I'm looking for books where it's clear to see their intentions and goals, as well as fears and daily problems. I wonder if they actually believed they were cleansing the earth in god's name or simply making room for themselves. Thank you for any info.
Indeed there are plenty of books written by conquistadores themselves. A few titles I would recommend:
- Hernán Cortés, Cartas de relación
- Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España
- Pedro Cieza de León, El descubrimiento y conquista del Perú
- Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Naufragios y comentarios
- Gaspar de Carvajal, Relación del nuevo descubrimiento del famoso río Grande que descubrió por muy gran ventura el capitán Francisco de Orellana
- Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Historia general y natural de las Indias
Edit: I don't know whether there are English translations of these books, as I am Spanish and read them in the original version.