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Hernán Cortés

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This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Cortés de Monroy and the second or maternal family name is Pizarro.

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés

Born Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro

1485

Medellín, Castile

Died December 2, 1547 (aged 61–62)

Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castile

Nationality Castilian

Other names Hernando Cortés

Occupation Conquistador

Known for Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire

Children Don Martín Cortés, 2nd Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, Doña Maria Cortés, Doña Catalina Cortés, Doña Juana Cortės,Martín Cortés (son of doña Marina)

Signature

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca(Spanish pronunciation: [erˈnaŋ korˈtes ðe monˈroj i piˈθaro]; 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 mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. 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 Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored.

Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous people against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title ofMarqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died peacefully but embittered, six years later.

Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing.[citation needed]

Contents

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• 1 Name

• 2 Early life

• 3 Departure for the New World

o 3.1 Arrival

o 3.2 Cuba (1511-1518)

• 4 Conquest of Mexico (1518-1520)

o 4.1 March on Tenochtitlan

o 4.2 Destruction of Tenochtitlan

• 5 Appointment to governorship of Mexico, internal dissensions, and personal life

o 5.1 First return to Spain (1528)

o 5.2 Return to Mexico

• 6 Later life and death

o 6.1 Second return to Spain

o 6.2 Expedition against Algiers

o 6.3 Last years and legacy

• 7 Children

• 8 Disputed interpretation of his life

o 8.1 Representations in México

• 9 Writings: the Cartas de Relación

• 10 Ancestors

• 11 See also

• 12 References

• 13 Related reading

o 13.1 Primary sources

o 13.2 Secondary sources

• 14 External links

Name

See also: Spanish naming customs

While he is often now referred to as Hernán or Hernando Cortés (IPA: [korˈteθ]), in his time, he called himself Hernando orFernando Cortés ([korˈtes]). The names Hernán, Hernando, and Fernando are all equally correct. The latter two were most commonly used during his lifetime, but the former shortened form has become common in both the Spanish and English languages in modern times, and is the name by which many people know him today.[1]

Early life

Cortés was born in 1485 in the town of Medellín, in modern-day Extremadura, Spain. His father, Martín Cortés de Monroy, born in 1449 to Rodrigo or Ruy Fernández de Monroy and his wife María Cortés, was an infantry captain of distinguished ancestry but slender means. Hernán's mother was Catalina Pizarro Altamirano.[2]

Through his mother, Hernán was the second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru (not to be confused with another Francisco Pizarro who joined Cortés to conquer the Aztecs), through her parents Diego Altamirano and wife and cousin Leonor Sánchez Pizarro Altamirano, first cousin of Pizarro's father.[2] Through his father, Hernán was a twice distant relative of Nicolás de Ovando, the third Governor of Hispaniola. His paternal grandfather was a son of Rodrigo de Monroy y Almaraz, 5th Lord of Monroy, and wife Mencía de Orellana y Carvajal.

Hernán Cortés is described as a pale, sickly child by his biographer, chaplain, and friend Francisco López de Gómara. At the age of 14, Cortés was sent to study Latin under an uncle-in-law in Salamanca.[3]

After two years, Cortés, tired of schooling, returned home to Medellín, much to the irritation of his parents, who had hoped to see him equipped for a profitable legal career. However, those two years at Salamanca, plus his long period of training and experience as a notary, first in Seville and later in Hispaniola, would give him a close acquaintance with the legal codes of Castile that helped him to justify his unauthorized conquest of Mexico.[4]

At this point in his life, Cortés was described by Gómara as restless, haughty and mischievous.[4] This was probably a fair description of a 16-year-old boy who had returned home only to find himself frustrated by life in his small provincial town. By this time, news of the exciting discoveries of Christopher Columbus in the New World was streaming back to Spain.

Departure for the New World

Plans were made for Cortés to sail to the Americas with a family acquaintance and distant relative, Nicolás de Ovando, the newly appointed governor of Hispaniola (currently Haiti and the Dominican Republic), but an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman[citation needed] from Medellín prevented him from making the journey. Instead, he spent the next year wandering the country, probably spending most of his time in the heady atmosphere of Spain's southern ports of Cadiz, Palos, Sanlucar, and Seville, listening to the tales of those returning from the Indies, who told of discovery and conquest, gold, Indians, and strange unknown lands.[citation needed] He finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a colonist.[5]

Arrival

Cortés reached Hispaniola in a ship commanded by Alonso Quintero, who tried to deceive his superiors and reach the New World before them in order to secure personal advantages. Quintero's mutinous conduct may have served as a model for Cortés in his subsequent career. The history of the conquistadores is rife with accounts of rivalry, jockeying for positions, mutiny, and betrayal.[6]

Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen, which entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Nicolás de Ovando, still the governor, gave him anencomienda and made him a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. His next five years seemed to help establish him in the colony; in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba, receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts from the leader of the expedition.

Cuba (1511-1518)

In 1511, Cortés accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the Governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. Velázquez was appointed as governor. At the age of 26, Cortés was made clerk to the treasurer with the responsibility of ensuring that the Crown received the quinto, or customary one fifth of the profits from the expedition.

The Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, was so impressed with Cortés that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortés was twice appointed municipal magistrate (alcalde) ofSantiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with an encomienda to provide Indian labor for his mines and cattle. This new position of power also made him the new source of leadership, which opposing forces in the colony could then turn to. In 1514, Cortés led a group which demanded that more Indians be assigned to the settlers.

As time went on, relations between Cortés and Governor Velázquez became strained.[7] This began once news of Juan de Grijalva, establishing a colony on the mainland where there was a bonanza of silver and gold, reached Velázquez; it was decided to send him help. Cortés was appointed Captain-General of this new expedition in October 1518,

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