HERNANDO CORTEZ.
The portion of the new world earliest colonized by the Spaniards was
the Island of St. Domingo, Hayti, or Hispaniola, discovered by Columbus
in his first voyage in the year 1492. For nearly twenty years this island
was the only colony of importance held by the Spaniards in the new world;
here alone did they occupy lands, build towns, and found a regular commonwealth.
Cuba, although the second of the islands discovered by Columbus,
remained long uncolonized; indeed it was not till the year 1509
that it was circumnavigated, and ascertained to be an island. At length,
in 1511, Don Diego Columbus, the great admiral's son, governor of Hispaniola,
despatched a force of three hundred men, under Don Diego Velasquez,
to take possession of the island. Velasquez soon subdued the island,
the natives of which offered but little resistance, and he was shortly afterwards
appointed governor, subordinate to the governor of Hispaniola.
Ambitious of sharing in the glory to be derived from the discovery of new
countries, Velasquez fitted out one or two expeditions, which he despatched
westward, to explore the seas in that direction. In one of these expeditions,
which set out in 1517, commanded by a rich colonist called Cordova,
the peninsula of Yucatan was discovered, and the existence of a large and
rich country called Culua or Mexico ascertained. Elated with this discovery,
Velasquez fitted out another expedition under his nephew, Juan de
Grijalva, who leaving Cuba in April 1518, spent five months in cruising
along the newly-discovered coast, and trafficking with the natives for gold
trinkets and cotton cloths, very skillfully manufactured. The result of this
expedition was the importation to Cuba of gold and jewels to the amount
of twenty thousand pesos, or upwards of fifty thousand pounds.
Delighted with this success, Velasquez wrote home to Spain announcing his discovery, and petitioning for authority from the king to conquer and colonize the country which his subordinates, Cordova and Grijalva, had discovered. Without waiting, however, for a reply to his petition, he commenced fitting out a much larger squadron than either of the two former; and this he placed under the command of Hernando Cortez, a respectable Spanish hidalgo, or gentleman, residing in the island, and who was at this time thirty-three years of age.
Cortez proceeded with the greatest activity in making his preparations. 'Borrowing money for the pupose,' says Bernal Diaz, the gossiping chronicler of the Conquest, 'he caused to be made a standard of gold and velvet, with the royal arms and a cross embroidered thereon, and a Latin motto, the meaning of which was, 'Brothers, follow this holy cross with
