Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Bernal Díaz del Castillo memorial, in Medina del Campo (Spain)

Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 – 1585)^[1] was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.

Expedition to Yucatán

He later sailed to Cuba, where he was promised a grant of Indian slaves (as a part of the Encomienda system). That promise was never fulfilled, leading Díaz, in 1517, to join an expedition being organized by a group of about 110 fellow settlers, and similarly disaffected Spaniards, from Tierra Firme. They chose Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a wealthy Cuban landowner, to lead the expedition. It was a difficult venture and after sailing from Cuba for 21 days, they discovered the Yucatán coast in early March 1517, on the Cape Cotoche. On march 4, 1517, the Spanish had their first encounter with the Yucatan natives who came to meet them on five large canoes. The next day, the Spaniards disembarked, invited by the natives who wanted to show them their village. They were ambushed but managed to retreat, after killing 15 locals and having 15 wounded, 2 of which later died. Upon leaving, they captured 2 natives who would later prove to be worthy as translators in future expeditions. They almost died of thirst and sailed to Florida in search of drinkable water. As they were digging a well on the beach, the Spaniards were attacked by locals but managed to kill 22 of them and retreat with some water, leaving one Spaniard captive ashore. They returned to Cuba, all of them severely wounded. The captain Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and other soldiers died shortly after making it back to Cuba.

Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán in April 1518, in an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés.

Conquest of Mexico

In this third effort, Díaz took part in the campaigns against the Aztec. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his fellow soldiers about their experiences, collecting them into a narrative. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he participated, culminating in the defeat of the Aztecs in 1521. In the book, Castillo describes the Conquest of the Aztecs, in which he describes the Indoamerican cultures predominant in Mexico at that time. He also gives accounts of the human sacrifices, cannibalism and idolatry that he witnessed first hand.

Governor of Antigua Guatemala and later life and death

As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He finished writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, a work he had begun (probably in the mid-1550s) in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Historia Verdadera ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.

Díaz died in 1585, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, told from the perspective of a common soldier.

Among the greatness of the Aztec culture, Bernal describes a pretty well organized market place and beautifully arranged botanical and zoological gardens.

Notes

References

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Bernal Díaz del Castillo

• (Spanish) La Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España

v t e Part of the series on Spanish colonization of the Americas History of Conquest Inter caetera Pacific Northwest California Chile Colombia Florida Guatemala Aztec Empire Inca Empire Yucatán Conquistadores Diego de Almagro Pedro de Alvarado Vasco Núñez de Balboa Sebastián de Belalcázar Francisco Vásquez de Coronado Hernán Cortés Luis de Carabajal y Cueva Bernal Díaz del Castillo Juan Ponce de León Francisco de Montejo Pánfilo de Narváez Juan de Oñate Francisco de Orellana Francisco Pizarro Hernando de Soto Pedro de Valdivia