Cortés sails in defiance of orders
1519 · Event
With Cuba's governor rescinding his commission even as the ships load, Hernán Cortés puts to sea anyway — eleven ships, five hundred men, sixteen horses, and no legal authority whatsoever. Everything that follows is, from Spain's point of view, the improvisation of a rogue officer.
On these timelines: Conquest of the Aztec Empire, Pre-Columbian Americas, Latin America, Master, Spain
More from Conquest of the Aztec Empire
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- Cortés lands at Veracruz (1519)
- Cortés scuttles his fleet (1519)
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