Preview

Hernando Cortes

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1802 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hernando Cortes
Hernando Cortes on Meeting Moctezuma & Destroying the Aztec Empire

In the early 1500’s, people traveled their whole lifetime, all across the world, just to find two things, gold and property. Gold, the world basically revolved around it and you would do anything to just get your hands on it. It determined who you were in life, your social status and what kind of life you lived. You also wanted to own as much property as you could for multiple reasons. Having more land, led to more people, creating bigger cities, dominant armies, and basically power to one. Starting out with very small possessions and little to accompany him in his journey, Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, traveled halfway across the world searching for these precious items. He would write to his king during his expedition, informing him of conquering city by city and gaining more power by the day, all in favor of fulfilling his dreams.

Hernando Cortez was a Spanish conquistador that is mainly known for defeating and conquering the Aztec Empire. He was born in Medellin, Spain in 1485 from a high class family with low wealth, but that did not stop his big ambitions and dreams. Cortes spent most of his early years as a farmer, although he did go to a prestige university to study law and Latin at age 14. Soon after this, he wanted to conquer his dreams of finding the New World. He missed his first chance of capturing his dreams when he was late to board the ship due to injury, having an affair with a local lady. Hernan soon became a soldier and boarded a ship with the famous and ambitious Alonso Quintero. In Santo Domingo, Hispaniola, you have to be eighteen years old to purchase land to farm and to start a building plot. Cortes, just meeting the requirement, went right along and started building his colony. Over the next few years, he earned slaves from the governor and took part in conquests in Hispaniola and Cuba, which earned him more native slaves. Eventually, Hernando started to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Because he loved Gold Cortez decided to go there. The Aztec would turn other people into slaves.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1474 and lived to 1521. He was a Spanish explorer and one of the conquerors of many lands in the New World. Very little is recorded and known about Juan Ponce de Leon’s early life. Ponce de Leon grew up in Santervás de Campos, a Spanish town located near the town of Placencia. He is reported to have fought in the Spanish campaign is 1492 that drove the the Moors out of Granada. After that, many historians agree on the fact that he then accompanied the prestigious explorer Christopher on his second expedition. Columbus’ fleet then reached the island of Hispaniola, an island in the Caribbean Sea. Then, it is believed that Ponce de Leon returned to Spain before going back to the island of Hispaniola in 1502. Although,…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The book I have chosen for my book report is “Amerigo- the man who gave his name to America.” The author of this book is Felip Fernandez- Armesto. He wrote this book in 2007. He is the prince of Asturias professor of History at tufts University and a professional fellow of Queen Mary University of London. He wrote many books which have come in twenty-four different languages. His books on the history of exploration include Columbus, Before Columbus, Pathfinders, and the Times Atlas of World Exploration and have won many awards like Caird Medal, the John Carter Brown Medal. The journals and broadcast he had done frequently came on Spanish and British media.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. What he was trying to achieve was a source of wealth/gold, and establish a settlement. While De Soto's journey of conquest was a failure, it was nevertheless historically significant. Hernando de Soto is famous for helping defeat the Inca empire in the New World and for leading the first European expedition to reach the Mississippi River. Hernando de Soto is to be remembered as a “ great explorer” but, also seen as a “destroyer of native culture”.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many people, view Hernan Cortes as this good person who went to spread the love of God with his Christianity to the Natives. Others, saw him as this bad and evil, heartless person who just killed everyone one and just went to the Americas in search of gold and slaves. Some, even see…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hernando

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hernando was born in the early 1530s, in a community called Extremurda. He was the second son of Francisco Mendez De Soto and Leonor Arias Tinoco. He was very tall and muscular. (see figure 1)He was more interested in adventuring and exploring then education. His first experience as a sailor was with Pedro Arias de Ávila to Central America in 1514. Hernando, Ponce de Leon and Francisco Companion conquered Nicaragua in 1524, and became the leading citizen of that country. He was the first Spaniard to meet the Inca leader Atahualpa. De Soto and 620 other men went south to Tampa Bay, Florida on May 30, 1539. They meet a former explorer from a failed mission that lived with the Indians for twelve years, he used the former explorer as an interpreter and meets Indian women who offered him a long string of pearls and told him more could be found in nearby burial grounds. After collecting plenty of pearls they finally continued marching and got in a fight with the Indians and lost many men and also pearls. Eager to find more riches and other things De soto and the remaining men continued marching to north-west into northern Mississippi. De Soto sighted the Mississippi River, south of the current-day city of Memphis, Tennessee in May 1541. After crossing the Mississippi River he explored Arkansas and decided to rest near the present site of Fort Smith for the winter. After making up his mind to leave , he reached the mouth of the Arkansas River, where he died of fever on May 21, 1542.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Globalization In 1450

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout history, many innovations were fueled by the motivation to better a nation's military power and navigation. The importing of bullion creates an influx in wealth for any country and when the Spanish started importing bullion, their navigation has increased to not only look for gold but to also continue importing that item. Also, the dependence of military power is vital because many countries will not to steal valuable items such as gold. Prior to 1450 there were fledgling monarchies and Europe was just transforming to statehood, but with the influx of bullion it caused their military, economy and navigation thrived. Technological developments fueled the passion for the exploration of the new world, which resulted in the strengthening…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Juan Ponce de Leon

