PDP8- The_True_History_of_the_Conquest_of_New_Spain

Author Bio- Bernal Diaz was a spanish conquistador, and was a soldier in the conquest of Mexico. In this time, he was under Hernán Cortez. Late in his life, he then wrote about his experiences during the conquest.

Context- The text was based off of the experiences of spanish conquistadors during the conquest of Mexico. This was when the Spanish were starting expeditions to conquest and find new territories.

Summary- Overall, this text is mainly about Diaz explaining what he saw in Mexico. Everything he saw was new to him, so he did not really understand different rituals and gods Mexico had from his perspective. He starts off by talking about the market, and how there was an abundance of goods being sold and an abundance of people organized there. The conquistadors, after looking around, climbed a temple and were met by priests. The priests offered them to look in the temple at their gods after Cortez asked to see them. When the Spanish went in, they were disgusted in what they saw. Their gods looked like demons, and the whole place was covered in blood because of the sacrafices they preformed their. Cortez offered to introduce them to “better” gods, but the priests took affence to what they were suggesting. The spanish conquistadors then keft the temple, wishing they would not have climbed it in the first place.

Key Quote- “There were soldiers among us who had been in many parts of the world, in Constantinople and Rome and all over Italy, who said that they had never before seen a market place so large and so well laid out and so filled with people.”