When Hernando Cortes landed in the present site of Veracruz in 1519, he had a few pieces of artillery, sixteen horsemen, and roughly 400 infantry. He ordered his ships burned to impress upon his men the degree of his commitment to his goal: the conquest of Mexico.

In his letters to King Charles V of Spain, Cortes describes the methodical conquest of the Aztec empire in his own words, often colored by personal ambition. His writings are a fascinating window to the mind of the man who led a rebellion of indigenous tribes against the Aztecs, and offer an interesting contrast between the culture of Spain at the height of the Reconquista of their own country from the Moors and the culture of Mesoamerica at the height of its power.

The Letters are both authentic as an autobiography, and yet distorted by the need for Cortes to enlist the support of the Spanish crown in the formidable project of the conquest of the Aztec empire.

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