Nearly five centuries after Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés signed it — and decades after it disappeared from Mexico’s national archives — the United States has returned a priceless manuscript page to Mexico.

The historic document, bearing Cortés’ signature dated February 20, 1527, was handed back on Wednesday after an FBI investigation traced it to the U.S. The page is considered a significant cultural treasure, as it was signed just six years after Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521, two years after his arrival in present-day Mexico.

FBI Special Agent Jessica Dittmer, a member of the bureau’s Art Crime Team, said the manuscript had passed through multiple hands over the years, making it impossible to prosecute anyone. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico’s history,” she said, noting that such items are preserved in the national archives to deepen historical understanding.

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The missing page was part of a larger collection of Cortés documents. In 1993, while microfilming the archive’s holdings, staff discovered that 15 manuscript pages had vanished, most likely stolen between 1985 and 1993. Mexico formally sought FBI assistance last year in recovering one of the pages.

After narrowing their search to the United States, investigators located the page — though the FBI did not reveal who possessed it. The recovery involved cooperation between the New York City Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Mexico’s government.

This is the second time the FBI has returned a Cortés artifact to Mexico. In 2023, the bureau repatriated a 16th-century letter written by the Spanish conqueror.

Mexican officials hailed the return as a significant victory in the fight against cultural heritage theft, stressing the importance of safeguarding historical documents that shed light on the country’s colonial past.

Source: Agency