 First edition | |
| Author | Miguel León-Portilla |
|---|---|
| Original title | Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista |
| Language | Spanish |
| Subject | Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire |
| Publisher | UNAM |
Publication date | 1959 |
| Publication place | Mexico |
Published in English | 1962 |
The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Spanish title: Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista; lit. "Vision of the Defeated: Indigenous relations of the conquest") is a book by Mexican historian Miguel León-Portilla, translating selections of Nahuatl-language accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It was first published in Spanish in 1959, and in English in 1962. The most recent English edition was published in 2007 (ISBN 978-0807055007).
The English-language title, "The Broken Spears", comes from a phrase in one version (BnF MS 22bis) of the Annals of Tlatelolco, xaxama[n]toc omitl. According to historian James Lockhart, this is a mistranslation resulting from confusion between the Nahuatl words mitl "arrow", "dart" or "spear", and omitl "bone"; an alternative translation is thus "broken bones".[1]
- ^ Lockhart, James (2004) [1993]. We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. p. 313. ISBN 1-59244-681-7.