Compare And Contrast Columbus And Cortes

During the 16th century there was a huge amount of men who were considered conquistadors because they managed to take over large amounts of North America through force. The two most influential men for this journey were Cristopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes, who were in control of what we know now as the United States of America. In 1492 Columbus set out on his first voyage for a trade to Asia by going through the west. There to find land instead of Asia, surprised by this because he had just found a new state. After returning to Spain he proceeds to tell the king all that he had found, thus leading up to a gold rush. This continuing on for the next few years. While in the middle of the Gold rush, Hernan Cortes set sail for his voyage with

Cortes wasn’t concerned about the governor on his butt because he had his eye on the prize. Both Cortes and Columbus did what they thought would greatly benefit their country, right or wrong.

Born in Italy in Genoa, Columbus became a sailor on the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean considering himself as a navigator and map maker. After Columbus “persuaded Spanish king Ferdinand and queen Isabella to fun the expedition” (p.1921) he and the following explorers secured Spanish control over Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean, a wave of freelance adventurers (conquistadores) left Castile and crossed the ocean seeking to gain fortune for themselves and greater glory for their king and religion.

Cortés was born in the Spanish town of Medellin in approximately 1484. His father, Martín Cortés de Monroy, was a minor aristocrat

Ignoring Velázquez's orders to confine his activities to exploration and trade, Cortés set out to conquer the powerful Aztec empire. After making an alliance with the Tlaxcalans, traditional enemies of the Aztecs, Cortés proceeded to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, where he was received as an emissary of Charles V by the Aztec leader Montezuma II. Cortés took Montezuma prisoner and for some time was able to rule through him. During an Aztec uprising in 1520, however, Montezuma was slain, either by the Spanish or by his own people, and Cortés and his men were forced out of the city with heavy losses. During this the city was virtually razed, Cortés finally defeated the Aztecs in 1521. The next year the emperor named him governor of Mexico, or "new Spain." Following an abortive expedition into Honduras, Cortés was suspended from the office of governor in 1526. Two years later he returned to Spain to seek redress from the Emperor. Although the Emperor conferred on him the title of Marquis and confirmed his claim to the considerable wealth he had acquired in the New World, Cortés was not reappointed governor. He returned to Mexico that year, but never again exercised political power. In 1540 he retired to Spain, where he died in