A modern look at European advances in Mesoamerica, looks at common misconceptions in the histories and compares them with more recent realizations. Matthew Restall says in the Introduction, with reference to the book it introduces,
"... At its most basic level, the book juxtaposes false and accurate descriptions of the Conquest. But the book is also more than that. In presenting historical interpretations of the Conquest as myths rooted in the cultural conceptions, misconceptions, and political agendas of their time, I am aware that I too am inescapably influenced by the concepts and language of my own culture. Beyond simply contrasting myth and reality, my analysis recognizes that myths can be real to their progenitors and that a supposed reality built by researching archival sources can also generate its own myths. This is therefore not just a book about what happened, but a book that compares two forms of what is said to have happened. One form is created at the time of the historical moment itself. The other form is germinated in archives and libraries, when historians write historical accounts that strive to achieve objectivity (even if it must always remain just out of reach).
The term "myth" is used here not in the sense of folklore, of popular narratives and beliefs featuring religious systems and supernatural characters.. Rather it is used to mean something fictitious that is commonly taken to be true, partially or absolutely. Both of these meanings of "myth" have an ambiguous connection to "history"."p. xvi from Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall, New York, Oxford University Press Inc., 2004
A Good History only requires a few basic notions to get it going. Choose good sources, preferring primary but allowing exceptional compilations and analysis like the one above. Oxford and Cambridge are fine places to start in English. Make sure the provenance of the sources are sound. This is different than choosing good sources because depending on the kinds of source, art and architecture analysis, for example, can get sloppy fast without certain established models w/r/to provenance etc. But these things are often cleared up quickly when, for example, everybody knows who made the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, but not the Ducal Palace in Venice. The question 'who made that' may be readily answered but the specifics are often beyond the reach of inquiry.
Also, beyond choosing good sources, ensuring solid provenance for the sources, a clear sense of purpose in an inquiry is also important. It's too easy to get lost. It also helps to establish rules for an inquiry or models that help pave some purpose, a destination or questions to be answered, even if they are only, 'do we know that...'.
But after these, sources, provenance, inquiry must be an openness to more and more forms of context. Because context is everything. I think it can only be underestimated and that no overcompensation is too much so long as you heave closely to good sources, solid provenance and clear forms of inquiry.
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On the very first page of the Introduction to the new 2012 Hackett Pub offering for English readers Bernal Díaz del Castillo's The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , our editors and translators here tell us that
"... Bernal Díaz's account claims pride of place as the only narrative by a single participant voice that carries through from the earliest European landing on present-day Mexican soil to the fall of Tenochtitlan. Although the narrative may have gaps, be faultily recalled or told in places, contain inaccurate dates and other flaws of omission or commission, it does provide a relatively continuous thread to which one may relate other early accounts of the Spanish conquest, including those recorded from the indigenous peoples themselves." [p xi]
And again, comparing with other accounts,
"One has reasons for being cautious in accepting what Bernal Díaz writes."
He had,
"... concern that certain rights and privileges originally granted him in perpetuity might be rescinded at his death and thus not pass to his children." [pp xi-xii]
He had seen accounts of those prior time,s published years later and wanted in part to refute some of those stories like much of Francisco López de Gómara, the private secretary of Córtes.
Of course there were many stories. A brief historical context is then offered by our editors/translators from Columbus and his son, on to Diego Velázquez, who under the patronage of don Diego Colón would establish Cuba as a power center in the region. Expeditions sprouted out from here in the ensuing years and Cortes' eventual departure from Cuba and willful abrogation of Velázquez's certain order, itself, was a patterned response that characterized the complex pattern of behavior in Spanish cultural forms and their social advancement.
"The goal of these expeditions was not to establish trade relations with the native peoples but to establish control over a territory and its population for purposes of extracting resources of value, for example, gold, that could be traded for goods produced in the metropolis. These expeditions, then, followed a standard pattern, one originally developed during Spain's successful reconquest of its own territory from the Moors. In this pattern, a senior but subordinate member of a given settlement group would, with the permission and support of the settlement's leader, form a party to underwrite the costs of an expedition to new territories." [p xiv]
The governor of Hispaniola gave permission for Diego Velázquez to take his men and resources and, at first to capture an indigenous captain, cacique Huatey who had led resistance against the Spanish previously. But when he got to Cuba he began ignoring Hispaniola and set about establishing his own settlement which in time grew to a governorship with thousands of people below him on his own social pyramid. Córtes was one of those people with his own abilities in gaining and claiming resources, etc. just like Diego had been in Columbus' second voyage.
"... Diego Velázquez soon slipped out from under the control of the governor of Hispaniola and, seeking endorsement from the Spanish Crown, claimed governorship of Cuba, setting up his own court and entourage, which included many of the individuals who populate Bernal Díaz's narrative. In forming these companies, family and other personal relations -- relations arising from being a member of a household, rendering prior loyal service, and being from a given Spanish city or region, all relations to which Bernal Díaz refers -- were of utmost importance. They were fundamental social blinders, even if they did not guarantee continued loyalty, for one is, after all, dealing with men who were proud, adventurous, and, above all, interested in securing their fortunes.... being the designated organizer and leader of a company gave primacy to an individual, as did serving as a captain of men and simply being among the first to enter and subdue a given area." [pp xiv-xv]
For example.
So the reasons for why, and how are given and further, go a ways to set up the what of the conquest of Mexico. Briefly and to the point with just enough to show the unabashed nature of motives, some reasons for the provenance and plenty of intriguing, introductory context for the expeditions themselves and Diaz's participation, and their established patterns in the new world.
More context about Córtes, some on the nature of the enduring conflicts between Mexican groups, like the Tlaxcala and the Aztecs and how this is just the sort of thing Córtes would seek to exploit. Specific methods of controlling the population of Mexico, like capturing Moctezuma and his entourage and using them to control the population.
But then they go on to explain further why his voice is so compelling especially for us, for Americans. That Díaz wanted his audience to understand that he was a commoner, related to the Governor of Cuba but in the ranks of Hernan Córtes in merely an infantry position. This simple fact explains much about Bernal Díaz's perspective but also his subsequent life and reasons for writing it all down.
The editors take the opportunity here to give specific examples from different accounts of the conquest to show Díaz's mostly straightforward account and some of its frailties. [pp xxiii-xxx]
This is followed by a very brief bio sketch, a translator's note, a helpful list of primary characters, a timeline and very importantly a great list of sources for further reading.
I will return to the forms of population control and extractive mining economies and how that worked later. I have all year.
All quotes here (unless otherwise stated) from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain edited/translated by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012
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