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[[Image:Cortes-Hernando-LOC.jpg|thumb|300px|Hernán Cortés]]
'''Hernán(do) Cortés, Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca''' ([[1485]]–[[December 2]], [[1547]]) was the ''[[conquistador]]'' who [[Spanish Conquest of Mexico| conquered the Aztec empire]]. Cortés was part of the generation that [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|established the Spanish Empire in the Americas]].
hi mitchel!
Born in [[Medellín (Spain)|Medellin]], [[Extremadura]], in [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]], to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés as a young man chose to win a livelihood in the New World. He went to [[Hispaniola]] and later to [[Cuba]], where he received an [[Encomienda|encomienda]] and for a period became mayor of a small town. 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 Velazquez]] resulted in the latter calling back the expedition in the last moment, an order which was ignored by Cortés in an act of disobedience. Arriving on the continent Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also successfully used a native woman, [[Doña Marina]], as interpreter and later she became mother of a son to Cortés. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés he fought them and won and used the extra troops as reinforcements. Instead he wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. When the Aztec empire was overthrown Cortés was awarded the title of Marques del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious titles of [[New Spain|Viceroy]] was given to relatives of the king. Cortés returned to Spain where he died peacefully but embittered.
[http://www.chapala.com/chapala/ojo2002/hernancortez.htm]
The way Indians were treated varied from one part of the Amer
The way Indians were treated varied from one part of the Americas to another. However, they were generally treated better in the Kingdom of New Spain than in Peru{{fact}}. With great vision, Hernán Cortés tried to preserve the monuments of the Aztecs and funded the construction of schools and hospitals out of his own pocket, providing for them in his will.
[http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39d38e0d14db.htm]
In the process of conquest Cortés successfully identified the complexities of local indigenous politics, especially the animosity felt by many native groups towards the Mexica-Aztec Empire. This tactic was one which Cortés had experienced and adopted from earlier conquests in the Caribbean. However, the use of terror and the capturing of native leaders reappear over and over in Spanish conquest history and were not unique inventions of Cortés. His attempt to justify his conquest of the Mexican mainland — a right held by the Governor of [[Cuba]] [[Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar|Diego Velasquez]] — through the founding of [[Veracruz]] and an appeal directly to [[Holy Roman Emperor Charles V|Emperor Charles V]] had been used by other conquistadors interested in usurping the right of conquest.
It must be remembered that when Velasquez conquered Cuba he did so with the authority of the Governor of Santo Domingo [[Diego Columbus]]. But when he established the city of Santiago, he formed a town council with which he resigned his offices from Columbus and established him as governor of Cuba under the Spanish Crown. The Crown gave him the legal authority once it recognized the ''fait accompli.'' It was a precedent that Velasquez would subsequently come to regret.
Ultimately, Cortés' conquest of Mexico can be viewed as the successful implementation of multiple conquest strategies derived from almost thirty years of Spanish conquest experience in the Caribbean.
==Further reading==
===Writings - The "Cartas de Relación"===
Cortés' personal account of the conquest of Mexico is narrated in his five letters addressed to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. These five letters, or ''cartas de relación'', are Cortés' only writings. See "Letters and Dispatches of Cortés," translated by George Folsom (New York, 1843); Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" (Boston, 1843); and Sir Arthur Helps's "Life of Hernando Cortes" (London, 1871).[http://www.virtualology.com/virtualmuseumofhistory/hallofexplorers/HERNANDOCORTES.COM/]
As one specialist describes them, "The cartas de relación have enjoyed an unequaled popularity among students of the [[Spanish Conquest of Mexico|Conquest of Mexico]]. Cortés was a good writer. His letters to the emperor, on the conquest, deserve to be classed among the best Spanish documents of the period. They are, of course, coloured so as to place his own achievements in relief, but, withal, he keeps within bounds and does not exaggerate, except in matters of Indian civilization and the numbers of population as implied by the size of the settlements. Even there he uses comparatives only, judging from outward appearances and from impressions.
Historians, sociologists, and political scientists use them to glean information about the Aztec empire and the clash between the European and Indian cultures. However, as early as the sixteenth century doubt has been cast on the historicity of these Conquest accounts. It is generally accepted that Cortés does not write a true “history,” but rather combines history with fiction. That is to say, in his narrative Cortés manipulates reality in order to achieve his overarching purpose of gaining the favor of the king. Cortés applies the classical rhetorical figure of evidentia as he crafts a powerful narrative full of “vividness” that moves the reader and creates a heightened sense of realism in his letters."
