Caractacus The Conquest of New Spain (Penguin Classics)

Or: The Story Of How The Entire Aztec Nation Was Wiped Out By 100 Spaniards.

Review

The Conquest of New Spain is a history of the Conquistadors written by Bernal Diaz. A man who served with Cortez from when he set sail from Cuba to the moment Technoctitlan fell. He wrote it in his old age as an answer to various histories written by people who had not actually been there, whom he felt had been inaccurate.

This then is the real deal. A first hand account of the death of a civilisation by one of the men who destroyed it. From the moments when the Aztecs are first encountered on the beach and they draw paintings of Cortez and his party to take back to the famed Montezuma.

The period of exploring the area, meeting the various tribes and forever hearing about the fabled Aztecs.

Of being welcomed into fabled Technoctitlan, of walking the streets of Aztec culture, meeting Montezuma's accountant who kept a house filled with books detailing the Aztecs war plunder. Of the markets and the temple. Of feasting with the King.

The moment when Cortez takes Montezuma prisoner in the very centre of Technoctitlan and the account of Montezuma's stately imprisonment and the respect the Spaniards had for him and his tragic death at the hands of his own people as he tried to forge peace.

The 100 day battle of the causeways when the fate of Technoctitlan was held in the balance and the Spaniards were besieged from front behind and below by thousands of canoes upon the lake while their captured men were dragged screaming to the temple that rose from the city and sacrificed in front of their eyes.

The immediate aftermath of the battle as Cortez and the Conquistadors walk through a deserted city with every house in the entire city filled from floor to ceiling with dead and dying Aztecs - from smallpox or battle and the realisation that they had already plundered all of Montezuma's gold. There was none left. Cortez had already pilfered much of what had been seized. Most of the Conquistadors were left with little more than what they had when they arrived.


This is the only account of the Aztecs written by someone who not only knew them, but respected them. It is the only account we have of a long vanished world of incredible power. It also has my favourite historical anecdote ever: Montezuma and the farting sailor! You'll have to read it and find out.

Utterly indispensible.

Recent actions