The Age of Exploration was a time period in which many courageous explorers lived. One of these explorers was a man named Hernán Cortez. He was also known as Cortes, Fernán, Fernando, or Hernando. Hernando Cortez was a Spanish explorer who was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain. His father was Martín Cortez de Monroy and his mother was Catalina Pizarro Altamarino. He was well educated and attended the University of Salamanca. He studied at the university for two years. But then he became bored with school and returned home without finishing. The sixteen year old boy was now a rebellious young man. Because of his unruly attitude, his parents decided that it would be best if he left their house and found his own way in the world. He had two paths to choose from. One was to go to Italy and join the Spanish war against the French that was being held there. The other was to follow Columbus’s path to the New World. Throughout his childhood, Cortez had heard many stories about Spanish adventurers who often returned from the New World to Spain loaded with gold. This made the choice easy for Cortez. He would travel to the New World in search of riches and new lands.
In early 1504, Cortez boarded a ship and set sail to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Cortez’s sea voyage was a miserable one. The captain tried and failed to steer the ship in the right direction. Nearly starving and almost out of water, the ship finally saw a sign that brought them hope. It was a white dove. The dove signified a sign of life and the upcoming land. Two days later in the year 1504, the ship landed in Santo Domingo, a town in Hispaniola. Cortez lived a life of comfort in Santo Domingo. But he was not happy, because he had become a farmer and that was not his original goal. He wanted to search for gold and become rich and powerful.
Cortez lived in Santo Domingo for seven years, until he took part in the Spanish conquest of the island of Cuba in 1511. Cortez then lived in Cuba for another seven years as a farmer. He also had people mine gold for him on his land. Throughout this stay, he became very rich. While Cortez was living in Cuba, he heard of a land that had an abundance of gold and silver. That land today is now called Mexico. Cortez wanted to find the gold and silver and he also wanted another adventure so that he could continue to spread Christianity throughout the New World. The governor of Cuba told Cortez he could lead an expedition to explore the land. The governor of Cuba at this time was Diego Velázquez. Velázquez and Cortez were not on good terms. Much bad blood had passed between them. Cortez was not Velázquez’s first choice for this voyage. But his favorite lieutenants were either in Spain or unwilling to put up the money that Velázquez demanded as their share of the expenses for the voyage.
On February 18, 1519, Cortez set sail for Mexico with a fleet of eleven ships. He also had 650 men and 16 horses with him. They brought weapons such as guns, cannons and crossbows. In addition to that, the ship also carried many necessities such as food and drink for the men to survive at sea. Cortez’s time at sea for this voyage was fairly serene. One day, while he was sailing along the coast of Mexico, Aztecs in two canoes approached the Spanish ships. The Aztecs said they had come in the name of their chief, Montezuma. But the Spaniards would not listen to what the Aztecs had to say. They attacked the Aztecs with their weapons. The Aztecs fled, frightened. They had never seen such artillery before. They told Montezuma what had happened. When news of a strange, pale-skinned, bearded man who had come across the waters with many seemingly magical weapons and animals reached Montezuma, he was troubled. He was not sure if this stranger was, Quetzalcoatl, the ancient Aztec god that had promised to return to Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztec Empire. Montezuma hesitated, if this really was their god, they could not kill him or the end of the world would arrive. It was in this way that the road for the conquest of the Aztec Empire was opened.
Montezuma sent one hundred men to find Cortez. They had a message for the Spaniards. The Spaniards would not be welcomed in Tenochtitlan. Montezuma wanted Cortez and his men to leave. Cortez did not listen to Montezuma. He planned to take the city of Tenochtitlan. So he and his men set out to conquer this ancient city. Early in the morning of November 8, 1519, Cortez and his army reached Tenochtitlan. They were surprised at what they found. Tenochtitlan was a beautiful city. Its main resources were gold and silver. The rural part of the city also had crops such as mangos. The Aztecs may have thought that Cortés was a god-king, and so they treated him and his soldiers well. However, Cortés was afraid that the Aztecs might soon try to get rid of him, so he took Montezuma hostage and him and his men gathered all the gold and silver they could find. For the next several months, Cortez took over ruling Tenochtitlan.
In the spring of 1520, some Aztecs brought news to Cortez. A Spanish fleet had arrived in Mexico. It turned out that the governor of Cuba, Velazquez, was enraged at Cortez’s success. So he had sent an army of about 1,000 men, well provided with artillery, to force him to surrender. Cortez unexpectedly met and overpowered this force, and then he and his men returned to Tenochtitlan. But in his absence, the Aztecs had risen in Tenochtitlan and when Cortez and his army returned, they ambushed them. Cortez and his men were driven out of the city.
The Spaniards unknowingly brought smallpox to the Aztecs. After Cortez and his army were driven away from Tenochtitlan, thousands of people began dying from this disease. The people were left too weak to fight. In May 1521, Cortez and his army returned to Tenochtitlan. They destroyed the water system so that no fresh water could reach the city. Then they surrounded the city for almost three months. No food or water was brought into the city. The Aztec people, weakened by smallpox and the lack of food and water, finally gave up. Cortez and his army captured the rest of the known area of Mexico and the Aztec Empire. Cortez sent many shiploads of gold to the king in Spain and kept even more for himself. He also owned a lot of property in Mexico. He was very rich. Cortez was welcomed as a hero when he returned to Spain in 1528. Later, Cortez returned to Mexico to find more gold. This expedition failed. By now, Cortez had spent all his money. He returned to Spain in 1540 and found that he had lost favor with the king. Cortez died a poor man on December 2, 1547 near Seville, Spain.
In conclusion, Hernan Cortez was an outstanding Spanish explorer. He made about 4 voyages throughout his life (one of which discovered California) and they each had an immense influence to our world and to our history. He had made a great impact on the people of Mexico. Christianity spread and many churches and cathedrals were built. Even though, Hernando Cortez was cruel to the people he conquered, he is still an important adventurer and his conquest of the Aztec Empire and the land today known as Mexico plays a big part in the history of the world.
