ipl-logo

Hernan Cortes: The Conqueror Of The New World

1069 Words5 Pages

The conqueror of the Aztecs, murder of an empire, and a kidnapper, all of these can be used to describe Hernán Cortés. Cortes 's early life steered his choices and future. The “New World” hardened and changed him. These changes helped him conquer his enemies. His achievements and legacy changed the world for the future. Cortés’s early life was what molded him for the future. He was born to an upper class family and was born around 1485 in Medellín, Spain. He was somewhat infirm as a child, but was his family’s only heir. When Cortés was fourteen his parents sent him to the University of Salamanca to study law. However he was miserable at the school and to restive to follow the rules. While he was at the school, he did learn a some Latin, and became good at writing. After two years he returned home due to flunking his course. Although he wasn 't happy at his home either. As Cortés heard tales of the …show more content…

So Cortés joined an expedition to the “New World”, but in the end never made it to the ship. He never made it to the ship due to the fact he was involved in an affair with a local girl. One night he was climbing a wall to get to her apartment, and the wall crumbled underneath him. He crashed down, buried under the rubble, and was stuck in bed until after his ship had departed. Finally, in 1504, Cortés boarded a ship commanded by Alonso Quintero, departing for the west. Quintero may have had some influence on Cortés. Due to Quintero trying to sneak away and secure the “market” for himself because of his ambitions. Though not successful, he may have rubbed off on Cortés. In Hispaniola Cortes went to the house of the Governor, who he knew from Spain. The Governor was gone, and the secretary assured him that he would be able to get a land grant. "But I came to get gold," he replied, "not to till the soil, like a peasant." Though when the Governor came back Cortés was convinced to take a piece of land for a

Show More
Related

  • Why Is Jose Antonio Important

    502 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some days he would be chained and fed poorly, because he would disobey the guard 's orders, but he never regretted his decisions he made. About a year later he was ordered to be released by Jose Joaquin de Herrera. Before he was ordered to be released he escaped the prison then left to Texas, and went straight to Sam Houston. He was asked to go on the Santa Fe Expedition by President Lamar, right after he got out of prison. He went from being a servant to being an Alcalde, which means a mayor.

    Read More

  • Hernan Cortes Research Paper

    453 Words  | 2 Pages

    However it didn’t last long. In 1523 Cortés was named governor and captain general of New Spain. In 1528, amid Spanish fears that he was becoming too powerful, he was forced to return to Spain where the king reinstated him as captain general, but not to the position of civil governor. On his return to Mexico, his powers were significantly limited and his activities monitored. Some might argue that Hernan Cortes was a villain instead of a hero because he invaded the Aztecs and took Montezuma hostage.

    Read More

  • Maximo Zamoria Spanish Conquistador Summary

    78 Words  | 1 Pages

    1495, three years after Columbus's discovery of the new world, Maximo Zamoria, a Spanish conquistador, set off to the Americas in search of gold and glory. Maximo gathered a crew of one hundred strong and well-trained men, along with his right hand man, Samuel. With the permission of the Spanish king, Maximo and his men gathered enough supplies for half a year of travel, and got the finest Spanish sailing vessel to set off for the new world.

    Read More

  • Florentin Paragrax And The Hopi Summary

    953 Words  | 4 Pages

    He justifies his submission to the Spanish on the evil omens that foretold the arrival of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire. The Spanish plundered the Aztec nation and easily assume they have privilege and superiority over Montezuma’s

    Read More

  • Francisco Pzarro Accomplishments

    921 Words  | 4 Pages

    “I have not come here for such reasons, I have come to take away their gold.” That is some words Francisco Pizarro said from the past. Francisco Pizarro was known as one of the most successful conquerors in Spain. I will be discussing Francisco Pizarro's whole life, career, contributions, and what life would be like without Francisco Pizarro. Francisco Pizarro was born in Trujillo, Spain around 1474.

    Read More

  • Miguel Hidalgo: An Epic Hero

    1195 Words  | 5 Pages

    He marched for days,nights,weeks, and months as finally he battled for the Capital, Mexico City. His efforts were not strong enough and some say not wise. His leadership along side with Allende was enough for thousands of men agreed to fight for their liberty. When he was finally captured and executed, his accomplishments were seen by “All the city's dignitaries and officials” as a representation of the wave of the future.(New World). This

    Read More

  • The Great Empire: The Conquest Of The Aztec Empire

    731 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aztec Empire The Aztecs were a great Empire that lasted approximately 200 years. They entered the Valley of Mexico from North and founded their capital in the center of a lake. Their capital was called Tenochtitlan, and it was founded in 1325. In 1428 a Triple Alliance was formed with other two cities, Texcoco and Tlacopan, consolidating what we now call, the Great Aztec Empire.

