CORTEZ 



1598 



CORUNDUM 



mainland of America in quest of gold. When 

 Velazquez subsequently repented of his act and 

 planned to give the command to another, Cor- 

 tez took matters into his own hands and be- 

 fore his chief could prevent him, set sail from 

 Santiago, on November 17, 1518. When finally 

 assembled, his fleet consisted of eleven vessels, 

 manned by a force of about 700 men. 



Early in the spring of 1519 the expedition 

 landed at the port of San Juan de Ulloa, on 

 the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. A little 

 north of this place the Spaniards laid the foun- 

 dations of the town of Vera Cruz, which they 

 called the "Rich City of the True Cross," and 

 there, having renounced his allegiance to Vel- 

 azquez, Cortez burned all but one of the 

 vessels of his fleet, so that no one would be 

 tempted to desert him. The one vessel which 

 remained carried messengers back to Spain to 

 tell the king of the things that had been done, 

 and to ask his permission to continue the 

 work of conquest. 



Leaving a garrison of soldiers at Vera Cruz, 

 Cortez led a small company overland to- 

 ward Mexico, the capital city of the Aztecs,. 

 which they reached on November 8, 1519, 

 after being joined by two tribes nearer the 

 coast. The Spaniards were graciously re- 

 ceived by Montezuma, the great emperor of 

 the Aztecs, but when Cortez and his soldiers 

 assumed the high-handed manner of conquer- 

 ors, the Mexicans plotted to drive them from 

 the city. As soon as he learned of the con- 

 spiracy, Cortez seized Montezuma and held 

 him as a hostage, forcing him to deliver a vast 

 quantity of gold and precious stones. 



Later the people revolted against both their 

 emperor and the Spaniards, and in the course 

 of the uprising Montezuma was killed, while 

 the invaders were driven out of Mexico City 

 and pursued for six days, suffering great loss 

 throughout the retreat. Finally, on the plain 

 of Otumba, Mexicans and Spaniards came 

 to open battle, and on July 7, 1520, Mexico 

 was won for Spain. Cortez at once began 

 to reinforce his army with men from the 

 neighboring tribes, and on August 13, 1521, 

 he recaptured Mexico City, after a spirited 

 siege of several months. 



In recognition of his services to Spain, 

 Charles V made Cortez governor and captain- 

 general of Mexico, but in 1528 the conqueror 

 was summoned to Spain to answer charges 

 made by his many enemies. Though the 

 charges failed to- crush him, for the king 

 received him like a royal guest and created 



him Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, still 

 when Cortez returned to Mexico he was de- 

 prived of his civil authority, his property waa 

 kept from him, and he was treated with scant 

 consideration. In 1536 he discovered the pen- 

 insula of Lower California, and three years 

 later returned to Spain to ask from Charles 

 V a restoration of his rights. In this he was 

 disappointed, and after passing several years 

 in shameful neglect, he died near Seville, 

 Spain. B.M.W. 



The most vivid account of the conqueror is con- 

 tained In Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. Consult, 

 also, Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico, in "He- 

 roes of the Nations" Series. 



CORT'LAND, N. Y., the county seat of 

 Cortland County, thirty-six miles south and 

 west of Syracuse, twenty miles northeast of 

 Ithaca and 250 miles northwest of New York 

 City. It is on the Tioughnioga River, and the 

 Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and the 

 Lehigh Valley railroads. The population in 

 1910 was 11,504; in 1916 it was 13,069. The 

 area is over four square miles. There are a 

 number of Italians and Russians, grouped in 

 their own communities, within the town. 



Cortland is situated in the pleasant hill and 

 valley country of Central New York. It has 

 important manufactures of wire cloth, among 

 the largest of their kind in the world, and 

 screens, nails, etc. One of the largest mills 

 employs between 1,200 and 1,500 men. Motor 

 trucks, wall paper, silk, automobile parts, forg- 

 ings, machinery, emery wheels and canned 

 goods are other products. The Cortland State 

 Normal and Training School, the Franklin 

 Hatch Library, the Federal building, and a 

 Y. M. C. A. building are prominent structures. 

 The town was first settled in 1792. It was a 

 part of the town of Homer until 1829, when it 

 was separated and made the county seat. In 

 1900 Cortland was chartered as a city. R.A.F. 



CORUNDUM, korun'dum, next to the dia- 

 mond, the hardest mineral, and the one which 

 when transparent is known as the amethyst, 

 the ruby and the sapphire. Corundum is a 

 compound of aluminum and oxygen, and not- 

 withstanding the lightness of aluminum (which 

 see), corundum is four times heavier than 

 water. The name comes from the Hindu word 

 kurand, and it is supposed that the stone was 

 first imported into Europe from India. There 

 are many varieties of corundum; a coarse 

 granular variety forms emery (which see). 

 The precious stones named above come only 

 from the transparent varieties, and their vary- 



