bravely laid siege to Tenochtitlán for months and finally captured it on Aug. 13, 1521, with the Spanish taking their rightful place as leaders of the land we now know as Mexico. Conquest accomplished.

"History is messy, and this story tidies up all of that mess and turns the messy, unpleasant war that took place 500 years ago into a nice, tidy dramatic narrative that has a hero [Cortés] and antihero [Montezuma] and has some kind of climactic, glorious ending," says Restall.

In When Montezuma Met Cortés , Restall revises this story. He ditches the word "conquest" and instead refers to the time as the Spanish-Aztec war. He says Cortés was a "mediocrity" with little personal impact on the unfolding of events and refocuses on complex territorial battles between the Aztecs and their rivals. The Tlaxcallan Empire, which allied with the Spanish, was the driving force, outnumbering conquistadors 50-to-1 during the war with the Aztecs. Smallpox and a betrayal from an Aztec ally dealt the final blow. The wondrous island city fell, but it would take years for the Spanish to establish control in New Spain.

The messy history of the Spanish and Aztecs is still strikingly visible in the center of Mexico City. Right next to the imposing Metropolitan Cathedral (a centuries-long expansion of the first Spanish church built here, in the 1520s) sit the remains of the Aztec Templo Mayor, or Great Temple, buried beneath the city surface.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Archaeologists have made key discoveries about the Aztecs at the Great Temple site in Mexico City. Eduardo Verdugo/AP hide caption

Archaeologists have made key discoveries about the Aztecs at the Great Temple site in Mexico City.

"After they arrived here on Nov. 8, it's likely that the first place the Aztecs brought the Spanish was here to the Great Temple," says Carlos Javier González González, former director of the Great Temple project. "Symbolically, the Great Temple was the center of the universe to the Aztecs. It was the point from which the world turned."

NPR joined González and Raúl Barrera Rodríguez, director of the urban archaeology program at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, for a tour around the Great Temple's remains.

For centuries, Spanish testimony portrayed the Aztecs and other Indigenous groups in the Americas as uncivilized, savage barbarians. But continued excavation of the Great Temple and Tenochtitlán has helped change that perception.

"Tenochtitlán was a huge city," says Barrera. "It had public institutions, a whole system of government, public servants, schools, public services — it was a totally organized city."

After the fall of Tenochtitlán, the Spanish built their city directly on top of it. Barrera's urban archaeology program, which has first rights to excavation at any buildings under construction or renovation in Mexico City's historical center, aims to reveal this underground city.

"It's like a puzzle we're trying to put together," he says.

In 2017, Barrera's team uncovered the Huey Tzompantli, a tower of human skulls that was a monument to the Aztecs' highest deity, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun. The conquistadors described a terrifying satanic sight. It was precisely the opposite for Aztecs.

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"It is important to understand the worldview of the Aztecs," says Barrera. "The tzompantli was about giving life."

As Barrera explains, the Aztecs had deep, complex rituals around death. Aztecs believed their gods needed nourishment to survive and made them offerings of people and animals. For example, offering warriors — primarily prisoners of war — ensured the sun would continue to shine and the Aztecs would be successful in war. The Spanish didn't see it that way.

"The image we have of the Aztecs was overwhelmingly invented by Spaniards at the time," says Restall. "They used it to not only justify the conquest and colonization but any and all acts of violence that subsequently emerged."

About 650,000 people come to learn about the Aztecs at the Great Temple every year, 80% of them Mexican, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History. José María Rosas, a 62-year-old taxi driver in Mexico City, was visiting it for the first time in early November.

"Seeing this is like going back in time, and I'm recognizing that these are my roots," he says. "Who am I as a descendant of the Indigenous people?"

González says he has seen that attitudes toward pre-Hispanic history have changed during his four decades of work at the Great Temple.

"The interest in and importance of all this is growing, to recover and incorporate our pre-Hispanic history into our identity as Mexicans," he says.

And Restall thinks the implications reach even further.

"Misunderstanding and misrepresentation of something like Aztec civilization today can make it easier for us to misunderstand and misrepresent Indigenous peoples of the Americas," he says.

With Mexico's president still insisting on Spain's apology and calling for "reconciliation" with the Spanish over the conquest, it will continue to be present in modern-day Mexico.

Correction Nov. 10, 2019

An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History as the National Institute of Archeology and History.

  • Spanish conquest
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Hernán Cortés: Conqueror of the Aztecs

Hernán Cortés and his conquistadors toppled the Aztec Empire.

Engraving Portrait of Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador (1485-1547). He has dark hair down just past his ears, a neatly trimmed moustache and beard. He's wearing a flat hat with a brimm. He's also wearing what looks to be a coat with fur lapels.

In the Caribbean

Arrival in mexico, conquering the aztecs, the siege of tenochtitlán, later years.

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador, or conqueror, who is best remembered for conquering the Aztec Empire in 1521 and claiming Mexico for Spain. He also helped colonize Cuba and became a governor of New Spain, a vast area that included large parts of North, Central and South America, as well as several Pacific island archipelagos. 

"Like many explorers we know about today, Hernán (also known as Hernando) Cortés's role in the Age of Exploration was influential but controversial," said Erika Cosme, formerly the administrative coordinator of education and digital services at  The Mariners' Museum and Park  in Newport News, Virginia. "He was a smart, ambitious man who wanted to appropriate new land for the Spanish crown, convert Native inhabitants to Catholicism and plunder the lands for gold and riches."

Cortés was born in 1485 in Medellín, Spain. He was the only son of noble parents, though his family was not wealthy. He was apparently a clever but difficult child and was the source of much anxiety to his parents, according to Britannica . Cortés' secretary, who wrote a history of Cortés' New World expedition that contained some biographical information, described the conquistador, in general,  as ruthless, haughty, mischievous and quarrelsome. 

At age 14, Cortés was sent to study law at the University of Salamanca in Spain, but he was unhappy and craved a life of action, so he dropped out after two years. Cortés became fascinated with tales of Christopher Columbus' New World explorations. 

Columbus and his expedition members were the first Europeans to see the West Indies when they landed at San Salvador Island in the Bahamas and explored other islands in 1492. Columbus had set sail hoping to find a route to Asia or India. He wanted to profit from and hasten trade for nutmeg, cloves and pomander (a ball of fragrant spices) from the Indonesian "Spice Islands," and pepper and cinnamon from India, which were in high demand, Cosme told Live Science.

However, Columbus' expedition failed to reach its intended destination and instead stumbled upon the Americas, which were completely unknown to Europeans at the time. (Columbus was initially convinced he'd reached Asia, which is why the region is called the "West Indies," according to Britannica.) Reports of Columbus' journey caused a wave of excitement in Spain and Europe, and several more expeditions set out to explore this "New World" in the following years.  

Cortés was eager to be part of the dynamic movement. "For individual explorers, gaining public fame could potentially make them rich," Cosme said. According to the Thought Company , a website that covers history and science, many of these explorers were ambitious men who had been professional soldiers or were mercenaries and often acted on their own initiative rather than seeking funding from the Spanish Crown. Consequently, their expeditions were often privately funded. At the same time, they could not simply decide to mount an expedition without official sanction; they had to seek authorization from colonial officials. 

Cortés decided to seek fortune and adventure in Hispaniola (modern-day Dominican Republic and Haiti). In 1504, at age 19, Cortés set sail for the New World.

Cortés spent seven years on Hispaniola, living in the town of Azua and working as a notary and farmer. In 1511, he joined Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar's expedition to conquer Cuba, which was occupied by at least two major Native American groups, the Taíno and the Guanahatabey. After the conquest, Cortés served as a clerk to the treasurer and later as mayor of Santiago, a town which had been established after the conquest and served as the island's capital for a brief time until the establishment of Havana in 1515. Cortés' time in Cuba made him wealthy because he was able to buy enslaved people and have them work the land he had acquired. He was able to purchase a house in Santiago and gain considerable influence among the colonists, according to Britannica . 

Despite his success, Cortés was hungry for more power. In 1518, he convinced Velázquez, who was by that time the governor of Cuba, to grant him permission to lead an expedition to  Mexico , which the Spanish had come into contact with earlier that year. Velázquez appointed Cortés' captain-general of the expedition, according to Britannica , but soon grew increasingly jealous of Cortés' power and influence. Velázquez canceled the voyage at the last minute, but Cortés ignored his orders and set sail with 11 ships and more than 500 men.

In February 1519, Cortés' ships reached the Mexican coast at Yucatán, which was the domain of Mayan-speaking peoples. The Spanish  were eager to settle in the region, and Cortés was also interested in converting Native Americans to Christianity. "His view on the Indigenous people was similar to the majority of Europeans of that day — they were inferior culturally, technologically and religiously," Cosme said. In Cozumel, an island off the Yucatán coast that was one of the first places the Spaniards landed, Cortés learned of various rituals, "including human sacrifice of the Natives to their many gods," Cosme said. "He and his men removed and destroyed the pagan idols, and replaced them with crosses and figures of the Virgin Mary."

Cortés' force then continued sailing west to Tabasco, where it encountered resistance from Native warriors. The Spanish force overpowered them, and the Natives surrendered. Not only did the Spaniards' armaments — steel weapons, arquebuses and crossbows — prove superior in the clash, but so did Cortes' horses . He brought 16 horses along on the expedition; the Indigenous people were not familiar with them and were reportedly terrified of the beasts. Bernal Díaz del Castillo , a soldier who marched with Cortés and later wrote a history of the expedition called " The True History of the Conquest of New Spain ," described the Natives' encounter with the horses: "The Indians, who had never seen any horses before, could not think otherwise than that horse and rider were one body. Quite astounded at this to them so novel a sight, they quitted the plain and retreated to a rising ground." 

The Natives provided the Europeans with food, supplies and 20 women, including an interpreter called Malintzin (also known as La Malinche or Doña Marina). La Malinche became an important figure in Cortés' life and legacy. 

"She became bilingual, speaking Aztec and Mayan languages, which made her very useful to Cortés," Cosme said. "She eventually learned Spanish and became Cortés' personal interpreter, guide and mistress. She actually had a pretty high status for both a woman and a Native during this time and place among the Spaniards."

Díaz described La Malinche as "an excellent woman and fine interpreter throughout the wars in New Spain, Tlaxcala and Mexico … This woman was a valuable instrument to us in the conquest of New Spain. It was, through her only, under the protection of the Almighty, that many things were accomplished by us: without her we never should have understood the Mexican language, and, upon the whole, have been unable to surmount many difficulties." 

