* Gold and other riches: Cortez and his men were eager to find gold and other valuable resources that they could take back to Spain. They had heard stories of the great wealth of the Aztec Empire and they were determined to find it for themselves.
* Land: The Spanish were also looking for land to colonize. They believed that the Americas would be a good place to start a new life, and they were eager to establish a permanent presence in the region.
* Souls: The Spanish were also motivated by a desire to spread Christianity to the indigenous people of the Americas. They believed that it was their duty to convert the natives to Catholicism, and they saw their conquests as a way to accomplish this goal.
Cortez and his men were ultimately successful in finding all of these things. They found vast amounts of gold and silver, they established colonies in the Americas, and they converted millions of indigenous people to Christianity. However, their conquests also had a devastating impact on the indigenous people of the Americas. Millions of natives were killed by disease, warfare, and forced labor, and their cultures and traditions were largely destroyed.