I was not aware Cortes lived out the rest of his days in the land he claimed in Mexico, I agree with the work but when it comes to cortes's reputation I wonder if it has more to do with Spain and the state of Christianity at the time than him being a despot and tyrant ( I'm not saying he was not these things),but wasn't this during or recently after the Spanish Inquisition, I don't think chatolics liked any other religion at the time either and weather Cortes or whoever came the outcome would have been similar ( dont forget the western diseases), or perhaps Cortes was just corrupted by the power he thought he could wield in the new world, but like you said well never know, I learned a lot in that essay, thanks.