Hernán Cortes and his crew were jews, I believe. Historians believe Hernán Cortes had converted Jews among his men when he conquered the Aztecs in 1521. He changed his name from Cortez to Cortes to hide that he was Jewish.
"Thus during the new horrors of war and destruction in Spain, the Spanish Hebrews added the suffix EZ meaning ERES ZION to the last names to identify their HEBREW roots for future reference. The meaning was not just "the son of" as writers tell us today, but the meaning was the "PRECIOUS SONS OF ZION". The others who converted to the Catholic Christian religion also added a suffix to the last names and that was "ES", which meant "EREZ SION" or "we are conversos" or "we are of the new testament Catholic Church". This was to avoid further inquisitions in the lives. Some hid under the disguise of pretending to be converted but was secretly keeping the Hebrew laws and teachings, these were called "Crypto Jews (Marranos)" meaning hidden Hebrews."
