Year 8 History

Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 to 1498, birth date is uncertain, – 1584) was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a foot soldier in the conquest of Mexico with Hernán Cortés. In his later years he was an encomendero and governor in Chiapas and Guatemala where he wrote his memoirs called "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain". He began his account of the conquest almost thirty years after the events and later revised and expanded it in response to the account published by Cortes's chaplain Francisco López de Gómara, which he considered to be largely inaccurate in that it did not give due recognition to the efforts and sacrifices of common soldiers. As an encomendero Díaz del Castillo was an outspoken critic of the claims made by Bartolomé de las Casas the Bishop of Chiapas, whom he accused of misrepresenting the facts of the conquest of Mexico in order to secure better circumstances for the Indians working under Spanish encomenderos. Bernal Díaz del Castillo* was born around 1492 to 1498 (the exact date is unknown) in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a poor family and received little education. He sailed to Tierra Firme with the expedition led by Pedrarias Dávila in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Many of the settlers had been sickened or killed by an epidemic, and there was political unrest.Díaz took part in the [Cortez] campaigns against the Mexica or Aztec Empire. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his fellow soldiers about their experiences. These accounts, and especially Díaz's own experiences, served as the basis for the recollections that Bernal Díaz later told with great drama to visitors and, eventually, a book entitled Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In the latter, Díaz describes many of the 119 battles in which he participated, culminating in the defeat of the Aztecs in 1521. This work also describes the diverse native peoples living in the territory renamed New Spain by the Spaniards. Bernal Díaz also examines the political rivalries of Spaniards, and gives accounts of the natives' human sacrifices, cannibalism and idolatry, which he witnessed first-hand, as well as the artistic, cultural, political and intellectual achievements of the Aztecs, including their palaces, market places and beautifully organized botanical and zoological gardens.