Hernán Cortés, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (c. 1485 – 2 December 1547) was a Spanish conquistador, military commander, explorer, captain general, and writer who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who 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 adventure and riches in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda (the right to the labour of certain subjects). For a short time, he served as alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, 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 later gave birth to his first 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 being punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of marqués 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 six years later of natural causes.
Name In his known writings, Cortés always referred to himself as Hernando Cortés. Until the 20th century, most writers continued to spell his first name as "Hernando" or the equivalent, "Fernando". William H. Prescott's Conquest of Mexico (1843), for instance, referred to him as Hernando Cortés. However, in the 20th century, the conventional spelling has gradually shifted to the shortened form, "Hernán". Most modern biographies and encyclopedias now refer to him as "Hernán".
Physical appearance In addition to the illustration by the German artist Christoph Weiditz in his Trachtenbuch, there are three known portraits of Hernán Cortés which were likely made during his lifetime, though only copies of them have survived. All of these portraits show Cortés in the later years of his life. The account of the conquest of the Aztec Empire written by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, gives a detailed description of Hernán Cortés's physical appearance:
Early life
Cortés was born around 1485 in the town of Medellín, Extremadura, a poor and desolate province of the Kingdom of Castile. His father was Martín Cortés an hidalgo of distinguished ancestry but slender means. Bartolomé de las Casas, who knew Cortés's father, wrote that he was "a very poor and humble squire, although an Old Christian and they say a nobleman". His mother was Catalína Pizarro. Through her mother, Leonor Sanchez Pizzaro, Hernán was a distant relation to Francisco Pizzaro, the conqueror of the Inca Empire.
According to his biographer and chaplain, Francisco López de Gómara, Cortés was pale and sickly as a child. At the age of 14, he was sent to study Latin under an uncle in Salamanca. Later historians have misconstrued this personal tutoring as time spent enrolled at the University of Salamanca.David A. Boruchoff, "Hernán Cortés", International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd. ed. (2008), vol. 2, pp. 146–149 Hernán Cortés
After two years, Cortés 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 in Salamanca, plus his long period of training and experience as a notary, first in Valladolid and later in Hispaniola, gave him knowledge of the legal codes of Castile that he applied to help justify his unauthorized conquest of Mexico.Boruchoff, "Hernán Cortés", Hernán Cortés, Encyclopedia
At this point in his life, Cortés was described by Gómara as ruthless, haughty, and mischievous.Francisco López de Gómara, "Hernan Cortés", The Latin Library The 16-year-old youth had returned home to feel constrained 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.
Early career in 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. (This island is now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Cortés suffered an injury and was prevented from travelling. He spent the next year wandering the country, probably spending most of his time in Spain's southern ports of Cádiz, Palos, Sanlucar, and Seville. He finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 and became a colonist.Crow, John A. The Epic of Latin America. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992. 4th ed. p. 73
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.
Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen; this entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Governor Nicolás de Ovando granted him an encomienda and appointed him as 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 conquests of Hispaniola and Cuba. The expedition leader awarded him a large estate of land and Taíno slaves for his efforts.
Cuba (1511–1519) In 1511, Cortés accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the Governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. Afterwards, Velázquez was appointed Governor of Cuba. 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.
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) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with an encomienda to provide Indian labour 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.Hassig, Ross. Mexico and the Spanish Conquest. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 45–46 Cortés found time to become romantically involved with Catalina Xuárez (or Juárez), the sister-in-law of Governor Velázquez. Part of Velázquez's displeasure seems to have been based on a belief that Cortés was trifling with Catalina's affections. Cortés was temporarily distracted by one of Catalina's sisters, but finally married Catalina, reluctantly, under pressure from Governor Velázquez. However, by doing so, he hoped to secure the goodwill of both her family and that of Velázquez.Sanderson Beck, "Cortès in Mexico"
It was not until he had been almost 15 years in the Indies that Cortés began to look beyond his substantial status as mayor of the capital of Cuba and as a man of affairs in the thriving colony. He missed the first two expeditions, under the orders of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and then Juan de Grijalva, sent by Diego Velázquez to Mexico in 1518. News reached Velázquez that Juan de Grijalva had established a colony on the mainland where there was a bonanza of silver and gold, and Velázquez decided to send him help. Cortés was appointed captain-general of this new expedition in October 1518, but was advised to move fast before Velázquez changed his mind.
With Cortés's experience as an administrator, knowledge gained from many failed expeditions, and his impeccable rhetoric, he was able to gather six ships and 300 men within a month. Velázquez's jealousy exploded and he decided to put the expedition in other hands. However, Cortés quickly gathered more men and ships in other Cuban ports.
Conquest of Aztec Empire (1519–1521)
In 1518, Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old argument between the two, Velázquez changed his mind and revoked Cortés's charter. Cortés ignored the orders and, in an act of open mutiny, went anyway in February 1519. He stopped in Trinidad, Cuba, to hire more soldiers and obtain more horses. Accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men (including "seasoned" slaves -- i.e. enslaved people who had, on Hispaniola, become "accustomed to the climate, foods, and diseases of post-1492 America, where the 'weakest' among them died off"),Jane Landers, Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America, UNM Press, 2006, p. 43 13 horses, and a small number of cannon, Cortés landed on the Yucatán Peninsula in Maya territory.Bernard Grunberg, "La folle aventure d'Hernan Cortés", in L'Histoire n° 322, July–August 2007 There he encountered Geronimo de Aguilar, a Spanish Franciscan priest who had survived a shipwreck followed by a period in captivity with the Maya, before escaping. Aguilar had learned the Chontal Maya language and was able to translate for Cortés.Crowe, John A. The Epic of Latin America. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1992. 4th ed. p. 75
Cortés's military experience was almost nonexistent, but he proved to be an effective leader of his small army and won early victories over the coastal Indians.Gómez, Angel Delgado. "Cortés, Fernando." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001. In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the Spanish crown. Then he proceeded to Tabasco, where he met with resistance and won a battle against the natives. He received twenty young indigenous women from the vanquished natives, and he converted them all to Christianity.
Among these women was La Malinche, his future mistress and mother of his son Martín. Malinche knew both the Nahuatl language and Chontal Maya, thus enabling Cortés to communicate with the Aztecs through Aguilar.Diaz, B. (1963), The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, At San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday 1519, Cortés met with Moctezuma II's Aztec Empire governors Tendile and Pitalpitoque.
In July 1519, his men took over Veracruz. By this act, Cortés dismissed the authority of the governor of Cuba to place himself directly under the orders of King Charles. To eliminate any ideas of retreat, Cortés scuttled his ships.Hassig, Ross. Mexico and the Spanish Conquest. Longman Group UK Limited, 1994, pp. 53–54
March on Tenochtitlán
In Veracruz, he met some of the tributaries of the Aztecs and asked them to arrange a meeting with Moctezuma II, the tlatoani (ruler) of the Aztec Empire. Moctezuma repeatedly turned down the meeting, but Cortés was determined. Leaving a hundred men in Veracruz, Cortés marched on Tenochtitlán in mid-August 1519, along with 600 soldiers, 15 horsemen, 15 cannons, and hundreds of indigenous carriers and warriors.