The world's leading conquerors: Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charles the Great, the Ottoman sultans, the Spanish conquistadors, Napoleon . 517 the governor of Cuba, Diego Velasquez, beganto send some of his subordinates to explore the coast ofYucatan. One of them brought back ornaments and ves-sels of gold and also information as to the extent and im-portance of the great native power in the interior of theland. An expedition was then put in charge of HernandoCortez, who for eight years had been an adventurer in theNew World. The new leader was a native of Medellin inEstremadura, where he had
The world's leading conquerors: Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charles the Great, the Ottoman sultans, the Spanish conquistadors, Napoleon . 517 the governor of Cuba, Diego Velasquez, beganto send some of his subordinates to explore the coast ofYucatan. One of them brought back ornaments and ves-sels of gold and also information as to the extent and im-portance of the great native power in the interior of theland. An expedition was then put in charge of HernandoCortez, who for eight years had been an adventurer in theNew World. The new leader was a native of Medellin inEstremadura, where he had been born in 1485. He had re-ceived a good education, graduating as bachelor of laws,but, after leading an irregular life at home, he had sailedfor the West Indies, where he had spent eight years, firstin Hispaniola, then in Cuba. Like other adventurers, he hadtaken part in Indian warfare and had been a interests worked against his appointment; accord-ingly, when he left Cuba he was informed that Velasquezintended to supersede him in the command. His fleet car-ried no sailors, 553 Spanish soldiers, 200 Indians, some. From a Drawing Taken from Life SPANISH CONQUERORS ^ 323 artillery, and a valuable asset for the conquest, sixteenhorses. On the I2th of March, Cortez squadron arrived atPotonchan, having previously stopped at Cozumel to pick upGeronimo de Aguilar, who had taken part in an earlierand unsuccessful expedition to the coast of the had become a member of a native pueblo, had mar-ried an Indian, and was especially useful because of hisknowledge of the Indian tongue. At Potonchan the in-habitants brought out provisions in boats, but were not dis-posed to receive the newcomers in their village; indeed,they asked them to accept the food,—bread, fruit, andbirds,—and take themselves off. Cortez arranged an am-bush near the pueblo and, according to the agreement,two hundred men under Alvarado and Avila rushed uponthe settlement when the natives
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthistory, bookyear1913
