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Full Chapter Business Information Systems Workshops Bis 2020 International Workshops Colorado Springs Co Usa June 8 10 2020 Revised Selected Papers Witold Abramowicz PDF
Full Chapter Business Information Systems Workshops Bis 2020 International Workshops Colorado Springs Co Usa June 8 10 2020 Revised Selected Papers Witold Abramowicz PDF
Full Chapter Business Information Systems Workshops Bis 2020 International Workshops Colorado Springs Co Usa June 8 10 2020 Revised Selected Papers Witold Abramowicz PDF
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Witold Abramowicz
Gary Klein (Eds.)
Business
Information Systems
LNBIP 394
Workshops
BIS 2020 International Workshops
Colorado Springs, CO, USA, June 8–10, 2020
Revised Selected Papers
123
Lecture Notes
in Business Information Processing 394
Series Editors
Wil van der Aalst
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
John Mylopoulos
University of Trento, Trento, Italy
Michael Rosemann
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Michael J. Shaw
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
Clemens Szyperski
Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7911
Witold Abramowicz Gary Klein (Eds.)
•
Business
Information Systems
Workshops
BIS 2020 International Workshops
Colorado Springs, CO, USA, June 8–10, 2020
Revised Selected Papers
123
Editors
Witold Abramowicz Gary Klein
Poznań University of Economics University of Colorado
and Business Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Poznan, Poland
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
The Business Information Systems (BIS) workshops give researchers the possibility to
share preliminary ideas, first experimental results, and to discuss research hypotheses.
It is our great pleasure to contribute to the international discourse on the broader
research area of BIS, by enabling the organization of specialized workshops on
emerging research themes in parallel to BIS conference sessions. Discussions held
during presentations allow for improving the paper and preparing it for publication.
From our experience, workshops are also a perfect instrument to create a community
around very specific research topics, thus offering the opportunity to promote it. Due to
the global travel restrictions, BIS 2020 was held as a virtual conference. In order to
allow participants from all around the world to participate in the sessions, we decided
to organize recording sessions for workshops prior to the conference. At the time of the
actual conference, all presentations were available online. However, live workshop
sessions gathered a wide and very active audience. The discussion of presented
scholarly work was constructive and provided authors with new perspectives and
directions for further research. Based on the feedback received, authors had the
opportunity to edit the workshops articles into the current publications. This year, five
workshops were organized inconjunction with BIS: BITA (11th edition), BSCT (3rd
edition), DigEx (2nd edition), iCRM (5th edition), and QOD (3rd edition). A total of 26
articles were accepted for publication and are included in this volume. We sincerely
thank everyone who contributed to the success of the BIS workshops. Most of all, we
wish to thank the workshops’ chairs, Program Committees, authors, and invited
speakers. We acknowledge the contribution of workshops’ participants who provided
comments and insightful suggestions for the advancement of presented work.
BITA
BSCT
How Much Identity Management with Blockchain Would Have Saved Us?
A Longitudinal Study of Identity Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Razieh Nokhbeh Zaeem and K. Suzanne Barber
DigEx
ICRM
QOD
Preface
A contemporary challenge for enterprises is to keep up with the pace of changing
business demands imposed on them in different ways. Today, there is an obvious
demand for continuous improvement and alignment in enterprises, but unfortunately
many organizations don’t have the proper instruments (methods, tools, patterns, best
practices, etc.) to achieve this. Enterprise modeling, enterprise architecture, and busi-
ness process management are three areas belonging to traditions where the mission is to
improve business practice and business and IT alignment (BITA). BITA is manifested
through the transition of taking an enterprise from one state (AS-IS) into another
improved state (TO-BE), i.e., a transformation of the enterprise and it’s supporting IT
into something that is regarded as better. Recent development within digitalization,
digital transformation, and artificial intelligence (AI) has brought new dimensions to
BITA, where BITA becomes an important part of smart business ecosystems. A con-
tinuous challenge with BITA is to move beyond a narrow focus on one tradition or
technology. There is a need to be able to deal with multi-dimensions of the enterprise in
order to create alignment. Examples of such dimensions are organizational structures,
strategies, architectures, business models, work practices, processes, and IS/IT struc-
tures. IT governance is also a dimension that traditionally has had a strong impact on
BITA. There are ordinarily three governance mechanisms that an enterprise needs to
have in place: 1) decision-making structures, 2) alignment process, and 3) formal
communications.
