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The Conquest of New Spain

by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, J.M. Cohen (Translator), John M. Cohen (Introduction)

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 775 ratings · 86 reviews

The defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small band of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history. Fifty years after the event Bernal Diaz (c.1498-c.1580), who served under Cortes, wrote this magnificent account of the march from the coast, Montezuma's death, the massacre of the Spaniards and the eventual capture of the capital of Mexico.

Paperback, 416 pages

Published August 30th 1963 by Penguin Classics (first published 1632)

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Jan 01, 2013 Christopher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-0-plus, non-fiction

Whatever you heard about Cortés in grade school is probably true enough, but wow, the details are amazing.

Sure, Cortés might have been a deceitful, gold-hungry, womanizing, slave-taking, blood-soaked psychopath (and alleged poisoner), but that's part of what makes him a great character, because he was also a brilliant and charismatic velvet-glove-over-iron-fist diplomat, an incredibly savvy and calculating strategist, and a fervent Christian (lecturing people constantly on the Trinity and revere...more Whatever you heard about Cortés in grade school is probably true enough, but wow, the details are amazing.

Sure, Cortés might have been a deceitful, gold-hungry, womanizing, slave-taking, blood-soaked psychopath (and alleged poisoner), but that's part of what makes him a great character, because he was also a brilliant and charismatic velvet-glove-over-iron-fist diplomat, an incredibly savvy and calculating strategist, and a fervent Christian (lecturing people constantly on the Trinity and reverence for the Virgin Mary) who honestly believed the locals were the bad guys who needed to quit their human sacrifices, idolatry, cannibalism, robbery, and sodomy ASAP--or at least right after they pointed him toward the gold and helped him get it. And he was certainly among the bravest, most audacious leaders in history.

Furthermore, Diaz's history of the conquest of Mexico is as readable as a contemporary novel, and it's just loaded with intriguing tidbits. Well, there are big things like how Cortés scuttles his own ships to ensure there's no going back, or how the governor of Cuba sends a force to reel him in and Cortés takes a break from fighting the locals to fight a force of Spaniards and wins, or how Cortés takes Montezuma prisoner but eventually gets kicked out of the city but eventually comes back for a long, grueling, inch-by-inch conquest wherein people are throwing the heads of Spaniards back at them or sacrificing them on altars within sight as the battle goes on.

But there's also the little stuff, like the guy who has a volcano put on his coat of arms, or the sorceror/astrologer in Cortés's force who has a spirit totem and some weird (possibly sex-related) items on him, or the soldier who farts at Montezuma while guarding him, or all the amazing details about Tenochtitlan (public restrooms, a section of the city set aside for circus performers, Montezuma's zoo, etc.), or the guy who told Cortés he'd been in the Italian campaigns and knew how to build a catapult but in fact built one that fizzled, and so on.

There's plenty to doubt about Diaz's recall and point of view, but as first person historical narratives go, this one's hard to beat.(less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Ed rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Wow. This book stands out as one of the most fascinating books that I can think of. The only thing I can fault it for are the doubts about its veracity. It certainly reads like an authentic account, and if it is, what an account. History was never so fascinating. I certainly enjoyed this book far more than A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and it comes across as far more accurate and nuanced.

The characters really come to life in this account. Cortés is captured as a magnificent,...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

De l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace

First, this makes every high fantasy adventure novel out there seem like rather thin gruel. It is easy to imagine it larded with appropriate conversations and lurid description to make it three or four time the size and then selling a gazillion copies as a story of a group of ruthless fantasy adventurers overthrowing an evil empire.

Second, it is lucky Osama bin Laden (I assume) never read it, since it is practically a textbook example of...more

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Lily Well, the subject of whether people or deeds are evil is a debate that would take up more of the Goodreads comments section than I feel entirely appro...more
Mar 11, 2013 06:30am

Chris I shall look forward to your review! To answer your questions about how much I know (doubtless in a vague unsatisfactory way): I've read history all m...more
Mar 11, 2013 01:47pm

May 05, 2012 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author started writing this when he was over 70, made his fair copy of it at age 76, and wrote a preliminary note for it at age 84. Five years later, he was dead.

