Spanish Conquistador. He claimed Mexico for Spain, conquering the Aztecs. Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of minor nobility, Cortés decided to pursue a career in the newly discovered New World. He initially went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where in 1511, he took part in the Spanish Conquest of Cuba by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. When Velázquez was made Governor of Cuba, he made Cortés an Alcalde (Magistrate) of the second town to be established on Cuba. Velázquez later learned of a vast, rich Indian empire in Mexico, and decided to send Cortés to conquer it. In 1519, Cortés was selected Captain of the third expedition to the mainland. Just before he was to depart for the mainland, Governor Velázquez sent him a message relieving him from command and ordering him to recall the expedition. Cortés decided to ignore the order, and proceeded to land his 600 troops at Veracruz, Mexico, then a site of a small Indian village subservient to the Aztecs. Cortés devised a successful strategy of making the local indigenous Indians ally with him and help the Spanish forces against the Aztecs. He used a local native woman, whom he renamed Doña Marina, as his interpreter. When the Governor of Cuba sent a contingent of troops to Veracruz to arrest Cortés for ignoring his recall order, Cortés convinced them to join his Army on the march of conquest against the Aztecs. Before leaving Veracruz, Cortés destroyed his ships, so that none of his men would feel tempted to return to Cuba. Cortés and his army marched into Tenochtitlán in November 1519, where the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, greeted him with gifts, believing Cortés to be Quetzalcóatl, one of the Aztecs most revered gods. But Cortés imprisoned Montezuma, and proceeded to rule the Aztec empire through him. After several months, Cuban governor Velázquez sent another small army to Veracruz, to arrest Cortés for disobedience, but Cortés convinced those troops as well to join his forces for the conquest of Mexico. By the time the newly reinforced Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán, the Aztecs had revolted, and forced Cortés to retreat from Tenochtitlán. Cortés then recruited new forces from Spanish settlements in the West Indies and from his native Indian allies, and in May 1521, the newly reconstituted Spanish Army besieged Tenochtitlán. Within three months, the Aztecs were forced to surrender and Cortés soon controlled all of central Mexico. For the next several years, Cortés expanded his rule as Governor of Mexico, exploring Central America to present day Honduras. In 1528, he returned to Spain, bringing much gold with him, and the King of Spain gave him the title of Marquis, along with 23,000 Indian slaves. Cortés returned to Mexico in 1530, where he spent the next ten years, exploring, farming, and mining for gold, in the process becoming one of the richest men in all of Spanish America. In 1535, he traveled to Baja California, becoming one of the first Europeans to see that land. In 1540, Cortés returned to Spain and after a small role in a Spanish attack on Algiers in 1541, he retired to enjoy a wealthy life of ease, dying in 1547.