() is a first-person narrative written in 1568 by military adventurer,

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

, 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 (1517) to the

Yucatán peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

; the expedition of

Juan de Grijalva Juan de Grijalva (; c. 1490 – 21 January 1527) was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez.Diaz de Castillo, Bernal. 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511. ...

(1518); and the expedition of

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

(1519) in the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, ...

. The history relates his participation in the conquest of the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...

. 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, Dominican Order, OP ( ; ); 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as an historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became ...

, 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 wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...

biographers of Hernán Cortés, specifically that of

Francisco López de Gómara Francisco López de Gómara (February 2, 1511 – c. 1564) 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 conqu ...

, 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, 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. Díaz del Castillo also criticizes some of Cortés’ decisions during the expedition as selfish or unjust, such as the torture and execution of

Tlatoani ''Tlahtoāni'' ( , "ruler, sovereign"; plural ' ) is a historical title used by the dynastic rulers of (singular ''āltepētl'', often translated into English as "city-state"), autonomous political entities formed by many pre-Columbian Nahuatl- ...

(emperor)

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", an ...

. Like other professional soldiers who participated in the conquest of New Spain, Díaz del Castillo found himself among the ruins of

Tenochtitlán , also known as Mexico-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, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

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, and Díaz del Castillo expresses his discontentment and bitterness about his and the other soldiers’ treatment by the Spanish government. Though Díaz del Castillo justifies his and the other Spaniards’ actions through the lens of a

just war The just war theory () is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. It has bee ...

, he does express 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."

Unabridged translations

* ''The True History of the Conquest of Mexico'' by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, translated by Maurice Keatinge, London, 1800 *''The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo'' (1844), translated by John Ingram Lockhart (2 volumes, 213 chapters with notes) *
The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
' by Captain Bernal Díaz del Castillo, translated by

Alfred Percival Maudslay Alfred Percival Maudslay (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British colonial administrator and archaeologist. He pioneered the careful archaeological study of the Maya ruins and the results of his field work were presented in ''Biolog ...

. London,

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 publishin ...

, 1908 (4 volumes, 17 parts, 214 chapters with appendices) from the only original copy published by Genaro García in Mexico with notes and appendices. Considered the most complete and authentic translation. An abridged version with deleted passages and 116 chapters was published in 1928 titled ''The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517–1521''

Notes

References

External links

''Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Tomo I''
facsimile of 1939 edition, with introduction and notes by Joaquín Ramírez Cabañas, published in 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 in Mexico City * {{DEFAULTSORT:Historia Verdadera De La Conquista De La Nueva Espana 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 Encomenderos 1510s in the Aztec civilization 1520s in the Aztec civilization 1510s in New Spain 1520s in New Spain Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire