This letter is the second in a series of five written between 1520 and 1526 by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the ruler of Spain, as he undertook the conquest of Mexico, then dominated by the Aztec Empire. Cortés, an ambitious colonial official, departed from the Spanish colony Cuba in 1519, intending to discover new areas for the Spanish to colonize in the Americas and new potential converts to Christianity. Because he lacked the legal authority to do so, Cortés hoped an extensive written account of what he encountered and accomplished would convince Charles of the legitimacy of his enterprise.