The Conquest of Mexico

"This came out just at the time that I was making a film in Mexico and following the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes’s route from Veracruz to Mexico City (as it is now – then it was Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital). Cortes reached Tenochtitlán in 1519. I used this book as my bible for retracing his route. Thomas makes clear what an achievement it was, first to dismantle his boats when he arrived and then to advance into this huge and powerful empire, knowing that the Aztecs practised human sacrifice. I mean, whatever you think of the Spaniards and the Conquest, they were undeniably brave. Thomas is good at using Aztec sources, chronicles and stories to show how it seemed from their side. I very much did the journey. Of course, now you can follow the route in many different ways and if you go by road you can do it in a day. But Cortes was being led by Indian guides who for all sorts of reasons didn’t want him to get there, so if there was a volcano they would go over it rather than around it, so to speak. You can see how the Spaniards got disorientated and worried; the route they took is still very wild."