Synopses & Reviews
In 1519 Hernán Cortés and a small band of Spanish conquistadors overthrew the mighty Mexican empire of the Aztecs. Using excerpts primarily drawn from Bernal Diaz's 1632 account of the Spanish victory and testimonies — many recently uncovered — of indigenous Nahua survivors, Victors and Vanquished clearly demonstrates how personal interests, class and ethnic biases, and political considerations influenced the interpretation of momentous events. A substantial introduction is followed by 9 chronological sections that illuminate the major events and personalities in this powerful historical episode and reveal the changing attitudes toward European expansionism. The volume includes a broad array of visual images and maps, a glossary of Spanish and Nahua terms, biographical notes, a chronology, a selected bibliography, questions for consideration, and an index.
About the Author
STUART B. SCHWARTZ is George Burton Adams Professor of History at Yale University. His scholary work concentrates on the early history of Latin America and the history of Brazil. He is the author of Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels: Reconsidering Brazilian Slavery (1992) and Sugar Plantations and the Formation of Brazilian Society: Bahia 1550-1835 (1985), which won the American Historical Association's Bolton Prize for the Best Work in Latin American History. Professor Schwartz is also editor of Implicit Understandings: The Encounter Between Europeans and Other Peoples in the Early Modern Era (1994) and a coeditor of The Cambridge History of Native American Peoples (1999). A former fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the American Council of Learned Societies, he is currently completing a work entitled The Rebellion of Portugal and the Crisis of the Iberian Empires, 1621-1668.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Note on Sources and Conventions Used
List of Maps and Illustrations
PART ONE
Introduction: Civilizations in Conflict
A Long Tradition: The Indigenous Peoples of Mesoamerica
Tenochtitlan: The Foundation of Heaven
Mexica Civilization and Society
Renaissance Conquerors
The Spanish Sources
The Indigenous Historical Traditions
PART TWO
The Documents
1. Forebodings and Omens
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
Fray Martín de Jesús de la Coruña, Popular Auguries and Prophetic Dreams
Diego Durán, From The History of the Indies of New Spain
2. Preparations
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
Hernán Cortés, Letters to King Charles V
3. Encounters
Hernán Cortés, Letter to King Charles V
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
4. The March Inland: Tlaxcala and Cholula
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
Andrés de Tapia, Another Spanish View of the Cholula Massacre
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
From the Lienzo de Tlaxcala
5. Tenochtitlan
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
6. Things Fall Apart: Toxcatl and the Noche Triste
Francisco López de Gómara, from Istoria de la conquista de Mexico
From the Floretine Codex and the Codex Aubin
Bernal Díaz, From The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
7. The Siege and Fall of Tenochtitlan
From Chronicles of Michoacán
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, from the Florentine Codex
Jornada
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
From Cantares mexicanos
8. Aftermath: Tradition and Transformation
Bernal Díaz, from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
From the Codex Mendoza
The Shape of the Land: The Codex Mendoza and the
Relaciónes geográficas
Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin, The Death of Cuauhtemoc
Title of Acalan-Tixel
Town Council of Huejotzingo, Letter to King Phillip I
The Annals of Cuauhtinchan
APPENDICES
Chronology of the Conquest of Tenochtitlan (1485-1584)
Questions for Consideration
Biographical Notes
Glossary of Spanish Terms
Glossary of Nahuatl Terms
Selected Bibliography
Index