History and Cryptology: Reflections on the Purpose of Two of Cortés’s letters

This paper presents a number of reflections on the advantages that historians may obtain by acquiring knowledge of the principles of cryptology and cryptoanalysis to improve heuristic research as well as the analysis, interpretation and criticism of the sources for increasing our understanding of Ne...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Narváez, Roberto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Estudios de Historia Novohispana
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/28097
Acceso en línea:https://novohispana.historicas.unam.mx/index.php/ehn/article/view/28097
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hernán Cortés
cryptology
paleography
New Spain historiography
16th century
criptología
paleografía
historiografía novohispana
siglo XVI
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents a number of reflections on the advantages that historians may obtain by acquiring knowledge of the principles of cryptology and cryptoanalysis to improve heuristic research as well as the analysis, interpretation and criticism of the sources for increasing our understanding of New Spain historiography. Beginning with a review of certain documents and articles regarding two coded letters written by Hernán Cortés, the author bases his arguments on some basic teachings of the general history of cryptology and selected historiographic pieces on Cortés and his times to confirm the possibility of obtaining the aforementioned advantages.