Arguedas's "Deep Rivers" and Galeano's "Genesis (Memory of Fire 1)", which I recently read, both have an unmistakable bias against the Spanish conquistadores of the Americas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here, for a change, I listen to one of these conquistadores, for the author Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a Spanish soldier w...more The author started writing this when he was over 70, made his fair copy of it at age 76, and wrote a preliminary note for it at age 84. Five years later, he was dead.

Arguedas's "Deep Rivers" and Galeano's "Genesis (Memory of Fire 1)", which I recently read, both have an unmistakable bias against the Spanish conquistadores of the Americas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here, for a change, I listen to one of these conquistadores, for the author Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a Spanish soldier who served under Hernando Cortes, conqueror of the Aztec empire based then in Mexico. The events narrated here happened between 1519 to 1521 when the author was in his mid-20s.

For a 70-year-old guy you will be amazed not by how much Diaz had forgotten (noted in the translator's footnotes) but how much he remembered of events which took place half a century before. He was a wonderful storyteller. Some things I learned about life in that part of the world almost 500 years ago:

1. the Indians/Aztecs practiced sodomy, human sacrifice and cannibalism. They open up the body while the poor victim is very much alive, scoop out his/her heart, and offer his/her still-beating heart to their gods/idols in their temple. The limbs they eat, the rest they throw away;
2. their own kind whom they intend to sacrifice and turn into their favorite dishes they first fatten up inside cages like they're domesticated pigs or cattle being prepared for slaughter;
3. a patriarchal society, it seemed that women among the Indians had no role except do menial jobs, bear children and be given (by their fathers) as gifts to other men. There was only one Indian woman here who sort of stood out from Diaz's entire narrative. She was given as a gift to Cortes who, in turn, gave her to his favorite officer, and who later acted as their interpreter in dealing with the Indians. Fond of juicy gossips, Diaz didn't fail to mention that Cortes had a child by her later;
4. for the Spaniards, the way to get rich then was to go out there, discover new lands, conquer their people and get their gold in the name of the Spanish monarch. Whatever they get the latter is automatically entitled to one-fifth thereof, the so-called "Royal Fifth"; and
5. these Spanish adventurers would first try to befriend the native Indians, try to convert them to Catholicism and to make them vassals of Spain. If friendly persuasion doesn't work, they subdue them by force of arms and take everything they want.

In the book's blurb there is the claim that "(t)he defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small bad of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history." This could mislead. As if Cortes' 500 or so Spanish soldiers were, by themselves, able to defeat the Aztecs numbering tens of thousands. Actually, several Indian tribes fought along Cortes and--although Diaz was silent about this--did most of the dying. I agree, however, that Cortes was a brilliant military leader: BRAVE (he fought with his soldiers, got wounded and almost died several times), CUNNING (he made Indians fight fellow Indians, outmaneuvered not only his Indian enemies but his Spanish enemies as well) and LUCKY (maybe because he was so damn brilliant that he became a living demonstration of the chess players' well-known adage: "A good player is always lucky.").

Bernal Diaz praised Cortes to high heavens but he likewise didn't mince words in implying that this great leader was also a thief (or maybe Diaz was also praising Cortes as a good BUSINESSMAN?). An amusing anecdote he related towards the end of this book where, after the conquest of Mexico, the common soldiers like Diaz were grumbling about the very little share they will get of the booty:

"While Cortes was at Coyoacan, he lodged in a palace with whitewashed walls on which it was easy to write with charcoal and ink; and every morning malicious remarks appeared, some in verse and some in prose, in the manner of lampoons. One said the sun, moon, and stars, and earth and sea followed their courses, and if they ever deviated from the plane for which they were created, soon reverted to their original place. So it would be with Cortes' ambition for command. He would soon return to his original (humble) condition. Another said that he had dealt us a worse defeat than he had given to Mexico, and that we ought to call ourselves not the victors of New Spain but the victims of Hernando Cortes. Another said he had not been content with a general's share but had taken a king's, not counting other profits; and yet another: 'My soul is very sad and will be till that day when Cortes gives us back the gold he's hidden away.' It was also remarked that (Cortes' fellow adventurer) Diego Velazquez had spent his whole fortune and discovered all the northern coast as far as Panuco, and then Cortes had come to enjoy the benefit and rebelliously taken both the land and the treasure. And other words were written up too, unfit to record in this story.
"When Cortes came out of his quarters of a morning he would read these lampoons. Their style was elegant, the verses well rhymed, and each couplet not only had point but ended with a sharp reproof that was not so naive as I may have suggested. As Cortes himself was something of a poet, he prided himself on composing answers, which tended to praise his own great deeds and belittle those of Diego Velazquez, Grijalva, and Francisco Hernandez de Cordova. In fact, he too wrote some good verses which were much to the point. But the couplets and sentences they scrawled up became every day more scurrilous, until in the end Cortes wrote: 'A blank wall is a fool's writing paper.' And next morning someone added: 'A wise man's too, who knows the truth, as His Majesty will do very soon!' Knowing who was responsible for this (a certain Tirado, a friend of Diego Velazquez and some others who wished to make their defiance clear) Cortes flew into a rage and publicly proclaimed that they must write up no more libels or he would punish the shameless villanins.
"Many of us were in debt to one another. Some owed fifty or sixty pesos for crossbows, and others fifty for a sword. Everything we had bought was equally dear...."

