Author Bio: Bernal Díaz del Castillo lived from 1492-1581. He was a soldier who traveled to Central America with Hernán Cortés. This was the conquest of the Aztecs. Bernal Díaz explored Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula before he accompanied Cortés on his expedition. After the conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico, Díaz traveled to Honduras then settled down in what is now known as Guatemala. He wrote his accounts of the conquest of the Aztecs many years after it actually happened in order to give a more accurate account instead of some of the others that he says are “inaccurate accounts”.
Date/Context: During this time, Hernán Cortés was on a campaign of the Americas. The Spanish were launching many expeditions around this time including that of Christopher Colombus. Hernán Cortés was a Spanish Conquistador who was known for overthrowing the Aztec Empire and becoming governor of New Spain. After this victory, he continued on to Honduras then back to Spain. The Spanish were able to conquer much of the Americas during this time period.
Summary: The first-hand account by Bernal Díaz when he went to Tenochtitlan shows more of a descriptive account of what the city was like rather than the other accounts that focused on war, destruction, and bloodshed. Bernal Díaz traveled with the leader of the expedition, Hernán Cortés, which allowed him to go on a tour of the city along with the chiefs. He is most amazed by the market in the main plaza. He is in awe because of the size of the market and the variety of merchandise that can be bought there. He is also impressed by the organization of such a large market. Next they climbed to the top of the temple of Uichilobos where they saw the large amount of blood left from the sacrifices performed there. However, from the top of the temple they could see everything around the city including the other towns, roads, the lake, and many other things. Then Cortés asked Montezuma if they could see their gods. Montezuma continued to lead the men into a a small tower room where there were statues of two gods with blood all over from sacrifices. Cortés insulted their gods by telling Montezuma that they were not gods, they were evil things. He then asked if he could put a cross on top of the tower. Due to this insult, Montezuma and the priest became hostile which impelled the men to leave.
Key Quotation: “Lord Montezuma, I do not understand how such a great prince and wise man as yourself can have failed to come to the conclusion that these idols of yours are not gods, but evil things–devils is the term for them.” -Hernán Cortés
Overall your summary was complete and accurately identified the main ideas presented by Diaz. To begin, you explained how fascinated Diaz was with the Aztec marketplace. This was important because Diaz’s observations show that the Aztecs were advanced people and the Spanish realized that. Moreover, I believe that you also picked a great key quotation to showcase the feeling of Spanish superiority and the Spanish’s disgust with the Aztec culture. Lastly, in the “Author Bio” section you effectively explained that Diaz wrote the account many years after the event took place. I really liked how you included how he felt that his account was more accurate than others.
ReplyDeleteTo further strengthen your summary, I would have explored some of the bias Diaz had. In the text it references that Diaz’s account was “undoubtedly colored by his polemical purpose.” Furthermore, you did a nice job examining the time period that the document is referencing (when Cortes was exploring the new world). However, I might have included information about the time when the document was actually written (many years after Cortes’s expeditions). This could have provided insight into bias that Diaz had while writing. Lastly, I might have included some of Diaz’s observations about the Aztec slave trade and the intense water system that supplied the city.