The expeditions of Hernando Cortez to Mexico were motivated by three major desires: to obtain wealth, personal glory, and spread Catholicism, but this was also true for other Conquistadores in their expeditions. Hernando Cortez set out to gain fame for himself by finding untold riches, as well as to convert the newly discovered Indians to Christianity in order to save their souls. Unfortunately, these goals were not completely accomplished, instead of converting the Indians, the majority of them were slaughtered or killed by diseases brought by the European conquerors. Cortez and his army invaded and sacked the Aztec empire and brought back more wealth to the motherland than any other adventurer in the Age of Exploration. When Cortez first viewed the city of Tenochtitlan, his reaction contradicts his actions as it is noted that he called it “the most beautiful city in the world.” After conquering the Aztec Empire it was claimed as a colony of Spain, Tenochtitlan was laid to waste and rebuild by the Spanish and renamed Mexico City, the colony was named New Spain and later Mexico, after Mexica the word used by the Aztecs to denote themselves. …show more content…
He was given the duty to travel ahead of Mendoza and to send back knowledge of whether the path ahead was safe and/or held wealth. To do this he had to send crosses back that signified his findings, but after traveling through Arizona he died mysteriously. Unfortunately, it is not known how he died or how Mendoza found out but his death arose many questions. This is especially true considering the Zuni people have a legend surrounding the death of “one of the black Mexicans from the land of Everlasting