

It also appears that the wood may have come from a species of red oak that grows in Spain’s Basque region. Accelerator mass spectrometer and carbon-14 dating of a wood sample indicates that it was felled sometime between 14. While the anchor is stylistically consistent with what an early 16 th-century European ship would carry, it was its unusually well-preserved wooden stock that provided additional important evidence. The anchor was discovered during a six-week survey this summer, in which project researchers combed a 30-square-mile area off Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz with remote sensing equipment designed to detect unusual features on the sea floor. Next year the country will begin to observe events around the 500 th anniversary of Cortés’ arrival and conquest. “The conquest was a very traumatic episode in our history that sparks the imagination of most Mexicans,” says Roberto Junco Sánchez, deputy director of underwater archaeology for Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and a co-director of the research project. Not long after, Cortés seized Tenochtitlán and conquered Mexico. Instead, the conquistador bribed many of the governor’s soldiers with promises of Aztec gold and silver, and went on to scuttle 16 of the ships sent to arrest him in the harbor of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Read why this hairless, ugly-cute dog was a healer, companion, and food source for the Aztecs.īy the spring of 1520, Cortés had already marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán and taken its ruler, Moctezuma II, prisoner when the angry governor of Cuba sent another fleet of ships to Yucatán to arrest Cortés. When members of Cortés’ crew rebelled against his rule and attempted to seize a ship to sail back to Cuba, the conquistador ordered all 10 remaining ships from his original fleet (an 11 th had been sent back to Spain to notify the king) scuttled at Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz in July of the same year. Instead, Cortés broke with the governor and established the settlement of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, claiming the town in the name of the Spanish king. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Īmong the earliest European conquerors of the New World, Cortés first sailed to Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula from Cuba 500 years ago with strict orders from the Cuban governor to explore the area and trade with its indigenous residents. Dutton & CO.Please be respectful of copyright.

VILLA RICA DE LA VERA CRUZ ISO
Place Names: Mexico, Mexico City, Tabasco, Yzacmastitan, ļholulo, ļempoalla, New Spain, Tezuco, Xalapa, San Juan de Ulua, Tehuantepec, ISO Topic Categories: transportation, society Keywords: Cortes in Mexico, physical, transportation, historical, physical features, historical event, transportation, society, Unknown, 1519 Source: Ernest Rhys, Ed., A Literary and Historical Atlas of North & South America (New York, NY: E.P.

The map also shows the site where Cortez, after conquering Tenochtitlan, returned to the coast (Cempoalla) to confront and defeat the Spaniard Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Velázquez to oppose Cortez (1520). This map shows the route from the Battle of Cintla (Tabasco) to Veracruz (Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz) where Cortez dismissed the authority of the governor of Cuba (Velázquez), then turned inland to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). This expedition was the third to the mainland and took him all the way into Mexico. Title: Cortes in Mexico Projection: Unknown,ĭescription: A map showing the expedition of Hernán Cortes in 1519.