Cortés and La Malinche had a child together named Martín, who is sometimes called "El Mestizo." He was one of the first children of mixed Indigenous and Spanish heritage. Eventually, in 1522, Cortés' Spanish wife, Catalina Suarez, came to Mexico. After her arrival, historians are unsure if Cortés continued to acknowledge La Malinche or Martín, Cosme said. "It would seem his desire to maintain his reputation and standing among the Spanish community was stronger than his need to be a husband and father to Malinche and Martín." Nonetheless, Catalina died under mysterious circumstances soon after arriving, and eventually Cortés took another Spanish wife when he returned briefly to Spain in 1528, according to Britannica. 

After a few months in Yucatán, Cortés sailed west again. On the southeastern coast of what is now Mexico, he founded Veracruz, where he dismissed the authority of Velázquez and declared himself under orders from King Charles I of Spain. He disciplined his men and trained them to act as a cohesive unit of soldiers, and prepared them for the long march to Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital. And in an act that signified his fierce determination, he burned his ships to make retreat impossible, though some scholars have disputed this story.  

Díaz related how Cortés exhorted his soldiers on the eve of their long march. "Cortes then adduced many beautiful comparisons from history, and mentioned several heroic deeds of the Romans ,” Díaz wrote "We answered him, one and all, that we would implicitly follow his orders, as the die had been cast, and we, with Caesar , when he had passed the Rubicon, had now no choice left; besides which, everything we did was for the glory of God and his majesty the emperor."

Cortés had heard of the Aztecs (also known as the Mexica) and knew that they, and their leader Montezuma II (also spelled Moctezuma), were a primary force in Mexico. According to Britannica, the Aztec Empire ruled a large swath of what is today modern Mexico and parts of central America during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Aztecs were accomplished warriors, engineers, artisans and agriculturalists known for creating a thriving society that ruled over a surrounding, often hostile amalgam of various Native Americans with different languages and cultures. Although the Aztecs had been one of many small groups in the Valley of Mexico, they had expanded aggressively during the 15th century by conquering their neighbors, according to World History Encyclopedia . At first, the Aztecs had ruled with the help of two other cities in the region, Texcoco and Tlacopan, a confederation known as the Triple Alliance. Eventually, however, the Aztecs came to dominate the Triple Alliance and ruled alone. 

"Cortés arrived in the great Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán [on Nov. 8] in 1519," Cosme said. "Although he was kindly received by the Aztec emperor Montezuma, Cortés' intentions were less benevolent." He set out to rule them. 

Tenochtitlan was the religious and political center of the Aztec Empire. It was much larger than many European cities of the time and hosted a population of about 400,000 people, according to Britannica . (By comparison, the city of Paris in the 16th century had an estimated population of 225,000, according to the website Statista .) It had been founded in A.D. 1325 on two small islands in the middle of Lake Texcoco and was connected to the mainland by several broad causeways. In the heart of the city was the temple district, which boasted the Great Temple, or Hueteocalli as the Aztecs called it. This imposing structure, which loomed above the surrounding city, was dedicated to two Aztec gods: Huitzilopochtli, the war god, and Tláloc, the rain god. Other prominent buildings included the pyramid of Tezcatlipoca, a creator god, and the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the "feathered serpent" and the god of art and learning who was associated with the planet Venus .  

Díaz described the awe Tenochtitlan inspired among the Spaniards upon arriving: "When we gazed upon all this splendor at once, we scarcely knew what to think, and we doubted whether all that we beheld was real. A series of large towns stretched themselves along the banks of the lake, out of which still larger ones rose magnificently above the waters. Innumerable crowds of canoes were plying everywhere around us; at regular distances we continually passed over new bridges, and before us lay the great city of Mexico in all its splendor."

In some accounts, Cortés' arrival coincided with an important Aztec prophecy. The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was set to return to Earth . In this interpretation, Montezuma was hesitant to confront the Spanish for fear of angering the returned god. However, this interpretation has been disputed by many modern scholars who have argued that it is essentially a myth that was propagated many years after the conquest as a way for Europeans to justify their actions and foster the notion that the Aztecs saw the Spanish as superior. 

Montezuma sent out envoys to meet the conquistador as he neared the capital. The Spanish fired shots from their arquebuses and cannons, which stunned the Natives and further intimidated them.

Cortés entered the city, and at first the meeting between the two leaders, though tense, was peaceful. Montezuma gave the conquistador gifts of gold . But things changed quickly. Cortés took Montezuma hostage and sacked the city. La Malinche helped Cortés manipulate Montezuma and rule Tenochtitlán through him. "It is also said that she informed Cortés of an Aztec plot to destroy his army," Cosme said. 

The Spanish army had help sacking the city. Though Cortés enslaved much of the Native population, other Indigenous groups were fundamental to his success, according to Cosme. Among them were the people of Tlaxcala, who helped him regroup and take Tenochtitlán. "The Aztecs were not always popular rulers among their subjected cities. When Cortés learned of this, he was able to use this to his advantage," Cosme said. "Xicotencatl, a ruler in the city Tlaxcala, saw an ally in Cortés and an opportunity to destroy the Aztec Empire. They formed an allegiance, and Cortés was given several thousand warriors to add to his ranks. While the Spaniards still had superior weaponry — cannons, guns, swords — the additional knowledge on Aztec fighting styles and defenses given by Xicotencatl, plus the additional men, gave Cortés a helpful edge."

While Cortés held Tenochtitlán through Montezuma, a Spanish force from Cuba landed on the coast of Mexico in the spring of 1520. It had been sent by Velázquez to unseat Cortés. When Cortés heard of this, he took a force of Spanish and Tlaxcalan soldiers and marched on the new Spanish force, according to World History Encyclopedia. Cortés defeated the Spanish force, but when he returned to Tenochtitlán he found the Aztecs had launched a major attack on the Spanish garrison. 

At first, Cortés tried to quell the attack by forcing Montezuma to address the Aztec forces that had gathered. But, by now, the Aztecs were distrustful of their king. In an event that is still debated by scholars, Montezuma was killed. It is unclear whether he was killed by his own forces — some accounts have him being stoned by his warriors — or by the Spanish, according to the Thought Company . In the Aztec accounts, Montezuma survives the attack by his warriors but is later strangled to death by the Spanish. 

Cortés and his men fled the city. But their retreat was costly and they suffered significant losses, including most of the plunder they had stolen from the city.  

However, the Spanish were there long enough to start a smallpox epidemic in Tenochtitlán. One of Cortés' men contracted smallpox from a member of the force from Cuba. That soldier died during the Aztec rebellion, and when his body was looted, an Aztec caught the disease, which spread like wildfire because the Aztec people had no immunity to it, according to History.com . Between one-quarter and one-half of the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico, including Aztecs and other Native Americans, succumbed to the disease, according to Suzanne Alchon, a historian and author of the book A Pest in the Land, New World Epidemics in a Global Perspective  (University of New Mexico Press, 2003).

With help from the people of Tlaxcala, Cortés' army regrouped and returned to Tenochtitlán on June 25, 1520. They found that the city's society had crumbled. Nonetheless, the Aztec warriors, under their new leader Cuauhtemoc, resisted the Spanish and a long siege ensued.  Finally, after 93 days of siege, the Aztecs, weakened by disease, hunger and having incurred significant losses following many pitched battles, surrendered, according to World History Encyclopedia. This surrender unleashed a storm of violence, looting, rape and carnage as the Spanish and their Tlaxacalan allies descended on the city. 

Once the city fell, Cortés began building Mexico City on the ruins. It quickly became a pre-eminent city in the Spanish colonies, and many Europeans came to live there. To reward his success, King Charles I of Spain appointed Cortés governor of New Spain.

The conquest of Mexico by the Spanish ended in 1525, though some Aztecs and their allies continued to resist the Spanish according to World History Encyclopedia . Nonetheless, the change to Spanish rule had massive and long-lasting consequences. Many of the Indigenous people were now forced into the role of subservience and a new, almost caste-like social order was created with the Spanish occupying the highest positions of power and the Indigenous people the lowest. This social dynamic would characterize Mexico for centuries.

In 1524, Cortés organized an expedition to Honduras, a part of central America that had not yet been conquered by the Spanish. He stayed for two years, establishing a city and appointing a governor,  but when he returned to Mexico, he found that the allies he had left in Mexico City had turned against him, according to Britannica. He found himself removed from power, and accused of illegally enriching himself. Cortés traveled to Spain to plead with the king, but he was never again appointed to governorship. In Spain, he married for a second time, to a Spanish noblewoman named Dona Juana de Zuniga, a union that produced three children. 

The king did allow him to return to Mexico, albeit with much less authority. Cortés explored the northern part of Mexico and discovered Baja California for Spain in the late 1530s. In 1540, he retired to Spain and spent much of his last years seeking recognition and rewards for his achievements.

Frustrated and embittered, Cortés decided to return to Mexico. Before he could go, however, he died in 1547 of pleurisy, an inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs and chest cavity.

Cortés is a controversial figure, especially in Mexico, because of his treatment of Natives. Unfortunately, "when it came to the Indigenous people, Cortés was not unique in his treatment and mindset," Cosme said. "He enslaved much of the Native population, and many of the Indigenous people were wiped out from European diseases such as smallpox. Both scenarios would unfortunately become a common theme among many explorers' interactions with Natives."

Nevertheless, Cortés was important in reshaping the world. "Cortés' victory secured new and profitable land and opportunities for the Spanish monarch. He helped oversee the building of Mexico City, which is still Mexico's capital today," Cosme said. "He opened the door for further exploration and conquest of Central America to the south, and eventually led to the acquisition of California toward the north."

Originally published on Live Science on Sept. 28, 2017 and updated on July 5, 2022.

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Jessie Szalay is a contributing writer to FSR Magazine. Prior to writing for Live Science, she was an editor at Living Social. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from George Mason University and a bachelor's degree in sociology from Kenyon College. 

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World History Edu

  • Famous Explorers / Spanish History

Hernán Cortés: History, Life, Accomplishments, & Atrocities Committed

by World History Edu · February 5, 2020

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés – Life and Accomplishments

Most known for invading Mexico and defeating the Aztec Empire in 1521, Hernán Cortés was a Spanish nobleman and famous explorer who helped expand the Empire of Spain into the New World. Why and how did this conquistador vanquish the Aztecs – one of history’s greatest civilizations? Here is everything that you need to know about the life story and accomplishments of Hernán Cortés.

