Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
dred islets that make up the Maldives, global warming is not simply an interesting theory or debate topic.
Since none of the islands rises more than six feet above sea level, even a minor melting of the polar ice
caps and a resulting rise in sea levels would be catastrophic. Evidence suggests that sea levels have risen
four to six inches in the last century. One forecast calls for a further rise of eight inches by 2030. Four tiny
islands in the Maldives are already being evacuated because of flooding.
Geographic Voices
From
The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
, by Bernal Díaz del Castillo
(1632)
Gazing on such wonderful sights, we did not know what to say, or whether what appeared before
us was real, for on one side, on the land, there were great cities, and in the lake ever so many more,
and the lake itself was crowded with canoes, and in the causeway were many bridges at intervals,
and in front of us stood the great city of Mexico, and we—we did not even number four hundred
soldiers! and we well remembered the words and warnings given us by the people of Huexotzingo
and Tlaxcala, and the other warnings that had been given that we should beware of entering Mexico,
where they would kill us, as soon as they had us inside. . . .
When we arrived near to Mexico, where there were some other small towers, the great Monte-
zuma got down from his litter, and those great caciques supported him with their arms beneath a
marvelously rich canopy of green-colored feathers with much gold and silver embroidery and with
pearls and chalchuites suspended from a sort of bordering, which was wonderful to look at. The
great Montezuma was richly attired according to his usage, and he was shod with sandals, the soles
were of gold and the upper part adorned with precious stones. . . .
The Great Montezuma was about forty years old, of good height and well proportioned, slender
and spare of flesh, not very swarthy, but of the natural color and shade of an Indian. He did not
wear his hair long but so as just to cover his ears, his scanty black beard was well shaped and thin.
His face was somewhat long, but cheerful, and he had good eyes and showed in his appearance and
manner both tenderness, and when necessary, gravity. He was neat and clean and bathed once every
day in the afternoon. He had many women as mistresses, daughters of Chieftains, and he had two
great Cacicas as his legitimate wives. He was free from unnatural offenses. The clothes that he wore
one day, he did not put on again until four days later. He had over two hundred chieftains in his
guard. . . .
For each meal, over thirty different dishes were prepared by his cooks according to their ways
and usage, and they placed small pottery braziers beneath the dishes so they should not get cold.
They prepared more than three hundred plates of the food that Montezuma was going to eat, and
more than a thousand for the guard. . . .
I have heard it said that they were wont to cook for him the flesh of young boys, but as he had
such a variety of dishes, made of so many things, we could not succeed in seeing if they were of
human flesh or of other things, for they daily cooked fowls, turkeys, pheasants, native partridges,
quail. . . . So we had no insight into it, but I know for certain that after our Captain censured the
sacrifice of human beings, and the eating of their flesh, he ordered that such food should not be pre-
pared for him thenceforth.
Born in the year of Columbus's first voyage, Díaz was among the first generation of young Spaniards
who went off to the New World, lured by tales of gold and riches. In 1519, he joined Hernán Cortés for his
expedition into Mexico. With five ships and six hundred men, Cortés landed in Vera Cruz and proceeded to
burn his boats to prevent his men from demanding they turn back. Aztec emperor Montezuma attempted to
send out gifts that would prevent the Spanish from coming further. But these gifts had exactly the opposite
