Instituciones y conflictos: Estrategias de ascenso social en la "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana".
Item
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Title
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Instituciones y conflictos: Estrategias de ascenso social en la "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana".
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Identifier
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AAI3187394
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identifier
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3187394
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Creator
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Ferrari, Ariel D.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Ottavio Di Camillo
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Date
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2005
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Language
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Spanish
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Latin American | History, Latin American | Literature, Romance
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines the institution of the encomienda in Bernal Diaz del Castillo's Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana. Known also as repartimiento, the encomienda structured and legitimized the conquistadors' exploitation of the natives' work and personal services.;For the veterans of the early conquest of the New Spain (all of what is now Mexico, Central America down to the southern border of Costa Rica, and the southwest of the United States including the current states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), the encomienda constituted the only means of economic survival and social advancement since the spoils of their enterprise wound up in the hands of a few, mainly captains, adelantados, investors who helped financing it, and, of course, the Crown and its bureaucracy. Bernal Diaz's numerous references on the subject of the encomienda can help us grasp the mentality of the encomenderos in general as well as their strategies to become the new lords (senores ) of the Indies.;Special attention is given to the following issues: (a) the attempts on the part of the Crown and the traditional Spanish nobility to undermine the encomienda system in order to curtail the growing economic and political power of the emerging class of encomenderos, something that affected directly Bernal Diaz's own expectations; (b) the persisting tension this confrontation gave rise to throughout the Indies; (c) the role played by Bartolome de Las Casas and others in the denunciation of the encomienda; (d) the negative reaction generated among the encomenderos by Francisco Lopez de Gomara's own version of the conquest of Mexico, which basically denied them any rights to compensation and, (e) Bernal Diaz' rebuttal of both Las Casas and Lopez de Gomara.;This dissertation also shows that Bernal Diaz's concerns with the encomienda offers a new understanding of both his own role as a leading voice of the encomendero sector and the genesis, nature and ultimate intention of his celebrated chronicle.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
