The Importance of Burning the Boat

In 1519, a non-Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico with roughly 600 Spaniards. He quickly realized that a mighty empire waited for them not too far inland. In Cortez, inspired by Spain's current golden age and the encompassing sense of ambition and adventure, he pushed his men forward into the unknown ordering them as Winston Reynolds writes in his Spaniel to destroy the ships behind them. Over the years, this act has become folklore evolved into the famous phrase we all know, burn the boat.