The story of the Spanish conquest over the native peoples of the Americas is still a mystery as to what exactly happened. Beginning in 1492, the Spaniards came from Europe to the Americas in hope of gaining wealth and increasing their social status. The Spaniards who were in the Americas were supposed to be spreading the word of Christianity, but often found the lure of gold and money from encomiendas, which is a grant of authority over natives, to be more to their desire. There were many contrasting accounts written during the Conquest, each of which differed based on the views and the motives of the author. Some of the most widely believed accounts were written by Bernal Diaz and Bartolome De Las Casas. .
Diaz was a common foot soldier of the Spanish crusade who wrote books in an attempt to show his efforts in the conquest. Diaz worked alongside Hernando Cortes during much of the Conquest. Cortes was the leader of many important victories and led the Spaniards to the conquering of Mexico. Las Casas, a more controversial figure than Diaz, wrote books in the defense of the natives. Although a native of Spain, he became a Franciscan Friar and dedicated his life to ending the cruelty of the native peoples of America. There were many other writers who contributed to the Conquest, such as Francisco Lopez de Gomara. Gomara was a noted scholar who was hired as Cortes" secretary after the Conquest. He wrote accounts based on the documents and memoirs of Cortes and therefore he praised Cortes on the highest level in every account. Accounts as written by these three men were very different in their purpose because they were all motivated to write for different reasons. An event that took place during the Conquest which shows this is the Massacre of the feast of Toxcatl which occurred on May 16, 1520. It is nearly impossible to explain what happened during this event because the documents come from personal experiences which may or may not be accurate.
