By Sarah Morland

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The U.S. FBI said it had on Wednesday returned to Mexico a stolen manuscript dating back five centuries to the Spanish conquest and signed by its leading military commander, Hernan Cortes.

Special Agent Jessica Dittmer, a member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team in New York, said the document contains a detailed accounting of the logistics related to Cortes’ journey to what eventually became New Spain – a territory that stretched from Central America to modern-day Washington state.

“This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernan Cortes,” she said in a statement. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico’s history.”

Cortes landed in Mexico with a small army in 1519, when

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