This workshop aimed to bring together people who have an interest in BITA. We
invited researchers and practitioners from both industry and academia to submit
original results of their completed or ongoing projects. We encouraged a broad
understanding of possible approaches and solutions for BITA. Specific focus was on
practices of business and IT alignment, i.e., we encouraged the submission of case
studies and experience papers.
The workshop received 10 submissions, and the Program Committee selected 4
submissions for presentation at the workshop. We thank all members of the Program
Committee, authors, and local organizers for their efforts and support.
Chairs
Program Committee
1 Introduction
Nowadays, maritime transport plays a key role in logistics. Around 80% of the
global trade volume (70% by value) is carried out by sea [10]. In this context,
assurance of safety and security at sea is of prime importance. Therefore, various
surveillance systems in the maritime domain were developed and deployed to
improve safety, as well as identify hazardous areas and suspicious ships. These
systems provide not only the information necessary to take informed decisions
by maritime actors, but they also generate large amounts of various data that
then needs to be processed, stored, and analysed. In addition to an increased
quantity of data, its quality is the most important aspect that determines the
potential use. Low-quality data may lead to wrong decision, causing financial
losses and posing danger to people and the environment [6].
One of the most commonly used systems in the maritime domain is Auto-
matic Identification System (AIS) – for location and identification of nearby
vessels in real time (a tracking system). It has been created as a tool for the
c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Abramowicz and G. Klein (Eds.): BIS 2020 Workshops, LNBIP 394, pp. 5–20, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61146-0_1
6 M. Stróżyna et al.
assessment is presented, followed by the obtained results (Sect. 4). The paper
ends with a discussion of the results and summary of the study.
2 Related Work
3 Methodology
Our approach to evaluate the AIS data quality is essentially based on statisti-
cal analysis of data and assessment of its reliability based on a set of quality
attributes. To this end, a sample of real AIS data was retrieved and analysed.
The analysed quality attributes included [7]:
– completeness – extent to which data is complete and sufficient for the task at
hand,
– free-of-error – extent to which data is correct and reliable,
– ease of manipulation – extent to which data is easy to manipulate,
– timeliness – extent to which data is sufficiently up-to-date for the task at
hand,
– reliability – extent to which data is regarded as true and credible.
In order to assess the quality of available AIS data with regard to the above
attributes, an analysis of AIS data from two data sources was conducted:
– AIS data received in January-December 2015 from Orbcomm satellites (for
the whole globe). The analysed dataset contained 1,390,219,742 messages
from 425,166 unique MMSI transponders and the analysis was focused on
vessel type, draught, dimensions, and destination.
– AIS data set covering weeks 33–35 of 2018 from the whole globe. The analysed
dataset contained 65,896,367 messages. It was used to analyse the following
AIS attributes: navigational status, speed over ground, course over ground,
true heading, IMO number, call sign, and name.
The aim of these analyses was to assess data quality and thus discover the
quality problems that are observed in AIS system. In order to process such a vast
dataset, we used Apache Spark, a popular big data processing engine, which can
take advantage of in-memory computation. For visualisations, we used R with
ggplot library.
lot of incorrect values. According to analysed data, there are 47,791 unique IMO
numbers, out of which only 45,598 values are 7-digit numbers (as the standard
requires). The rest – almost 2200 identifiers – are definitely incorrect. More-
over, the value zero is suspiciously frequent. Regarding the call sign, there were
103,268 unique values. Call signs are missing in 9,463,167 (14.4%) messages. The
most popular call signs are presented in Table 2. Normally, call signs for larger
vessels should consist of the national prefix plus three letters. Among the most
popular ones, there is none that meets this requirement. Instead, there are val-
ues obviously wrong which include e.g. dashes, NONE, CH.16. The last row is
10 M. Stróżyna et al.
(a) Distribution of vessel length - all types (b) Distribution of vessel width - all types
(c) Distribution of vessel length - tankers (d) Distribution of vessel width - tankers
(e) Distribution of vessel length - cargo (f) Distribution of vessel width - cargo
sample data we identified 211 different values for type of ship. There were no
missing rows – even if there is no IMO or call sign, the type of ship is always filled
in. Apart from the types agreed for the AIS standard, there are also unknown
three-digit types.
