The Conquistadors: First-Person Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico

The value of these eyewitness documents is twofold: They present the New World, and especially New Spain, from a contemporary viewpoint. And through them we learn of the dramatic interplay of cultures - the Spanish influence on America, and the American influence on Spain and Europe - during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Several of the writers, such as Hernan Cortes, Pedro de Alvarado, and to a lesser extent Andres de Tapia, were prime figures in the conquests of Mexico and Guatemala. Others - Juan Diaz, Alonso (Francisco) de Aguilar, Garcia del Pilar - are remembered more for what they said than for what they did. The "Anonymous Chronicler" is unique in that he offers us a panoramic description of life in a native imperial capital.