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Juan Ponce de Leon was born around 1460 in San Tervas de Campos, Spain. He was the first Spanish explorer to arrive in Florida. In 1493, Ponce de Leon and Christopher Columbus sailed together on Columbus’ 2nd voyage to America. They had settled on an island named Hispaniola, which is present day Dominican Republic, where Ponce de Leon had become governor at. In 1506, he had discovered an island close by named Borinquen, and during his time here, he found lots of gold. Once he made this discovery and took most of it, he left the island of Borinquen. In 1508, he was ordered by the king of Spain to return to Borinquen to colonize it. Later on, he had renamed this island Puerto Rico. He became the island’s governor for two years until he was replaced with Columbus’s son by the king.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mariner De Soto

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page

    Mapped much of the southern half of the modern United States, from Florida north to North Carolina and west to the Mississippi River according to the Mariner’s Museum website. In his early life, he joined Davila governor of Darien on an expedition of the West Indies. De Soto was captain of a cavalry exploration troop which set out from Panama to Nicaragua and eventually Honduras (www.biography.com). De Soto showed his skill as an explorer and trader by his commanding exchanges with the natives (www.biography.com). In 1532, De Soto was made second in command of Francisco Pizarro expedition to explore and conquer Peru (www.biography.com). De Soto played a fundamental role in the conquest of Peru and returned to Spain in 1536 a wealthy man…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Spanish conquistadors. In their search for gold, they instead found a mountain of silver and they hired indigenous slaves to mine it all out and hand it over to the Spanish. Spain became incredibly rich but made their taxes poorly and experienced inflations that caused them to lose a majority of their wealth. China experienced a similar thing when they received silver, and then created a new tax form for silver rather than goods. Silk makers were heavily needed because the Chinese needed something that they could trade with Japan to get silver to pay for their new taxes. With the overwhelming amount of silver, this created another inflation and that caused the downfall of their economy.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hearing of the word hero brings to my mind a good looking man with some qualities of fair, equal, courage, brave, honest and a positive leader. This makes the opposite a villain a person who wishes wrong for someone or a person who creates evil. The event changes dramatically, a hero of the past may not be considered a hero in the present and versa. Hernando Cortes a hero for joining two worlds and conquering the most powerful civilization of America or Hernando Cortes a villain for making the Aztec Empire disappear. Hernando Cortez was an important symbol for the explorations, but killing people, ending the most powerful civilization in America and spreading diseases does not makes him a hero. With good strategy and few men Cortes defeated the Aztec Empire, first Montezuma II and then Cuauhtémoc. (5) Spreading disease “smallpox” to the Aztecs that then will spread the disease all over Mexico and making many people die. (2) Taking over a civilization that had his culture, language, religion and after doing all this finished with the entire Aztec Empire. (1) If you argue these reasons you get the results of a villain or in this case the result of Cortes.…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juan Manuel de Rosas

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the year 1829 Argentina was faced with a conflict between two social and political groups to determine the future of the nation. Juan Manuel de Rosas, a federalist, became governor of Buenos Aires that same year starting a period of terror, tyranny and brutal suppression. Rosas's dictatorship was noted for its law and order through tyranny in which his secret police and spies intimidated all opposition, so that by 1840 few people dared to oppose him and thousands fled to Montevideo, Chile, and Brazil for refuge. Juan Manuel de Rosas engaged in a policy of terror towards the people of Buenos Aires to impose social and political order by eliminating all of his enemies and having absolute power and control over the country.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hernando de Soto

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hernando de Soto was born in 1496 in Spain and died on May 21, 1542 in de Soto County, Mississippi.. He was a Spanish Explorer. His mission was to conquer and settle in the unknown territories. He participated in the conquest of Panama and took a role with the Spanish in the conquered of Peru. He lead the largest expedition that would later become the Southeast United States and the Midwest United States. He was made Governor of Cuba by Charles V. He lead an expedition from Spain to Florida from 1538 to 1542 and landed on the Florida coast near Tampa Bay in 1539 now known as Bradenton, Florida. This adventure took him half way across the continent in search of gold, silver, and jewels. Which they never found.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1485, Hernan Cortés was born in Spanish kingdom of Castile and would later on die in 1547 at the age of 62. Cortés would go to become a Spanish Conquistador and would eventually lead a campaign that would end in the creation of New Spain or future Mexico. His most well-known achievement would be his ability to conquer the Aztec empire in 1521. Cortés did have an education since he studied at the University of Salamanca to become a lawyer but would drop out after two years, to chase after the tales and stories of the new world. As a result, Cortés education allows the Second letter to Charles V to illustrate the society of the Aztecs in a sharp way. Cortés was also very intelligent in the way he wrote the letters to CharlesV.Cortés was trying to justify his actions for attacking the Aztecs, and the emphasis he puts on the Aztecs, pagan beliefs would appeal to the Christian…

    • 1631 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jaime Zobel didn't plan to start his career in the family business. However, after completing a training program at the venerable Ayala Corporation—the largest and most widely diversified conglomerate in the Philippines—and attending HBS, he accepted a short-term position at Ayala and never left. Today, Zobel embraces his role as the leader of the 173-year-old firm, where his innovative, entrepreneurial style of management has benefited both Ayala and an island nation that faces significant social and economic challenges.…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays