500-Year-Old Cortés Manuscript Returned to Mexico by FBI
A rare 16th-century document signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés has been recovered in the U.S. and returned to Mexico, decades after it went missing from the country's national archives. Signed on February 20, 1527, the manuscript outlines gold payments for supplies to explore the so-called "spice lands" and offers a detailed look at Cortés' preparations during his time as governor of New Spain. "This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernán Cortés on February 20, 1527," said Special Agent Jessica Dittmer. The document was one of 15 pages reported stolen between 1985 and 1993.
The FBI Art Crime Team and NYPD tracked the page through archival clues and open-source research, eventually locating it in the U.S. No charges will be filed, as the document has “changed hands many times over” since its disappearance. Mexican authorities originally spotted the theft in 1993 during a microfilming process, and their detailed notes helped U.S. investigators authenticate the artifact. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico's history,” Dittmer said.
This is the second Cortés document repatriated in two years, with the first being a letter authorizing a sugar purchase which was returned to Mexico in 2023. The FBI is still working to locate the remaining missing pages. As FBI Supervisory Special Agent Veh Bezdikian put it: "We know how important it is for the United States to stay ahead of this, to support our foreign partners, and to try and make an impact as it relates to the trafficking of these artistic works and antiquities.”
