Conquest of South America

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The conquest of Mexico began when Hernando Cortes first arrived in South America. When he started his first movement of the conquest, some people looked at him as a great leader or a God and others saw him as a simple man. His conquest brought the Spaniards and Indians happiness and sorrow at the same time. The differences between the Spaniards and the Indian accounts were vast and varied from writer to writer, for a man's deeds could be bad and good.

The differences that the reader encounters within a Spanish point of view are between Diaz's and Tapia's descriptions of Cortes' leadership and personality. Diaz describes this conquest as being more religious as they all commanded themselves to God before going to war. He quotes Cortes as saying "we shall conquer through the holy cross" (page 105). Diaz was a loyal soldier to Cortes and addresses to him as "our Captain", but he does not see Cortes as an individual leader. He looks at him as a mortal with weaknesses, "It seems that God gave us soldiers grace and good counsel to advise Cortes how to do all things in the right way" (page 109). This shows Diaz's belief that soldiers like himself influenced Cortes, more than Cortes influenced them. On the other hand, Tapia seems to believe the opposite and describes Cortes' actions as "he ordered" or "he told." The idea that Cortes was different from any other Spanish soldier is also seen in the natives' fear toward him. The natives were afraid of the strangers (the Spanish), but they seem to have greater fear of their leader, since the leaders were always considered special. They even compare Cortes to their Gods "who know all and there is no use in denying it to him" (page 118). While, Diaz believed that natives' fear was concentrat...

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...d Texcalans friendlier and more supportive than México. That is why the Spanish writers consider the Mexicans unfaithful.

The differences between the Spaniards and the Indian accounts were vast and varied from writer to writer, for a man's deeds could be bad and good. The two conquistadors, Diaz and Tapia, agreed that the Spaniards were doing the natives a favor by wanting to become their friends. On the other hand, the Indians view of events was divided depending on whether they supported the Spaniards or not. The Indians who did, like Lienzo, looked at the conquest through the eyes of the Spaniards, while the Indians who did not, prayed their Gods to stop the Spaniards. The conquest of Mexico brought a lot of confusion and caused people to see the conquest itself from different account and caused people to see the conquest itself from different accounts.

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