Cortes greeted by indigenous people in Mexico. Hernan Cortes de Monroy y Pizarro (1485-1547), Spanish explorer and conquistador, chose to look for his fortune in Hispaniola and later Cuba. In 1519, against the orders of the Governor, he led an expedition to the mainland. There he overwhelmed the Aztec Empire, subjugating the populace and claiming most of Mexico for the King of Castille. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortes and Xicotencatl the Younger against the Aztec Empire.