[PDF] Hernan Cortès - ULIS des Marches de Bretagne

Hernán Cortés and Diego Velázquez

Cortés was born in 1485 to Martín Cortés de Monroy and Doña Catalina Pizarro Altamarino, minor nobles in Medellín, Spain. He studied in Salamanca for a time but soon grew restless and left Spain in 1504 to explore the New World. The young Cortés landed in Hispaniola, or modern-day Santo Domingo. He served as a notary in the town of Azúa for a few y...

Cortés ‘Discovers’ Mexico

Cortés and his crew reached Mexico in February of 1519. They dropped anchor at Tabasco, where he gained intelligence from locals about the land he desired to conquer. They also gave him gifts in the form of 20 women. One of them, Marina, became his interpreter and they had a son, Martín, together. Cortés landed in Veracruznext, where his men electe...

Cortés Defeats The Aztecs

Cortés used his new allies and united them against the Aztecs, who were resented by local groups for the high tributes they exacted. By the time he arrived in Mexico, the Aztecs had come to rule over 500 small states and some 5 to 6 million people. He used deadly force to conquer Mexico, fighting Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors before turning his att...

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