6. Marquis of the Valley of the Oaxaca, Hernan Cortes
The man most readily identified with the Spanish conquerors known as the Conquistadores, Hernan Cortes was feared, distrusted, distrusting, cunning, and cruel. His career was self-serving, largely an attempt to achieve wealth and power through the exploitation of the indigenous peoples he encountered, enslaving some and killing others. He used some tribes as allies, fighting against both the Aztec Empire and Spanish troops sent to recall him, establishing himself as the de facto ruler of the lands which were formerly those of the Aztec before being recalled to Spain. The absence of scholarly information regarding Cortes leaves him a man of questionable reputation, but there is little doubt that during his lifetime he endured the enmity of Spanish rivals and the peoples he ruthlessly enslaved and exploited.