For God, Country and King? No. Then, and as always, it has always been about the gold, stupid.(less)

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Jan 28, 2012 Jan-Maat added it

Shelves: 16th-century, autobiography-memoir, latin-america, read-in-translation

"When we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not knowhow to describ...more "When we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not knowhow to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before." p 214.

This translation is an abbreviated version of Bernal Diaz del Castillo's account of the conquest of modern Mexico, starting from landings on the coast in Maya areas. Most of the text is taken up by the conquest of the Aztec Empire and occasionally interrupted by troubles with potential colonial rivals back on Hispaniola.

It is a breathless account of a culture clash between the Castilians with their horses, steel weapons and armour, attack dogs, artillery and firearms on the one side and rich, sophisticated world of late stone-age Mexico on the other. As a result the text overflows with details about the lifestyles and peoples the Spanish come across, fight against and work with (and they would not have succeeded without their local allies draw from the Aztec's rivals) to topple the chocolate drinking Montezuma. It's not a fine example of prose but the author's sense of wonder and amazement pulls you along through the negotiations, canoe building, town founding and inevitable hauling of artillery pieces up from the coast to the centre of the country.

The Amadis mentioned in the quote above is The Amadis of Gaul one of the favourite books of Don Quixote. In one way the actions of the conquering Spanish seem no less incredible, audacious or even insane than those of the Quixote, while in another the same spirit and dreams of great deeds of heroism and chivalry inspired them both. The only difference being that Bernal and his companions won the governorships of islands that were only ever promised to Sancho Panza.(less)

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Nov 11, 2011 Juan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Escrito por Bernal Díaz del Castillo, uno de los soldados que participó en la conquista de México, “Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España” es una excelente fuente histórica de lo que ocurrió entre 1519 y 1521 cuando Hernán Cortés, desobediendo ordenes superiores, decidió comenzar la conquista de la América continental.
El libro no es fácil de leer, es muy extenso, está escrito en español antiguo y en un estilo pobre que tiende a ser repetitivo. Sin embargo es uno de los pocos libr...more

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Mar 18, 2011 karl rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a 2-volume English translation of Castillo’s memoirs centered on his years with Cortes’ expedition-invasion of Mexico and Mexico City in the 1519-21 period. Castillo was one of the 550 original conquistadors w/Cortes. In his later years he was an official in Guatemala. Castillo wrote his memoirs beginning in 1568 and he indicates towards the end of the book that he is one of 5 surviving original conquistadors.

The book approaches 1000 pages. It has 213 chapters. I read it on and off over...more

This is a 2-volume English translation of Castillo’s memoirs centered on his years with Cortes’ expedition-invasion of Mexico and Mexico City in the 1519-21 period. Castillo was one of the 550 original conquistadors w/Cortes. In his later years he was an official in Guatemala. Castillo wrote his memoirs beginning in 1568 and he indicates towards the end of the book that he is one of 5 surviving original conquistadors.

The book approaches 1000 pages. It has 213 chapters. I read it on and off over a year on my Kindle, but must admit it was a slog to read (think of a text book). Yet it was amazingly interesting at times – especially describing battles, the way the Mayans sacrificed humans, and how driven for gold they all were. Castillo claims at the end of his book that he fought in over 100 battles. I was too exhausted to have counted, but certainly they had numerous battles with the natives. Castillo is appreciative and respectful of Cortes, but much of the book he tries to point out how important all the soldiers were to the ultimate success of their conquest. He opines they were not rewarded with sufficient land grants, areas to govern (and tax), and Indians (slaves).

