In 1536, Cortes, who had been in the meantime shorn of much of his power, conducted an expedition by sea along the north-west coast of Mexico, and reached what he considered to be a great island.

He identified this with an imaginary island in the Far East, near the terrestrial paradise to which the name of California had been given in a contemporary romance.
Thus, owing to Cortes, almost the whole of Central America had become known before his death in 1540.

Similarly, at a much earlier period, Ponce de Leon had thought he had discovered another great island in Florida in 1512, whither he had gone in search of Bayuca, a fabled island of the Indians, in which they stated was a fountain of eternal youth.

At the time of Cortes' first attempt on Mexico, Pineda had coasted round Florida, and connected it with the rest of the coast of Mexico, which he traversed as far as Vera Cruz.
The exploits of Cortes were all important in their effects.

He had proved with what ease a handful of men might overcome an empire and gain unparalleled riches.