Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés is famous for his conquest of Mexico.

Diego Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, sent Cortés on an exhibition to Mexico, along with 500 soldiers and 16 horses.

With their horses and advanced weaponry, which included cannons and swords, the Spaniards repeatedly defeated the Native Americans in battle.

When a princess from the Tabascan tribe was captured, she was renamed Doña Marina by the Spanish. Cortés took her as his mistress, and she served as an interpreter and a spy.

When the Tlaxcalan tribe, who had been paying tribute to the Aztecs, was defeated by Cortés' men, they became Cortés' allies.

The Tlaxcalans warned Cortés that Moctezuma, or Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, had 150,000 powerful warriors who were prepared to defeat his army, but Cortés ignored the warning and moved on to Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire.

On November 8, 1519, Moctezuma received Cortés and his men in Tenochtitlán. Moctezuma was sometimes welcoming and sometimes threatening. He may have been concerned with the legend of Quetzalcoatl, a white-skinned God who had been exiled and was destined to return and defeat his enemies.

Cortés captured Moctezuma and held him hostage.

On August 13, 1521, the Aztecs surrendered. Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlán.

Cortés ruled as governor until 1534. He died in Spain in 1547.