Hernán Cortés was born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of not so much renowned nobility. Growing up, Cortés was not the strongest of children. Regardless of that he was quite intelligent for his age.

When he was 14, his parents sent him to study Latin at his uncle’s school in Salamanca. Two years into his studies, Cortés abandoned the course and went back home. His decision to abandon school was primarily influenced by news of famed explorer Christopher Columbus’ expeditions into the New World.

Cortés desired nothing than to follow in Columbus’s footstep and become a renowned explorer and Spanish conquistador.

Expeditions to Haiti and Cuba

Cortés’s maiden voyage to the Americas occurred in 1504. He sailed for Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominica Republic). Aged around 19, Cortés arrived in Santo Domingo in 1504. Santo Domingo was the capital of Hispaniola. In the city, he had brief educational spells training to become a lawyer. The late teenager spent the next seven years of his life in Hispaniola. He worked as notary official. Sometimes, he worked on the farm.

In 1511, he signed up to the crew of famous Spanish explorer Diego Velázquez’s expedition to Cuba.  While in Cuba, he served as a treasury assistant to Governor Nicolás de Ovando.

For his contribution to the conquest of Cuba, he was rewarded with large parcels of land and Indian slaves. As the years rolled by, Cortés became an influential person in Cuba. He was particularly close to the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez. He served as Velázquez’s lieutenant.

Expedition to Mexico

In 1518, Cortes was able to convince Velázquez to let him lead an expedition into Mexico. Velázquez accepted his request and gave Cortés his blessings.

Just a few months before Cortes’s expedition, Velázquez had a change of mind. However, the brave and daring Cortés refused to back down. He proceeded and sailed to Mexico with about 11 ships and over 500 men.

Cortés’s mutiny against the governor of Cuba was not uncommon. Early Spanish colonization of the Americas was rife with mutinies and betrayals. For example, the ship that Cortes boarded on his maiden voyage to the Americas had a captain (Alonso Quintero) who mutinied against his superiors.

In 1519, Cortés’s crew of explorers arrived at place called Yucatan, off the Mexican coast. Looking for wealth and glory, Cortés consistently disobeyed Velázquez’s order to come back home. In addition to fame and glory, Cortés had it at the back of his mind to roll out a massive conversion exercise of the natives to Catholicism.

A month after his arrival at Yucatan, Cortés and his men seized the territory in the name of the Spanish Empire. Along the way, he also engaged in a number of battles with native tribes. He and his priests also converted some of the natives into Christianity. Many of those converts were forced into the faith. Also, he encouraged his men to pillage the land and abuse the conquered natives.

Cortés had several illegitimate children with native Indian women. For example, he and La Malinche had a child called Martín (El Mestizo). After a brief period of time, she learned Spanish. For most part of the time, Malinche served as his interpreter. Her usefulness came in the fact that she was reasonably fluent in Aztec and Mayan languages.

Veracruz Settlement

A few months into his stay on the continent, Cortés proceeded west and established a settlement called, Veracruz. He took some of the locales as his allies. In spite of this, it did not stop Cortés from thinking the indigenous people as culturally and religiously inferior to the Spanish. It was not uncommon for Spanish explorers to have this notion about the natives. They found the practice of human sacrifices by the natives particularly abhorrent.

In September, 1519, he briefly clashed with the Otomis and the Tlaxcalans. In the end, some of those indigenous people later allied with Cortés.

After claiming Veracruz for himself, under the Crown’s name, Cortés destroyed his ships. The rationale behind this was to prevent his men from sailing back. His men, therefore, had only one option – march into the heart of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlán.

Invasion of the Aztec Empire

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Hernando Cortés invades Tenochtitlan, the Capital of the Aztec Empire, in 1521 | Image:  Britannica.com

Cortes first met officials of the Aztec Empire at San Juan de Ulúa in spring 1519. On several occasions he asked for a meeting with Moctezuma II, the ruler ( tiatoani ) of the Aztecs. The Aztecs refused to have any meeting.

In August 1519, Cortes, along with about 600 men, headed for the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. He was also in the company of several hundreds of local tribe men from the Totonacs and the Nahuas.

On his way to Tenochtitlán, he killed several thousands of unarmed noblemen and civilians in Cholula in 1519. His men also burned down a great portion of the city.

In November 1519, Cortes was received by Moctezuma II. The Spanish explorer was given a warm welcome and Cortes entered the city unimpeded. Many say the emperor did this in order to learn the weaknesses of the invading force. However, some historians believe that some Aztecs  regarded Cortés as a messenger of the god Quetzalcoatl – the feathered serpent deity of the Aztecs.

Owing to this fascination, Moctezuma dashed Cortés several ounces of gold and other gifts. Consumed by greed, Cortés decided to take Moctezuma hostage.

Why did Hernán Cortés take Moctezuma hostage?

First of all, some historians say that what prompted Hernán Cortés to hold the ruler of the Aztecs hostage was because Cortés received news that some Aztecs had attacked his men. The second and more likely reason is that Cortés wanted more gold for himself.

In 1520, Governor Veláquez sent a number of ships, which were under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez, to relieve Cortés of his command in Mexico. Narváez sailed to Mexico with about a thousand men. While Cortes held Tenochititlán as a prisoner, Cortés was able to rule the entire Aztec people.

Cortés captures Tenochtitlán

About 200 men to stayed behind stay behind in Tenochtitlán while Cortés marched the rest of his men to face off with Pánfilo de Narváez. Even though Narváez had the numerical advantage, Cortés was still able to hand Narváez a crushing defeat. The remaining men of Narváez surrendered and joined Cortes. Now with a relatively bigger troop numbers, Cortes headed back to Tenochtitlán.

Upon arriving, he found the city in a state of civil rife. His lieutenant that he had left behind did a poor job of keeping the peace and order. There was even a massacre in the Great Temple. Shortly after that the people rebelled. In the heat of this rebellion, Moctezuma was murdered on July 1, 1520. The Aztecs became hostile, forcing Cortés to leave the city. He escaped to Tlaxcala. While retreating, he lost about 870 men, as well as a great deal of his looted gold and other treasures.

Majority of the Aztecs had grown fed up with their rulers. In addition to this, many of them were blighted by smallpox that the Europeans brought along with them. Realizing this, Cortés capitalized on the situation and took control of the city in the name of the Crown. After conquering the city, he renamed it Mexico City. He built Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlán.

From 1521-1524, he served as governor of the city. During his reign, Cortés may have been treated unfairly by the Spanish Empire. His work for the Crown was disregarded. His role in the colonization of the New World was watered down by his critics, including Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego Columbus and Francisco Garay. Veláquez, in particular, did not want Cortes to be governor in Mexico. He worked hard to convince King Charles V of Spain. The king then moved Cortés from civilian duties by promoting him to captain-general.

Some say Cortes acted too entitled and may have been a very vain governor. On so many occasions, he disobeyed to orders of the Crown.

King Charles appointed him as governor, captain general and chief justice of the newly conquered territories in the New World. However, the king kept an eye on him by appointing royals to be his assistant. For his conquests in Mexico, the Spanish Crown rewarded Cortes with a coat of arms.

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Hernando Cortes crest from Charles V

Honduras Expedition

From 1524 to 1526, Cortes waged war with Cristóbal de Olid – the man who claimed Honduras for himself. Cortes emerged the victor. He pointed finger at Velázquez for his alleged role in Olid’s rebellion. Hence Cortés implored King Charles to arrest Velázquez on the charges of treason.

After his exploits in Honduras, Cortes returned to Mexico only to find out that his power base had been eroded. He quickly headed for Spain to beseech King Charles. However, Charles’ paid little attention to the political situation in the New World. All the king cared about was his quinto, i.e. taxes from the American colonies. Charles did however confer the order of Santiago on Cortés in 1529. Cortés also received the title of Marquis of the Oaxaca (Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca ) . On his way back to Mexico, Charles made him in charge of the army in Mexico.

Later Life and Death

Although his governorship position had been taken away from him, Cortés still wielded some amount of power in Mexico. For example he was still able to embark on a number of minor expeditions. In one such expedition, he discovered Baja California Peninsula in 1536.  

With his civil authority stripped from him, Cortés’s influence in the New World waned. In 1541, he went back to Spain to attend to some problems concerning his estates.

Hernán Cortés spent a fortune during his expeditions in the Americas and conquest of Mexico. He tried desperately to get back most of the money he spent from the Spanish Crown, but to no avail.

He spent his later years not as wealthy as he used to be when he was the governor of Mexico. Feeling neglected in Spain, he decided to give Mexico a shot again. However, he was struck down with dysentery in the course of his preparations. On December 2, 1547, the famous Spanish conqueror of Mexico died in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Seville Province. He was 62.

Before he was eventually buried at Hospital de Jesus in Mexico City, his body was moved about eight times.

What was Hernán Cortés’s legacy?

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

Hernán Cortés (1485 – 1547)

Over the centuries, Hernán Cortés has been scorned by many due to his involvement in years of abuse, killings and devastation amongst the natives in the Americas. In his defense, some historians have stated that his was pretty much the norm during Europeans’ conquest of the Americas. Regardless of this, Cortés cannot be excused from all the atrocities that he committed.

Cortés, like many of his fellow conquistadors, was responsible for infecting (unknowingly) the natives with terrible diseases such as smallpox, which killed millions of indigenous people.

Another brutal act of Cortés came in the form of mass conversion of the indigenous peoples into Christianity. He asked for several friars to be sent from Spain to Mexico. He was particularly cautious in doing so. He made sure that only friars, instead of secular priest or diocesan, performed the conversion.

Did you know : The Gulf of California used to be called the Sea of Cortes ?

From the perspective of the Spanish Empire, he was hailed as a hero. Owing to his efforts, the Crown was able to stretch its tentacles wide and far into the Americas. Those new found territories brought unimaginable riches and prosperity to Spain.

Cortés certainly goes down in history as founder and builder of Mexico City. Although one mention of his name still elicits scorn and disgust from many people in Mexico today, Hernán Cortés undoubtedly occupies a unique and prestigious place in the history of both Mexico and Spain.

Personal life and family

All in all, Hernando Cortés is believed to have fathered quite a lot of children. He married twice. His first wife, Catalina Suárez, died under mysterious circumstances in November 1522. There were rumors floating about that Cortés was responsible. In any case, Catalina bore no children with Hernán Cortés.

