Bernal Diaz del Castillo

Essay by maguirre2005College, UndergraduateA-, May 2007

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Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a Spanish conquistador who joined Hernan Cortes in 1519 to serve in the conquest of Mexico by Spain. After the surrender of Tenochitlan in 1521, Castillo was made governor of Guatemala. In 1568 he wrote a narrative based on his diaries of the conquest of Mexico under the leadership of Hernan Cortes. The role of the Catholic church had tremendous influence on the leadership style of Hernan Cortes. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain is a first person account of events, scenes and leaders of this germinal period of Mexican history (Diaz del Castillo, 1568/1963).

This book has a profound effect on the literature of contemporary Latino leadership theory because it is an original source describing the birth of Mexican culture and leadership. Diaz del Castillo provides an intimate view of the Spanish component of Mexican culture by describing the leadership style of Hernan Cortes.

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans carry the characteristics, in varying degrees, of the Spanish conquistador and the indigenous population. Latino leaders would benefit by studying the history of Mexico in order to better understand their own leadership style.

This writer, as noted in a previous assignment, is considering investigating as a research study topic, how many Hispanic students are actually studying leadership. Based on this germinal literature review, the writer would also add the component of how many Hispanic students are actually studying leadership and the history of leadership.

ReferenceDiaz del Castillo, B. (1963). The Conquest of New Spain. (J.M. Cohen, Trans.). New York: Penquin. (Original work published 1568)