Spain and the New World in the Writings of Chimalpahin

FAIN: RZ-50391-05

Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, The (New Orleans, LA 70118-5698)
Susan P. Schroeder (Project Director: November 2004 to June 2009)

The transcription, translation, and annotation of the 17th-century manuscript prepared by the Nahua historian Chimalpahin, who based his work on Francisco Lopez de Gomara's history, "The Conquest of Mexico," first printed in Spain in 1552. (36 months)

It is our intent to prepare two editions--an annotated scholarly edition of an original Spanish text and its English translation and an English-language version for a broad audience--of the Mexican colonial manuscript "La Conquista de Mexico." The 172-folio manuscript was composed in Spanish ca. 1620 by the Nahua historian Chimalpahin a century after Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes and his native allies defeated the Aztecs. Chimalpahin's account is based on Francisco Lopez de Gomara's book, "La Conquista de Mexico," first printed in Spain in 1552. His version is unique in that it represents the only extant indigenous adaptation of a Spanish historian's account of the conquest of New Spain. In revising Gomara's book, Chimalpahin took advantage of numerous native primary sources now lost, including ancient pictorials, town histories, and dynastic records. His version of Lopez de Gomara's history uncovers significant textual evidence, rarely available to scholars, of the convergence and commingling of European and native forms of historical narrative, rhetorical models, and literary practices. This new translation explores the conquest of Mexico as it was experienced and documented on both sides of the Atlantic, and makes Lopez de Gomara's history fully available to Anglophone scholars, students, and the general public as it was interpreted and commented upon by one of the most authoritative native historians of colonial Mexico.

Associated Products

Chimalpahin's Conquest: A Nahua Historian's Rewriting of Francisco López de Gómara's La Conquista de México (Book)
Title: Chimalpahin's Conquest: A Nahua Historian's Rewriting of Francisco López de Gómara's La Conquista de México
Author: Chimalpahin
Editor: David E. Tavárez
Editor: Susan Schroeder
Editor: Anne J. Cruz
Editor: Cristián Roa-de-la-Carrera
Abstract: This volume presents the story of Hernando Cortés's conquest of Mexico, as recounted by a contemporary Spanish historian and edited by Mexico's premier Nahua historian. Francisco López de Gómara's monumental Historia de las Indias y Conquista de México was published in 1552 to instant success. Despite being banned from the Americas by Prince Philip of Spain, La conquista fell into the hands of the seventeenth-century Nahua historian Chimalpahin, who took it upon himself to make a copy of the tome. As he copied, Chimalpahin rewrote large sections of La conquista, adding information about Emperor Moctezuma and other key indigenous people who participated in those first encounters. Chialpahin's Conquest is thus not only the first complete modern English translation of López de Gómara's La conquista, an invaluable source in itself of information about the conquest and native peoples; it also adds Chimalpahin's unique perspective of Nahua culture to what has traditionally been a very Hispanic portrayal of the conquest.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/chimalpahins-conquest-a-nahua-historians-rewriting-of-francisco-lopez-de-gomaras-la-conquista-de-mexico/oclc/669499270&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=17786
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Stanford: Stanford University Press
Type: Translation
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780804769488
Translator: David E. Tavárez
Translator: Susan Schroeder
Translator: Anne J. Cruz
Translator: Cristián Roa-de-la-Carrera
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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