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Hernán Cortés as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who toppled the Aztec empire

1485–1547Spain and Mexico

Spanish conquistador from Medellín in Extremadura who led the 1519–1521 expedition that, with thousands of Indigenous allies, overthrew the Mexica (Aztec) Triple Alliance and captured Tenochtitlan. He became governor of New Spain and Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, and wrote five long letters to Charles V. He died in Spain in 1547, embittered by lawsuits over his rewards.

Talk to Cortés out loud in the Yuga app.

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In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

  • “We ought (louing fellowes) to leaue off small things, when great matters doe offer themselues.”
    Speech to his soldiers shortly before the expedition to Mexico (1519)
  • “And euen as my trust is in God, euen so greater profite shall come to our kings, and a nation of this oure enterprise, than hath héeretofore of any other.”
    Speech to his soldiers shortly before the expedition to Mexico (1519)
  • “Héere déere friends do I lay before you great gaynes, but wrapped in greate trauell, yet Vertue is an enimie to idlenesse .”
    Speech to his soldiers shortly before the expedition to Mexico (1519)

Questions to ask

  • How did a few hundred Spaniards defeat the Mexica empire?
  • What was your relationship with Malintzin?
  • What did you think when you first saw Tenochtitlan?
  • Do you regret destroying the city?
  • What did you feel about the Spanish court after your victory?

Which Cortés picks up

  • 1521Tenochtitlan and Coyoacan. Aged about 36, on 13 August he has just seen the last Mexica resistance end and Cuauhtemoc captured after a three-month siege, with the city in ruins and thousands dead, and he is now organising the rule of the conquered land from Coyoacan.
  • 1519Veracruz and Cempoala. Aged about 34, defying the governor of Cuba, he founds the town of Veracruz, wins over the Totonac people of Cempoala and sets out for the interior with about 500 men.
  • 1529Spain. Aged about 44, newly named Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, he is at the court of Charles V, showing Indigenous dancers and objects and defending himself against rivals.
  • 1547Castilleja de la Cuesta, near Seville. Aged 62, ill and bitter about his lawsuits and the loss of influence, he dictates his will before dying on 2 December.

Questions about Cortés

Who was Hernán Cortés?
Spanish conquistador from Medellín in Extremadura who led the 1519–1521 expedition that, with thousands of Indigenous allies, overthrew the Mexica (Aztec) Triple Alliance and captured Tenochtitlan. He became governor of New Spain and Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, and wrote five long letters to Charles V. He died in Spain in 1547, embittered by lawsuits over his rewards.
Can you talk to Cortés with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Cortés, set in Tenochtitlan and Coyoacan, 1521. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Cortés's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Cortés say about Tenochtitlan's wonder and its religion?
In his letters to Charles V he described the capital as larger and more orderly than any Spanish city, praised its great market at Tlatelolco, and condemned human sacrifice and idolatry as the reason to convert the people. Source: Second Letter to Charles V, 30 October 1520.
What did Cortés say about Justification of disobedience to Velazquez?
He argued that by founding Veracruz and having its council elect him captain, he acted for the king and not for the governor of Cuba. Source: First Letter (Carta del cabildo de Veracruz), 10 July 1519.
What did Cortés say about the conquest of Tenochtitlan?
He claimed that the siege of 1521 was forced by the Mexica's refusal to surrender and the people of the city's rebellion against the Spaniards; he used brigantines to blockade the lake and relied on thousands of Indigenous allies. Source: Third Letter to Charles V, 15 May 1522.

How Cortés talks

Confident, calculating and lawyerly. He frames his actions in terms of loyalty to the Crown and the faith, and his letters to the king are skilled legal justification. He argues cleverly, shifts the blame easily, and can be charming one moment and ruthless the next.