Vivid, powerful and absorbing, this is a first-person account of one of the most startling military episodes in history: the overthrow of Montezuma's doomed Aztec Empire by the ruthless Hernan Cortes and his band of adventurers. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, himself a soldier under Cortes, presents a fascinatingly detailed description of the Spanish landing in Mexico in 1520 and their amazement at the city, the exploitation of the natives for gold and other treasures, the expulsion and flight of the Spaniards, their regrouping and eventual capture of the Aztec capital.

An eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico (1519-1522); in this volume foot soldier Díaz joins Cortés' army.

This book is Bernal’s response to criticisms to his 1987 book, BLACK ATHENA, which argued for an Afro-Asiatic origin for Greek civilization.

This book is the beginning of a process attached to reason and heart; to learn and teach that change is possible. A set of poems and philosophical reflections that help individuals to develop and understand the potential within. "We all want, have and feel: the angst of living with the truth in our hands, the power of sharing as human beings.”

The Conquest of New Spain is the first-person narrative of Bernal D�az del Castillo (1492-1581), the 16th-century military adventurer, conquistador, and colonist settler, who served in three Mexican expeditions; those of Francisco Hern�ndez de C�rdoba (1517) to the Yucat�n peninsula; the expedition of Juan de Grijalva (1518), and the expedition of Hern�n Cort�s (1517) in the Valley of Mexico; the history relates his participation in the fall of Emperor Moctezuma II, and the subsequent defeat of the Aztec empire. In the colonial history of Latin America, The Conquest of New Spain is a vivid, military account that establishes Bernal D�az del Castillo "among chroniclers what Daniel Defoe is among novelists". Late in life, when D�az del Castillo was eighty-four years old, and residing in his encomienda estates in Guatemala, he wrote The True History of the Conquest of New Spain to defend the story of the common-soldier conquistador within the histories about the Spanish conquest of Mexico. He presents his narrative as an alternative to the critical writings of Fr. Bartolom� de Las Casas, whose Indian-native histories emphasized the cruelty of the conquest; and the histories of the hagiographic biographers of Hern�n Cort�s - specifically that of Francisco L�pez de G�mara, whom he believed minimized the role of the 700 enlisted soldiers who were instrumental to conquering the Aztec empire. That said historians and hagiographers speak the truth "neither in the beginning, nor the middle, nor the end", is why D�az del Castillo strongly defended the actions of the conquistadors, whilst emphasising their humanity and honesty in his eyewitness narrative, which he summarised as: "We went there to serve God, and also to get rich". The history is occasionally uncharitable about Captain Cort�s, because, like other professional soldiers who participated in the Conquest of New Spain, D�az del Castillo found himself among the ruins of Tenochtitl�n only slightly wealthier than when he arrived to Mexico; a financial state common to many soldiers, who accused Cort�s of taking more loot than his agreed fifth of the Aztec treasury. Certainly, the land and gold compensation paid to many of the conquistadores proved a poor return for their investment of months of soldiering and fighting across Mexico and the Anahuac Valley. Another interpretation of The Conquest of New Spain proposes that the author was one of several family relatives of Diego Vel�zquez de Cu�llar, the governor of Cuba, and mortal enemy of Cort�s; many of whom later plotted against the conquistador Captain. Although the narrative thrust diminishes the Cort�s-D�az del Castillo relationship, contrary to the factual record, his complex relationship with Cort�s, and the sub-ordinate captains, suggests that, although he represented the faction of Governor Vel�zquez de Cu�llar in the expedition, Bernal D�az del Castillo fully honoured his personal and military loyalty to Hern�n Cort�s.

This user-friendly and authoritative book will serve scientists, growers, and sightseers as a guide to the 67 genra and 550 species of naturally occurring palms found in the Americas. Its purpose is to give an introduction to the diversity of palms and allow almost anyone to identify a palm from this part of the world. Andrew Henderson is Assistant Scientist at the New York Botanical Garden. Gloria Galeano and Rodrigo Bernal are Assistant Professors at the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. Originally published in 1995. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.