I wish I had had two good maps of the relevant region when I read the book. There were so many names of rivers, mountains and towns they went through on the various campaigns that the reader is overwhelmed. One map would be a modern one, and the other from about 1540 of the same area.

The short version story of Cortes is he has been living in Cuba and Hispaniola (i.e., D.R.-Haiti) for about 15 years when he leads a large expedition to explore what is now Mexico. They land at Vera Cruz in the Yucatan. They fight with and then work together with the Mayans, who do not like the Aztecs to the West - who are rich and keep invading them. So, Cortes and most of his men along with many Indians opposed to the Aztecs march to Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) and confront Montezuma. At first all is well and the conquistadors are overwhelmed with the buildings, dikes, temples, gold. Events occur and they are forced to flee barely surviving and rush back to the Yucatan, but not before losing a lot of men and a lot of gold. A couple of years later they return with overwhelming force and take the city.

Tid bits: Generally on their campaigns they were short of food, so they had to scrounge around - beg, borrow, and steal from the natives. As part of the peace making process the natives gave gold, cloth, food, and women! The Spanish had a unique advantage with horses, which terrified and amazed the Indians. Their muskets, cannons, armored vests, steel bladed swords and steel –tipped lances also gave them an advantage. Humans sacrificed by the Indians were taken to the top of pyramid-like temples, and the native priests would pull out the beating heart to offer to the gods. The body was thrown down, and folks would grab and cook parts for dinner. There were a lot of ways to die – infections, TB, venereal disease, malaria, let alone from battles. The conquistadors were very religious – they brought their monks with them. Their goal was to baptize the Indians. They felt compelled and did share about 20% of all gold and treasures with the King of Spain. I was amazed at how litigious the conquistadors and subsequent arrivers to Mexico were over land and control of districts; and, how the Spanish crown sent many accountants and lawyers to help keep order and protect its own.
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Apr 15, 2009 Davie Mclean rated it 5 of 5 stars

this is a history lesson that stays with you long after you read it. bernal diaz's first hand account as a conquistador is intense and dramatic suspence filled epic, that will leave you breathless. his vivid description of his expedition with the spanish captain cortez in the settlement and pacification of what is now Mexico is action filled extravaganza which reads like an adventure novel. ancient civilations,undiscoverd world , secret chambers of treasure, villians , heros, heroines,. conquest...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Tom Meade rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, biography, historical

It's very difficult to pass comment on much of the contents of this book. On the one hand, Cortes could make few real defences against the claim that he was a scoundrel, thief and chauvinistic proselytiser whose first thought upon discovering one of the richest and most fascinating cultures ever to have existed was that he should take it for himself, and that his men were , though valiant, little more than fortune hunters. On the other hand, the Aztecs were, marvellous cultural achievements asid...more It's very difficult to pass comment on much of the contents of this book. On the one hand, Cortes could make few real defences against the claim that he was a scoundrel, thief and chauvinistic proselytiser whose first thought upon discovering one of the richest and most fascinating cultures ever to have existed was that he should take it for himself, and that his men were , though valiant, little more than fortune hunters. On the other hand, the Aztecs were, marvellous cultural achievements aside, a bunch of racist, classist, cannibalistic slave-raiders. As much defence could be made of one side as another, and in the end twenty-first century standards can't really be applied. The Spanish will naturally remain with the blame, having begun the conflict and emerged the victors, but even so this was undertaken under the iniative of Cortes and his captains alone, and given the small force invading and (initially, at least) the even-handedness of the Spaniards' treatment of the Meso-Americans, the conquest could even be said to have been fought on equal terms against equally warlike and covetous opponents. In any case the Spanish would have invaded eventually, probably sending a large, well-equipped army and annihilating the Aztec strongholds with cannon and siege engines. It's just a shame it had to happen at all.

