() is a first-person narrative written in 1568 by military adventurer, conquistador, and colonist settler Bernal DÃÂaz del Castillo (1492–1584).
Castillo served in three Mexican expeditions: those of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (1517) to the Yucatán peninsula; the expedition of Juan de Grijalva (1518); and the expedition of Hernán Cortés (1519) in the Valley of Mexico. The history relates his participation in the conquest of the Aztec Empire.
Late in life, when DÃÂaz del Castillo was in his 60s, he finished his first-person account of the Spanish conquest of the West Indies and the Aztec Empire. He wrote The True History of the Conquest of New Spain to defend the story of the common-soldier conquistador of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. He presents his narrative as an alternative to the critical writings of Bartolomé de Las Casas, whose descriptions of Spanish treatment of native peoples emphasized the cruelty of the conquest.
He criticized the histories of the hagiographic biographers of Hernán Cortés, specifically that of Francisco López de Gómara, who DÃÂaz del Castillo believed minimized the role of the 700 enlisted soldiers instrumental to conquering the Aztec Empire. In his eyewitness account, narrated in the first-person plural "we," DÃÂaz del Castillo strongly defends the actions of the conquistadors while emphasizing their humanity and honesty. He summarizes their actions by saying, "We went there to serve God, and also to get rich."
The history is occasionally uncharitable about Cortés, whom DÃÂaz del Castillo felt had taken most of the glory for himself while intentionally ignoring the efforts of the other Spaniards and their indigenous allies. DÃÂaz del Castillo also criticizes some of Cortésâ decisions during the expedition as selfish or unjust, such as the torture and execution of Tlatoani (emperor) Cuauhtémoc.
Like other professional soldiers who participated in the conquest of New Spain, DÃÂaz del Castillo found himself among the ruins of Tenochtitlán only slightly wealthier than when he arrived in Mexico. The land and gold compensation paid to many of the conquistadors proved a poor return for their investment of months of soldiering and fighting across Mexico and Central America. DÃÂaz del Castillo expresses his discontentment and bitterness about his and the other soldiersâ treatment by the Spanish government.
Though DÃÂaz del Castillo justifies his and the other Spaniardsâ actions through the lens of a just war, he expresses some regret over the destruction of Tenochtitlán, writing, "When I beheld the scenes around me, I thought within myself, this was the garden of the world. All of the wonders I beheld that day, nothing now remains. All is overthrown and lost."