His first letter is lost, and the one from the municipality of Vera Cruz has to take its place. It was published for the first time in volume IV of "Documentos para la Historia de España", and subsequently reprinted. The first ''carta de relación'' is available online at [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/IbrAmerTxt/IbrAmerTxt-idx?type=header&byte=1042389&q1=&q2=&q3=]
The "Segunda Carta de Relacion", bearing the date of 30 Oct., 1520, appeared in print at Seville in 1522. The "Carta tercera", 15 May, 1522, appeared at Seville in 1523. The fourth, 20 October, 1524, was printed at [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] in 1525. The fifth, on the Honduras expedition, is contained in volume IV of the "Documentos para la Historia de España". The important letter mentioned in the text has been published under the heading of "Carta inédita de Cortés" by Ycazbalceta. A great number of minor documents, either by Cortés or others, for or against him, are dispersed through the voluminous collection above cited and through the "Colección de Documentos de Indias", as well as in the "Documentos para la Historia de México" of Ycazbalceta. There are a number of reprints and translations of Cortés's writings into various languages.[http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/international/pages/SECOLAS/CAFryer.htm]
[http://coloquio.com/famosos/cortes.htm]
[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04397a.htm]
===Notes===
<references/>
===Primary sources===
*Hernán Cortés, ''Letters'' – available as ''Letters from Mexico'' translated by Anthony Pagden (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.) ISBN 0300090943
*Francisco López de Gómara, ''Hispania Victrix; First and Second Parts of the General History of the Indies, with the whole discovery and notable things that have happened since they were acquired until the year 1551, with the conquest of Mexico and New Spain'' Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966.
*[[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]], ''The Conquest of New Spain'' – available as ''The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico: 1517-1521'' ISBN 030681319X
*''The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico'' by Miguel Leon-Portilla ISBN 0807055018
*''History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes'' By William H. Prescott [http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html]
*''Last Will and Testament of Hernán Cortés'' [http://members.tripod.com/~GaryFelix/HCwill.htm]
===Secondary sources===
*''Conquest: Cortés, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico'' by [[Hugh Thomas (historian)|Hugh Thomas]] (1993) ISBN 0671511041
*''Cortés and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire'' by [[Jon Manchip White]] (1971) ISBN 0786702710
*''History of the Conquest of Mexico. '' by [[William H. Prescott]] ISBN 0375758038
*''The Rain God cries over Mexico'' by [[László Passuth]]
*''Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest'' by Matthew Restall, Oxford University Press (2003) ISBN 0195160770
*''The Conquest of America'' by [[Tzvetan Todorov]] (1996) ISBN 0061320951
*"Hernando Cortés" by Fisher, M. & Richardson K.
*"Hernando Cortés" Crossroads Resource Online.
*"Hernando Cortés" by Jacobs, W.J., New York, N.Y.:Franklin Watts, Inc. 1974.
*"The World’s Greatest Explorers: Hernando Cortés." Chicago, by Stein, R.C., Illinois: Chicago Press Inc. 1991.
*''Genealogy of Hernan Cortés'' [http://members.tripod.com/~GaryFelix/index59.htm]
*''Myth and Reality: The Legacy of Spain in America'' by Jesus J. Chao. Culture/Society Opinion. February 12, 1992. The Institute of Hispanic Culture of Houston
*LeonPortilla, Miguel, ed., The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962.
==See also==
* [[History of Mexico]]
* [[Spanish Conquest of Mexico]]
* [[Siege of Tenochtitlan]]
==External links==
* [http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/cortes/ Hernando Cortes on the Web] – web directory with thumbnail galleries
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04397a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia] (1911)
* [http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/cortes/cortes_flat.html Conquistadors, with Michael Wood] – website for 2001 PBS documentary
*[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/IbrAmerTxt Ibero-American Electronic Text Series] presented online by the [http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/ University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center].
* [http://www.motecuhzoma.de/start-es.html Página de relación]
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[[Category:1485 births|Cortes, Hernan]]
[[Category:1547 deaths|Cortes, Hernan]]
[[Category:Aztec history|Cortes, Hernan]]
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[[Category:Colonial Mexico|Cortes, Hernan]]
[[Category:Spanish explorers and conquistadores|Cortes, Hernan]]
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