Conquest of New Spain (-Bernal Diaz) essays

Conquest of New Spain (-Bernal Diaz) essays The intentions of the Spanish were to both acquire wealth in the form of gold, as well as convert the Aztec people to the Christian faith during their conquest of Mexico. However, the Spaniards became engulfed in their own greed, and in the end gold became their main obsession. Being the highly religious people that the Spaniards were, converting the Indians into Christians in order to save their souls was important to them, thinking the Indians polytheistic religion was inferior to their own. After victory in the wars that usually ensued while trying to forcefully convert the natives, the Spaniards became accustomed to receiving many gifts as peace offerings from the Caciques of the tribes. This was a major factor in lighting a fire under the Spaniards ever-increasing greed for more gold. Based on these facts and events, along with others that I will discuss, the lust for gold was clearly of more importance to the Conquistadors than was the converting of the Indians to Christianity. To begin, the only reason Diego Velazquez originally sends Cortes expedition to New Spain is because previous trips, such as the one by Francisco Hernandez, had returned a great deal of gold to him. This message of a land full of riches then spread, and soon ...those settlers and soldiers who possessed no Indians were eager and greedy to go (p. 27). Everyone including the already wealthy citizens who held high positions in the community, to the poorest peasant who could barely support himself wanted very badly to, in some way, be a part of the expedition of Cortes. The Spaniards met and dealt with many different Indian groups along their voyage, but the events that occurred with each were very similar. This being said, their first encounter, which happened to be with the Tabascans, can be compared and adapted to meetings that took place with almost any of the tribes that Bernal Diaz describes. ...