This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Mexico's rich culture has long fascinated scholars, with stories of ancient civilizations and great conquerors. History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) expounds upon the virtues of Mexico while seeking to explain the tragedy of the country's defeat in terms of its neighboring civilizations. The arrival of the Spaniards forever altered and in many ways curtailed indigenous...

"Con once naves, algo más de cuatrocientos soldados, once capitanes, una decena de caballos y unas cuantas piezas de artillería, Hernán Cortés desembarca en 1519 en las costas de lo que ahora se conoce como México. Cuando toma la decisión de quemar las naves ya no hay vuelta atrás. A partir de ahí empieza una de las aventuras más colosales de la historia de la humanidad, la marcha hacia Tenochtitlan, el centro del mundo, el corazón del inexpugnable...

"On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction--the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas--has long been the symbol of Cortés's bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched...

Forced to flee his home during the Spanish Inquisition, nobleman Pedro De Vargas escapes with a beautiful peasant girl and joins Cortez on his dangerous expedition to conquer Mexico. A young caballero fleeing the Spanish Inquisition falls in love with a peasant girl and joins Cortez's first expedition to the New World.