Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés (1485–1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that brought the Aztec Empire under Spanish rule and began the colony of New Spain, the forerunner of modern Mexico. Born in Medellín in the Extremadura region of Spain, he sailed to Hispaniola in 1504 and later settled in Cuba. In 1519 he led an expedition to the Mexican mainland, founding Veracruz and forming alliances with peoples such as the Tlaxcalans. That November he entered the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, and met the emperor Moctezuma II. After a prolonged conflict the city fell in 1521, and Mexico City was built on its site. Cortés served as governor of New Spain and later sponsored voyages to Baja California; the Gulf of California is also called the Sea of Cortés. He died in Spain in 1547. His expedition began the blend of Spanish and Indigenous cultures that shaped Mexico.