Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley; 1485 – December 2, 1547) is a Spanish conquistador who leads an expedition that causes the fall of the Aztec Empire and brings large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century.

Cortés is part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that begin the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chooses to pursue a livelihood in the New World.

He goesto Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he receives an encomienda and, for a short time, becomes alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island.

In 1519, he is elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funds.

His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, results in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignores.

Arriving on the continent, Cortés executes a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others.

He also usesa native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she will later bear Cortés a son.

When the Governor of Cuba sends emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fights them and i, using the extra troops as reinforcements.

Cortés writes letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny.

After he overthrows the Aztec Empire, Cortés is awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy is given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza.

Cortés returns to Spain in 1541 where he dies peacefully but embittered.

Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations.

Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés.

Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment and greatly expanded concern for human rights, as typified by the Black Legend, also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual.

As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing.