Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest

Books, films, and artwork perpetuate the myth that Spanish armies carried out the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. The conquistadors and their men, however, were not soldiers and Spain was only beginning its military revolution when they were active. The Spanish did not have a professional army in the 16th century, nor did Spain have the financial resources to support sending military forces to the Americas. The expense simply would have been too great.

Francisco de Jerez wrote an eyewitness account of Pizarro’s meeting with the Incan emperor, Atahuallpa in 1532, and the violence the Spanish carried out afterward. He specifically writes that the Spanish were not an army, which is what he argues makes their “conquest of Peru” a remarkable feat. Other primary sources confirm this view. Moreover, Cortés’s letters never use the term for soldiers, even though numerous historians and translators use the word. Rather, Cortés says that he had “‘three hundred men’” on foot to accompany him (28). Usually, around one hundred Spaniards plus Indigenous and African auxiliaries comprised most expeditions.

This myth originated in the late 16th century as the Spanish military revolution advanced. The conquistador Bernal Díaz, for example, writing in the 1570s, uses the term soldado (soldier) in his account of Mexico’s conquest.