CORTEZ, or CORTES, HERNANDO, the conqueror of Mexico; born in Estre madura, Spain, in 1485. At the age of 19 he left Spain, to seek fame and for tune in the new world. He distinguished himself under Velasquez in the conquest of Cuba; and after passing several years in that island he obtained leave from Velasquez to conduct a small expedition to the newly discovered coast of Yuca tan and Mexico. With less than 600 soldiers, and 16 horses, 10 cannon, and four falconets, he sailed, in 1519, to conquer the most powerful empire in America. He landed on the Mexican coast on Good Friday, April 21, on the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands. He persuaded his followers to destroy their ships, and to march inland, with no prospect but to succeed or per ish. The Indian republic of Tlascala lay between him and the Mexican capital. He defeated the Tlascalans when they attacked him, and then succeeded in winning their friendship. They acted thenceforth as his zealous and faithful allies. Alarmed by the reports of the prowess of the Spaniards, and of the superhuman terrors of the arms which they wielded, Montezuma, the Mexican emperor, sought to conciliate the stran gers, and received Cortez and his troops in the capital. Though they obtained lavish presents, and received courteous treatment, the treasures which they saw around them inflamed more and more the cupidity of the invaders. The sight of the idolatrous rites, and espe cially of the human sacrifices which the Mexicans practiced, inflamed their re ligious bigotry; the ambition of Cortez thirsted after absolute conquest, and, by a bold stroke of treachery, he seized the person of the Mexican emperor. Cortez, soon after this, received a ma terial increase of strength from a force which the Viceroy of Cuba had sent to depose him and take him prisoner, but which he partly defeated, and partly persuaded to come over to him.
He now found himself plunged into a most desperate war with the native Mexicans, who rose upon the Spaniards, and assaulted them in their fortified quarters in the capital. The Mexicans
strove with equal courage, and infinitely preponderating numbers, against the superior weapons and discipline of the Europeans, who throughout the strug gle were gallantly supported by their Tlascalan confederates. Cortez was now, at last, obliged to evacuate the city, July 1, 1520. Encouraged by this suc cess, the Mexicans followed the Span iards, and fought the battle of Otumba, in which they were badly defeated. After receiving some re-enforcements, he again advanced upon the Mexican capital. Guatemozin was now Emperor of Mexico, and had learned the inability of his troops to face the Europeans in the open field. He remained within the city, which Cortez besieged. The geo graphical position of the city, and the great number of native allies who now served under him, enabled Cortez to establish a strict blockade. Many as saults were made, and met with various fortune. Fire and the sword swept away thousands of the Mexicans, but famine was their most fatal foe; and Mexico, on Aug. 13, 1521, surrendered, and the whole of its vast empire became subject to the crown of Spain. Cortez disgraced his triumph by putting the bravo Guatemozin to a cruel death, an act of which he is said to have after ward deeply repented. The domestic enemies of the conqueror of Mexico had, meanwhile, been busy in their intrigues against him at the Spanish court, and in 1528 Cortez returned to Spain to face his accusers. He was coldly received, and he could not prevail on Charles V. to continue him in the governorship of Mexico. He returned to America in 1530, a powerful and wealthy noble, but without public authority. He made sev eral brilliant and important voyages of discovery along the Californian and other coasts of the Pacific. In 1540 he finally returned to Spain, where he was treated by his sovereign with ungra cious neglect. He died near Seville, Dec. 2, 1547.