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 The title page of a 1632 edition | |
| Author | Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo |
|---|---|
| Original title | Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España |
| Language | Spanish |
| Subject | Hernán Cortés Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire |
| Published | 1800 (Printed for J. Wright, Piccadilly, by John Dean, High Street, Congleton) 1908 (TheHakluyt Society,London) 1963 (Penguin Books) |
| Publication place | Spain |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 1760 |
| OCLC | 723180350 |
Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (transl. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain) is a first-person narrative written in 1568[1] by military adventurer,conquistador, and colonist settlerBernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1584).
Castillo served in three Mexican expeditions: those ofFrancisco Hernández de Córdoba (1517) to theYucatán peninsula; the expedition ofJuan de Grijalva (1518); and the expedition ofHernán Cortés (1519) in theValley of Mexico. The history relates his participation in the conquest of theAztec Empire.
Late in life, when Díaz del Castillo was in his 60s, he finished his first-person account of the Spanish conquest of the West Indies and the Aztec Empire. He wroteThe True History of the Conquest of New Spain to defend the story of the common-soldier conquistador of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. He presents his narrative as an alternative to the critical writings ofBartolomé de Las Casas, whose descriptions of Spanish treatment of native peoples emphasized the cruelty of the conquest.
He criticized the histories of thehagiographic biographers of Hernán Cortés, specifically that ofFrancisco López de Gómara, who Díaz del Castillo believed minimized the role of the 700 enlisted soldiers instrumental to conquering the Aztec Empire. In his eyewitness account, narrated in the first-person plural "we," Díaz del Castillo strongly defends the actions of the conquistadors while emphasizing their humanity and honesty. He summarizes their actions by saying, "We went there to serve God, and also to get rich."[citation needed]
The history is occasionally uncharitable about Cortés, whom Díaz del Castillo felt had taken most of the glory for himself while intentionally ignoring the efforts of the other Spaniards and their indigenous allies.[2] Díaz del Castillo also criticizes some of Cortés’ decisions during the expedition as selfish or unjust, such as the torture and execution ofTlatoani (emperor)Cuauhtémoc.[3]
Like other professional soldiers who participated in the conquest of New Spain, Díaz del Castillo found himself among the ruins ofTenochtitlán only slightly wealthier than when he arrived in Mexico. The land and gold compensation paid to many of the conquistadors proved a poor return for their investment of months of soldiering and fighting across Mexico and Central America. Díaz del Castillo expresses his discontentment and bitterness about his and the other soldiers’ treatment by the Spanish government.[4]
Though Díaz del Castillo justifies his and the other Spaniards’ actions through the lens of ajust war, he expresses some regret over the destruction of Tenochtitlán, writing, "When I beheld the scenes around me, I thought within myself, this was the garden of the world. All of the wonders I beheld that day, nothing now remains. All is overthrown and lost."[5]
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Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España public domain audiobook atLibriVox