HERNAN CORTES

WHO WAS CORTES?

• Cortes was a hero in his home land of spain
• Cortes failed law school
• In school he was a bad student
• Cortes wanted adventure in his life and read books about explorers travelling to new places
• Born in Spain in 1485
• Died in 1547 at the age of 62

WHAT DID CORTES DO

• On orders from the governor of Cuba (which was part of Spain) he gathered an army and Set off for the new world to claim riches and new land for Spain
• The people in the Aztec empire were Indians. there was about 300,000 of them and they lived in what we now know as Mexico.
• When he got to the Aztec empire they thought he was a god
• They gave him gold and silver and we're welcoming.
• The king of Spain was very happy with him because he killed all of the Aztec people and took of their riches and land
• Cortes had went on two expeditions

WHERE DID CORTES EXPLORE?

• Cortes sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to get to the Aztec empire. This is what we now know as Mexico.
• He went from Cuba (Spain) to The Aztec empire
• Mexico was built on top of the Aztec empire

WHEN DID CORTES DO HIS EXPEDITIONS?

• One of his expeditions was in April, 1520
• Cortes carried out most of his explorations between the years 1511 and 1519

WHY DID CORTES EXPLORE?

• When he was a kid he read books about explorers and wanted to be like them.
• He dreamed about gold , silver and riches
• When he became an adult the governor of Cuba wanted him to claim the land for Spain.

THE TOOLS THAT CORTES USED

• Cortes did his exploration by fighting
• He also used maps and compasses for navigation
• Cortes used 11 ships on his expeditions
• He brought guns, cannons, soldiers and ships
• When he left he took 100 sailors, 32 archers, 13 sharp shooters and 16 horses

HOW DID CORTES IMPACT THE WORLD?

• Cortes killed all the people in the Aztec empire to claim the gold
• Spain became the richest nation in the world at that time
• Afterwards, the gold and silver mines where sort of wasted in Europe because no one used them because of all of the gold they stole
• Cortes found new land which is now Mexico and destroyed the Aztec empire

THE END