The true tragedies don't start to occur until after the death of Montezuma, when Cortes gives the order to begin enslaving those Mexicans which withdrew from their allegiance with the King of Spain (although, as I've said, the Aztecs themselves were quite fond of slavery). Bernal Diaz (who emerges from this heavily abbreviated version of the narrative a rather enigmatic character), seems to have had a great deal of respect and admiration for many of the Aztecs he met and fought against during the campaign, mostly just wishing that they would stop sacrificing people, maybe give-up the sodomy, and also give him all of their stuff. By the end of it, there's no other way I can think of to look at this except as one of the strangest, most fascinating and terrible adventures in history, and one of the most consistently astonishing books I've ever read.(less)

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Dec 16, 2011 Ensiform rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: war, non-fiction

Translated and with an intro by J.M. Cohen (1568). Diaz was a solder who sailed to Mexico under Hernandez and Grijalva, then fought under Cortez against the Aztecs and took the city of Mexico. Then, fifty years later, he wrote a suspiciously detailed account of the expeditions and battles. This 400-page edition, with a few condensations, ends with the capture of the city.

It’s a fascinating eye-witness account, and seems to be very objective, at least for its time. Cortez is portrayed as constant...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Michael Gerald rated it 4 of 5 stars

Got this one from Instituto Cervantes in Manila. A good primary reference for the discovery, exploration, and conquest of the Americas by the Spanish conquistadores, written by one of the members of Hernan Cortes' expedition.

A great insight of this book is that while some of the Spanish conquistadores were no saints, the Aztecs were certainly no angels either. They often went to war with the purpose of capturing prisoners to be made into hundreds, even thousands, of human sacrifices for their su...more

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May 06, 2012 Owen Spencer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book's author, Bernal Diaz, was a conquistador who accompanied Hernan Cortes in battles that eventually resulted in the overthrow of Montezuma and the Aztecs. Diaz incorporates a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point writing style that could easily be criticized for lack of artistry. Yet, despite its flaws, "The Conquest of New Spain" remains an exciting and engaging chronicle of (extremely) violent history that had a profound effect upon this reader. I would recommend this book most highly to...more

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Jun 20, 2010 Jonah rated it 4 of 5 stars

While affected by cultural bias, self aggrandizement, and several decades between the occurrence of the events and the writing of the book, this is an excellent look into the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. While this book is to be taken with a large grain of salt it does reveal the insane, if perhaps embellished, hardships that befell the Spaniards in conquering the Aztec empire. This is not to say that I feel that the Spaniard's efforts were noble or brave. I do feel however that as the head of an...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Derek rated it 3 of 5 stars

Díaz is no journalist and no historian, and he wrote years after the fact apparently to refute the statements of other written accounts, and as a result this tale proceeds beginning to end as an extremely literal and weirdly detailed account, with more weight given to the number of horsemen sent on a particular attack than to his impressions of Aztec culture and the strange land the Spanish find themselves in. It is gracelessly written, with little eye for summation or high-level organization of...more

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Oct 26, 2008 Barclay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Barclay W. Conrad
Book: "The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521" by Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Edited from the only exact copy of the original MS Published by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy 1956
Library of Congress No. 56-5758

This book was acquired from my Mother's estate after her death on August 10, 2008.

My interest in it was stimulated by the first-person narration of evidence that supports the origin of the "Book of Mormon", the book which was translated by Joseph Smith and published in...more Barclay W. Conrad
Book: "The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521" by Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Edited from the only exact copy of the original MS Published by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy 1956
Library of Congress No. 56-5758

This book was acquired from my Mother's estate after her death on August 10, 2008.

