Hernan Cortes was a Spanish nobleman, and who lived from 1485 to 1547. He was a Spanish Conquistador (conqueror) who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile (Spain) in the early 16th century.
Cortes was not the first to go to the New World, but he believed he could make his fortune there, so he chose to go. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, but that was largely because he put up much of the money.
When Cortes and his expedition arrived on the mainland, he used the strategy of divide and rule. That is, he befriended some tribes and set them to fight others. That is how his small band of men ended up conquering the Aztec Empire.
The expedition began with 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons. He landed in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, which was Maya land.
There, he met a Franciscan priest who had learned the Maya language and could translate for him.
In March 1519, Cortes claimed the land for the Spanish crown. He then stopped in Trinidad, Cuba to hire more soldiers and obtain more horses. Here he met La Malinche, a woman who knew both the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs and Maya, so with her help and that of the priest, he was able to to communicate with the Aztecs. In fact, it was La Malinche who told Cortes about the wealthy Aztec Empire.
Cortes arrived at Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he burned his ships to prevent his men from leaving.
Keeping a hundred men in Veracruz, Cortes marched on Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs in August 1519. He had about 600 men, 15 horsemen, 15 cannon, and many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of local warriors.
Cortes and La Malinche met the Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II in Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519. Moctezuma deliberately let Cortes enter the island Aztec capital and gave gifts of gold to the Spaniards. But this simply made the Spaniards greedier. Cortes then took Moctezuma as a hostage in his own palace.
On July 1, 1520 Moctezuma was killed, forcing Cortes to flee. At this time much of the treasure looted by Cortes was lost.
