The History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Davíd Carrasco

• Publisher: UNM Press
• Year: 2009
• Topic: History
• Print ISBN:
  9780826342874
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780826342881
• Index: History

The History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a new abridgement of Diaz del Castillo's classic Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España, offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the political and religious forces that drove the great cultural encounter between Spain and the Americas known as the "conquest of Mexico." Besides containing important passages, scenes, and events excluded from other abridgements, this edition includes eight useful interpretive essays that address indigenous religions and cultural practices, sexuality during the early colonial period, the roles of women in indigenous cultures, and analysis of the political and economic purposes behind Diaz del Castillo's narrative. A series of maps illuminate the routes of the conquistadors, the organization of indigenous settlements, the struggle for the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, as well as the disastrous Spanish journey to Honduras. The information compiled for this volume offers increased accessibility to the original text, places it in a wider social and narrative context, and encourages further learning, research, and understanding.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Dream of the Conquistador and a Book of Desire and Destruction
• Preface
• The Expedition under Córdova
• The Expedition under Grijalva
• Expedition under Cortés Begins: Intrigues in Cuba
• Cortés Finds an Interpreter
• Cortés Attacks the Ceiba Tree
• Enter Doña Marina
• Signs of Empire
• Spaniards Viewed as Gods
• Cortés Destroys the Ships
• War in Tlaxcala
• The Spaniards’ Plea for Peace and Alliance
• Ambassadors from Montezuma Arrive
• Baptizing Tlaxcalan Women
• The Massacre at Cholula
• The March to Mexico
• Arrival in the Splendid City of Tenochtitlan
• Montezuma in Captivity
• Games with Montezuma
• Cortés Struggles with Narváez
• Spanish Massacre of the Dancers
• Spanish Defeat and the Noche Triste
• The Return to the Valley and the Alliance with Texcoco
• The Siege Begins from Texcoco
• Indian Allies and Spanish Disasters
• Dismal Drums and Human Sacrifices
• The Fall of Mexico and the Surrender of Guatemoc
• The City as a Wasteland: Taking Women
• Torturing Guatemoc for Treasure: Malicious Graffiti
• Zapotec Fury
• Pedro de Alvarado Attacks in Guatemala
• Turmoil in Chiapas
• The Arrival of the Twelve Franciscans
• Mexico City Becomes a Roman Circus
• Maps
• Essays