My interest in it was stimulated by the first-person narration of evidence that supports the origin of the "Book of Mormon", the book which was translated by Joseph Smith and published in 1827, and the basis for the testimony of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The circumstances of the original Author is that he was a member of the original party of spanish adventurers and explorers led by Hernando Cortes, which had been loosely commissioned by the Governor of Cuba, and established settlements in the name of the King of Spain and of Jesus Christ and his Mother, the Blessed Mother. The original party of spaniards numbered no more than 1000, transported in 18 ships. Due to dissension in the ranks of his leadership for Cortes to lead the troops into Mexico, Cortes had the ships destroyed to avoid mutineers sailing back to Cuba. During the span of four years which are related for the conquest of Mexico's primary and strongest civilization, some facts stand out.
1) The greatest force which enabled this conquest over a people which numbered in the millions was not the superiority of the force of arms of this pitifully small group of spaniards, but the incredible leadership and personal testimony of Cortes to the Caciques (leaders) of the Indian people, of the saviorship of Jesus Christ over them, if they would accept the savior and give up the practice of cannibalism and sacrifice to pagan gods, and accept an alliance with the invading Spanish.
2) The ancestors of the indian people had definitely passed down an oral tradition that their people would be visited by a bearded white people who would come from the East, preach the Gospel to them, and rule over them. Though there is plenty of initial fighting among the people against the invaders, once a verbal translation and communication is established by Cortes, for the most part alliances follow, firmly cemented by ceasing to practice sacrifice and cannibalism of human beings, allowing the cross of the savior to prevail over their pagan gods, and establishing family connections by giving of their daughters, converted to Christianity, to the spanish to bear children (admitedly as concubines), which accounts for the tremendous interbreeding of spanish and indian blood in present-day Mexico.
3) Although the war technology of the spaniards is superior to the indians, (gunpowder for artillary and fusilliers, crossbows, iron swords and armor, horses and cavalry movements) this does not really account for the incredible change of regime over only a very short number of years. One can only admit that the God of Jesus Christ did aid this small group of warlike Christians to bring about a vast change and knowledge of the Savior in a significant step toward preparation for the fullness of the Gospel to come forth in the latter days.
4) The reaction of the Indians to horses brought over by the spaniards gives great credance to the fact that horses were not then known to the Indians on the American continent. This more or less is in conflict with the descriptions of the Book of Mormon, which describe horses as beasts of burden, along with a number of other unknown creatures, described as "curoloms and Cumoms".
5) Descriptions of the destruction of an original Christ-led civilization in America by the descent of the nephite people into wickedness, to be destroyed by their distant relatives, the primitive and savage lamanites in 435 A.D. from the Book of Mormon have many resemblances from descriptions of the construction practices and temples as made by Sr. Diaz in his book.
This book is a solid, rough-and-tumble first person narrative, recited when Bernal Diaz was 84 years old in Honduras. At the time he was deaf and blind, but fully sentient to bring forth such vivid memories of the period. The 478 pages include introductions to historical research, maps of the relevant areas of Mexico and Mexico City, and some historical speculations, including some corroboration from Cortes' accounts. I would include a recommendation that it moves along with a quick and lively pace, and includes many accounts of human peccadillios, which do not really detract from the wonders of the actual events. It receives a 3 out of 4 rating, the only real detraction being that it is a long account with distracting interpretations and many footnotes.

Bart Conrad

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Oct 12, 2008 LonewolfMX Luna rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those interested in Mexico's History

Recommended to LonewolfMX by: Professor Abdiel Onate

Read this book in Professor Onate's Mexican History, which was a written account by Bernal Diaz one of the original Conquistadores that helped Hernan Cortes conquer the Aztec Empire. Was written during Diaz's final years before he died.

This book supposedly chronicles the "adventures" the Spaniards had before and during the conquest in which they would deel with the hostility of the other Mexican tribes as well as their Zealous attempts to convert the natives to Christianity and how they portraye...more

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Apr 20, 2008 Marty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bernal Diaz was Cortez's scribe and this tome is the amazing, first hand account of the expedition that found the Conquistadores on a foreign and unknown shore and took them through a continent. This continent was full of dangerous obstacles, not the least of which were treacherous terrian and the fierce, superstitious indigenous tribes. The trail eventually lead to the ultimate showdown with Montezuma himself.

The trail starts with Cortez burning their fleet upon arrival. A clear and prescient...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Διόνυσος Ψευδάνωρ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-mine, history

Bernal Díaz del Castillo's Discovery and Conquest of Mexico is the remarkable chronicle of some of the earliest episodes of Europe's domination of the New World, all told by means of the eyewitness account of Castillo himself. It's a vivid portrayal that conveys as much the entirely justified anxieties of the Conquistadors as they enter and begin to gain supremacy over the cities of Mexico, as it conveys the tragedies faced by, and inflicted on, each side. It's an absolutely riveting tale. It's...more

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May 18, 2013 JP rated it 5 of 5 stars

And so we had morning Mass and headed out to conquer the savages for God and relieve them of their idolic gold. It's a great chronicle, written by a soldier and participant in Cortez's compaign to conquer Mexico. Bernal Diaz lived from 1492 to about 1580. His is the only chronicle written by a participant and arguably the most reliable, the others heavily criticized by him and others as modified for political purposes.

