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> My understanding, after reading the memoir of Bernal diaz Del Castillo[0] (who was an eye witness of the conquest of Mexico) Diaz's account was written 50 ye

> My understanding, after reading the memoir of Bernal diaz Del Castillo[0] (who was an eye witness of the conquest of Mexico) Diaz's account was written 50 years after it had happened and is generally considered by modern scholars to be of dubious accuracy and primarily intended as a self-serving defense of his own wealth later in life. As Adorno writes, "At issue were not the wars long since won or lost but rather the rights to the rewards of conquest. Should royal grants to conquistadores endure in perpetuity? Was it legitimate to enslave Indians when they had not been captured as enemies in war? Did the natives of the Antilles owe further royal or personal service to the Spaniards or should they be allowed relief in order to rebuild their dwindling populations?" The linked article has the benefit of 400 years of additional scholarship beyond Diaz's account.

romaaeterna 7y ago
> The linked article has the benefit of 400 years of additional scholarship beyond Diaz's account. Scholarship on what documents? If you don't have new evidence, all you have is every generation's new academic fads applied to the same old text. This isn't Physics. Progress is unlikely.
- freddie_mercury 7y ago
  The linked article discusses the additional documents beyond Diaz's account.
lardo 7y ago
Have you read it? If it were written as a self-serving defense it hasn't aged well. It's incredibly self-incriminating.
lacker 7y ago
Diaz's account is entirely intended as a defense of his own actions. But he isn't trying to defend himself according to modern standards, at all! He admits that the conquistadors slaughtered non-military people for all sorts of reasons, took women as "wives" from conquered people, killed people just for believing in a different religion, lied and backstabbed, stole any valuables they could find. Everything we criticize the conquistadors for today, Bernal Diaz isn't even trying to defend. What he spends all this time defending against is accusations that Cortes broke the rules of the Spanish monarchy, and that some other conquistador is actually the one who had the right to plunder the Aztec empire. Nobody really cares about that nowadays. Also - it's pretty clear from Diaz's accounts that the Aztecs did not treat them like gods. There are a couple characters at some point who think they are some sort of monster because they haven't seen people on horseback before. But for the vast majority of the account, the conquistadors are explaining to the locals that they are warriors who serve a king that lives across the ocean, and the locals understand that.

romaaeterna 7y ago

> The linked article has the benefit of 400 years of additional scholarship beyond Diaz's account. Scholarship on what documents? If you don't have new evidence, all you have is every generation's new academic fads applied to the same old text. This isn't Physics. Progress is unlikely.

freddie_mercury 7y ago
The linked article discusses the additional documents beyond Diaz's account.

lardo 7y ago

Have you read it? If it were written as a self-serving defense it hasn't aged well. It's incredibly self-incriminating.

lacker 7y ago

Diaz's account is entirely intended as a defense of his own actions. But he isn't trying to defend himself according to modern standards, at all! He admits that the conquistadors slaughtered non-military people for all sorts of reasons, took women as "wives" from conquered people, killed people just for believing in a different religion, lied and backstabbed, stole any valuables they could find. Everything we criticize the conquistadors for today, Bernal Diaz isn't even trying to defend. What he spends all this time defending against is accusations that Cortes broke the rules of the Spanish monarchy, and that some other conquistador is actually the one who had the right to plunder the Aztec empire. Nobody really cares about that nowadays. Also - it's pretty clear from Diaz's accounts that the Aztecs did not treat them like gods. There are a couple characters at some point who think they are some sort of monster because they haven't seen people on horseback before. But for the vast majority of the account, the conquistadors are explaining to the locals that they are warriors who serve a king that lives across the ocean, and the locals understand that.