Cartas de Relación: Quarta Carta

Written in 1524, the Fourth Letter shows Cortés as governor of New Spain. The tone shifts from war to reconstruction: the ruins of Tenochtitlan give way to Mexico City.

Cortés reports on the expeditions south and west in search of a passage between the oceans, the struggle against Spanish bureaucracy and the betrayals of his own captains. It is the document that shows how a military campaign became a nation.