How Hernando Cortes Changed The World

1926 Words4 Pages

Amie Nguyen
Mrs. Shalaine Root
Honors Literature 2
1 February 2015
Hernando Cortes: Conqueror of the Aztec Empire
Hernando Cortes grew up having a dream of adventure, and a burning desire for fame and fortune. His main goal when he traveled to Mexico, was to conquer the Aztecs, as he eventually did later in his life. This paper will cover Hernando Cortes’s life and how his accomplishments changed the understanding of the world at that time.

EARLY LIFE
Hernando’s father, Martin Cortes, was a minor member of the Spanish nobility and was known for being a fair and just man. Hernando was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain a small town in the province of Estremadura, Spain. Cortes was a sickly child, but as he grew older, his health got better as …show more content…

The leader of this expedition was obviously Hernando Cortes. Cortes had very specific instructions on what to do: search for Juan de Grijalba, who gone missing and also for Cristobal de Olid, who had gone missing while searching for Grijalba. Cortes was also allowed to interact with any natives, trading for gold. However, Hernando was to be replaced, because Velazquez still had ill will for Cortes. Cortes heard of his superior’s plans and decided to sail anyway. On the dead of night on November 18, 1518, Cortes and his men set sail, headed for the mainland. This is what Cortes said to his men before he set sail, “I’m setting out on a great and beautiful enterprise, which will be famous in times to come. I know in my heart that we shall take vast and wealthy lands and people, such as never seen before... We are going to fight a just and good war, which will bring us fame. Almighty God, in whose name and fate it shall be waged, will give us victory. If you do not abandon me, I shall not abandon you, I shall make you in a short time, the richest of all men who have crossed the …show more content…

Montezuma even gifted Cortes with more extravagant gifts than before, hoping that the treasures would convince Cortes to turn back. Montezuma was mistaken though, the gifts only made Cortes want to get to the source of this treasure even more. Still, there was a problem. Velazquez had never given Cortes permission to make war or to set up a Spanish colony in Mexico. What Cortes was doing could be labeled as treason and for that, he could be executed. At that time, most of Hernando Cortes’s men wanted desperately to return to Cuba. They knew for certain that they couldn’t fight with the powerful Aztec army, with a meager amount of a few hundred soldiers. Cortes solved this problem quickly. He secretly ordered the sinking of all his ships. Without any ships, the Spaniards couldn’t go back to Cuba. The soldiers knew that they would have to fight to

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