Visión de los vencidos
​Miguel Léon-Portilla

Up until 1959, the only published testimonies about the “Spanish conquest” were chronicles by Spaniards. Miguel Leon-Portilla in his book, Visión de los vencidos: relaciones indígenas de la conquista, gives a voice to those who were silenced by putting together texts and paintings by nahuatl speaking Mesoamericans from: Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Tezcoco, Chalco and Tlaxcala. These primary sources provide the reader with some of the opinions natives held towards Cortés and the Spaniards, about the "conquest" and the final ruin of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Organized in chronological sequence of events, these indigenous texts begin with a series of omens witnessed by Mexica natives ten years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, up until the aftermath of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The origin of the story of La Llorona, the psychological attitude of Motecuhzoma towards the arrival of the Spaniards, accounts from native allies of Cortes, the Cholula massacre, the Templo Mayor massacre and descriptive testimony of hand to hand combat during the siege of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Visión de los vencidos is essential to understanding the "other sides of the story".​

Visión de los vencidos is still a refreshing read today because of the author’s intentional attempt to provide readers with a non-biased account of a highly controversial and polarizing topic in Mexican history. Leon-Portilla expresses in the introduction of his book that it is essential for these primary sources to be examined with “serenity” and without “prejudice” or “phobias,” in order to "understand the root of contemporary Mexico, a living result of the violent encounter between two worlds."

Miguel Léon-Portilla is a Mexican anthropologist and historian, and a major authority on Aztec thought and literature in the prehispanic and colonial eras. Many of his works have been translated to English and are widely read. The Library of Congress bestowed on him the Living Legend Award in 2013.
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Visión de los vencidos (Spanish) is a publication by UNAM. Click here to purchase. 
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Reviewed ​by
Alan Gerardo
​Padilla Aguilar
​9/17/2019

Alan Gerardo Padilla Aguilar specializes in Mexican and Mexican American history. He has been honored with a State of Texas Joint Resolution for his work with the local community. He was chosen to participate in the Harvard Latino Leadership Initiative program at Harvard Kennedy School in 2013. He was also a research assistant for the PBS documentary, “The Head of Joaquin Murrieta.”

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