Hernan Cortes

Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted: 9/18/2009

This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485 1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico in 1521. Cortés had spent time in Cuba killing and enslaving its indigenous inhabitants and administering the new social order of the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean...