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Historical person
1485–1547
Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that overthrew the Mexica, or Aztec, imperial centre at Tenochtitlan between 1519 and 1521. Born in Medellín around 1485, he travelled to the Caribbean and participated in the conquest of Cuba before sailing to the Mexican mainland. Cortés defied the authority of Cuba’s governor, founded a municipal government loyal directly to the Spanish crown and advanced inland using interpreters, diplomacy, coercion and alliances with Indigenous enemies of the Mexica.
The defeat of Tenochtitlan cannot be explained by a small Spanish force alone. Tens of thousands of Indigenous allies, especially Tlaxcalans, were essential, while epidemic disease and political divisions weakened resistance. After a retreat from the city in 1520, Cortés returned and directed a destructive siege that ended in August 1521. He became governor and captain-general of New Spain but later faced royal investigations and diminishing political authority. Cortés continued exploring and petitioning for favour before returning to Spain, where he died in 1547.
In Gary Jennings’ Aztec, the arrival of Hernán Cortés, La Malinche and their Indigenous allies turns Mixtli’s personal testimony into an account of political collapse. In Gary Jennings’ Aztec Revenge, after killing a man who abuses a horse, he adopts the appearance of a wealthy caballero and enters the society that once treated him as disposable. Martín Cortés, known as El Mestizo and born to Hernán Cortés and La Malinche, understands that Juan’s unknown lineage may carry political significance. Further fictional perspectives on Hernán Cortés can be found in G. A. Henty’s By Right of Conquest, Colin Falconer’s Feathered Serpent, Gary Jennings’ Gary Jennings’ the 2012 Codex, and Manolo Palomares’ Hernán Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico.
Periods
Series
The Aztec sequence follows Indigenous and mixed-ancestry protagonists through five centuries of Mexican history, from the height of Tenochtitlan to the wars that ended Spanish rule. The first novel gives Mixtli’s account of the empire under Ahuitzotl and Moctezuma II and carries his life into the conquest. Later…
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Epic Historical Adventure is Colin Falconer's publisher-defined collection of stand-alone historical thrillers rather than a continuous narrative sequence. The novels range from Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and the Mongol Empire to the Ottoman court, the conquest of Mexico, colonial India, shipwreck and twentieth-century Palestine. Most volumes can be…
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Standalone books
