60 Fun Facts About Hernán Cortés

Cortés was a conquistador in the service of which European crown?

He brought most of what is now mainland Mexico under the King of Castile.

In which Spanish town was Cortés born, around 1485?

It lies in Extremadura, then a poor and desolate province of Castile.

Cortés was a distant relative of which other conquistador, through his mother's family?

That relative went on to conquer the Inca Empire.

At 14, Cortés was sent to study what under an uncle in Salamanca?

Later historians wrongly assumed he enrolled at the university there.

What profession did the young Cortés train in, giving him legal knowledge to justify his conquest?

He practised in Valladolid and later in the Caribbean.

On which Caribbean island did Cortés first settle in 1504?

Governor Nicolás de Ovando granted him an encomienda and a post in the town of Azua.

Which governor of Cuba first sponsored Cortés's expedition, then tried to recall it at the last moment?

Cortés ignored the order and sailed in an act of open mutiny in February 1519.

What was the quinto that Cortés, as clerk to the treasurer in Cuba, had to secure for the Crown?

He later insisted he had sent the Crown more than its fifth.

Whom did Cortés reluctantly marry in Cuba, under pressure from the island's ruler?

She died at Coyoacán in 1522 without children.

Roughly how many men did Cortés bring when he landed on the Yucatán in 1519?

He also had about 11 ships, 13 horses and a small number of cannon.

Which shipwrecked Spanish priest, who had lived among the Maya, became Cortés's first translator?

He had learned Chontal Maya during his captivity.

La Malinche was one of how many enslaved women given to the Spaniards by the natives of Tabasco?

Her languages let Cortés talk to the Aztecs through Aguilar.

What Christian name was La Malinche given at her baptism?

The Nahua called her Malintzin, from which the Spaniards heard Malinche.

Which two languages did La Malinche speak, making her indispensable to Cortés?

Historians disagree over why she chose to help the Spanish.

What did Cortés do to his ships at Veracruz to eliminate any thought of retreat?

By founding Veracruz he placed himself directly under King Charles rather than the governor of Cuba.

Which people, after three battles in September 1519, became Cortés's most important indigenous allies?

About 1,000 of their warriors accompanied him on his march.

In which city did Cortés massacre thousands of unarmed nobles in October 1519?

It was the second-largest city in central Mexico.

On what date did Moctezuma II peacefully receive Cortés into Tenochtitlan?

Moctezuma hoped to learn the strangers' weaknesses and crush them later.

Cortés claimed the Aztecs took him for an emissary of which god?

Some modern historians dispute that the Aztecs ever believed this.

What did Cortés do to Moctezuma soon after entering the capital?

He ruled Tenochtitlan indirectly through the captive emperor.

Whom did the governor of Cuba send in 1520 with 1,100 men to arrest Cortés?

Cortés defeated him and persuaded most of his men to switch sides.

Which lieutenant of Cortés carried out the massacre in the Great Temple that sparked the Aztec uprising?

It happened while Cortés was away confronting Narváez on the coast.

How was Moctezuma killed on 1 July 1520, according to Spanish accounts?

Some accounts claim the Spaniards murdered him once he was no longer useful.

What name is given to the Spaniards' disastrous night flight from Tenochtitlan on 30 June 1520?

Much of the looted treasure and all the artillery were lost on the Tlacopan causeway.

What official name does Mexico give to the Spaniards' flight from Tenochtitlan on 30 June 1520?

The Spaniards' native allies were driven out alongside them.

Roughly how many men had Cortés lost by the time he reached Tlaxcala after the battle of Otumba?

Reinforcements from Cuba and his allies let him begin a war of attrition.

How many brigantines did Cortés have built in Tlaxcala to fight on Lake Texcoco during the siege?

Master shipbuilder Martín López constructed them.

Which disease devastated the population of Tenochtitlan while Cortés rebuilt his alliances?

The Spanish had acquired immunity because it had long been endemic in Spain.

On what date was Cuauhtémoc captured, ending the siege of Tenochtitlan?

Cortés then renamed the ruined city Mexico City.

What torture was inflicted on Cuauhtémoc to make him reveal hidden gold?

