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Ferdinand Cortes Biography

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Cortez, or Cortes, Hernando, the conqueror of Mexico; born in Estremadura, Spain, in 1485. At the age of 19 he left Spain, to seek fame and fortune in the new world. He distinguished himself under Velasquez in the conquest of Cuba; and after passing several years in that island he obtained leave from Velasquez to conduct a small expedition to the newly-discovered coast of Yucatan and Mexico. With less than 600 soldiers, and 16 horses, 10 cannon, and four falconets, he sailed, in 1519, to conquer the most powerful empire in America. He landed on the Mexican coast on Good Friday, April 21, on the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands. He persuaded his followers to destroy their ships, and to march inland, with no prospect but to succeed or perish. The Indian republic of Tlascala lay between him and the Mexican capital.

He defeated the Tlascalans when they attacked him, and then succeeded in winning their friendship. They acted thenceforth as his zealous and faithful allies. Alarmed by the reports of the prowess of the Spaniards, and of the superhuman terrors of the arms which they wielded, Montezuma, the Mexican emperor, sought to conciliate the strangers, and received Cortez and his troops in the capital. Though they obtained lavish presents, and received courteous treatment, the treasures which they saw around them inflamed more and more the cupidity of the invaders. The sight of the idolatrous rites, and especially of the human sacrifices which the Mexicans practiced, inflamed their religious bigotry; the ambition of Cortez thirsted after absolute conquest, and, by a bold stroke of treachery, he seized the person of the Mexican emperor. Cortez, soon after this, received a material increase of strength from a force which the Viceroy of Cuba had sent to depose him and take him prisoner, but which he partly defeated and partly persuaded to come over to him.

He now found himself plunged into a most desperate war with the native Mexicans, who rose upon the Spaniards, and assaulted them in their fortified quarters in the capital. Cortez was now, at last, obliged to evacuate the city, July 1, 1520. Encouraged by this success, the Mexicans followed the Spaniards, and fought a pitched battle with them in the open field. In this action (the battle of Otumba) Cortez gained a complete victory, which was mainly due to his own prowess. After receiving some reinforcements, he again advanced upon the Mexican capital. Guatemozin was now Emperor of Mexico, and had learned the inability of his troops to face the Europeans in the open field. He remained within the city, which Cortez besieged; and, on Aug. 13, 1521, surrendered, and the whole of its vast empire became subject to the crown of Spain. Cortez disgraced his triumph by putting the brave Guatemozin to a cruel death, an act of which he is said to have afterward deeply repented. The domestic enemies of the conqueror of Mexico had, meanwhile, been busy in their intrigues against him at the Spanish court, and in 1528 Cortez returned to Spain to face his accusers. He was coldly received, though with apparent honor; and he could not prevail on Charles V. to continue him in the governorship of Mexico. He returned to America in 1530, a powerful and wealthy noble, but without public authority. He now signalized himself in the arts of peace, in the skillful culture of his ample estates in the introduction of the sugar-cane, and the importation of merino sheep into the province. He made also several brilliant and important voyages of discovery along the Californian and other coasts of the Pacific. In 1540 he finally returned to Spain, where he was treated by his sovereign with ungracious neglect. He died near Seville, Dec. 2, 1547.