In the early fifteen hundred’s a Spanish expedition was sent on a mission to conquer Mexico, and consisted of approximately a dozen ships. Hernán Cortés was one of the most accomplished of the conquistadors in the sixteenth century, and also known throughout the world as the man who defeated the Aztec Empire. By overthrowing the Aztec Empire and their emperor, Moctezuma, Cortes conquered Mexico. Hernán Cortés was eternally known as a man who was rather bold and valiant in his leadership of his soldiers. In 1485, Cortés was born to a Spanish family of minor nobility “in the Castilian province of Extremadura, in the small city of Medellin” (Minster). At the age of fourteen, Cortés was sent by his parents “to study at the University of Salamanca”
