The Spanish Conquistadores: Men or Devils? Source Problems in World Civilization

A Note from the Publisher Source Problems in World Civilization are designed to give you an intro­ duction to the historian’s task. This task, like that of the natural or social scientist or the critic of the arts, is essentially one of selection. Selection is essential to history as it is to every scholarly discipline, for it is only through selection that knowledge can be arranged in meaningful and usable patterns. The historian selects from the vast raw material of his subject by continually asking himself questions. The process may also take the form of stating and testing hypotheses, but the outcome is the same. Since the formulation of significant questions or hypotheses is itself a selective process, requiring some familiarity with.a given field, the subjects of Source Problems in World Civilization are in the form of questions. Some of these questions are ones that historians have asked; some are examinations of popular suppositions; some are reflections of current public issues. The material presented in each pamphlet of this series has been selected by an expert as a representative sample of the kinds of evidence with which the historian works. It is called source material because it is mostly primary —that is, directly related to the events concerned. Some secondary com­ ments or analyses may also be included when these seem particularly helpful. An effort has been made to present as many different points of view as possible, although obviously space limitations preclude exhaustive coverage. It has also been necessary to limit the readings to those that can be comprehended by a nonspecialist, but there has been no attempt to avoid challenging concepts. You are encouraged to reach your own answer to the question presented or, if your judgment so dictates, to revise the question and defend your revision. In case you are stimulated to explore a problem more deeply, you will find plentiful suggestions for further reading.