Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés (1485 - December 2, 1547) was an explorer and conqueror from Spain. Between 1519 and 1521 he conquered the Aztec empire of emperor Montezuma, where Mexico is today.
Juan Pablo was born Medellín, Extremadura province, in the Kingdom of Castile in Spain. He went to Salamanca University but dropped out at age 17. He chose to seek a chance in the New World.
He went to the New World in 1506. He took part in the Spanish conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba where the Arawak people lived. In 1519, he started from Cuba by ships and went to Yucatán to look for gold. In Yucatán, he conquered the Aztec empire.
Cortés saw the capital of the empire, Tenochtitlán, and was surprised that this city was as great as Constantinople. The Aztecs were surprised too, because they had not seen horses before Cortés brought them. Later, in 1521, he destroyed this city.
Cortés returned from Honduras and was Governor of New Spain for a while. Later he went back to Europe with great treasure. He died in Seville, Spain in 1547. Through his children, some by Native American mothers, he is an ancestor of hundreds of thousands of people today.
