Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Born in Medina del Campo, Castile, Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a Spanish conquistador who traveled to the Americas in the early 1500s. He took part in expeditions from Cuba and later joined Hernán Cortés in the campaign against the Aztec Empire, experiences that would shape the work he is remembered for today.

Late in life, he wrote Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain), a sweeping eyewitness narrative of the conquest. He wrote in part to challenge accounts by writers who had not been present, and his version is valued for its lively scenes, practical details, and attention to ordinary soldiers as well as famous leaders.

Díaz del Castillo later lived in Guatemala, where he served as a local official. Although readers today approach his work with the awareness that it comes from a conquistador's perspective, it remains one of the most important firsthand sources for understanding the Spanish conquest of Mexico and how its participants wanted that history to be remembered.