Biography of Hernán Cortés
Achievements of the other world
Year of birth: 14852 December 1547
Hernán Cortés Monroy Pizarro Altamirano, known to history only from the name and surname of Hernán Cortés, was born in Medellín, Extremadura (Spain), then territory of the Spanish Crown, in 1485. Spanish conquistador, is known in the history books for having reduced to obedience indigenous peoples living during the time of the conquest of the new world by breaking down with his men the legendary Aztec Empire, into subservience to the Kingdom of Spain. Among his nicknames, there is still famous "El Conquistador".
The origins of this man-at-arms there are certain notes. Some want him noble, others coming from humble beginnings. For sure, the scope in which it grows is impregnated with institutional Catholicism, so to speak, while he must have embraced military life right from the start: its unique, great vocation. The epic of Cortés begins around 1504, in the service of the Governor Diego Velasquez Cuellar, who wants first to Santo Domingo and then to Cuba, two territories under the Spanish Crown. The future leader is not easy and, for reasons still unexplained, ends house arrest almost immediately, by order of the Governor. These however, sniffing his military talent, following the two Mexican failed expeditions by captains Córdoba and Grijalva, decides to send its Cortés in Mexico, entrusting him with the third expedition of conquest.
Opposite has an empire of millions of men, Aztec, and when one part, the Commander carries eleven ships and 508 soldiers. In 1519, the native of Medellin military lands in Cozumel. Here joins the Castaway Jerónimo de Aguilar and Mexican Gulf Coast becomes familiar with the tribe of the Totonacs, leading his side in the war against the Aztec Empire-méxica.
The Spanish Castaway became a point of reference for what soon will be dubbed El Conquistador: these speak the language of the Maya and this feature provides Cortés the right Foundation to give a display to your skill as a Communicator and especially of Manipulator. Immediately, however, because of his unorthodox methods and its willingness to act on their own behalf, Velasquez invokes the order, repenting of his decision to send Cortés in Mexico. However, the Spanish conquistador declares himself faithful to the sole authority of the King of Spain and sets fire to their ships, founding the city of Veracruz, symbolically his organizational and military base. The burning of the ships is a risky move but that reflects well the identity of the character: in order to avoid any afterthought, while acting as a rebel, he in fact requires all his retinue as the only resolution that the conquest of the Mexican territories.
By now, in the midst of his authority, do you receive from the Emperor Montezuma and begins a work of settlement in his possessions almost facilitated by the same tribal chief, who portrays the arrival of the Spanish military and his men as some kind of omen from God, to be understood in every good wish. After a few months after the final conquest of the Aztecs, convinced by Cortés and his skills as a great raconteur, the Emperor Montezuma will even baptized Christian. Within a short time Hernán Cortés leads his side a good many men and, with over 3,000 units between Indians and Spaniards, you put on the March to Tenochtitlan, the capital of Méxica. On 13 August 1521, after two and a half months of siege, the Mexican city is taken, and in less than a year the Spanish take on the full domain of the capital and its surroundings.
Tenochtitlan is the city where the new city of Mexico, of which assumes the governorship, Cortés himself, naming it the capital of the "New Spain" and at the behest of the same real Spanish, Charles V. However, despite the hardships of war and the population now kneeling, halved from massacres and illnesses, and even with a few men in his service, the leader decides to leave the conquest of the Aztec Territories remaining, as in Honduras. When he decided to get back on the road, Cortés is a rich man but that does not enjoy great respect on the part of the nobles and the Spanish Crown. In 1528 is invoked in Spain and he was removed as Governor. However the stasi does not last long. With the title of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, leave towards America, although they enjoy the esteem of the new viceroy. For this reason the leader turns its gaze to other lands, and in 1535, he discovers the California. Is the swan song, so to speak, of the Conquistador. The King, in fact, after some time, he wants it in Spain, to send him to Algeria. But here fails to give a twist to the army, which suffers a severe defeat.
Cortés, tired of shipments, decides to retire from public life on his property in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Andalusia. Here, on 2 December of 1547, Hernán Cortés dies at the age of 62 years. His body, as expressed in his last wishes, is sent to Mexico City and buried in the Church of Jesus of Nazareth. Today the Gulf of California, the stretch of sea that separates the peninsula of California from mainland Mexico, is also known as the sea of Cortés.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.