Cortés Arrives in Mexico

Date: March 4, 1519 • Location: Madrid, Spain

Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.

Hernán Cortés, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador, military commander, explorer, captain general, and writer, best known for his expedition that led to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés had been part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.