Table of Contents

Acknowledgments x

Introduction: The Dream of the Conquistador and a Book of Desire and Destruction David Carrasco xi

Preface by Bernal Diaz del Castillo xxviii

The Expedition under Cordova 1

The Expedition under Grijalva 14

Expedition under Cortes Begins: Intrigues in Cuba 17

Cortes Finds an Interpreter 28

Cortes Attacks the Ceiba Tree 40

Enter Dona Marina 48

Signs of Empire 52

Spaniards Viewed as Gods 64

Cortes Destroys the Ships 84

War in Tlaxcala 90

The Spaniards' Plea for Peace and Alliance 98

Ambassadors from Montezuma Arrive 110

Baptizing Tlaxcalan Women 119

The Massacre at Cholula 131

The March to Mexico 147

Arrival in the Splendid City of Tenochtitlan 156

Montezuma in Captivity 184

Games with Montezuma 193

Cortes Struggles with Narvaez 209

Spanish Massacre of the Dancers 211

Spanish Defeat and the Noche Triste 225

The Return to the Valley and the Alliance with Texcoco 239

The Siege Begins from Texcoco 263

Indian Allies and Spanish Disasters 277

Dismal Drums and Human Sacrifices 287

The Fall of Mexico and the Surrender of Guatemoc 296

The City as a Wasteland: Taking Women 303

Torturing Guatemoc for Treasure: Malicious Graffiti 311

Zapotec Fury 326

Pedro de Alvarado Attacks in Guatemala 329

Turmoil in Chiapas 342

The Arrival of the Twelve Franciscans 354

Mexico City Becomes a Roman Circus 362

Maps 373

Essays

Bernal Diaz del Castillo: Soldier, Eyewitness, Polemicist Rolena Adorno 389

Cortes and the Sacred Ceiba: A Maya Axis Mundi David Carrasco 399

Colonial Sexuality: Of Women, Men, and Mestizaje Karen Vieira Powers 405

La Malinche as Palimpsest II Sandra Messinger Cypess418

The Exaggerations of Human Sacrifice David Carrasco 439

Tenochtitlan as a Political Capital and World Symbol David Carrasco 448

Human Sacrifice/Debt Payments from the Aztec Point of View David Carrasco 458

Spaniards as Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl David Carrasco 466