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EXPLORER

Hernán Cortés

1485 - 1547

Photo of Hernán Cortés

Icon of person Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca ( air-NAHN kor-TESS; Spanish: [eɾˈnaŋ koɾˈtes ðe monˈroj i piˈθaro altamiˈɾano]; December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the king of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue adventure and riches in the New World. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Hernán Cortés has received more than 8,839,322 page views. His biography is available in 135 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 132 in 2019). Hernán Cortés is the 10th most popular explorer (down from 7th in 2019), the 12th most popular biography from Spain and the most popular Spanish Explorer.

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in the 16th century.

Memorability Metrics

  • 8.8M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 81.70

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 135

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.94

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.42

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Hernán Cortés by language


Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Hernán Cortés ranks 10 out of 405Before him are Vasco da Gama, Amerigo Vespucci, Bartolomeu Dias, Roald Amundsen, Ibn Battuta, and James Cook. After him are Zheng He, Francis Drake, Francisco Pizarro, Abel Tasman, David Livingstone, and Prince Henry the Navigator.

Most Popular Explorers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1485, Hernán Cortés ranks 1After him are Catherine of Aragon, Dragut, Thomas Cromwell, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Pedro de Alvarado, Sebastiano del Piombo, Clément Janequin, Joos van Cleve, Johannes Bugenhagen, Wolf Huber, and Sayyida al Hurra. Among people deceased in 1547, Hernán Cortés ranks 2Before him is Henry VIII of England. After him are Francis I of France, Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Sebastiano del Piombo, Pietro Bembo, Hadım Suleiman Pasha, Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, Saint Cajetan, Vittoria Colonna, Marie of Luxembourg, Countess of Vendôme, and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.

Others Born in 1485

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Others Deceased in 1547

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In Spain

Among people born in Spain, Hernán Cortés ranks 12 out of 2,932Before him are Seneca the Younger (-4), Averroes (1126), Diego Velázquez (1599), Trajan (53), Francisco Franco (1892), and Philip II of Spain (1527). After him are Theodosius I (340), Hadrian (76), Isabella I of Castile (1451), Catherine of Aragon (1485), Ignatius of Loyola (1491), and Francisco Pizarro (1478).

Among EXPLORERS In Spain

Among explorers born in Spain, Hernán Cortés ranks 1After him are Francisco Pizarro (1478), Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476), Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475), Francisco de Orellana (1511), Juan Ponce de León (1460), Diego de Almagro (1475), Lope de Aguirre (1518), Hernando de Soto (1500), Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465), Alonso de Ojeda (1466), and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón (1460).