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Sep 01, 2008 Cary rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is one of my all time favorites. Bernal Diaz Castillo was a Spanish soldier/sailor who was traveling to Venezuela when they were blown of course and landed in Yucatan. They Spanish were entirely unaware there was land to the west of them across the Gulf of Mexico. There they saw the first evidence of civilization in the New World. Violently attacked by the Mayans they were forced to leave. But the news was out that there were new lands to the west. He was recruited by Cortez as a guid...more

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Apr 01, 2009 Stig rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an abbreviated edition of Bernal Diaz' account of the conquest of Mexico, and perhaps I should be grateful for that, as one of my friends claims that the complete edition is rather boring. I'll write him off as an ignoramus, though - this is a very interesting eye-witness account of a pivotal moment in Western history. Apart from all the historical content, fascinating as it is, two things struck me, namely that the whole conquest seemed to be very much a freelance effort on Cortes' part...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Joel Trout rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure-travel, mesoamerica

You can't beat the story of the Spanish encounter and conquest of the Aztecs told from a man who was in the very center of it! He tells his story as a humble soldier, without the vainglorious style you could expect from someone of a higher rank. I'll never forget the chapter where they see Mexico City below them in the valley for the first time, and are astonished at the wonderful breathtaking scale of it.

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Aug 05, 2011 L. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I was surprised at how easy it was to read this book. I mean, for me, books written at this time are so full of flowery prose, references to people and things I'm not familiar with, and hard to get at what the author is trying to say. But Castillo is clear, concise and to the point about this absolutely fascinating, world-changing adventure.

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Apr 20, 2011 George rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this first-hand account of Cortes' conquest of Mexico. It's been awhile since I read something that made me say, "That's a primary source," just like back in the day when I studied History. It's not well-written, repetitive and incredibly pedantic yet so rich with detail at times I couldn't put it down.

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Jan 13, 2013 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: freshman-college

I liked that this book was a firsthand account, but it was too repetitive in my opinion. Some of the descriptions seemed to be almost word for word even though it was a different situation. If you are really interested in this topic then I would say that you would probably really enjoy it otherwise it might be difficult to get through.

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Dec 27, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Though he was very old when he wrote this and his son may have helped him, an eye witness is an eye witness. When I originally read this as an undergrad, there were students who stopped in the middle of the book and refused to go further due to the violence. Wimps. :)

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Apr 19, 2013 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

The feats included in this book are the substance of legend. Apologists in the contemporary era revel in perpetuating the Black Legend with regard to the Spanish conquistadors — which is largely resultant of centuries of British propaganda in an age of competing empires — but little attention is given to heinous accounts of cannibalism and human sacrifice in pre-conquest Mexico. Granted, this was all going on during the height of the Inquisition, and so many of the writings and traditions of pre...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Vivid and compelling in a way historical chronicles from that age seldom are; puts you smack in the 16th century with hypnotic, dreamlike yet immediate sequences that Werner Herzog or Terence Malick, in their best moments, would be hard-pressed to match.

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Apr 16, 2013 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hair-raising first person account of the conquest of the glorious (though blood-soaked) Aztec civilization by a handful of greedy murderers. But for horses, guns, and the tragic character of Montezuma, Latin America would have ended up altogether different.

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Mar 13, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here's a guy who took part in the most monumental event in history — the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico in the early 1500s. He was among the first Europeans to see Mexico City, which at that time was larger than any city in Europe.

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About Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 – ca. 1580) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés. Born in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal education. He sailed to Tierra Firme in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two y...more Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 – ca. 1580) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés. Born in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal education. He sailed to Tierra Firme in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Much of the native population had already been killed by epidemics and there was political unrest. So he sailed to Cuba, where he was promised a grant of Indian slaves. But that promise was never fulfilled, leading Díaz, in 1517, to join an expedition being organized by a group of about 110 fellow settlers from Tierra Firme and similarly disaffected Spaniards. They chose Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a wealthy Cuban landowner, to lead the expedition. It was a difficult venture, and although they discovered the Yucatán coast, by the time the expedition returned to Cuba they were in disastrous shape.

Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán the following year, on an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés. In this third effort, Díaz took part in one of the legendary military campaigns of history, bringing an end to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.

As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Historia Verdadera ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.

Díaz died in 1585, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and finally published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, often told from the perspective of a common soldier. Today it is one of the most important sources in understanding the campaign that led to the collapse of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Mexico.(less)

More about Bernal Díaz del Castillo...

Books by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana I (version extensa)

The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.

Cortez & the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in 1521: Being the Eye-Witness Narrative of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Soldier of Fortune & Conquistad

Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España

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