In revenge Almagro's followers assassinated Pizarro.
In 1519, a Spaniard named Hernando Cortes landed on the shores of Mexico. Along with his 600 men, he finally reached the magnificent Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. During a battle with Indians there he took many captives, including a young Aztec princess to whom he gave the Spanish name Marina. She became his interpreter, adviser, and lover. He returned to the Aztec capital. The leader of the garrison there had slaughtered 600 Mexican nobles. As Cortez and his men reached the heart of the city, they were attacked by thousands of Aztec warriors. Then, on Aug. 13, 1521, Guatemoc, the new Aztec emperor, surrendered. This was the end of the great empire of the Aztecs. Cortez spent the next seven years establishing peace among the Indians of Mexico and developing mines and farmlands. In 1528 he went home and was received with great honor by Charles V; but he had no skill for court politics. When he returned to Mexico he went merely as a military commander. He explored Lower California from 1534 to 1535 and served against the pirates of Algiers in 1541. The same year he led an expedition against the Mayas of Yucatan. He died near Seville on Dec. 2, 1547.
Jacques Cartier was a navigator, born in St-Malo, France. He made three voyages of exploration to North America (1534--42), surveying the coast of Canada and the St Lawrence R, and providing the basis for later French claims in the area.
Sieur de la Salle was a French explorer to the New World. He arrived in Canada in the mid-1600s and earned a reputation as a successful fur trader. Like many explorers of his day, La Salle hoped to find a water route to China and the Far East. He was a French explorer who became the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi River. Part of his success in finding the river was the remarkable friendship he maintained with the American Indians he met on his journeys.
