Book: Cartas de relación

Overview
"Cartas de relación" of 1519 is the first of Hernán Cortés’s famous reports to King Charles V, written from the nascent colony on the Gulf coast of Mexico. Framed as a legal and loyal account, it narrates the opening phase of the expedition from its departure from Cuba through the establishment of the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, the first sustained contacts with mainland peoples, and the diplomatic overtures to the great empire ruled by Moctezuma. The letter blends reconnaissance, justification, and persuasion, presenting new lands as both spiritually ripe for Christianization and materially rich enough to merit royal attention.

Context and Aims
Cortés writes amid a jurisdictional crisis with Diego Velázquez, governor of Cuba, who had commissioned but then sought to rein in the expedition. The letter’s key aim is to secure retroactive royal authorization by showing that the enterprise serves the Crown’s interests better than obedience to provincial authority would. The narrative stresses fidelity to the monarch, the formation of municipal institutions answerable to the king, and the promise of tribute, trade, and conversion.

Coastal Landfalls and First Encounters
After crossing from Cuba, the expedition touches at Cozumel and the Tabasco coast, where a battle near Potonchán leads to a negotiated peace and the receipt of interpreters and allies, notably a woman baptized Marina, who becomes central to communication with mainland peoples. With the help of Jerónimo de Aguilar, a Spaniard rescued from captivity, Cortés builds a linguistic bridge into the interior, an achievement the letter frames as providential and strategic.

Founding of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz
At the rich anchorage of San Juan de Ulúa, envoys of Moctezuma arrive bearing gifts and warnings. Cortés responds by founding the town of Vera Cruz, installing a council (cabildo) that declares direct allegiance to Charles V and appoints him captain-general. This legal maneuver creates a new source of authority independent of Velázquez and anchors Spanish presence in a permanent port, with fortifications, administrative offices, and a framework for collecting royal revenues.

Indigenous Polities and Diplomacy
The letter describes a mosaic of city-states and subject towns, especially the Totonacs of Cempoala, portrayed as chafing under Mexica tribute demands. Cortés cultivates their alliance, positioning Spain as protector against oppression. He recounts seizing imperial tax collectors at allies’ request, a calculated affront designed to demonstrate a shift in sovereignty. Moctezuma’s power is rendered as vast and orderly, yet vulnerable to diplomatic unravelling, a portrait meant to reassure the king that conquest by alliance is feasible.

Religion, Wealth, and Royal Interest
Cortés constantly pairs spiritual and material incentives. He reports the toppling of idols, erection of crosses and altars, and early baptisms, while cataloging signs of gold, cotton, dyes, and a thriving commerce along well-built roads. Gifts received from Moctezuma’s envoys are inventoried as proofs of abundance. Envoys and a shipment of treasures are dispatched to the royal court to guarantee the truth of his claims and to solicit formal ratification of his authority.

Narrative Voice and Strategy
The prose alternates between sober legal formulae and vivid description. Cortés casts himself as prudent, pious, and responsive to local wishes, while depicting opponents as either tyrannical or seditious. He emphasizes discipline, fair treatment of allies, and swift punishment for disorder, shaping a portrait of governance worthy of royal trust.

Significance
The 1519 relación inaugurates a sustained campaign of persuasion that would underpin Spain’s claim to central Mexico. It fixes key precedents, municipal foundation as a lever of sovereignty, alliance-building as a mode of conquest, and the twinning of evangelization with imperial policy, while offering Europe its first authoritative window onto the peoples and political geography of the Gulf lowlands and the gateway to the Aztec world.