CORTES, HERNAN or HERNANDO, Spanish soldier, the conqueror of Mexico, was born at Medellin, Estremadura, in 1485. He studied law at the University of Salamanca, but returned home in I 5o I resolved to seek a life of adventure. Accidents frus trated his first attempts to see foreign service, but in 1504 he went to San Domingo. There Ovando, who was in command, kept him in his service till 151i, when he accompanied Diego Velasquez in his expedition to Cuba, where he was alcalde of Santiago. Juan Grijalva, who had just discovered Mexico, had not attempted to effect a settlement, so Velasquez entrusted Cortes with the con quest of the country. On Nov. 18, 1518, Cortes set out with ten vessels, 600 foot, 18 horse and some artillery. In spite of the almost instant cancellation of his commission by Velasquez, he went on, and on March 4, 1519, landed in Mexico. He took posses sion at once of the town of Tabasco. His artillery, his ships and his horses, all new to the natives, filled them with awe ; they regarded the Spaniards as gods, and sent them ambassadors with presents. From them Cortes learnt something of the empire he was to conquer, and its ruler Montezuma. He founded Vera Cruz, had himself elected captain-general of the new colony, and burnt his ships behind him. He then set out for the interior and started operations by allying himself with several caciques hostile to Montezuma. The republic of Tlaxcala, which was at war with Montezuma, resisted him. He defeated its army, dictated a mod erate peace, and enlisted it as an ally. With 600 natives as well as his small force of Spaniards he reached the capital, the city of Mexico. He was believed to be a descendant of the sun, and Montezuma received him with great honour. Bernal Diaz, who accompanied Cortes, gives a vivid picture of the wealth of the city, the horrors of its human sacrifices, and the magnificence of the emperor. Cortes had just fortified himself in one of the palaces when news reached him that the emperor had sent one of his gen erals secret orders to attack Vera Cruz. The head of one of the Spaniards was sent to the capital. This shattered the legend of their immortality and instantly made Cortes' position critical. He accordingly acted boldly and at once. Going with his officers to the palace he seized Montezuma and extorted from him the surrender of the force which had attacked Vera Cruz. These men he had burned alive before the palace gates. Meanwhile Cortes loaded Montezuma with irons and forced him to acknowledge the sov ereignty of Charles V. and ransom himself with an enormous sum in gold and jewels. At this point Cortes heard of the arrival of a Spanish force under Narvaez sent by Velasquez to deprive him of his command. Leaving 200 men at Mexico city, he marched against Narvaez, defeated him and enlisted his army in his own forces. On his return he found that the Mexicans had revolted. Montezuma, attempting to address the Mexicans, was killed, and under a new emperor they attacked Cortes' headquarters and drove him out of the city with the loss of his whole rear guard. After six days of retreat, during which the Spaniards suffered severely, the Mexicans offered battle in the plain of Otumba. The battle was fought on July 7, 15 20 and resulted in a decisive victory for Cortes. He recruited an auxiliary army of natives from Tlax cala, subdued the neighbouring provinces, and recaptured the city of Mexico of ter a stubborn defence on Aug. 13, 1 5 21.
The fame that Cortes was achieving in Spain as a result of these conquests overshadowed the irregularity of his methods ; Charles V., in deference to public opinion, overruled Velasquez and appointed Cortes governor of Mexico and made him marquis of Oaxaca (1529). But the methods he followed in consolidating his conquests reduced the natives to despair and revolt. The revolt was crushed and the leaders publicly executed with great cruelty. Meanwhile, the court of Madrid, fearing his ambition and popu larity, was doing its best to thwart his efforts ; his goods were seized by order of the Council of the Indies and his retainers imprisoned. Cortes returned to Spain to appeal to the emperor. He was received honourably, and returned to Mexico with new honours and diminished authority, having a viceroy put in charge of the civil administration. This division of powers frustrated his later enterprises. In 1536 he discovered the peninsula of lower California and surveyed part of the gulf between it and Mexico.
Tired of struggling with adversaries that the court encouraged, he returned to Europe again, to be received coldly. He attended the emperor assiduously, and served as volunteer in his disastrous expedition against the pirates of Algiers in 1541, which Cortes' advice, if followed, might have converted into a success. After this he was completely neglected. There is a story that he forced his way through the crowd round the emperor's carriage and mounted the doorstep. Charles asked who he was. "I am a man," Cortes replied, "who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities." This is not the way to ingratiate oneself with princes. Eventually he retired from court and died near Seville on Dec. 2, 1547.
The only writings of Cortes are five letters on the subject of his conquests, which he addressed to Charles V. The best edition of them is that of Don Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, archbishop of Mexico, entitled Historia de Nueva-Espana escrita por su esclarecido conquistador, Hernan Cortes, aumentada con otros documientos y notas (Mexico, 177o, 4to), a work the noble simplicity of which attests the truth of the recital it contains. An English translation of the letters, edited by Francis A. MacNutt, was published in 1908. The conquests of Cortes have been described by Antonio de Solis in his Historia de to conquista de Mejico (1684), and by Bernardo Diaz del Castillo in his work under the same title (1632) ; trans. by Prof. Maudslay, "The Broadway Travellers," (1928) . See also Sir Arthur Helps's Life of Hernando Cortes (1871) ; F. A. MacNutt's Fernando Cortes, "Heroes of the Nations" Series (1909) ; H. D. Sedgwick, Cortes the Conqueror (1927) ; and bibliography to MEXICO.