Analysis Of Bernal Diaz's Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest

It is crucial to focus on translators when it comes to understanding the conquest of Mexico. It shows how

Matthew Restall, a Professor of Latin American History, Women’s Studies, and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. He also serves the Director of the university’s Latin Studies. Throughout “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest,” he discusses many false truths that have been passed down through history. For instance, he discusses, “The Myth of Exceptional Men.” “The Myth of Spanish Army,” and “The Myth of Completion.” For the sake of time, I will discuss three myths that correlate with class lectures and serve as the topic of this paper, “The Myth of Exceptional Men,” “The Myth of the King’s Army,” and the “Myth of the White Conquistador.” It should be noted that Restall speaks to his audience assuring us that his “...his purpose is not to degenerate this technique of historical writing completely...Nor do I mean to create a narrative in which individual action is utterly subordinated to the larger structural forces and causes of social change.” (4). He states that his intentions are to react to more than just the works of Columbus, Pizzaro, and Cortez.

The legacy and impact of the Spanish conquest is continually discussed and analyzed. The struggle in finding native identities while also acknowledging Spanish heritage is a continuing process in Latin America. Modern film and art, such as Salvador Carrasco’s La Otra Conquista and Diego Rivera’s mural the arrival of Cortés speak about the conquest and its effects on Mexico identity. The film challenges myths about the conquest by arguing against the greatness of Cortés, showing power in native agency, and Spanish dependency on interpreters. The mural upholds myths of the conquest like the black legend, minimizes

Q: What were Cortes' and Bernal Diaz's motives for writing their accounts of the conquest? How did these motives color their narratives of the conquest?

For decades, the history of Latin America has been shrouded in a cover of Spanish glory and myth that misleads and complicates the views of historians everywhere. Myths such as the relationship between natives and conquistadors, and the individuality of the conquistadors themselves stand as only a few examples of how this history may have become broken and distorted. However, in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Matthew Restall goes to great lengths to dispel these myths and provide a more accurate history of Latin American, in a readable and enjoyable book.

The reading “An Aztec account of the Spanish Conquest” is mainly about a story when Hernan Cortes came for the first time at Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City). The Aztecs believes that when Hernan Cortes arrive they believe the he was Quetzalcoatl, the main god in the Aztec culture. Cortes were friendly invite to the Aztec city as the most important guest, the Aztec people made a big party to celebrate the return of their god, but the Aztec people did not know Cortes intentions of conquer the empire. Later the Aztecs were betrayed by Hernan Cortes. Cortes’s army began to attack the city and at the end they take over the city.

Throughout the book, writers mention that Aztec governments did everything that they could to give the Spanish everything that they needed, and that the Spanish took advantage of them. “…he took the Spaniards to be gods; he believed in them and worshiped them as deities.” The people of Mexico were loyal to those that they believed to be gods and “when they conquered the Mexica and all belonging to them, we never abandoned them or left them behind in it.” Under Spanish rule many men, women and children were exploited, tortured and murdered. The Broken Spears captured this in great detail while Traditions and Encounters skims over a lot of these details. This seems to create a gap between the two texts, making the differences between the authors more apparent.

The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the “god” that included a human

“Victors and Vanquished,” through excerpts of Bernal Diaz del Castillo The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and indigenous testimonies from the Florentine Codex, represents the clash between European and indigenous cultures and how there was no simple “European” or “indigenous” view. Rather, there were a variety of European and indigenous opinions and interpretations that were influenced by personal interests, social hierarchy and classes, ethnic biases and political considerations.

Miguel Leon-Portilla author of Broken Spears- The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, tells the story of the Spanish conquest over the Aztecs from the Aztec point of view. It is more familiar in history that the Spanish led by Hernan Cortez defeated the Aztecs with a powerful army and established an easy victory all while having intentions to gain power and greed. However, Leon-Portilla focuses on the Aztec Empire and their story. Leon-Portilla does a great job giving readers the real occurrences and events from Aztec members. This paper argues that history must be told from all sides. It is more common to hear about the Spanish conquest

The Conquest of Mexico and the conversion of the peoples of New Spain can and should be included among the histories of the world, not only because it was well done but because it was very great. . . . Long live, then, the name and memory of him [Cortés] who conquered so vast a land, converted such a multitude of men, cast down so many men, cast down so many men, cast down so many idols, and put an end to so much sacrifice and the eating of human flesh! —Francisco López de Gómara (1552)

and fame. The accounts are based on the Aztec’s perception of the invasion and include the

Representation” by Michael Schreffler argues that “ . . . early modern rhetoric and iconography . . . constructed a distorted view of painting in Aztec Mexico and entangled it in the conventions of colonial historiography” (407). This essay is effective because of its thorough examination of the accounts that explain a painting made by the Aztec’s at San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday of 1519.

Soldier and conqueror Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his book The True History of the Conquest of New Spain labeled Hernán Cortés “a valiant, energetic, and daring captain” and compared him to the likes of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Hannibal. Hernán Cortés was an ambitious conquistador and eventually defeated the mighty Mexican empire. A problem, however; emerges when distinguishing between the rational and romanticized versions of Cortés’ exploits. Bernal Díaz was present during the conquest, but his account was written much later and cannot be expected to be unbiased. Modern interpretations of Cortés can piece together all document and find that he stretched the truth to further his own gains. Cortés’ personality, goals, and actions have been interpreted differently since the days of the conquest, and have changed the way the conquest has been understood.

In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides, each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. These statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc. When two cultures interact for the first time there is bound to be some discrepancies over what truly occurred. These discrepancies are portrayed quite well through Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of New Spain and The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, either side showed similarities, but at the same time they showed even more metamorphoses, making it nearly impossible to say either account holds more water than the other.