''Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España'' (''The True History of the Conquest of New Spain'') is a first-person narrative written in 1568 by military adventurer, ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

'', and colonist settler

Bernal Díaz del Castillo Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced ...

(1492–1584), who served in three Mexican expeditions; those of

Francisco Hernández de Córdoba Francisco Hernández de Córdoba may refer to: * Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán conquistador) (died 1517) * Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (founder of Nicaragua) (died 1526) {{hndis, name=Hernandez de Cordoba, Francisco ...

(1517) to the

Yucatán peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

; the expedition of

Juan de Grijalva Juan de Grijalva (; born c. 1490 in Cuéllar, Crown of Castile – 21 January 1527 in Honduras) was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He went to Hispa ...

(1518), and the expedition of

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

(1519) in the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico wa ...

; the history relates his participation in the fall of Emperor

Moctezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin ( – 29 June 1520; oteːkˈsoːmaḁ ʃoːkoˈjoːt͡sĩn̥), nci-IPA, Motēuczōmah Xōcoyōtzin, moteːkʷˈsoːma ʃoːkoˈjoːtsin variant spellings include Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecu ...

, and the subsequent defeat of the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...

. In the colonial history of Latin America, it is a military account which historian J.M. Cohen states that Bernal Díaz del Castillo is “among chroniclers what

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

is among novelists”. 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 wrote ''The True History of the Conquest of New Spain'' to defend the story of the common-soldier ''conquistador'' within the histories about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. He presents his narrative as an alternative to the critical writings of

Bartolomé de Las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( ; ; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish landowner, friar, priest, and bishop, famed as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman then became a Dominican friar ...

whose descriptions of Spanish treatment of native peoples emphasized the cruelty of the conquest. He also criticized the histories of the

hagiographic A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

biographers of

, specifically that of

Francisco López de Gómara Francisco López de Gómara (February 2, 1511 - c. 1566) was a Spanish historian who worked in Seville, particularly noted for his works in which he described the early 16th century expedition undertaken by Hernán Cortés in the Spanish conques ...

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." The history is occasionally uncharitable about Cortés; like other professional soldiers who participated in the Conquest of New Spain, Díaz del Castillo found himself among the ruins of

Tenochtitlán , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

only slightly wealthier than when he arrived to Mexico. The land and gold compensation paid to many of the ''conquistadores'' proved a poor return for their investment of months of soldiering and fighting across Mexico and the

Anahuac Valley The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico w ...

Unabridged Translations

* ''The True History of the Conquest of Mexico'' by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, translated by

Maurice Keatinge Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keatinge or Keating (c.1761–1835) was an Irish landowner, soldier and politician. He was the son of Maurice Keatinge of Narraghmore, County Kildare, an MP for Kildare in the Parliament of Ireland. Maurice jr. succee ...

, London, 1800 *''The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo'' (1844), translated from the Spanish by

John Ingram Lockhart (writer) John Ingram Lockhart (1812–1889) was an English writer and translator. He is known also for his involvement in radical politics. Life He was son of James Lockhart, born in Hawkshead, at that time in Lancashire. Brought up in Haarlem, he en ...

(2 volumes, 213 chapters with notes) *
The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
' by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, translated by

Alfred Percival Maudslay Alfred Percival Maudslay FRAI (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British diplomat, explorer, and archaeologist. He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins. He also fully translated and annotated the best version of Bernal ...

. London 1908

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing rol ...

(4 Volumes, 17 Parts, 214 chapters with Appendices) from the only original copy published by Genaro García in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with notes and appendices - considered the most complete and authentic translatio
Volume 1volume 2 and 3Volume 4
an
Volume 5
An Abridged version with deleted passages and 116 chapters was published in 1928,titled
The History and the Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521

Notes

References

External links

facsimile of 1939 edition, with introduction and notes by Joaquín Ramírez Cabañas, published Mexico City by Pedro Robredo; reproduced online at the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (Alicante, Spain, 2005)

online reproduction by Biblioteca Virtual Antorcha, based on the 1961 Fernández Editores edition, published Mexico City * {{DEFAULTSORT:Historia Verdadera De La Conquista De La Nueva Espana History of Mexico History of New Spain Spanish-language literature about Mesoamerica 16th-century history books History books about the 16th century 1632 books 1632 in New Spain History of the Aztecs Colonial Mexico Encomenderos 1510s in the Aztec civilization 1520s in the Aztec civilization 1510s in New Spain 1520s in New Spain Spanish conquests in the Americas Spanish colonization of the Americas