Moreover, almost one fourth of ships (23.07%) provide a default value of ship
type, making it is impossible to specify what kind of ship it is. The overall vessel
types distribution, calculated for all vessels that sent AIS in 2015, is presented in
Table 3. If we analyse the number of vessels, cargo vessels dominate the ranking
(33.83% vessels), followed by fishing vessels (18.77%) and tankers (5.74%).
Vessel Dimensions. Vessel dimensions (length and width) are another static
parameters that should be provided in AIS. There are four vessel dimensions
12 M. Stróżyna et al.
Fig. 2. Frequency of messages visualised on the map of the whole world – logarithmic
scale
available in AIS data: to bow (A), to stern (B), to port (C), and to stardom (D).
The default value for all of them is 0. Vessel length can be calculated as A + B,
whereas vessel as C +D. The conducted analysis showed that only 70% of vessels
provided their dimensions. For the rest, the values are missing. The default value
is 0, which means it has not been set by the operator. Counter-intuitively, some
operators set only some of these values, leaving the rest as default, what is
shown in Table 4. It might be observed that tankers and cargo vessels provide
the most reliable results. Further on, distribution of vessel dimensions has been
calculated. Figure 1 presents the results for all vessels types as well as tankers
and cargo vessels.
Among the dynamic AIS parameters, vessel draught, navigational status, speed
over ground (SOG), course over ground (COG), destination, and location were
analysed.
Location. Ship location is an information that should be reported regularly
in AIS. In our study, vessels’ locations were analysed based on geographical
coordinates. Basically, as expected, the coverage of the analysed data is world-
wide (see Fig. 2 that presents vessel traffic in weeks 33–35 of 2018). Data covers
almost every point on the globe; however such distribution might be suspicious
as not every point on the earth is reachable by vessels, especially terrains close
to the North or the South Pole. This might results from phenomenon called AIS
spoofing or a wrong configuration of GPS device on board [4].
Vessel Draught. Information about a current draught should be regularly
updated by a captain. However, due to the fact that this information is often
entered manually (set up statically) it is of low quality. This was confirmed
Data Quality Assessment – A Use Case from the Maritime Domain 13
by our analysis. The vast majority of vessels (79.13%) have reported only one
draught value in 2015, what can be interpreted that this value has not been
updated. The rest of vessels (20.87%) updated this value more or less regularly.
The average value of draught for these vessels is 14.68 m (with a standard devi-
ation equals to 15.87 m) – see Table 4 for different vessel types. A quick glance
at the results reveals that an average reported draught can vary significantly
between different vessel types. Minimum and maximum values were omitted in
the table, since virtually for all types they range between 0 and 25.5 m.
Table 5 highlights also some basic statistics about a total number of updates
of a draught value, with regard to vessel types. There was a significant difference
across vessels’ types. Tankers reported around 13 draught values in 2015 on the
14 M. Stróżyna et al.
(a) Distribution of vessel draught - all types (b) Distribution of vessel draught - cargo
(c) Distribution of vessel draught - passenger (d) Distribution of vessel draught - tankers
average, cargo vessels – 6. It means that for these two types the draught value
is updated more often, whereas for fishing vessels update of a draught value is
much rarer. This means that a typical cargo vessel or tanker update this value
accordingly once in 13 or 14 days, which is the best result in comparison to
other types, while High speed craft (HSC) and pleasure crafts update it only
once every 69 and 64 days accordingly. However, for the latter vessel types this
might result from the fact that their draught actually does not change.
Figure 3 presents distribution of draught values for all vessel types as well as
for tankers, cargo, and passenger vessels. These distributions give first informa-
tion about minimum and maximum draught values reported for a given type.
Secondly, they might be used to define a minimum value of draught that a ship
should declare in AIS to assess whether the draught is reliable information or
not (a limit value).
