Hernán Cortés

Born around 1485 to minor Spanish nobility in Medellín, Cortés left for the New World seeking fortune, settling first in Hispaniola and then Cuba, where he gained an encomienda and briefly served as magistrate. In 1519 he was chosen to lead a third expedition to the mainland, partly funding it himself, but when the governor of Cuba tried to cancel the voyage at the last moment, Cortés sailed anyway. On the continent he forged alliances with indigenous groups against the Aztecs and relied on a native woman, Doña Marina, as interpreter - she later bore his first son. When the governor sent men to arrest him for mutiny, Cortés defeated them and absorbed their troops, then wrote directly to the king claiming credit for his victories. After toppling the Aztec Empire, he received the title Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, though the more powerful position of viceroy went to a higher-born nobleman. He returned to Spain in 1541 and died there six years later.