Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 or 1493 - 1581) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés. Born in Spain, he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal education. He sailed to Cuba in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Much of the native population of the island had already been killed by epidemics and forced labor, and in 1517 an expedition was sent to the smaller Caribbean islands to find alternative sources of labor. Díaz joined this group, under the command of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. It was a difficult venture, and although they discovered the Yucatán coast, by the time the expedition returned to Cuba they were in disastrous shape. Events January 2 - Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of Ferdinand and Isabella after a lengthy siege. ... Events January 4 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World. ... Events January 16 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism April 4 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. July 26 - The Northern Netherlands proclaim their independence from Spain in the Oath of Abjuration. ... Conquistador (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under Spanish rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. ... Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés (1485–December 2, 1547) (who was known as Hernando or Fernando Cortés during his lifetime and signed all his letters Fernán Cortés) was the conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain. ... Events March - Louis XII of France makes peace with Emperor Maximilian. ... Events January 22 - Battle of Ridanieh. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (died 1517) was a Spanish conquistador, known to history mainly for the ill-fated expedition he led in 1517, in the course of which the Yucatán Peninsula was discovered by Europeans for the first time. ... The Yucatán Peninsula separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. ...

Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán the following year, on an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés. In this third effort, Díaz took part in one of the most successful military campaigns in history, which brought an end to the Aztec empire of Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was The Conquest of New Spain. In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521. Juan de Grijalva (born around 1489 in Cuéllar - January 21, 1527) was a Spanish conquistador. ... Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés (1485–December 2, 1547) (who was known as Hernando or Fernando Cortés during his lifetime and signed all his letters Fernán Cortés) was the conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain. ... The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th century. ... Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Columbus. ... The Conquest of New Spain is the first person conquistador narrative of Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 or 1493 - 1581), a 16th century soldier, settler and conqueror who served with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernán Cortés in Mexico and Yucatan, and... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther. ...

As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de Nueva España, i.e., "True History of the Conquest of New Spain," in response to the claims made in the earlier work. Antigua Guatemala (commonly referred to as just Antigua or La Antigua) is a city in the central mountains of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish New World Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruined churches. ... Events March 23 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. ... Flag of New Spain New Spain (in the Spanish language Nueva España) was the name given to the Spanish colonial territory in North America from c. ...

Díaz died in 1581, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and finally published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, often told from the perspective of a common soldier. Today it is one of our most important sources for understanding the campaign that led to the collapse of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Coat of arms The Plaza de España square Madrid, the capital of Spain, is located in the center of the country at 40°25′ N 3°45′ W. Population of the city of Madrid proper was 3,093,000 (Madrilenes, madrileños) as of 2003 estimates. ... See also: 1632 (novel) Events February 22 - Galileos Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published July 23 - 300 colonists for New France depart Dieppe November 8 Wladyslaw IV Waza elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after Zygmunt III Waza death November 16 - Battle of Lützen...