The FBI has returned a 500-year-old document signed by Hernán Cortés to Mexico.

More than thirty years after its theft, a five-century-old document signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés was found in the United States and returned to Mexico. This document is considered to be of "incalculable value." The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that "an original manuscript page" signed by Cortés on February 20, 1527, was handed over to Mexican authorities on Wednesday. The document is an instruction from Cortés to pay in gold to prepare for an expedition.