Hernando Cortez:
John Abbott, Timeless Classic Books
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Jan. 8, 2011)
HernĂĄn CortĂ©s de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (1485 â December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. CortĂ©s was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in MedellĂn, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, CortĂ©s chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego VelĂĄzquez de CuĂ©llar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which CortĂ©s ignored. Arriving on the continent, CortĂ©s executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she would later bear CortĂ©s a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest CortĂ©s, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. CortĂ©s wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, CortĂ©s was awarded the title of MarquĂ©s del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. CortĂ©s returned to Spain in 1541 where he died peacefully but embittered six years later.