The Conquest Of New Spain By Bernal Diaz

986 Words2 Pages

The Conquest of New Spain “What I myself saw, and the fighting in which I took part, with God’s help I will describe quite plainly, as an honest eyewitness, without twisting the facts in any way”, Bernal Diaz stated in The Conquest of New Spain. This action filled book is not only a true story about a soldier named Bernal Diaz’s first eyewitness account of the overthrow of Mexico by Hernan Cortes, the leader of the army, but it’s also an eyewitness view of one of the greatest civilizations in the New World (The Conquest of New Spain). Disappointed by the chronicles of the conquest published by Francisco Lopez de Gomara and Bartolome de las Casas, Diaz decided to write the true chronicles of his event. In this book Bernal Diaz describes the …show more content…

He also describes his thoughts during each confrontation with the habitants. This story depicts the interactions between the Spaniards and Mesoamericans. Bernal Diaz was born in 1492 in Spain. Belonging to a family with a low income, Diaz decided to set out on several expeditions to hopefully become wealthy. After the unlucky expeditions with Francisco Hernandez and Juan de Grijalva there was a lot of talk about sending another fleet and who was going to be the captain. After Hernando Cortes was addressed captain he immediately began to collect arms and after exchanging gestures with the King, Cortes and his fleet left. Cortes was highly praised by many and because of this, the chief inhabitants of the towns they were staying at found places for Cortes and the soldiers to stay. Throughout the book Cortes describes what it was like being under Cortes’ command. He …show more content…

Everyday his servants cooked fowls, turkeys, pheasants, local partridges, quail, tame and rabbits (Diaz 225). He had entertainment for every meal including dancing dwarfs and Indians who told him jokes. He also had two houses stocked with every weapon. He had an aviary that had every kind of bird in it. There was the royal eagle, smaller eagles, large birds, multi-colored birds, birds with fine green feathers, parrots, and ducks. Also in the aviary there was a fresh water tank that contained a bird with long stilt legs and a red body. In another house there were many idols that they called their fierce gods. There were lions, adives, foxes, and other small animals in this house. The heads of the Indians they sacrificed are hung up on a beam in another room, which also has vipers that were kept in jars. The performers that entertained Montezuma included stilt-walkers and men dressed as clowns. Montezuma’s gardens had variety of flowers, trees, ponds and baths built of

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