US officials did not say who had the 16th-century page that was missing from Mexico’s archives for decades
Nearly five centuries after Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés signed it and decades after someone swiped it from national archives, a priceless manuscript page has been returned by the FBI to Mexico.
The document contains a detailed accounting of the logistics related to Cortés’s journey to what eventually became New Spain – a territory that stretched from Central America to modern-day Washington state.
“This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernán Cortés,” said special agent Jessica Dittmer, a member of the FBI’s art crime team in New York. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico’s history.”
Cortés landed in Mexico with a small army in 1519, when he formed alliances with local groups that opposed the Aztec empire, which helped him capture the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán – modern-day Mexico City – just two years later.
