The logo for Lesson 6 is Hernán Cortés

Art in the early years of the conquest had an important function: to communicate back to the Old World, and especially to the financial backers and the Court, the wonders that were being found in the Americas. Drawings and sketches, accompanied by sometimes exaggerated descriptions in written reports and chronicles, were the only way to show those who stayed behind how valuable the new territories were. Besides illustrating the riches of the New World, art was also used to provide graphic representations of new creatures, foods and flora. This was sometimes done with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but often considerable liberties were taken with reality.

The sometimes very different customs of the Indigenous were also the subject of drawings and sketches, which were frequently done by the conquered ones themselves, with notations and marginal comments provided by the expeditions' leaders, scribes, or priests who accompanied them. This was especially significant in the conquest of the Aztecs, since many of the customs considered sinful by the priests, such as human sacrifice and cannibalism, provided a religious justification for the conquest.

Cartography provided another medium for art. The earlier maps sketched by the first explorers (such as Columbus) were plain and functional. But later ones were profusely illustrated with all manner of new and strange creatures to be found in the Indies. And when these were later copied many times back in Europe, there was a tendency to incorporate fanciful and imaginary details.