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Hernán Cortés and the Veracruz Letters: A Propaganda Masterclass
Description
In 1519, Hernán Cortés bypassed the authority of Diego Velázquez and wrote directly to King Charles V, crafting the Cartas de Relación — five letters that transformed a mutinous expedition into a heroic conquest. This episode examines how Cortés strategically manipulated narrative, omitting the destruction of his own ships, the massacre at Cholula, and the ambitions of his rivals. We explore the letters as the first European bestseller about the New World, the woodcut illustrations that shaped European imagery of Aztec civilization, and the careful framing of Moctezuma as a willing vassal. Lucas and Luna discuss the fusion of medieval quest romance with legal testimony, the role of Francisco López de Gómara as Cortés's later propagandist, and how modern historians disentangle fact from self-serving fiction. A fresh angle on a familiar story: not what Cortés did, but how he told it — and why we still believe much of it today.