1504 Hernan Cortez's Conquest Of Mexico

Cortez was born around 1482 AD. He was born into a noble family. He was a conquistador. He’s known as the man who conquered the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for the Spanish. He commanded his own expedition to Mexico, even after he was commanded not to.

Cortez was born in the kingdom of Castille, in the city of Medellin. He was born into a upper class family (noble family), but his parents were not very wealthy; he was an only son. When he was 14 years old his parents sent him to the University of Salamanca to study law and he was very unhappy there. After two years he failed his course and returned home, where he first started to hear stories about the “New World”; this is when he decided he wanted to explore the “New World” too.

In 1504 Hernan Cortez took his first voyage westward on a ship commanded by Quintero. At this point, he is in Hispaniola
This was also the start to a great conquest that eventually lead to Spain having one of the most powerful empires in the history of the world. His conquest also spread the idea of Christianity. The spread of Christianity actually wasn’t a choice for the Natives, the Spanish forced them to convert. All the gold and riches sent back home to Spain helped finance the country. The monarchs used the wealth (gained from Mexico) to fight many religious wars, including the big invasion from England in which they used the Spanish Armada to fend them off.

Hernan Cortez died, on December 2, 1547, of pleurisy in Spain. This was twenty-six years after initially conquered the Aztecs. That is the legacy he left behind, he manned the defeat and conquering of the great barbaric Aztecs. He never even got to truly rule the empire that he created, and that’s all he wanted; he wanted power. This guy went from studying law in Salamanca, to conquering Mexico and Central America. Without Cortez, Mexico would probably not be the same as it is