Spanish Conquest Of New Spain Summary

Bernel Diaz Del Castillo. A man who was once a foot soldier in Hernan Cortes’s spanish army. The same army that discovered and took over the Aztec empire in the early 1520’s. It was not until later on in Castillo’s life that he wrote this memoir or “personal history” as some would argue, called the True History of the Conquest of New Spain. The name seemingly strikes the question “What is True History?”. Before writing his version of the of what happened in New Spain, Castillo watched many attempt to tell the story of the spanish conquest and tell it with biases that he believed should not have been taken into account. Being a first hand witness to what happened in the spanish conquest Castillo believed that the record should be set straight,

Francisco Gomara’s version of the story misrepresented Hernan Cortes as the primary reason for the success of the spanish conquest, giving little credit to those who also stood at the side of Cortes. Then you have Bartolome Casas someone waccountho had a completely different angle of perspective compared to Gomara’s. Casas attacked the spanish forces for their cruelty. This alleviated most; if not all space for the spanish to justify themselves for their actions during the conquest. For Commander Cortes account he prettied the story in his writings to the king to make himself look fancy towards the King of Spain. Saying things in regard to giving the king more power and the rule of new land. Cortes also spoke to justify his story. Exaggerating the fact that the natives were taking practice in human sacrifices, so it was necessary to take action in attempt to convert them to the christian view. When comparing Castillo’s “true history” to these narrations you notice his does not lean towards any story more than another. It stands in its own separate