EXPLORER

Hernán Cortés

1485 - 1547

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Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall 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 was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue adventure and riches in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda (the right to the labor of certain subjects). Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Hernán Cortés is the 7th most popular explorer (up from 9th in 2019), the 11th most popular biography from Spain (up from 12th in 2019) and the most popular Spanish Explorer.

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in the 16th century.

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Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Hernán Cortés ranks 7 out of 498. Before him are Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Leif Erikson, and Amerigo Vespucci. After him are Ibn Battuta, Roald Amundsen, Bartolomeu Dias, Prince Henry the Navigator, Zheng He, and James Cook.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1485, Hernán Cortés ranks 1. After him are Catherine of Aragon, Dragut, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Thomas Cromwell, Pedro de Alvarado, Sebastiano del Piombo, Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg, Clément Janequin, Sayyida al Hurra, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Balthasar Hubmaier. Among people deceased in 1547, Hernán Cortés ranks 2. Before him is Henry VIII of England. After him are Francis I of France, Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Vittoria Colonna, Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, Sebastiano del Piombo, Pietro Bembo, Saint Cajetan, Dorothea of Denmark, Duchess of Prussia, Hadım Suleiman Pasha, and Marie of Luxembourg, Countess of Vendôme.

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In Spain

Among people born in Spain, Hernán Cortés ranks 11 out of 3,355. Before him are Diego Velázquez (1599), Antoni Gaudí (1852), Seneca the Younger (-4), Averroes (1126), Trajan (53), and Francisco Franco (1892). After him are Pope Alexander VI (1431), Philip II of Spain (1527), Hadrian (76), Ignatius of Loyola (1491), Theodosius I (340), and Isabella I of Castile (1451).

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Among EXPLORERS In Spain

Among explorers born in Spain, Hernán Cortés ranks 1. After him are Francisco Pizarro (1478), Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476), Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475), Francisco de Orellana (1511), Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510), Juan Ponce de León (1460), Diego de Almagro (1475), Hernando de Soto (1500), Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465), Alonso de Ojeda (1466), and Juan Díaz de Solís (1470).

Spanish born Explorers

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