In 1529, he got married to Doña Juana de Zúñiga. Unlike his first wife (Catalina), Cortés’s second wife was from a noble family. The couple gave birth to a son called Martín, who would become his heir and successor. Additionally, he had three daughters—Maria, Catalina, and Juana.

With regards to his illegitimate children, it is believed that he had several of them with the natives in Cuba and Mexico. He even worked tirelessly to have the Pope legitimize four of his illegitimate children. In his will, he was also generous to his surviving children, including the illegitimate ones and their mothers.

FACT CHECK : At worldhistoryedu.com, we strive for utmost accuracy and objectivity. But if you come across something that doesn’t look right, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

Tags: Aztec Empire Cuba Hernán Cortés Mexico Mexico City Moctezuma Spanish Conquistadors Tenochtitlán The New World Velázquez de Cuéllar

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Ten Facts About Hernan Cortes

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Hernan Cortes (1485–1547) was a Spanish conquistador and the leader of the expedition which brought down the mighty Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521. Cortes was a ruthless leader whose ambition was matched only by his conviction that he could bring the Indigenous peoples of Mexico to the Kingdom of Spain and Christianity, and make himself fabulously wealthy in the process. As a controversial historical figure, there are many myths about Hernan Cortes. What's the truth about history's most legendary conquistador?

He Wasn't Supposed to Go on His Historical Expedition

In 1518, Governor Diego Velazquez of Cuba outfitted an expedition to the mainland and selected Hernan Cortes to lead it. The expedition was to explore the coastline, make contact with Indigenous peoples, perhaps engage in some trade, and then return to Cuba. As Cortes made his plans, however, it was clear that he was planning a mission of conquest and settlement. Velazquez tried to remove Cortes, but the ambitious conquistador hurriedly set sail before his old partner could remove him from command. Eventually, Cortes was forced to repay Velazquez' investment in the venture, but not cut him in on the fabulous wealth the Spaniards found in Mexico.

He Had a Knack for Legality

Had Cortes not become a soldier and conquistador, he would have made a fine lawyer. During Cortes' day, Spain had a very complicated legal system, and Cortes often used it to his advantage. When he left Cuba, he was in a partnership with Diego Velazquez, but he didn't feel that the terms suited him. When he landed near present-day Veracruz, he followed the legal steps to found a municipality and "elected" his friends as the officials. They, in turn, canceled his previous partnership and authorized him to explore Mexico. Later, he coerced his captive Montezuma to verbally accept the King of Spain as his master. With Montezuma an official vassal of the king, any Mexican fighting the Spanish was technically a rebel and could be dealt with harshly.  

He Didn't Burn His Ships

A popular legend says that Hernan Cortes burned his ships in Veracruz after landing his men, signaling his intention to conquer the Aztec Empire or die trying. In fact, he did not burn them, but he did dismantle them because he wanted to keep the important parts. These came in handy later in the Valley of Mexico, when he had to build some brigantines on Lake Texcoco to begin the siege of Tenochtitlan.

He Had a Secret Weapon: Malinche

Forget cannons, guns, swords, and crossbows - Cortes' secret weapon was a teenage girl he had picked up in the Maya lands before marching on Tenochtitlan. While visiting the town of Potonchan, Cortes was gifted 20 women by the local lord. One of them was Malinali, who as a girl had lived in a Nahuatl-speaking land. Therefore, she spoke both Maya and Nahuatl. She could converse with the Spanish through a man named Aguilar who had lived among the Maya. But " Malinche ," as she came to be known, was far more valuable than that. Although she was essentially enslaved, she became a trusted advisor to Cortes, advising him when treachery was afoot and she saved the Spanish on more than one occasion from Aztec plots. 

His Allies Won the War for Him

While he was on his way to Tenochtitlan, Cortes and his men passed through the lands of the Tlaxcalans, traditional enemies of the mighty Aztecs. The fierce Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish invaders bitterly and although they wore them down, they found that they could not defeat these intruders. The Tlaxcalans sued for peace and welcomed the Spanish into their capital city. There, Cortes forged an alliance with the Tlaxcalans which would pay off handsomely for the Spanish. Henceforth, the Spanish invasion was supported by thousands of doughty warriors who hated the Mexica and their allies. After the Night of Sorrows, the Spanish regrouped in Tlaxcala. It is not an exaggeration to say that Cortes would never have succeeded without his Tlaxcalan allies.

He Lost the Treasure of Montezuma

Cortes and his men occupied Tenochtitlan in November of 1519 and immediately began badgering Montezuma and the Aztec nobles for gold. They had already collected a great deal on their way there, and by June of 1520,​ they had amassed an estimated eight tons of gold and silver. After Montezuma's death, they were forced to flee the city on a night remembered by the Spanish as the Night of Sorrows because half of them were killed by angry Mexica warriors. They managed to get some of the treasure out of the city, but most of it was lost and never recovered.

But What He Didn't Lose, He Kept for Himself

When Tenochtitlan was finally conquered once and for all in 1521, Cortes and his surviving men divided up their ill-gotten loot. After Cortes took out the royal fifth, his own fifth and made generous, questionable "payments" to many of his cronies, there was precious little left for his men, most of whom received fewer than 200 pesos apiece. It was an insulting sum for brave men who had risked their lives time and again, and most of them spent the rest of their lives believing that Cortes had hidden a vast fortune from them. Historical accounts seem to indicate that they were correct: Cortes most likely cheated not only his men but the king himself, failing to declare all of the treasure and not sending the king his rightful 20% under Spanish law.

He Probably Murdered His Wife

In 1522, after finally conquering the Aztec Empire, Cortes received an unexpected visitor: his wife, Catalina Suárez, whom he had left behind in Cuba. Catalina could not have been pleased to see her husband with another woman, but she remained in Mexico anyway. On November 1, 1522, Cortes hosted a party at his home at which Catalina is alleged to have angered him by making comments about the Indigenous peoples. She died that very night, and Cortes put out the story that she had a bad heart. Many suspected that he actually killed her. Indeed, some of the evidence suggests that he did, such as servants in his home that saw bruise marks on her neck after death and the fact that she had repeatedly told her friends that he treated her violently. Criminal charges were dropped, but Cortes lost a civil case and had to pay off his deceased wife's family.

The Conquest of Tenochtitlan Was Not the End of His Career

Hernan Cortes' audacious conquest made him famous and rich. He was made Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley and he built himself a fortified palace which can still be visited in Cuernavaca. He returned to Spain and met the king. When the king didn't recognize him right away, Cortes said: "I am the one who gave you more kingdoms than you had towns before." He became governor of New Spain (Mexico) and led a disastrous expedition to Honduras in 1524. He also personally led expeditions of exploration in western Mexico, seeking a strait which would connect the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. He returned to Spain and died there in 1547.​

Modern Mexicans Despise Him

Many modern Mexicans do not see the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 as bringers of civilization, modernity or Christianity: rather, they think the conquistadors were a brutal gang of cutthroats who plundered the rich culture of central Mexico. They may admire Cortes' audacity or courage, but they find his cultural genocide abominable. There are no major monuments to Cortes anywhere in Mexico, but heroic statues of Cuitlahuac and Cuauhtémoc, two Mexica Emperors who fought bitterly against the Spanish invaders, grace the beautiful avenues of modern Mexico City.

  • Important Events in the Conquest of the Aztec Empire
  • The Conquest of the Aztec Empire
  • 8 Important Figures in the Conquest of the Aztec Empire
  • Hernan Cortes and His Tlaxcalan Allies
  • Biography of Malinche, Enslaved Woman and Interpreter to Hernán Cortés
  • Hernan Cortes and His Captains
  • Timeline of Hernan Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs
  • Treasure of the Ancient Aztecs
  • 10 Facts About Aztec Leader Montezuma
  • Biography of Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, Conquistador
  • The Death of Emperor Montezuma
  • The Cholula Massacre
  • Biography of Hernán Cortés, Ruthless Conquistador
  • The Night of Sorrows
  • Biography of Hernando Cortez
  • Ten Facts About Pedro de Alvarado

Hernán Cortés (1485-1547)

Cortés also spelled Cortéz Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (1519�21) and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

Cortés was the son of Mart�n Cortés de Monroy and of Do�a Catalina Pizarro Altamarino—names of ancient lineage. "They had little wealth, but much honour," according to Cortés's secretary, Francisco López de Gómara, who tells how, at age 14, the young Hernán was sent to study at Salamanca, in west-central Spain, "because he was very intelligent and clever in everything he did." Gómara went on to describe him as ruthless, haughty, mischievous, and quarrelsome, "a source of trouble to his parents." Certainly he was "much given to women," frustrated by provincial life, and excited by stories of the Indies Columbus had just discovered. He set out for the east coast port of Valencia with the idea of serving in the Italian wars, but instead he "wandered idly about for nearly a year." Clearly Spain's southern ports, with ships coming in full of the wealth and colour of the Indies, proved a greater attraction. He finally sailed for the island of Hispaniola (now Santo Domingo) in 1504. He was then 19.

Years in Hispaniola and Cuba

In Hispaniola he became a farmer and notary to a town council; for the first six years or so, he seems to have been content to establish his position. He contracted syphilis and, as a result, missed the ill-fated expeditions of Diego de Nicuesa and Alonso de Ojeda, which sailed for the South American mainland in 1509. By 1511 he had recovered, and he sailed with Diego Velázquez to conquer Cuba. There Velázquez was appointed governor, and Cortés clerk to the treasurer. Cortés received a repartimiento (gift of land and Indian slaves) and the first house in the new capital of Santiago. He was now in a position of some power and the man to whom dissident elements in the colony began to turn for leadership.

Cortés was twice elected alcalde ("mayor") of the town of Santiago and was a man who "in all he did, in his presence, bearing, conversation, manner of eating and of dressing, gave signs of being a great lord." It was therefore to Cortés that Velázquez turned when, after news had come of the progress of Juan de Grijalba's efforts to establish a colony on the mainland, it was decided to send him help. An agreement appointing Cortés captain general of a new expedition was signed in October 1518. Experience of the rough-and-tumble of New World politics advised Cortés to move fast, before Velázquez changed his mind. His sense of the dramatic, his long experience as an administrator, the knowledge gained from so many failed expeditions, above all his ability as a speaker gathered to him six ships and 300 men, all in less than a month. The reaction of Velázquez was predictable; his jealousy aroused, he resolved to place leadership of the expedition in other hands. Cortés, however, put hastily to sea to raise more men and ships in other Cuban ports.