Some gold was recovered, but far less than the Spaniards expected.

Where was Cuauhtémoc executed on Cortés's orders in 1525?

Cortés had brought him along fearing he would lead an uprising in Mexico.

What does the name Cuauhtémoc mean?

It evokes a raptor diving toward its prey.

Which lieutenant claimed Honduras for himself, prompting Cortés's 1524 expedition?

Cortés blamed the governor of Cuba for turning him.

Which noble title did Charles V grant Cortés in 1529?

It came with 23,000 vassals in 23 encomiendas held in perpetuity.

Who was appointed the first viceroy of New Spain in 1535, outranking Cortés?

Cortés was left with military authority but never again held high office.

Which peninsula did Cortés discover while exploring north-western Mexico in 1536?

The Gulf of California was first named the Sea of Cortés by Francisco de Ulloa in 1539.

Where did Cortés build a palace on the estates to which he retired after 1530?

It lies about 30 miles south of Mexico City.

How many Aztecs did Cortés bring to Spain in 1528 to impress the emperor's court?

He was received with distinction and decorated with the Order of Santiago.

Cortés reportedly told Charles V he had given him more provinces than his ancestors left him what?

He had pushed through a crowd to reach the emperor, who demanded to know who he was.

In 1541 Cortés joined the emperor's expedition against which North African city?

The fleet was commanded by Andrea Doria.

Where and of what did Cortés die in December 1547?

He was 62 and had been about to sail back to Mexico.

How often was Cortés's body relocated after his death?

His bones were hidden in 1823 and only rediscovered more than a century later.

In which year were Cortés's hidden bones rediscovered in Mexico City?

One indigenist proposed burning them in front of the statue of Cuauhtémoc.

Cortés's only surviving writings are how many letters to Charles V?

They are known as the cartas de relación; the first is considered lost.

Cortés's son Martín, born to La Malinche in 1522, is known by what epithet?

Cortés had the Pope legitimise him and called him his favourite.

Cortés fathered a daughter, Leonor, with the Aztec princess Tecuichpotzin, baptised under what name?

She was the eldest legitimate daughter of the emperor Cortés had held hostage.

How did Cortés refer to himself in his own writings?

The shortened form only became standard in the 20th century.

Which soldier-chronicler described Cortés physically, calling his beard black and sparse?

Gómara, Cortés's chaplain, wrote that he was pale and sickly as a child.

What did the Crown grant Cortés in 1525 as a mark of high honour, at his own request?

The grant summarised his accomplishments in the conquest.

Moctezuma II was which emperor of the Aztecs, reigning from around 1502?

He is often called Montezuma in European sources.

Cortés was once quoted as saying it was more difficult to contend against whom than against the Aztecs?

Velázquez and Bishop Fonseca worked to undermine him in the Council of the Indies.

Which relative and newly appointed Governor of Hispaniola was Cortés meant to sail with, before an injury stopped him?

He finally reached Santo Domingo in 1504, and Ovando made him a notary of Azua de Compostela.

Which two earlier expeditions from Cuba to Mexico did Cortés miss before leading the third?

He had been almost 15 years in the Indies before looking beyond his position in Cuba.

Under what circumstances did Cortés's first wife Catalina Suárez die in November 1522?

An investigation followed, but her death left him free to marry into higher status.

Which explorer named the Gulf of California the 'Sea of Cortés' in 1539?

It was the last major expedition Cortés sponsored.

Which chivalric honour did Charles V bestow on Cortés when receiving him in Spain?

In 1529 he was also given the title of don and made Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca.

In which town near Seville did Cortés die on 2 December 1547?

He had been stricken with dysentery on reaching Seville, intending to return to Mexico.

In 1823 Cortés's statue and coat of arms were sent for safekeeping to which Sicilian city?

After Mexican independence his mausoleum seemed likely to be desecrated, so his bones were hidden too.

Which poet's 1816 sonnet wrongly credits 'stout Cortez' with discovering the Pacific Ocean?

'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer' should have named Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

The mountain pass Cortés crossed on his march to Mexico City lies between Popocatépetl and which volcano?

It is known today as the Paso de Cortés.