Cortes09


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Script** Hernan Cortes, a Spanish Conquistador, was born in Medellin, Spain, and was part of the generation of Spanish explorers that began the colonization of the Americas.Because of controversial expeditions and lack of records, Cortes' personal life has been a mystery. As a result of the historical trends relating to Conquistadors, descriptions of Cortes tend to be simplistic, and or damning or idealizing. Like everyone else, Cortes changed as he grew older, when he was a boy, he is described as pale and sickly, Midway through his teens, Cortes was sent to the University of Salamanca in Western Spain. The University at the time was Spain's great center for learning and the arts. Though its unclear of his studies, we can assume that he studied Latin and Law. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, Cortes left school and returned home. With the education he recieved at Salamanca and his extended training, and experiences in Hispaniola and Cuba would give Cortes an understanding of Castile law. Cortes quickly rose in the poltical standings of Cuba and led the third expedition to the mainland. Hours before his expedition left port, Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, the Governor of Cuba called off the expedition. However, he didn't expect Cortes to disobey an order and leave anyway for Central America. Diego Velazquez was furious. When Cortes arrived in Central America, Cortes created a coalition of indigenious tribes against the Aztec Empire. When he arrived, he used a native woman, Dona Marina, as an interpreter, who would bear Cortes a son. When the Governor sent emissaries to arrest Cortes on charges of mutiny and treason, Cortes fought and killed the emissaries. Cortes main goal in his expeditions was overthrowing the Aztec empire's stronghold on Central America. Cortes was hailed as a God, and he used this ideaology to his advantage. He tricked the Aztecs by capturing their king, Monctezuma, and held him hostage during his conquest. He warred with the Aztecs for a few years until he was beaten back in 1519. Again he tried to besige the great city of Tenochtitlan in 1521, but this time he succeeded in defeating the Aztecs and gaining a foothold in the Central Americas. As his conquests grew in number, Cortes began writing letters to Spain, known as "//Las Cartas de Relacion//," in these letters, he explained his conquests to the king and queen. After overthrowing the Aztec Empire, Cortes expected to be promoted to Viceroy, a high ranking position in the Spanish government. Instead, he became the Marques de Valle de Oaxaca, while another nobleman became Viceroy, Antonio Mendoza. Even though Cortes accepted the defeat, he was embittered by this fact until the day he died on December 2, 1547.


 * Research**

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marques de Valle de Oaxaca ( 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish //conquistador// who led an expedition that caused the fall of the aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in Medellín, Spain to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an //encomienda// and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec empire, Cortés was awarded the title of //Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca//, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. Cortés returned to Spain in 1541 where he died peacefully but embittered. Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment and greatly expanded concern for human rights, as typified by the Black Legend, also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing. Hernán Cortés is described as a pale, sickly child by his friend Francisco López de Gómara. At the age of 14, Cortés was sent to study at the University of Salamanca in west-central Spain. This was Spain's great center of learning, and while accounts vary as to the nature of Cortés' studies, his later writings and actions suggest he studied Law and probably Latin. After two years, Cortés, tired of schooling, returned home to Medellín, much to the irritation of his parents, who had hoped to see him equipped for a profitable legal career. However, those two years at Salamanca, plus his long period of training and experience as a notary, first in Seville and later in Hispaniola, would give him a close acquaintance with the legal codes of Castile that helped him to justify his unauthorized conquest of Mexico. At this point in his life, Cortés was described by Gómara as restless, haughty, and mischievous. This was probably a fair description of a sixteen-year-old boy who had returned home only to find himself frustrated by life in his small provincial town. By this time, news of the exciting discoveries of Columbus in the New World was streaming back to Spain.