When was cortes born

For reasons that will never be known, he changed his mind, and, in , left for the recently discovered Americas. Today historians only can speculate as to his precise motivation, but, as with later European emigrants, the hope of a better life beckoned.

Though some report that he was happy with Catalina, others paint a less idyllic scene. Twice he served as alcalde mayor governor of Santiago, and entertaining throngs of people at his table would have been a way to cement alliances. In the long run, his expenditures proved to be a sound investment, but they may have contributed to frictions with Catalina, who brought no great wealth to the marriage.

He left Santiago on November 18, He also acquired the slave Malintzin, or Malinche, as a valuable translator. By all accounts, she quickly learned Spanish as well.

In actuality, Veracruz was nothing but a set of foundations mapping out the intended structures which symbolized civilization to the Spaniards: a church, a marketplace, and a pillory and gallows. In search of improved social standing, he and his men were also self-proclaimed missionaries of the gospel: hence the new town's name, embracing both material and spiritual ends.

In actuality the Aztec "empire" was a forced confederacy which created new enemies with every conquest. The Aztecs believed that the very existence of the universe was dependent on sacrificing the precious hearts of warriors to the sun, and this led to the fighting of "flower wars" in which the taking of captives was far more vital than the outright slaying of enemies on the battlefield.

Aztec victory in the flower wars meant that the vanquished would pay regular tribute, including sacrificial humans, but that they could continue to rule themselves as they otherwise chose. The march inland proceeded with no possibility of retreat remaining.

In a battle fought September 5, , one Spaniard died, while 60 were wounded. If God helps us, far more will be said in future history books about our exploits than has ever been said about those of the past. For, I repeat, all our labours are devoted to the service of God and our great Emperor Charles. However, Moctezuma was not the only one to be left in awe at the accoutrements of a strange and alien culture.

He was amazed by the agricultural abundance and variety which he saw, and he concluded by admitting his confusion that a non-Christian and "barbarous" people could live such a civilized existence:. I will say only that these people live almost like those in Spain, and in as much harmony and order as there, and considering that they are barbarous and so far from the knowledge of God and cut off from all civilized nations, it is truly remarkable to see what they have achieved in all things.

The governor revoked the charter at the last moment, but Cortes decided to go anyway, as an act of rebellion. Cortes landed his troops at Vera Cruz.

He burned his ships, claiming they were not seaworthy, thus eliminating the chance his troops would mutiny and turn back. Cortez, marched inland to the Aztec capital, with a very small army of several hundred soldiers. Cortes entered the city of Tenochtitlan, a city with a population of over ,, with his small force.

Instead of fighting Cortes, Montezuma, the Aztec king, greeted him with gifts and welcomed him. After six months in the capital, the Spanish fought their way out of the capital. Other Aztecs killed Montezuma. Cortes received aid from an unlikely source, a force of Spaniards who had come to arrest him for treason.

He defeated the force and then recruited its soldiers into his force. He eventually conquered the city. He ransacked and burned one of the largest cities in the world.

Despite his act of treason, in continuing his campaign Cortes became very popular in Spain, thanks to the gold and jewels he captured. Western diseases such as smallpox also caused huge fatalities. In , amid Spanish fears that he was becoming too powerful, he was forced to return to Spain where the king reinstated him as captain general, but not to the position of civil governor. On his return to Mexico, his powers were significantly limited and his activities monitored.

He continued to explore Central America, hoping to find a strait from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He failed, instead discovering, and naming, California.

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