USA returns stolen 500-year-old conquistador document to Mexico

The FBI has has returned a stolen document to Mexico signed by the 16th century Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. The 1527 manuscript is 15 pages long and is believed to have been stolen from Mexico's national archives in the 1980s or 1990s , US investigators revealed. The pages describning payments made to suppliers for expeditions was discovered was repatriated on Wednesday.

"This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernán Cortés on February 20, 1527," explained Special Agent Jessica Dittmer, a member of the FBI's Art Crime Team. The cultural artefact was repatriated in partnership with the FBI's attaché office in Mexico. Dittmer said the document is historically important as it includes information about the logistics and planning details of Cortés' journey to what eventually became the territory of New Spain. New Spain stretched from present-day Washington State southeast through Louisiana and down through Latin America.

Mexico's national archives once listed the manuscript among documents signed by Cortés, but in 1993 discovered 15 pages missing during microfilming. In 2024, the government asked the FBI Art Crime Team to help recover page 28. This is the second Cortés document the FBI has repatriated to Mexico. In 2023, the agency returned a 16th-century letter written by Cortés.

"Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico's history, so this is something that the Mexicans have in their archives for the purpose of understanding history better," Dittmer said.

Authorities will not pursue prosecutions over the theft, as investigators concluded the documents "changed hands several times" since they went missing, the FBI said.

"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," said Veh Bezdikian, a supervisory special FBI agent, in a statement.

Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire in Mexico. Known for his military strategy and ruthless ambition, Cortés claimed vast territories for Spain, shaping the course of Mesoamerican history and European colonial expansion in the Americas.