Bernal Diaz del Castillo

Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a Spanish conquistador and chronicler, known for his firsthand account of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. He participated in Hernán Cortés' expedition and documented the events in his work "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain." Díaz's account is considered one of the most detailed and personal narratives of the conquest, offering insight into both the brutality and complexity of the campaign. His writings provide a counterbalance to official histories, emphasizing the perspectives of soldiers rather than just the leadership.

Author's Books:


CHAPTER I. The time of my departure from Castile, and what further happened to me. In the year 1514 I departed from Castile in the suite of Pedro Arias de Avila, who had just then been appointed governor of Terra Firma. At sea we had sometimes bad and sometimes good weather, until we arrived at Nombre Dios, where the plague was raging: of this we lost many of our men, and most of us got terrible sores... more...

How the whole of us marched towards Tezcuco, and what happened to us on our way there. When Cortes found himself so well provided again with muskets, powder, crossbows, and horses, and observed how impatient the whole of us, officers as well as soldiers, were to commence the siege of the great city of Mexico, he desired the caziques of Tlascalla to furnish him with 10,000 of their troops to join us in... more...