Lorenzo Ferrero (b. 1951)
La Nueva Espana

The conquest of Mexico, once called New Spain (la Nueva Espana), was one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of mankind: five hundred men, for the most part soldiers of fortune, conquered a large empire in just a few months. But it was also an immense tragedy, for an entire civilisation, with all its knowledge accumulated down the centuries, was destroyed by violence, prejudice and the desire for gold in order to finance other wars that were taking place thousands of miles away.

Many books have been written on the subject, each of which attempts, above all else, to explain how the attitude of the Aztecs in the face of the Spanish invaders could have proved so submissive. The most likely explanation is one of cultural shock too deep to be quickly overcome. The writer Italo Calvino attributed the following words to Montezuma II, Emperor, as we would say today, of the Aztecs. 'Kill