Navigational Status. The next analysed attribute was navigational status of a
ship. As can be seen in Fig. 4, its distribution seems reliable and there is no issue
with this attribute in the analysed data. The vast majority of ships travel with
status ‘under way using engine’ (status 0). Other popular statuses are: ‘moored’
(5), ‘at anchor’ (1), ‘engaged in fishing’ (7). However, there are some vessels that
sent ‘default’ status (15).
Data Quality Assessment – A Use Case from the Maritime Domain 15
(a) Speed over ground (logarithmic scale) (b) Course over ground (log scale)
SOG and COG. The next analysed dynamic attribute was speed over ground
(SOG). Its logarithmic distribution is presented in Fig. 5a. We can observe several
values that probably are used as a default for missing values (peaks in the chart).
For course over ground (COG), several outliers were identified as can be seen
in Fig. 5b, also presented on logarithmic scale. Moreover, 0 and 360 were the
most common values, 10x more frequent than any other value (please note the
log scale). This may mean that default values have not been replaced. There are
also values greater than 360.
Destination. Similarly to draught value, destination should be set up manually
and updated regularly by a captain. An initial statistical analysis was conducted
to verify whether the provided values of destinations are valid. To explore the
declared destinations, firstly the data was cleansed by removing a special char-
acter “@” and trimming it (removing leading and trailing spaces). The most
popular destinations are presented in Table 6. Notice that a more sophisticated
method is needed to obtain more robust results. For instance, “ANTWERP”
and “ANTWERPEN” means the same port. The analysis concerned values of a
destination and how often this parameter was updated. Unfortunately, the com-
pleteness and hence the quality of this variable is not satisfactory. Even such
16 M. Stróżyna et al.
initial analysis shows that an empty destination has been found in 275,338,472
messages, which is over 20% of messages, whereas 0 was set in 1,796,596 mes-
sages. Interestingly, ‘HOME’ was declared in 1,815,822 messages.
To explain variability in updating a destination value by a captain, we fol-
lowed a similar approach as in the case of draught values – we calculated a mean
number of unique destinations and total number of destination provided by each
ship type as well as average time between destination update in days. The results
are presented in Table 7. The obtained mean values show that in case of popular
vessel types such as cargo or tankers, these vessels travel on the average to a
relatively small number of unique ports (between 3 and 4). In case of passen-
ger vessels and HSC these values are slightly higher. Moreover, destination is
updated relatively often (several times a day).
Thus, it might be concluded that data sent by vessels in AIS (where it was
provided) does not differ significantly from the data in the official register of
ships.
Table 8. Observed differences in vessels’ length and width for the German Bight
Table 9. The differences between the ship’s length in the AIS and in the Lloyd’s
database for the whole analysed area
Data quality issues on the low level can be linked to real-world application
cases of AIS. Businesses that base on reliability of AIS messages need to be able
to understand basic caveats of this IT system. Particularly sensitive to errors
are applications that aggregate data to identify meaningful patterns. One of the
examples is reconstruction of maritime traffic networks [2]. For this task only
correct data should be used. Once traffic networks are identified we can more
precisely identify risks and more reliably predict time of arrival at destination
port (ETA).
References
1. Balduzzi, M., Wilhoit, K., Pasta, A.: A security evaluation of AIS. Trend Micro,
1–9 (2014)
2. Filipiak, D., Wecel,
K., Stróżyna, M., Michalak, M., Abramowicz, W.: Extracting
maritime traffic networks from AIS data using evolutionary algorithm. Bus Inf.
Syst. Eng. 62(4), 435–450 (2020)
3. Harati-Mokhtari, A., Wall, A., Brookes, P., Wang, J.: Automatic identification
system (AIS): a human factors approach. J. Navig. 60(3), 373–389 (2007)
4. Iphar, C., Napoli, A., Ray, C.: Data quality assessment for maritime situation
awareness. ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. II–3/W5, 91–
296 (2015). https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsannals-II-3-W5-291-2015. https://www.
isprs-ann-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/II-3-W5/291/2015/
20 M. Stróżyna et al.
Abstract. This paper gives an overview of the existing research topics in the field
of SME digitalization. Digitalization commonly causes severe changes in both,
organizational structures, business models and the IT landscape of an enterprise,
i.e., there is a need for business and IT-alignment. By means of a literature analysis
and a subsequent systematic mapping study the paper examines on which areas
current research work in the field is focused and where potential research gaps
exist. The literature analysis has its focus on already existing literature analyses
in order to get a comprehensive overview. All identified papers are subsequently
classified and visually represented in a diagram. The classification is done in
two dimensions. Dimension 1 shows to which step of the digital transformation
process the papers refer, dimension 2 refers to the success factors of the digital
transformation. The result shows that the focus of recent research mainly was
on the analysis of the current situation in companies and that the other steps
of the digital transformation are largely ignored. The paper also concludes that
there is no step-by-step guide for SMEs that shows how to go through the digital
transformation.