The expedition to Mexico

When Cortés finally sailed for the coast of Yucatán on February 18, 1519, he had 11 ships, 508 soldiers, about 100 sailors, and—most important—16 horses. In March 1519 he landed at Tabasco, where he stayed for a time in order to gain intelligence from the local Indians. He won them over and received presents from them, including 20 women, one of whom, Marina ("Malinche"), became his mistress and interpreter and bore him a son, Mart�n. Cortés sailed to another spot on the southeastern Mexican coast and founded Veracruz, mainly to have himself elected captain general and chief justice by his soldiers as citizens, thus shaking off the authority of Velázquez. On the mainland Cortés did what no other expedition leader had done: he exercised and disciplined his army, welding it into a cohesive force. But the ultimate expression of his determination to deal with disaffection occurred when he burned his ships. By that single action he committed himself and his entire force to survival by conquest.

Cortés then set out for the Mexican interior, relying sometimes on force, sometimes on amity toward the local Indian peoples, but always careful to keep conflict with them to a strict minimum. The key to Cortés's subsequent conquests lay in the political crisis within the Aztec empire; the Aztecs were bitterly resented by many of the subject peoples who had to pay tribute to them. The ability of Cortés as a leader is nowhere more apparent than in his quick grasp of the situation—a grasp that was ultimately to give him more than 200,000 Indian allies. The nation of Tlaxcala, for instance, which was in a state of chronic war with Montezuma, ruler of the Aztec empire of Mexico, resisted Cortés at first but when defeated became his most faithful ally. Rejecting all of Montezuma's threats and blandishments to keep him away from Tenochtitlán or Mexico, the capital (rebuilt as Mexico City after 1521), Cortés entered the city on November 8, 1519, with his small Spanish force and only 1,000 Tlaxcaltecs. Montezuma, believing him to incarnate the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, received him with great honour. Cortés soon decided to seize Montezuma in order to hold the country through its monarch and achieve not only its political conquest but its religious conversion. Marina worked on the complicated, enigmatic mind of Montezuma so subtly that he finally became the voluntary prisoner of her master. With this stroke Cortés became the master of Tenochtitlán.

Spanish politics and envy, however, were to bedevil Cortés throughout his meteoric career. Cortés soon heard of the arrival of a Spanish force from Cuba, led by Pánfilo Narváez, to deprive Cortés of his command at a time (mid-1520) when he was holding the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán by little more than the force of his personality. Leaving a garrison in Tenochtitlán of 80 Spaniards and a few hundred Tlaxcaltecs commanded by his most reckless captain, Pedro de Alvarado, Cortés marched against Narváez, defeated him, and enlisted his army in his own forces. On his return, he found the Spanish garrison in Tenochtitlán besieged by the Aztecs after Alvarado had massacred many leading Aztec chiefs during a festival. Hard pressed and lacking food, Cortés decided to leave the city by night. The Spaniards' retreat from the capital was performed, but with a heavy loss in lives and most of the treasure they had accumulated. After six days of retreat Cortés won the battle of Otumba over the Aztecs sent in pursuit (July 7, 1520).

Cortés eventually rejoined his Tlaxcalan allies and reorganized his forces before again marching on Tenochtitlán in December 1520. After subduing the neighbouring territories he laid siege to the city itself, conquering it street by street until its capture was completed on August 13, 1521. This victory marked the fall of the Aztec empire. Cortés had become the absolute ruler of a huge territory extending from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

In the meantime, Velázquez was mounting an insidious political attack on Cortés in Spain through Bishop Juan Rodr�guez de Fonseca and the Council of the Indies. Fully conscious of the vulnerability of a successful conqueror whose field of operations was 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from the centre of political power, Cortés countered with lengthy and detailed dispatches—five remarkable letters to the Spanish king Charles V. His acceptance by the Indians and even his popularity as a relatively benign ruler was such that he could have established Mexico as an independent kingdom. Indeed, this is what the Council of the Indies feared. But his upbringing in a feudal world in which the king commanded absolute allegiance was against it.

Later years

In 1524 his restless urge to explore and conquer took him south to the jungles of Honduras. The two arduous years he spent on this disastrous expedition damaged his health and his position. His property was seized by the officials he had left in charge, and reports of the cruelty of their administration and the chaos it created aroused concern in Spain. Cortés's fifth letter to the Spanish king attempts to justify his reckless behaviour and concludes with a bitter attack on "various and powerful rivals and enemies" who have "obscured the eyes of your Majesty." But it was his misfortune that he was not dealing simply with a king of Spain but with an emperor who ruled most of Europe and who had little time for distant colonies, except insofar as they contributed to his treasury. The Spanish bureaucrats sent out a commission of inquiry under Luis Ponce de León, and, when he died almost immediately, Cortés was accused of poisoning him and was forced to retire to his estate.

In 1528 Cortés sailed for Spain to plead his cause in person with the king. He brought with him a great wealth of treasure and a magnificent entourage. He was received by Charles at his court at Toledo, confirmed as captain general (but not as governor), and created marqués del Valle. He also remarried, into a ducal family. He returned to New Spain in 1530 to find the country in a state of anarchy and so many accusations made against him—even that he had murdered his first wife, Catalina, who had died that year—that, after reasserting his position and reestablishing some sort of order, he retired to his estates at Cuernavaca, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Mexico City. There he concentrated on the building of his palace and on Pacific exploration.

Finally a viceroy was appointed, after which, in 1540, Cortés returned to Spain. By then he had become thoroughly disillusioned, his life made miserable by litigation. All the rest is anticlimax. "I am old, poor and in debt . . . again and again I have begged your Majesty. . . ." In the end he was permitted to return to Mexico, but he died before he had even reached Sevilla (Seville). (Ralph Hammond Innes, Encyclopaedia Britannica Article)

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Navigate between maps, north america 1519: cortés’ expedition to mexico.

Political map of North America & the Caribbean on 22 Apr 1519 (The Conquistadors: Cortés’ expedition to Mexico), showing the following events: Grijalva’s first expedition; Cortés’ expedition to Mexico; Hispaniola Smallpox Epidemic; Santa María de la Victoria; De Pineda’s expedition; Foundation of Veracruz.

Jan–?? 1518 Grijalva explores southern Gulf of Mexico

18 Nov 1518–22 Apr 1519 Cortés leads expedition from Cuba to Mexico

Dec 1518–May 1519 Smallpox devastates Taíno population of Hispaniola

Mar 1519 Cortés founds Santa María de la Victoria

Mar 1519–Jan 1520 De Pineda explores northern Gulf of Mexico

22 Apr 1519 Cortés founds Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz

22 April 1519

Conquistadors, north america, cortés’ expedition to mexico.

In 1518 and 1519 the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Santiago (Jamaica) sent expeditions to explore the Gulf of Mexico , establishing its extent and discovering the Aztec Empire . In late 1518 Governor Velázquez of Cuba gave the magistrate Hernán Cortés command of a follow-up expedition to secure a foothold on the mainland, but the ambitious Cortés soon broke away from Velázquez’s authority, gathering over 500 adventurers to join him. Sailing to Mexico, he established the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Veracruz) on the coast of the Aztec Empire in April 1519.

Main Events

Jan– 1518 grijalva’s first expedition ▲.

In January 1518 Velázquez de Cuéllar, the Spanish governor of Cuba, sent his 28-year-old nephew Juan de Grijalva on an expedition to explore the lands recently discovered by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. With four ships and over two hundred men, Grijalva sighted Cozumel island on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in May, before traveling west to defeat the Maya of Chakán Putum in battle, discover the land of Tabasco, and briefly visit the previously-unknown Aztec Empire in June. Grijalva then continued north as far as Cabo Rojo before returning to Cuba, where he was reprimanded for not establishing any colonies. in wikipedia

18 Nov 1518–22 Apr 1519 Cortés’ expedition to Mexico ▲

In October 1518 Governor Velázquez of Cuba appointed the 34-year-old magistrate Hernán Cortés to lead an expedition to secure a foothold in Mexico. Cortés quickly mustered seven ships and more than 300 volunteers, leaving Santiago de Cuba in November in the face of Velázquez’s alarmed attempts to recall and replace him. Traveling to western Cuba, Cortés gathered more followers—11 vessels, 530 troops, 50 sailors, 16 horses, and 14 large artillery in total—before proceeding to Yucatán and then westwards along the coast. In April 1519 he landed on the mainland near the island of San Juan de Ullúa, where he was greeted by the local Totonac people, subjects of the Aztec Empire. in wikipedia

Dec 1518–May 1519 Hispaniola Smallpox Epidemic ▲

In December 1518 smallpox was noticed among the African slaves working in the mines of Hispaniola; the disease soon spread to the island’s indigenous Taíno population, who had no natural immunity. By May 1519 up to a third of Hispaniola’s Taíno had died from smallpox and the epidemic was already raging in the neighboring islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. in wikipedia

25 Mar 1519 Santa María de la Victoria ▲

In March 1519 Hernán Cortés landed outside the Chontal Maya town of Potonchán, where he located a ship that had become separated from his fleet during an earlier storm. When negotiations broke down, the Spaniards used their horses and artillery to defeat the Maya at the Battle of Centla, destroying Potonchán and founding the village of Santa María de la Victoria in its place. As tribute, the Maya gave Cortés a number of slaves, including a woman, Malinche, who would soon become his translator and counselor (and later gave birth to his first son). Shortly after Cortés left, the Maya besieged Santa María de la Victoria; it would remain in a precarious situation until the Spanish conquest of Tabasco in 1528–37. in wikipedia

Mar 1519–Jan 1520 De Pineda’s expedition ▲

In March 1519 Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, financed by Governor Francisco de Garay of Santiago (Jamaica), set sail for Florida with four ships and 270 men. Pushed west by winds, de Pineda explored the mouth of a great and deep river—either the Mississippi or Mobile Bay and the Alabama River—before traveling along the coast from Texas to central Mexico. When he arrived in Veracruz, Hernán Cortés—who had arrived shortly beforehand—threatened him with arrest. De Pineda fled north to Huastec country, where he and all but 60 of his crew were massacred just before a relief expedition reached them in early 1520. in wikipedia

22 Apr 1519 Foundation of Veracruz ▲

Landing in Totonac land, part of the Aztec Empire, on Good Friday 1519, Hernán Cortés founded a settlement of palm huts as Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (literally “Rich Town of the True Cross”). He then resigned as captain general of his expedition and established himself as mayor of the new town—a series of legal maneuvers which allowed Cortés to cut ties with Velázquez’s government in Cuba and report directly to the Spanish king. Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz would soon become known as Veracruz, Mexico’s most important port. in wikipedia

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Hernan Cortes and the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

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Conquest of mexico.

