4 March 1519: Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico

On this day in 1519, Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico before marching on the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Loosely defined, the historical Age of Exploration lasted for 200 years, from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the first attempt to chart Australia in 1644. In all that time, the explorer who arguably made the biggest impact was Hernan Cortes. He was born in 1485 to an impoverished noble family. He trained as a notary before sailing to Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic) as a colonist in 1504. After becoming the colony's notary, he played a key role in the conquest of Cuba in 1511.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri