When asked to read The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal diaz, I did not know what to think. The book tells the first hand accounts of Bernal diaz's voyages to the New World, mainly the one led by Hernando Cortés. In my opinion, this book is very informative, but one sided. diaz's biases do not lie in what he writes, but what he leaves out. In the paragraphs following I will discuss what I have learned from the book and the opinions I have on it.
Bernal diaz del Castillo went out on his expeditions as a soldier. His first expedition was led by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba and his second by Juan de Grijalva. His last, the expedition which I will be concerned with, was led by Hernando Cortés. During these expeditions, diaz and the Spaniards came into contact with the Aztecs. .
Through the book we learn much information about the Aztecs. They are a numerous people and have great loyalty to their king. Also, they value their religion greatly. Whenever the Spaniards come into contact with them, diaz makes it known that they are always vastly outnumbered. When they are given orders from their king they always follow them. An example of this occurs when Montezuma is in captivity and Cacamatzin wants to attack the Spaniards. He tries to persuade his people with a speech, but "four or five of them replied asking how they could possible go without their lord Montezuma's permission and make war in his own palace and city- (diaz, 261). The Aztec warriors would not do so until they were sure it was what Montezuma wanted. The Spaniards mission in the New World was to convert the people they came into contact with Christianity. They tried many times to do this, and they never succeeded to convert any of the Aztecs as they would have liked. They put up crosses and took down their idols. However, they could never stop the people from sacrificing humans to their gods or from practicing sodomy.