  • ... Hernán Cortes was one of the most famous colonizers of America?
  • ... Cortes got most of his information about the situation in the interior of Mexico through an Indian girl named Marina, from the royal family Malitzin, who also became his mistress and bore him a son?
  • ... the son of Cortes and Marina, Don Martin Cortes, later became a Knight of the Order of St. Jacob?
  • ... Cortes discovered the extensive lands of Mexico and Central America, from which Spanish influence subsequently spread both to the south and the north?
  • ... Cortes also discovered the Baja California peninsula?
  • ... Cortes learned about the wealth of the Aztec empire from natives of the conquered city of Tabasco?
  • ... Hernán Cortes was buried in the Cathedral of Jesus of Nazareth in Mexico City, and  his skeleton was lost in the year 1823?
  • ... in all the allied lands of Mexico, Cortes used respected men from royal Indian families as his confidants, rather than Spaniards?
  • ... in the conquest of Tabasco, the Spaniards were greatly helped by the unusual (for Indians) sight of men on horseback?
  • ... Montezuma gave Cortes an embroidered cloth map of Mexico, which Cortes used to get a very accurate picture of the extent of the Aztec empire?
  • The expedition departed February 18 th , 1519 and Cortes left Mexico in 1528.
  • Cortes' expedition to Mexico numbered 11 ships, 400 Spaniards, 200 Indians, 20 mounted horsemen and 14 small cannon with service personnel.
  • In the battle for Tenochtitlan, Cortes lost more than half his men, most of his horses and all his cannon.
  • As a consequence of Cortes' invasion, the population of Mexico dropped from 25 million in 1519 to a bare 2 million in 1568.

Acting on information from the seafarers Córdoba and Grijalva, Cortes organized an expedition, which left Santiago de Cuba in February 18 th , 1519. The fleet approached the shore of Yucatan, near the island of Cozumel and sailed along to Tabasco, where they landed on March 14 th . The Spaniards attacked and conquered the city. On April 20 th , Cortes disembarked near the island of San Juan de Ullos, close to the site of the present day city of Veracruz.. Here he founded the settlement Villa Rica de le Vera Cruz.. Afterwards, Cortes embarked on a trip into the interior, where he allied himself with the Tlaxcalans and Totonacs (who accepted the Spanish rule) and without the use of force, marched to Tenochtitlan, where he settled. Cortes captured Montezuma II here. An uprising of Aztecs broke out in the capital city of Tenochtitlan. On July 2 nd , 1520, Cortes was forced to abandon Tenochtitlan in the face of overwhelming Aztec force. During this fight he lost more than half his army, most of his horses, and all of his cannon and stolen treasure. Montezuma was injured by a rock thrown by an Aztec warrior and died soon after. August 13 th , 1521, after a difficult battle, Cortes once again conquered Tenochtitlan and captured the new king Cuauhtémoc. In 1522, Emperor Charles V named Cortes the governor, chief judge and general of the newly conquered lands, called New Mexico (Nueva Espaňa). In 1528, Cortes left Mexico, for his first return voyage to Spain.  In 1530 he returned to Mexico, where he remained for 11 years, during which time he explored Baja California. . Cortes second and final return voyage to Spain happened in 1541, and he died in Spain in 1548.  After his death Cortes body was transferred to Mexico in 1566.

497 years ago today, Hernán Cortes arrived in Mexico (for better or worse)

If you were around 497 years ago today (March 4, 1519), you would have witnessed a truly historic event that forever altered life in what eventually would become the modern nation of Mexico. Here is a commentary by historian Dr. Matthew Partridge.

Loosely defined, the historical Age of Exploration lasted for 200 years, from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the first attempt to chart Australia in 1644. In all that time, the explorer who arguably made the biggest impact was Hernan Cortes. He was born in 1485 to an impoverished noble family. He trained as a notary before sailing to Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic) as a colonist in 1504. After becoming the colony’s notary, he played a key role in the conquest of Cuba in 1511.

In 1518, he embarked on an expedition to conquer the interior of Mexico. He arrived in 1519 with 500 soldiers. By July, he had removed himself from the Cuban governor’s authority, scuttling his ships to prevent his army from retreating. He marched on Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire. Emperor Montezuma II, facing a huge force that had been swollen by tribes who were hostile to him, welcomed Cortes into the capital and showered him with gifts. This generosity merely confirmed Cortes’s hopes that Mexico held a vast amount of gold.

Spaniard Hernán Cortes (1485-1547) landed at Tabasco in March 1519. (legadohistoria.blogspot.com)

On entering the capital, Cortes seized power and made Montezuma his puppet. A rebellion against his rule – during which Montezuma was killed – failed and Cortes formally subjugated the country on 13 August 1521, ending the Aztec Empire. King Charles I of Spain rewarded Cortes with titles, but the monarch also sent other officials to keep him under control.

As it was, the Aztec subjugation marked the high point of Cortes’s career. Subsequent expeditions to Honduras and northern Mexico were financial disasters. Cortes died in Spain in 1547, heavily indebted, while awaiting a return voyage to Mexico. However, his conquest of Mexico laid the ground for Spanish control over Latin America, which continued until the beginning of the 19th century.

By Dr Matthew Partridge for MoneyWeek

Source: moneyweek.com

hernan cortes voyage to mexico

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Why Did Cortes Go to Mexico: Unraveling the Motives Behind His Journey

Why Did Cortes Go to Mexico: Unraveling the Motives Behind His Journey

Short answer why did Cortes go to Mexico: Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, went to Mexico in 1519 with the aim of expanding Spain’s colonial empire, seeking wealth and power, converting indigenous peoples to Christianity, and fulfilling his personal ambition for fame and riches.

The Intriguing Motivations of Cortes: Unveiling the Mystery Behind His Journey to Mexico

Unraveling the Epic Quest: A Step-by-Step Analysis of Why Cortes Set Foot in Mexico

Delving into History: FAQ on Why Did Cortes Go to Mexico and Its Impact on World History

Decoding Cortes’ Ambitions: Understanding How and Why He Chose to Explore Mexico

Behind the Conquistador’s Expedition: Exploring the Hidden Factors that Drove Cortes to Mexico

From curiosity to conquest: tracing cortes’ path as we investigate why he went to mexico.

We all know the name Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that led to the fall of the mighty Aztec Empire. But have you ever wondered what exactly drove this ambitious and enigmatic man to take on such a daring and treacherous journey? Join us as we delve into the depths of history to unveil the mystery behind Cortés’ motivations.

To truly understand Cortés, we must first examine the historical context in which he lived. It was an era characterized by explorations and conquests, fueled by a thirst for wealth, power, and glory. Spain, one of the major players in this race for dominance, sought new territories to expand their empire beyond Europe’s boundaries. This sets the stage for Cortés’ determination to make his mark on history.

One cannot overlook one crucial motivation: greed. The allure of gold and riches undoubtedly played a significant role in driving Cortés towards Mexico. The tales of unimaginable wealth adorned with precious gemstones circulating throughout Europe mesmerized him, igniting a burning desire to claim those treasures for himself and fulfill his dreams of fortune.

However, it would be simplistic to attribute Cortés’ motives solely to greed. A deeper dive reveals complex layers beneath his ambitions. As an ambitious young man from Extremadura, Spain—a region known for producing tough and resilient individuals—Cortés longed for fame and recognition. He craved validation from his peers and superiors alike; he yearned not just for material success but also for prestige amongst fellow conquistadors.

In addition to these personal aspirations, religious fervor played a profound role in shaping Cortés’ motivations. During this period rife with religious conflicts between Catholicism and Protestantism, many Spaniards saw themselves as soldiers fighting a holy war against infidels. For Cortés, the conquest of Mexico provided an opportunity to bring Christianity to a land perceived as pagan, thus fulfilling what he believed to be his divine mission.

Yet, it would be remiss to overlook the role of sheer audacity in Cortés’ motivations. The sheer audacity to challenge authority and defy orders from Diego Velázquez, the Governor of Cuba who originally sent him on a mission. Instead of settling for the assigned task, Cortés took matters into his own hands, defying direct orders and setting out on his own adventure. This insubordination reveals a man driven by an unyielding determination to go above and beyond expectations.

As we piece together these fragments of historical evidence, we begin to unravel the enigma that is Hernán Cortés. While material wealth undoubtedly played a significant role in motivating his journey to Mexico, it is clear that his ambitions encompassed far more than mere greed. Cortés longed for fame, validation, and divine purpose—a quest that simultaneously propelled him towards success and plunged him into moral ambiguity.

In conclusion, Hernán Cortés’ motivations for embarking on his perilous journey to Mexico were indeed multifaceted and intriguing. From his desire for unimaginable wealth and personal recognition to religious zealotry and audacious defiance of authority—the true motives behind this conquistador’s actions can never be fully captured in just one lens. It is within this complex tapestry that we find glimpses of greatness intertwined with shadows of ambition—forever etching Hernán Cortés’ name in history’s annals as both hero and villain.

The conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés stands as a monumental event in history, forever altering the course of the Americas. The audacity and determination displayed by this Spanish conquistador have fascinated scholars and history enthusiasts for centuries. However, behind the facade of glory and adventure lies a complex web of motivations and circumstances that led Cortés to embark on his daring expedition. In this blog post, we will delve into a detailed, professional analysis to unravel the epic quest and uncover why Cortés set foot in Mexico.

To fully comprehend Cortés’ ambition, we must first understand the geopolitical landscape of early 16th-century Europe. The time period was marked by intense rivalries between major European powers – Spain being one of them – seeking new territories to extend their influence and extract wealth. Exploration had become an integral part of expanding empires, with notable achievements such as Christopher Columbus’ voyages energizing Spain’s appetite for discovery.

Cortés himself was undoubtedly influenced by these prevailing winds of exploration and imperialism. As a young man growing up in a society driven by tales of fortune from New World conquests, he undoubtedly harbored dreams of personal glory and immense wealth. This desire for fame and fortune fueled his decision to join expeditions to Hispaniola, Cuba, and eventually led him towards the Mexican coastline.

However, it would be simplistic to attribute Cortés’ actions solely to personal ambition. Historical evidence suggests that he also operated within a framework defined by geopolitical strategies employed by Spanish authorities at that time. Although initially not supported officially due to political intrigue against him back home from Diego Velázquez – Governor of Cuba – who felt threatened by another ambitious man like Cortes who had his own agenda; some historians argue that Cortés managed to generate significant support among influential figures who saw potential benefits in colonizing Mexico.

