Today was an exploration of Cortez and The Conquest of New New Spain by the Spaniards in 1521 by Bernal Diaz. This book describes the conquest of the Aztecs, an expedition where Diaz played a significant role. It is used to have the students examine a primary source to understand the possible problems by answering who, what, when, where, and why this primary source written. By doing so, the students can understand the bias inherent in all sources and learn how to use the source effectively.
This is a very useful source for a number of reasons. By checking the age we can see that Diaz was the correct age and came from Spain making it possible for him to have participated in the expedition, and there is also collaborating evidence. The fact that he did not even begin to write the book until 1562 when he was 70 years old opens another whole range of questions about memory and how reliable it is. Also why did he suddenly decide to write a book at seventy years old? All the rest of the expedition had died before he began the book opening up more questions as to reliability. That Diaz was refuting an earlier book that turned Cortez into a demigod answers some of these questions.
A couple of passages are also included to see why these particular descriptions recorded. One is on Montezuma which is very complimentary in showing his regal nature, to make the conquest that much more impressive. The other is a vivid description of human sacrifice and cannibalism, both to show why these people had to be defeated and most likely to sell more books.
The students are led to understand that all sources have a bias and it is the historians job to understand that bias to make the source useful in conjunction with other sources. It is essential that they know all sources are biased and to never take any source or idea at face value.
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