Hernán Cortés Brass Handle

The Spanish Empire is considered one of the most important in world history. In fact, between the 15th and 18th centuries it was the largest in the world. For more than three centuries, some of the most illustrious men in Spain have fought battles to expand national borders. We will discuss the weapons they used in the conquest of America.

Obviously, the weapons used are the same as those used in Spain at that time in campaigns such as those commanded by Gonzalo de Córdoba, in Italy. The technological superiority of the Spanish Empire meant that, with fewer troops than the different empires of America, it could conquer the territories without excessive difficulties. 

To understand how the armies were composed, we take as example the one used by Hernán Cortés in Mexico to defeat the Mexica (Aztec) Empire.

The conqueror left Cuba with 11 ships to transport 553 soldiers, 110 sailors, 200 Indians from the Antilles, 82 crossbowmen and 13 ‘arcabuneros’, in addition to some pikemen on foot. 16 horses with their corresponding riders, more than 10 heavy bronze cannons and four more falconets. 

A year later, Narváez supported the effort with 800 infantry, 80 more horsemen, 80 musketeers, 120 crossbowmen and 12 cannons. Despite this addition, it was still a small -but varied- army.

This army, coupled with his battle skills and the knowledge in how to use the rivalries between the Aztec cities and the animosity of most of these against the dictatorship of the Mexica empire in his favor. 

In fact, the siege of Mexico - a year after the arrival of the Narváez reinforcements - occurred with only 12 ships, 818 men, 3 large guns, and 15 light guns.

From Hernán Cortés, we only have a sword that he used in this campaign, made of steely iron with a length of one meter and three cm wide.

The other great conqueror of the Americas was Francisco Pizarro who led the invasion of Peru (Inca Empire) in 1532, along with Diego de Almagro and Hernando de Luque. Before this, he had participated in the expedition that discovered the Pacific Ocean (Mar del Sur), a company led by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. 

From Pizarro we conserve a specimen of a sword composed of a blade from the Valencian swordsman Mateo Duarte. It was 33’’ long and a little over 1 inch wide.