The indigenous allies that Cortés acquired along the way further added to his motivations. The complex political landscape of the Aztec Empire, marked by internal rivalries and resentments towards the ruling elite, presented a unique opportunity for Cortés to exploit these divisions. Through skillful diplomacy and clever manipulation, he managed to gather a diverse army consisting not only of Spaniards but also indigenous warriors who envisioned a chance to overthrow their oppressive Aztec overlords.

Another pivotal factor in Cortés’ decision to set foot in Mexico was undoubtedly the allure of unimaginable wealth hidden within its borders. Reports from earlier expeditions suggested that the region known as Tenochtitlan – present-day Mexico City – possessed vast quantities of gold, silver, and other precious treasures. Combined with rumors of priceless artifacts entangled within vibrant indigenous cultures, Cortés’ desire for exploration became intertwined with an insatiable lust for riches.

Cortés’ arrival in Mexico cannot be separated from religious motivations either. Spain during this period was deeply Christianized and driven by a fervent desire to convert non-Christian peoples to Catholicism. In line with this overarching mission, Cortés saw himself as an instrument of divine providence tasked with disseminating Christianity among the “heathen” inhabitants of Mexico – often forcibly at times.

In conclusion, Hernán Cortés’ quest to conquer Mexico encompassed a multitude of interconnected factors spanning personal ambition, geopolitical strategies, alliances with indigenous factions as well as religious zeal. This step-by-step analysis reveals that while glory and riches certainly played their part in driving him forward, larger historical forces were also at play. Understanding these complexities allows us to unravel the intricacies behind one of history’s most epic quests and reflect upon how it shaped both European dominance in the New World and the course of Mexican civilization forevermore.

Few historical figures have ignited as much curiosity and fascination as Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that resulted in the fall of the Aztec Empire. His audacious decision to venture into unknown territory captured the imaginations of countless historians, sparking endless debates about his motives and ambitions. In this blog post, we will delve deep into the enigma surrounding Cortes’ journey to Mexico, exploring frequently asked questions regarding his motivations and uncovering the significant impact it had on world history.

Q: Why did Cortes decide to go to Mexico? A: To fully grasp Cortes’ motivations, one must first understand the historical context of Europe during his time. The Age of Discovery was at its zenith – a period marked by a relentless thirst for exploration, wealth acquisition, and expanding political power. Influenced by this zeitgeist, Cortes yearned for fame and fortune that awaited those daring enough to embark on perilous voyages across uncharted territories. Moreover, rumors of immense wealth in far-off lands intrigued him greatly. Driven by ambition and desirous of proving himself a formidable conquistador, he turned his attention towards Mexico.

Q: What were some specific goals that prompted Cortes’ journey? A: While gold is often perceived as one of his primary objectives (and not without reason), there were other factors at play too. Cortes aimed to spread Christianity among indigenous civilizations – a noble endeavor intertwined with political interests of Spain’s Catholic monarchs. Additionally, he sought to expand Spanish influence across untapped territories in order to assert political dominance over rival European powers like Portugal and France. These intertwined strategies constituted essential driving forces behind his decision.

Q: How did Cortes manage to achieve such remarkable military successes against an empire as powerful as the Aztecs? A: Cortes’ triumph over the Aztecs was not solely due to military prowess; it was a confluence of various factors. Firstly, his alliance with indigenous groups hostile toward the Aztec Empire played a crucial role. These alliances not only provided Cortes with vital intelligence and logistical support but also assisted him in recruiting a formidable native army that helped tilt the balance against the Aztecs. Furthermore, Cortes skillfully exploited political rivalries among local leaders, undermining their unity and sowing seeds of dissent. Superior weaponry, advanced European military tactics, and diseases that devastated the indigenous population were additional factors stacked in Cortes’ favor.

Q: Did Cortes have any lasting impact on world history? A: Undoubtedly! Cortes’ conquest of Mexico marked one of the most pivotal moments in world history. It led to Spain’s colonization and subsequent domination of vast territories in the Americas for centuries to come. This expansion also accelerated Europe’s global influence, spurring further exploration and colonization by other European powers eager to replicate Spain’s successes. The fall of the Aztec Empire reshaped both political and cultural landscapes dramatically, leaving an indelible mark on indigenous cultures while instilling Spanish institutions, language, and religion into Mexican society.

In conclusion, Hernan Cortes’ decision to embark on his audacious journey to Mexico was driven by multifaceted motivations encompassing wealth acquisition, religious zeal, and geopolitical ambitions. Through shrewd alliances and tactful strategies, he successfully toppled the mighty Aztec Empire – an achievement that reverberated across continents and altered world history forever. The enduring legacy of this conqueror reminds us of both the profound impacts individuals can have on shaping historical narratives as well as the complex blend of factors motivating their actions in pursuit of glory.

In the annals of history, there are few individuals whose actions have left an indelible mark on the world as Hernan Cortes did. This intrepid explorer, renowned for his audacious conquest of the Aztec Empire, has captivated scholars and adventurers alike for centuries. While many theories have been posited about Cortes’ motivations and ambitions, unraveling the intricacies behind his decision to explore Mexico requires a deeper understanding of both the man himself and the historical context in which he lived.

Born in Medellin, Spain in 1485, Cortes grew up during a time when Spain was rapidly expanding its influence through overseas exploration. Inspired by tales of discovery and riches coming from newly discovered lands in America, Cortes nurtured a burning desire to make his own mark in this world. This insatiable ambition would eventually lead him to embark on an epic journey that would forever change the course of human history.

Cortes’ decision to explore Mexico was not a casual whim but rather a carefully calculated move rooted in a combination of personal aspirations and political circumstances. At that time, Mexico was under the rule of Moctezuma II, the formidable emperor of the Aztec Empire. Fueled by reports of untold wealth and grandeur within this civilization, Cortes saw an opportunity to carve out immense fame and fortune for himself.

However, it is important to note that Cortes did not set sail alone; he had essential support from Spanish leadership who recognized Mexico as a potential source of wealth for their empire. With royal backing from King Charles V and financial backing from prominent merchants such as Diego Velazquez, governor of Cuba at the time, Cortes assembled a well-equipped expeditionary force comprising soldiers, sailors, indigenous allies, and craftsmen necessary for colonization.

But why did Cortes choose Mexico specifically? Geography played a significant role in his decision. Located in the heart of Central America, Mexico had abundant natural resources and valuable commodities that were highly sought after in Europe. Cortes believed that by seizing this land and its riches, he could bring immense wealth back to Spain, further solidifying his role as a conquistador worthy of royal favor.

Yet, it wasn’t just material gain that lured Cortes towards Mexico; there was an element of romanticism and curiosity. The tales of advanced civilizations and exotic wonders intrigued him deeply, challenging his adventurous spirit. He was drawn to uncovering the mysteries of this vibrant land with its awe-inspiring temples, sprawling cities, and rich cultural tapestry.

Cortes’ exploration can also be viewed through the lens of imperialism. Spain’s thirst for expansionism fueled their desire to spread Christianity and establish dominance over new territories. Cortes saw himself not only as an explorer but also as a divine instrument tasked with bringing salvation to the indigenous “heathens.” This zealous faith propelled him forward, blurring the lines between evangelization and conquest.

In summary, Hernan Cortes chose to explore Mexico due to a deep-seated ambition for fame and fortune intertwined with political backing from Spanish authorities. The lure of untold riches hidden within the Aztec Empire coupled with grandiose visions of adventure compelled him onward. Moreover, geographical considerations, intellectual curiosity, spiritual zealotry, and the prevailing climate of colonial expansion all combined to shape Cortes’ fateful decision.

Decoding Cortes’ ambitions ultimately requires deciphering both his personal aspirations and the broader historical context in which he operated. By understanding these multifaceted motivations behind his exploration of Mexico, we can gain deeper insight into not only the man himself but also the complex forces that drove European expansion during this transformative era.

Title: Behind the Conquistador’s Expedition: Unveiling the Hidden Factors that Drove Cortes to Mexico

Introduction: The conquest of Mexico by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortes in the early 16th century remains one of history’s most audacious and controversial exploits. While textbooks often focus on the military prowess and strategic genius of Cortes, very little attention is paid to understanding the underlying motivators behind his expedition. Today, we aim to unravel the enigmatic forces that propelled this ambitious explorer towards Mexico. Join us as we delve deep into Cortes’ psyche and explore the hidden factors driving his audacious quest.

1. The Quest for Wealth: It would be remiss not to acknowledge that material gain played a significant role in driving Cortes towards Mexico. With stories of unimaginable riches from earlier expeditions, such as Christopher Columbus’s discovery of gold in the New World, Cortes was enticed by tales of untold fortunes waiting to be claimed. In an era where wealth equated power and prestige, it is no surprise that “El Dorado” became an irresistible lure, pushing him ever closer to Mexican shores.

2. Fame and Glorification: For many conquistadors like Cortes, embarking on conquests was intricately linked with seeking fame and immortalization in history books. The tales of legendary figures like Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar fueled their yearnings for everlasting glory. By conquering new lands and civilizations, they hoped to carve their names indelibly into humanity’s collective memory.

3. Imperialistic Ambitions: Underpinning much of Spain’s explorations during this era was a burgeoning imperialistic drive embedded within European societies. Growing empires craved expansion into uncharted territories as a way to assert dominance over rival nations while spreading religion and culture; Spain was no exception. By extending its reach across vast lands untouched by European influence, Spain sought to consolidate its colonial aspirations and strengthen its global standing.

4. Religious Zeal: The backdrop of Cortes’ expedition cannot be understood without acknowledging the religious fervor prevalent during the Age of Discovery. As a devout Catholic, Cortes was driven by a genuine belief in his divine mission to convert the indigenous population to Christianity. Coupled with a desire to eradicate perceived “pagan” practices, this zealous conviction further propelled his relentless pursuit to reach Mexico’s shores.

5. Personal Ambitions and Rivalries: Behind every conqueror lies an intricate web of personal ambitions and rivalries that shape their destinies. In Cortes’ case, there existed a lingering sense of dissatisfaction from previous expeditions where he felt overlooked and underappreciated by Spanish authorities. His determination to outshine his contemporaries, gain recognition, and solidify his position within Spain’s hierarchy ultimately led him on a collision course with Mexico.

