Comparing Cook's Experiences By Hernan Cortés And Captain James Cook

The accounts provided by Hernan Cortés and Captain James Cook about their encounters with the indigenous people in the area they were exploring, have multiple similarities and differences; they both describe in detail the local resources while Cook takes a more scientific approach than Cortés. As discovering new land and cultures can lead to new trade partners or a place in which wanted resources can be taken, both Cortés and Cook were careful to detail the resources each place had. Cortés spends three paragraphs listing the various food, materials, and items that he saw in the markets (CP, 4,5). Cook also lists all the produce he sees. He does his best to describe the produce that is foreign to him—even providing the Native name when he can (CP, 12). They both listed out as

Throughout Cook’s account, a more scholarly tone is established compared to Cortés’ account. When Cook comes across things he needs to describe, he does so in a straightforward manner. He does not take time to write about how astonishing something is, like Cortés does. More than once, Cortés pauses to discuss how amazed and in awe he was. For example, Cortés starts out in his letter about how he is “fully aware that the account will appear so wonderful as to be deemed scarcely worthy of credit; since even we who have seen these things with our own eyes, are yet so amazed as to be unable to comprehend their reality” (CP, 3). Whereas Cook gets straight to the description. For example, when trying to describe what tattoos are, he simply writes, “Both sexes paint their bodys Tattow as it is called in their language, this is done by inlaying the Colour of black under their skins in such a manner as to be indelible” (CP, 13). He could have paused and mentioned how he found this strange or how he was curious about this tradition, but instead he did