Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías - Fachbereich Philosophie und ...

Irina Buche ( Leibnizschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany )
Taking Delight in Discovery : Th e Very First Lett er of Hernán Cortés
Reports of travels, as are the lett ers of Hernán Cortés, are still read as texts, which
can be passed through directly to a cultural and historical strange world. Proceeding
on this assumption the discovery of Cortes very fi rst lett er would provide new sights
on the period of conquest which begins with the ships leaving Cuba on February 1519
and ends with the foundation of Veracruz in July 1519. But if our starting point is that
those reports are writt en by authors with particular political, economic an cultural
interests, we have to reconstruct methodically the conditions of its production in the
medium of oral communication. Consequently we have to ask why the very fi rst lett er
of Cortés was neither delivered to the kings nor was found until today. Is there keyinformation
Cortés did not want the kings to know? Th ere are traces in other authors’
chronicles which lead me to the assumption that Cortes had integrated more into the
indian community as allowed in Christian dogma. Th ough nowadays we only have
acces to the oral world of the conquered if we pass through the writings of conquerors
theoretical support is required. In the conclusion this so guided research permits
suprising explanations : Of the hospitable reception of the heavily armed Spaniards
by Motecuhzoma as well as of their peacefull stay more than half a year in the Aztec
center Tenochtitlan/Tlatelolco where people were sacrifi ed all around the year on
duty to pagan gods.
Email Iribuch@aol.com
Section Travels Between Europe and Latin America ( 15th through 21st centuries )
Panel 2
Date July 28
Time 9 :00
Location l 116