Conclusion: Hernán Cortes’ expedition to Mexico was not merely motivated by simplistic notions of conquest or greed; it was fuelled by a complex interplay of factors intertwining ambition, wealth, fame, imperialism, religion, and personal desires. Acknowledging these often overlooked elements provides us with deeper insight into the motivations behind historical events that continue shaping our world today. By understanding this rich tapestry of hidden factors that drove Cortes towards Mexico, we can reflect on the complexities inherent in exploring human history while pondering the consequences and legacies left behind by audacious explorers like him.

Title: From Curiosity to Conquest: Tracing Cortes’ Path as We Investigate Why He Went to Mexico

Introduction: In the annals of history, few names evoke intrigue and controversy like that of Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who played a vital role in the fall of the Aztec Empire. While his actions are well-documented, what motivated this ambitious explorer to embark on such a perilous journey remains a subject of much debate. In this blog post, we will take you on a captivating adventure as we delve into the mind of Cortes, retracing his footsteps across Mexico and uncovering the profound curiosity and relentless pursuit of conquest that propelled him forward.

Unraveling the Enigma: To truly comprehend why Cortes set foot on Mexican soil in 1519, we must first understand his insatiable curiosity. Born and raised in Spain during an era known for its groundbreaking explorations, he was undoubtedly influenced by tales of Christopher Columbus’ voyages and other great expeditions. Like many adventurers of his time, Cortes yearned to challenge conventional knowledge while seeking fame and fortune.

A Surge for Power: As we begin following Cortes’ path towards Mexico, it becomes increasingly apparent that his motivations extended beyond mere curiosity. Ambition coursed through his veins – an unwavering desire to carve out a legacy for himself, both personally and within the vast Spanish empire. The golden land rumored to lie far beyond Atlantic shores presented an unparalleled opportunity for wealth acquisition – an aspiration many conquerors shared at that time.

The Mythical Attraction: Throughout our journey across Mexico’s rugged landscapes, one cannot overlook the intoxicating allure associated with mythical legends surrounding Montezuma’s splendid empire: Tenochtitlan. This fabled city had captured the imaginations of European explorers long before Cortes set sail. Tales whispered among adventurers spoke of massive temples coated in gold, streets adorned with intricate artwork, and a civilization rich in culture and resources. These rumors undoubtedly stoked Cortes’ curiosity further while adding to his desire for conquest.

The Confluence of Factors: As we dig deeper into Cortes’ motivations, it becomes apparent that numerous factors converged to propel him towards Mexico. A mixture of curiosity, ambition, and the quest for material wealth intertwined with an undercurrent of religious fervor. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella firmly believed that the spread of Christianity was their divine mission. Cortes saw his expedition as an opportunity to not only seek treasure but also convert indigenous populations to his faith – a powerful motive in a time when religious zealotry held significant influence.

Final Thoughts: From fascination to conquest, Hernan Cortes embarked on a journey driven by multifaceted motivations, immerging himself in the unknown lands of Mexico. His thirst for curious exploration blended seamlessly with the insatiable hunger for power inherent in many conquistadors. For some, he remains a hero; for others, a symbol of ruthless colonization. Regardless of one’s viewpoint, retracing Cortes’ path evokes deep reflection on the complexity of human aspirations and the consequences they may bring forth.

In Conclusion: Our investigation into Hernan Cortes’ motivations offers an insight into the mind of this renowned explorer-turned-conquistador. From Spain’s shores to Mexico’s heartland, we have followed his footsteps across history—embarking on an adventure filled with intrigue, power struggles, mythical legends, and personal ambitions. In tracing these paths curiously taken by men like Cortes lies our ability to deepen our understanding of both personal narratives and global impact—the remarkable stories which shape our world today.

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Why Did Cortes Go to Mexico: Unraveling the Motives Behind His Journey

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  1. Hernán Cortés

    Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) traveled to Mexico in 1519, where he eventually overthrew the Aztec empire and helped build Mexico City.

  2. Hernan Cortes

    Hernan Cortes, Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (1519-21) and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. The key to his conquests lay in the political crisis within the Aztec empire; Cortes was able to leverage the resentment of many of the subject peoples who had to pay tribute to the Aztecs.

  3. Hernán Cortés

    Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (/ ɛər ˈ n ɑː n k ɔːr ˈ t ɛ s / air-NAHN kor-TESS; Spanish: [eɾˈnaŋ koɾˈtes ðe monˈroj i piˈθaro altamiˈɾano]; December 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 ...

  4. Hernán Cortés

    Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec empire in 1519 and built Mexico City, which became the Spanish stronghold in the New World. ... Cortés disobeyed Velasquez and set out for Mexico in 1519 to begin his invasion. Voyages Principal Voyage ... Mexico showing the routes followed by Hernan Cortes between 1524-1525. The Mariners' Museum F1230.C8 S4

  5. Hernán Cortés

    (1485-1547) Who Was Hernán Cortés? Born around 1485, Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who defeated the Aztecs and claimed Mexico for Spain.. He first set sail to the New ...

  6. Hernan Cortes Timeline

    Hernán Cortés is born in Medellin, Extremadura, Spain. 1499. Hernán Cortés studies law at the university of Salamanca. 1504. Hernán Cortés sails to the New World and settles on Hispaniola. 1511. Hernán Cortés participates in the Spanish conquest of Cuba. 1519. Veracruz, Mexico is founded by Hernán Cortés .

  7. Hernán Cortés

    Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztec Empire in Mexico from 1519. Taking the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, Cortés plundered Mesoamerica as he became the first ruler of the new colony of New Spain.. Cortés was a gifted leader of men, and he seized every opportunity presented to him in the New World.

  8. Exploring the Early Americas Cortés and the Aztecs

    In 1519, inspired by rumors of gold and the existence of large, sophisticated cities in the Mexican interior, Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) was appointed to head an expedition of eleven ships and five hundred men to Mexico. At that time the great empire of the Mexica—now known as the Aztecs—dominated much of Mesoamerica.

  9. Hernán Cortés conquers the Aztec Empire

    This 18th-century oil painting, part of the Conquest of Mexico series at the Library of Congress, shows Hernán Cortés poised at the gates of the capital of the Aztec Empire. After the expedition ...

  10. How Hernán Cortés Conquered the Aztec Empire

    When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Aztec imperial city in 1519, Mexico-Tenochtitlán was led by Moctezuma II. The city had prospered and was estimated to host a population of between ...

  11. Hernán Cortés: Master of the Conquest

    On Aug. 13, 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés received the surrender of Cuauhtémoc, ruler of the Aztec people. The astonishing handover occurred amid the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the shattered capital of a mighty empire whose influence had stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and extended from central Mexico south into parts of what would become Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

  12. 500 Years Later, The Spanish Conquest Of Mexico Is Still Being ...

    An artistic rendering of the retreat of Hernán Cortés from Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, in 1520. The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to present-day Mexico, landing in 1519. Although ...

  13. Timeline of Hernan Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs

    Timeline of Hernan Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs. 1492: Christopher Columbus Discovers the New World for Europe. 1502: Christopher Columbus, on his Fourth New World Voyage, meets with some advanced traders: they were likely Mayan vassals of the Aztecs. 1517: Francisco Hernández de Córdoba expedition: three ships explore the Yucatan.

  14. Hernán Cortés: Conqueror of the Aztecs

    Hernán Cortés invaded Mexico in 1519 and conquered the Aztec Empire. ... Map with the route of Hernan Cortes exploration of Central America. ... Velázquez canceled the voyage at the last minute ...

  15. Hernán Cortés: History, Life, Accomplishments, & Atrocities Committed

    Expedition to Mexico. In 1518, Cortes was able to convince Velázquez to let him lead an expedition into Mexico. Velázquez accepted his request and gave Cortés his blessings. Just a few months before Cortes's expedition, Velázquez had a change of mind. However, the brave and daring Cortés refused to back down.

  16. Ten Facts About Hernan Cortes

    Updated on November 30, 2020. Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) was a Spanish conquistador and the leader of the expedition which brought down the mighty Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521. Cortes was a ruthless leader whose ambition was matched only by his conviction that he could bring the Indigenous peoples of Mexico to the Kingdom of Spain and ...

  17. Hernán Cortés (1485-1547)

    Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) Cortés also spelled Cortéz Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (1519­21) and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. Cortés was the son of Martín Cortés de Monroy and of Doña Catalina Pizarro Altamarino names of ancient lineage. "They had little wealth, but much honour," according to Cortés's ...

  18. Hernando Cortes Interactive Map

    Click on the world map to view an example of the explorer's voyage. How to Use the Map. After opening the map, click the icon to expand voyage information. You can view each voyage individually or all at once by clicking on the to check or uncheck the voyage information. Click on either the map icons or on the location name in the expanded ...

  19. North America 1519: Cortés' expedition to Mexico

    Historical Map of North America & the Caribbean (22 April 1519 - Cortés' expedition to Mexico: In 1518 and 1519 the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Santiago (Jamaica) sent expeditions to explore the Gulf of Mexico, establishing its extent and discovering the Aztec Empire. In late 1518 Governor Velázquez of Cuba gave the magistrate Hernán Cortés command of a follow-up expedition to secure a ...

  20. Hernan Cortes and the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

    Hernan Cortes Cortes was a hidalgo, a non-royal blooded Spanish noble. In 1502, at the age of 17, Cortes decided to seek his fortune in the New World. In 1504, he arrived in Hispaniola. ... In 1518, Velasques sent Cortes orders to take an expedition to Mexico. Just before the voyage was to begin in 1519, however, some of Cortes's rivals ...

  21. Conquest of Mexico

    In 1528, Cortes left Mexico, for his first return voyage to Spain. In 1530 he returned to Mexico, where he remained for 11 years, during which time he explored Baja California. . Cortes second and final return voyage to Spain happened in 1541, and he died in Spain in 1548. After his death Cortes body was transferred to Mexico in 1566.

  22. 497 years ago today, Hernán Cortes arrived in Mexico (for better or

    Cortes died in Spain in 1547, heavily indebted, while awaiting a return voyage to Mexico. However, his conquest of Mexico laid the ground for Spanish control over Latin America, which continued ...

  23. Why Did Cortes Go to Mexico: Unraveling the Motives Behind His Journey

    Short answer why did Cortes go to Mexico: Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, went to Mexico in 1519 with the aim of expanding Spain's colonial empire, seeking wealth and power, converting indigenous peoples to Christianity, and fulfilling his personal ambition for fame and riches. The Intriguing Motivations of Cortes: Unveiling the Mystery ...