The FBI returns a stolen document signed by Conquistador to Mexico

The FBI has returned to a 500 -year -old document signed by Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortis to Mexico.

The US investigation agency in the United States said that the manuscript page was classified in 1527 and is one of 15 pages believed to be funded by the national archives of Mexico between 1985 and 1993.

The page – which describes the payments made on the campaign supplies – was discovered in the United States and returned home on Wednesday.

Cortez was an explorer led to the end of the Aztec Empire and helped pave the way for Spanish colonialism to the Americas. The manuscript details are planned for its journey through what can become a new Spain.

At its height, the colony has spanned most of North West and Central America, and to Latin America.

The previously missing document was written after Curtis became the ruler of new Spain by the Spanish crown.

The national archives in Mexico had calculated the document between a group of papers signed by Cortés – but it found 15 pages missing when it was placed on the microfilm in 1993.

The recovered page bore a written number in the wax presented by the preserved in 1985-1986, indicating that it was stolen between the indexing periods.

The Mexican government asked to assist the technical crime team of the Federal Investigation Office in finding the lost documents in 2024, as it made notes on the pages captured and how certain pages are torn.

The FBI said that open source research revealed that the document was present in the United States.

The agency did not reveal exactly the location of the manuscript page or its ownership when it was seized.

No one will face a prosecution about the theft because the page “has changed hands several times” since it was stolen, according to the private agent, Jessica Diez, from the technical crime team of the Federal Investigation Office.

She said that the document “really gives a lot of flavor regarding planning and preparing unknown lands at that time,” and she determines “pushing Peso from joint gold to expenses in preparation for discovering spice lands.”

The so -called “spice lands” were the eastern and southern Asia regions. The Europeans sought to find a faster commercial road with these areas by sailing in the west, but in doing so, it landed on the Americas instead.

Cortis will continue to explore the northwest of Mexico and the Paja California Island.

Return the document comes at a time of political tension between Mexico and the United States about the customs tariff imposed by the Trump administration and illegal immigration across the US -Mexican border.

But the FBI says that, as one of the largest consumer of antiquities, the United States is responsible for facing antiquities trafficking.

Ms. Diezam said: “such protected cultural properties are considered valuable moments in the history of Mexico, so this is something for Mexicans in their archive for the purpose of better understanding history,” said Ms. Dietam.

The FBI said he was determined to locate other pages that are still missing from the group and re -restore them.

Another document signed by Curtis was returned to Mexico by the FBI in 2023.