Life

Hernan Cortes was born in Medellin in 1485. He studied at the univercity of Salamanca. Cortes father was Martin Cortes de Morroy. His mother was Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. One good friend that Hernan Cortes had was Francisco Lopez de Gomara.

He was a Spanish who tried to conquest the aztec empire. He also went to Hispaniola and Cuba. Cortes deside to live in the New World. He went to the New World and stay there to live.

Cortes have 18 years wen he arrived to the New World.Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba, receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts.

Cortés in Cuba

In 1510, he accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. At the age of 26, Cortés was made clerk to the treasurer with the responsibility of insuring 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. Cortés continued to build a reputation as a daring and bold leader. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortes was appointed mayor (alcalde) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with a repartimiento of Indians, mines and cattle. In 1514, Cortés led a group demanding that more Indians be assigned to the settlers.
As time went on, relations between Cortés and governor Velázquez became strained[citation needed]. The governor twice jailed the young cavalier although each time Cortés managed to escape.

The Invation of mexico

But in 1518 Velázquez put him in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old gripe between Velázquez and Cortés, he changed his mind and revoked his charter. Cortés ignored the orders and went ahead anyway, in February 1519, in an act of open mutiny. He landed along with 600 men in the Yucatan Peninsula, in Maya territory [3]. There, he met Jeronimo de Aguilar, a Spaniard who had survived from a shipwreck and joined the troops [3]. Jeronimo de Aguilar, a Franciscan priest, had learnt Maya during his captivity, and could thus translate for Cortés. In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the Spanish crown. He then won a battle against the Natives of Tabasco, during which he received from the vainquished twenty young indigenous women, among whom La Malinche, his future mistress, who knew both the Nahuatl language and Maya, thus enabling Hernán Cortés to communicate in both.

Death

Its last rest reached it in the church of Jesus Nazareno, contiguous to the hospital of Jesus founded by him. At the present time, they are conserved in a ballot box placed in a niche in the wall of the flank of the Gospel. Numerous they are the biographies that have been written about the conqueror of Mexico. Some have considered it a villain and others a hero.