Some Final Thoughts

I enrolled in this class for three reasons: 1) I have long been fascinated with the Reconquista, which has led to an interest in the early modern Spanish Empire; 2) I am principally interested in studying the social and cultural history of government during a period of conquest, and so studying this Conquest seemed like a good place to do some comparative history; 3) I didn’t know anything about Latin America (even though I’ve been there) and thought that should change.

Over the course of this semester, I have satisfied these reasons. Reading Bernal Diaz and the Cortes letters certainly presented the Conquest as the capstone event of the Reconquista, and these texts were fascinating in their own right. It is fair to say that I now know significantly more about Latin America than I did in December, though I also recognize that the significant nineteenth century is still murky for me. As for comparing the Conquest and the establishment of Spanish authority in the New World to the creation of the barbarian kingdoms in fifth-century Europe, I gained much from this course. The two phenomena are only marginally similar, but it struck me that the manner in which Cortes treated Charles V may be very similar to the manner in which barbarian kings regarded the Roman Empire. In particular, the letters of Cortes seem to be a prime example of how one could operate in the grey areas of pre-modern political authority and legitimacy. Cortes’s efforts toward securing an office from Charles V seem to mirror exactly the efforts of barbarian kings toward securing official Roman administrative positions after they had already taken de facto control of parts of the empire.

Finally, this course had me reevaluate my conception of the undergraduate (and high school) Western History class. I had always thought of the Conquest and the Spanish experience in the New World as a matter for World or American History classes. That now seems silly to me. For one thing, the transmission of Western civilization to the New World is significant and requires emphasis in a broader context. At the same time, the encounter that created the early modern Atlantic Civilization wrought important changes in Europe that simply cannot make sense outside of such a context. Too, I’ve rethought the colonial experience in the Americas. I have never appreciated the extent or duration of Spanish control in the present-day United States. It now seems to me that there would be much value in beginning American History courses with the Spanish experience in Florida and New Mexico rather than the British experience in Massachusetts and Virginia. Indeed, if I ever again find myself teaching an American History course in a high school, I may try to teach the class entirely from the Spanish perspective, only turning to the perspective from the United States after the Mexican-American War.