    Read More

  • Our Lady Of Guadalupe

    2001 Words  | 9 Pages

    Hernan Cortes was born on 1485 in Medellin, Spain. Medellion was neighbored by Estramuda, which was known for the large amounts of conquistadors that hailed from there (Herrick 130). Estramuda and the surrounding towns were also known for being strong supporters of the estemadura shrine which was the original inspiration for the name Guadalupe. Hernan Cortes first landed on Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1504, he came with 600 men with the sole purpose of setting an establishing position in the Americas (Hamnett 59). There three

    Read More

  • Summary Of Buddy Levy's 'Conquistador'

    1181 Words  | 5 Pages

    Cortes, as well as many other explorers during this time, was inspired by the Three G’s: God, gold, and glory. He planned to conquer the new lands for Spain, to convert the natives to Catholicism, and to obtain the riches of the land, mostly gold. Conquistador is basically a record of the last days of the Aztec civilization, as the two groups, the Aztecs and the Spaniards, clash, and the Spaniards ultimately come out on top.

    Read More

  • Cabeza De Vaca A Land So Strange Summary

    938 Words  | 4 Pages

    Diego was said to be a well known jokester, “plump master of Cuba who was said to be first-in-line to conquer Mexico,” as said in the book along with being money hungry, he went on two consecutive expeditions in two years leaving no supplies or money to go to another to follow a lead on the famous dream of El Dorado. Desperately, Velazquez convinced a wealthy man by the name of, Hernan Cortes, to fund and lead the expedition with responsibilities of bringing a substantial amount of treasures to him to give to the King of Spain in return of fame and fortune. Hernan Cortes was a very “vivacious, likable, and literate; he could even pepper his speech with Latin.” However, Cortes ambitious behaviour got the best of him when he departed from Velazquez before he could arrive on the boat before departing onto their journey, for Cortes wanted to take all the credit and treasures for himself and took the boat and crew, leaving with no contact for over two months. Velazquez wants to give Cortes the benefit of the doubt decided to wait to hear word from him, however, gave up when there were rumours of Cortes and his men meeting some Native Americans whom gave them large amounts of wealthy possessions and gave them shelter and became allies; soon Cortes sent samples of the treasures to the King to receive more funds and crew members to help the mining of the silver and gold that was plentiful in those

    Read More

  • Corruption In Mexico

    1386 Words  | 6 Pages

    When the king of Spain, Carlos V, found out he took control. (ibid.) He prohibited Hernán Cortés from apply

    Read More

  • Fall Of The Aztec Empire Essay

    1135 Words  | 5 Pages

    They both killed in the name of religion, and both growing empires willing to do anything to gain more power. Cortés was sent on expedition to establish trading deals with the Natives in and around the Yucatan peninsula, under order of Diego Velázquez, who was the Governor of Cuba. Velázquez soon regretted his decision and to stop Cortés from ever leaving

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Pizaro And Cortes

    98 Words  | 1 Pages

    Francisco Pizarro and Hernando Cortes have many things in common such as the two conquering civilizations in South America, and the two both being Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish empire would be the strongest empire during this time, the Spanish conquered the most land. The New World was being discovered mainly by the Spanish in the beginning, they conquered the bottom of North America, and the east side of South America. Pizarro and Cortes could have conquered without the use of steel. The reasons being are germs infected many of the Natives killing them while the Spaniards were

    Read More

  • Malintzin's Choices: Mexico And The Spanish Conquest

    110 Words  | 1 Pages

    In 1519, Hernándo Cortés, a Spanish Conquistador ventured into Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec empire, searching for gold and glory. He set out to conquer the empire and to capture the Aztecs in order to achieve his ambitions. Moctezuma, the highly respected leader of the mighty Aztec Empire, came confronting with Hernán Cortés, the leader of a small band of professional European soldiers from a huge island that lay six day’s sail to the east. In “Malintzin’s Choices: An Indian Women in the Conquest of Mexico” and “Mexico and the Spanish Conquest”, Camilla Townsend and Ross Hassig respectively present one histories in their own interpretations of the conquest of Mexico.

    Read More

  • Hernan Cortes Hero

    975 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Spanish were able to colonize Mexico without much resistance.” After the smallpox epidemic, the Aztecs were even more vulnerable. The Spanish exploration and conquering of Tenochtitlan was to gain power for the Spanish empire, but the city’s people were somewhat considered rebellious, and consequently, Cortes needed to conquer/kill the people first. By taking down the people of the city, Cortes was exposed to the city’s great treasures for his reward of gold; he retrieved all the gold he could, and travelled back to Spain where he was labelled a hero for his acts of

    Read More

More about Hernan Cortes: The Conqueror Of The New World

Open Document