Hernando Cortes

H ernando Cortes was born at Medellin, Spain on 1485 in a middle class family. In the age of 14, he was sent to a school in Salamanca to st...

T oday is a good day to sail ships. Wind is blowing gently, and the tide is not roaring. How badly I longed this day! ...

We landed on Cozumel , where is very close to the continent that we could clearly see. On this island, we found a natives' town...

Finally I found a city in the continent along the coast. The natives called this city Tabasco. But its residences were not as fr...

We found a beach and landed on it. The natives of this land was very friendly, unlike Tabascans . They offered us food, clothes, jewels an...

With Cempoalas soldiers, we marched into Tlaxcalteca. It was a state belonged to the empire. We , including the native chiefs of warriors,...

I finally reached to Tenochititlan, where thousands of Aztecs are living. Tenochititlan is a big city, as I learned and heard, and I just s...

N oche Triste. It is dark and rainy night. It's a very dark and a gloomy day. We w ill remember this night, "Noche Triste," a...

W e finally came back to Tenochititlan. And Finally, the Aztecs surrendered today. I reorganized and trained with my soldiers for a year, an...

I myself, who spent a decade of years to find the golden land, finally got the reward for that. I have dealt peace with the natives, also de...

Primary Sources 　 　 　 Cortes, Hernando. 1520. Second Letter to King Charles V. 　 　 　 Leon­Portilla, Miguel , ed.. 1962. The Broken Spear...