Hernando+Cortes

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Cortez was a spanish conquistodor who led an expedition that caused the fall of the aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland mexico under the king of castille, in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the spanish colonization of the americas.    Born in medilin, extremedura, spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to cuba. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the governor of Cuba, __[|Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar]__, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also used a native woman, [|Doña Marina], as interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec empire, Cortés was awarded the title of //Marqués del Valle de __[|Oaxaca]__//__,__ while the more prestigious title of [|Viceroy] was given to a high-ranking nobleman, [|Antonio de Mendoza]. Cortés returned to Spain in 1541 where he died peacefully but embittered. Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment and greatly expanded concern for human rights, as typified by the [|Black Legend], also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing. King Charles I of Spain, who had become [|Holy Roman Emperor Charles V] in 1519, appointed Cortés as governor, captain general, and chief justice of the newly conquered territory, dubbed "[|New Spain] of the Ocean Sea". But also, much to the dismay of Cortés, four royal officials were appointed at the same time to assist him in his governing — in effect submitting him to close observation and administration. Cortés initiated the construction of [|Mexico City], destroying Aztec temples and buildings and then rebuilding on the Aztec ruins what soon became the most important European city in the Americas. Cortés managed the founding of new cities and appointed men to extend Spanish rule to all of New Spain, imposing the //[|encomienda]// land tenure system in 1524 [|[][|6][|]]. He also supported efforts to [|evangelize] the [|indigenous people] to Christianity and sponsored new explorations. He then spent the next seven years establishing peace among the Indians of Mexico and developing mines and farmlands. Cortés was one of the first Spaniards to attempt to grow [|sugar] in Mexico and one of the first to import [|African slaves] to early colonial Mexico. At the time of his death his estate contained at least 200 slaves who were either native Africans or of African descent [//[|citation needed]//]. In 1523, the Crown (possibly influenced by Cortés' enemy, [|Bishop Fonseca][|[][|10][|]]), sent a military force under the command of [|Juan de Garay] to conquer and settle the northern part of Mexico, the region of [|Pánuco]. This was another setback for Cortés who mentioned this in his fourth letter to the King in which he describes himself as the victim of a conspiracy by his archenemies [|Diego Velázquez], [|Diego Columbus] and Bishop Fonseca as well as Juan Garay. The influence of Garay was effectively stopped by this appeal to the King who sent out a decree forbidding Garay to interfere in the politics of New Spain, causing him to give up without a fight. From 1524 to 1526, Cortés headed an expedition to [|Honduras] where he defeated [|Cristóbal de Olid], who had claimed Honduras as his own under the influence of the Governor of Cuba Diego Velázquez. Fearing that Cuauhtémoc might head an insurrection in Mexico, he brought him with him in Honduras and hanged him during the journey. Raging over Olid's treason, Cortés issued a decree to arrest Velázquez, whom he was sure was behind Olid's treason. This, however, only served to further estrange the Spanish Crown and the Council of Indies, both of which were already beginning to feel anxious about Cortés' rising power.[|[][|11][|]] The emperor finally permitted Cortés to join himself and his fleet commanded by [|Andrea Doria] at the great expedition against [|Algiers] in the [|Barbary Coast] in 1541, which was then part of the [|Ottoman Empire] and was used as a base by the famous Turkish corsair [|Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha] who was also the Admiral-in-Chief of the [|Ottoman] Fleet. During this unfortunate campaign, which was his last, Cortés was almost drowned in a storm that hit his fleet while he was pursuing Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, who managed to defeat the fleet of [|Charles V] for a second time after the 1538 [|Battle of Preveza].[|[][|13][|]] 

Last years
Having spent a great deal of his own money to finance expeditions, he was now heavily in debt. In February 1544 he made a claim on the royal treasury, but was given a royal runaround for the next three years. Disgusted, he decided to return to Mexico in 1547. When he reached Seville, he was stricken with [|dysentery]. He died in [|Castilleja de la Cuesta], [|Seville] province, on December 2, 1547, from a case of [|pleurisy] at age 62. Like [|Columbus], he died a wealthy but embittered man. He left his many [|mestizo] and white children well cared for in his will, along with every one of their mothers. He requested in his will that his remains eventually be buried in Mexico. Before he died he had the Pope remove the "natural" status of three of his children (legitimizing them in the eyes of the church), including [|Martin], the son he had with Doña Marina (also known as La Malinche), said to be his favorite. 

//Cortés personally was not ungenerously rewarded, but he speedily complained of insufficient compensation to himself and his comrades. Thinking himself beyond reach of restraint, he disobeyed many of the orders of the Crown, and, what was more imprudent, said so in a letter to the emperor, dated October 15, 1524 (Ycazbalceta, "Documentos para la Historia de México", Mexico, 1858, I). In this letter Cortés, besides recalling in a rather abrupt manner that the conquest of Mexico was due to him alone, deliberately acknowledges his disobedience in terms which could not fail to create a most unfavourable impression."//[|[][|9][|]]