Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- CHAPTER XXXVIII
- CHAPTER XXXIX
- CHAPTER XL
- CHAPTER XLI
- CHAPTER XLII
- CHAPTER XLIII
- CHAPTER XLIV
- CHAPTER XLV
- CHAPTER XLVI
- CHAPTER XLVII
- CHAPTER XLVIII
- CHAPTER XLIX
- CHAPTER L
- CHAPTER LI
- CHAPTER LII
- CHAPTER LIII
- CHAPTER LIV
- CHAPTER LV
- CHAPTER LVI
- CHAPTER LVII
- CHAPTER LVIII
- CHAPTER LIX
- CHAPTER LX
- CHAPTER LXI
- Introductory Note
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER XLVIII
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- CHAPTER XXXVIII
- CHAPTER XXXIX
- CHAPTER XL
- CHAPTER XLI
- CHAPTER XLII
- CHAPTER XLIII
- CHAPTER XLIV
- CHAPTER XLV
- CHAPTER XLVI
- CHAPTER XLVII
- CHAPTER XLVIII
- CHAPTER XLIX
- CHAPTER L
- CHAPTER LI
- CHAPTER LII
- CHAPTER LIII
- CHAPTER LIV
- CHAPTER LV
- CHAPTER LVI
- CHAPTER LVII
- CHAPTER LVIII
- CHAPTER LIX
- CHAPTER LX
- CHAPTER LXI
- Introductory Note
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
How we determined to found “La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz” and to build a fort in some meadows near the salt marshes, and close to the harbour with the ugly name [Bernal] where our ships were at anchor, and what we did there.
As soon as we had made this federation and friendship with more than twenty of the hill towns, known as [the towns of] the Totonacs, which at this time rebelled against the great Montezuma, and gave their allegiance to His Majesty, and offered to serve us–we determined with their ready help at once to found the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz on a plain half a league from this fortress-like town, called Quiahuitztlan, and we laid out plans of a church, marketplace and arsenals, and all those things that are needed for a town, and we built a fort, and from the laying of the foundations until the walls were high enough to receive the woodwork, loopholes, watch-towers, and barbicans, we worked with the greatest haste.
Cortés himself was the first to set to work to carry out the earth and stone on his back, and to dig foundations, and all his captains and soldiers followed his example; and we kept on labouring [without pause] so as to finish the work quickly, some of us digging foundations and others building walls, carrying water, working in the lime kilns, making bricks and tiles, or seeking for food.
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- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , pp. 174 - 177Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1908