Hernando Cortes essays

Hernando Cortes essays Cortes was a very cruel Spanish explorer. In 1519 he conquered central and southern Mexico. His military triumphs led to 300 years of Spanish conquest. He went out to find gold and land, when he got there he found gold and beautiful land. He took the Aztecs land and gold. Cortes was born to a noble family. He was born in 1485 and died in 1547. He was born in Medellin in the province of Extramundra Spain. Cortes became mayor of Santiago de Cuba. When he was 19 he gave up his law studies, so he could go explore. Before Cortes went to Mexico he was on a Cuban expedition with Governor Diego Velazquez. After the Cuban expedition Cortes sailed to Yucatan. After sailing to Yucatan Cortes decided to go explore Mexico. The reason Cortes wanted to go explore Mexico was to seize slaves, land, and treasures. When he got to Mexico he killed all the tribes in his way. He formed a treaty with the Txclan tribe. When he got to the Aztecs they were very hard to beat. It took Cortes two long hard years to finally defeat the Aztecs. After he defeated the Aztecs he took over Mexico. Cortes was very cruel to the Aztecs and to his crew. Cortes was considered a hero in Spain for taking over Mexico. Now most people think of him as a cruel leader. While taking over Mexico his crew wanted to go back to Cuba. Cortes burned his ships so that his crew would be loyal to him and so his crew wouldnt go back to Cuba. After Cortes found Mexico he went on other expeditions searching for gold. When he got to other lands he did not find anything. The Aztecs thought that when Cortes came to Tenochtitlan he was the god Queztcoatl, they let him into their city. Cortes found amazing buildings in Tenochtitlan he thought it was all a dream. He found lots of gold and many other treasures. The Aztec people were to him. Soon Cortes captured the Azteck ruler Montezuma and he soon died. Then the Aztec Empire fell but new leaders ...