FREE ESSAY ON EUROPEAN EXPANSION

EUROPEAN EXPANSION

Matthew Polley
West and the World
Professor Morgan
October 5,1999
European Expansion
Bernal Diaz del Castillo accompanied Captain Hernan Cortez in his march on Tenichitilan
(Mexico City) in 1519, resulting in the surrender of this Aztec capital in 1521. Castillo
contends that he will give us the honest account of what happened and not to give a bias
opinion of what happened. We read three different sections from his book. The first is
his trip to the Caribbean, the second is his encounter in Cholula, and the third is the
aftermath of the fall of Tenochtitlan. In theses sections we are trying to find the
underlying themes, what the role of the conquerors was, and finally, what events does
Castillo seem to refute. 
Since Castillo tried to give a pure account so it is hard to say that there are hidden
controversies. The only hidden text that I could find was that of misconception
intentionally given by the Indians of peace. They only presented the troop with peace so
they could get the troop to follow them into an ambush. The trend seems to follow in the
next section, were they the troop is greeted very hospitably by the men of importance
from Cholula. While in the care of the Cholula they were striped of almost all food and
resources. Cortes tried repeatedly to negotiate with the Caciques who had turned against
them. Cortes told them that he was needed to talk to Montezuma who was the leader.
The whole point of these journeys was to spread Christianity. Throughout the different
times Cortes would say that God would prevent any harm that would come to the men. This
was a tactic to give confidence to the men who doubted him. If God was on their side than
no one could defeat them. At the end of the last section the men were mad at Cortes
because they thought that he was keeping all the money for himself. Castillo seemed to
have respect for Cortes, for he was a great warrior leader, and he never gave a bad
opinion or comment toward Cortes. 
I thought that Castillo gave a good account. In comparison to the letter written by
Columbus, Castillo's story seemed to have less, or at least less obvious, hidden agendas.
Castillo letter was not trying to persuade anyone to give him more money or supplies but
he was trying to write a story from past years and tell the truth the best he could.