Hernán Cortés
Cortés was surprised that Tenochtitlan was as great as Constantinople.  In November, the emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma II, welcomed Cortes and his army.  Montezuma II let them into Aztec territory, where they learned the Aztecs' weaknesses and then destroyed them. The emperor gave them gold, and Cortes later told King Charles V that the Aztecs might have thought he was one of their gods: Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent with fair skin and a beard.  Cortes quickly realized that some Spaniards had been attacked on the coast and planned to kidnap Moctezuma and his house and make him swear loyalty to King Charles V.