1 Introduction
More than 99% of all companies in Europe [11] are small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). Research in digital transformation indicates that SMEs consider digitalization
and digital transformation as major challenges, in particular due to the effects on both,
business and IT. In order to remain competitive and open up new fields of business, the use
of digital technologies is often unavoidable. Digital transformation often causes severe
changes in business models, forms of organization and work, products and processes
[9]. This transformation requires both the use of innovative technologies, such as those
emerging in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and the management and social
shaping of organizational change processes [8]. In this context, the present article aims
to determine the current state of research on this topic. For this purpose three research
questions were formulated.
FOOTNOTES
[959] ‘Con este ... vino vn Francisco Lopez, vezino, y Regidor que fue de
Guatimala.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 113. Vetancurt assumes that Pedro del
Castillo—Diaz calls him ‘el Almirante Pedro Cauallero’—secured Barba and his
vessel. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 148; Cortés, Residencia, ii. 165.
[960] ‘El capitã Diego de Camargo,’ says Herrera; but Bernal Diaz explains that
this man stepped into the captaincy on the murder of ‘fulano Alvarez Pinedo,’ at
Pánuco. ‘Dixeron, que el Capitan Camargo auia sido Fraile Dominico, e que auia
hecho profession.’ Hist. Verdad., 114.
[962] ‘Muerto diez y siete ó diez y ocho cristianos, y herido otros muchos.
Asimismo ... muerto siete caballos.’ Cortés, Cartas, 144. Bernal Diaz assumes
that the whole attacking force was killed and some vessels destroyed. ‘Dexaron
vna carauela,’ says Herrera.
[963] Herrera states that hunger caused the land expedition to abandon the
vessels some twenty leagues above Almería. The people from the wrecked
caravel were taken on board the last vessel. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xviii. Cortés leaves
the impression that both vessels arrived at Villa Rica, perhaps because the one
was wrecked so near it. ‘Vn nauio ... y traia sobre sesenta soldados.’ Bernal Diaz,
Hist. Verdad., 114. This may include the land party, but not the sailors.
[964] ‘Con hasta treinta hombres de mar y tierra.’ Cortés, Cartas, 154. ‘Sus
soldados, que eran mas de cincuenta, y mas siete cauallos,’ says Bernal Diaz,
Hist. Verdad., 114; and, since Cortés would be less apt to indicate large
accessions, he may be correct.
[965] ‘Este fue el mejor socorro.... Diaz de Auz sirvió muy bien a su Magestad en
todo lo que se ofreciò en las guerras, ... traxo pleyto despues, sobre el pleyto de
la mitad de Mestitan, ... conque le den la parte de lo que rentare el pueblo mas de
dos mil y quinientos pesos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 114-15. He was excluded
from the town itself, owing to cruel treatment of Indians.
[966] ‘El señor de aquel rio y tierra, que se dice Pánuco, se habia dado por vasallo
de V. M., en cuyo reconocimiento me habia enviado á la ciudad de Tenuxtitan, con
sus mensajeros, ciertas cosas.’ Cortés, Cartas, 144-5. But this is probably a mere
assertion, since the Spanish expeditions had never been higher than Almería, and
the cacique could have had no inducement for submitting.
[967] Bernal Diaz refers to the last accession from Garay’s expeditions as 40
soldiers and 10 horses, under an old man named Ramirez. Protected by heavy
cotton armor they were nicknamed the ‘albardillas.’ Hist. Verdad., 115.
[968] ‘Si todos ó algunos dellos se quisiesen volver en los navíos que allí estaban,
que les diese licencia.’ Cortés, Cartas, 163.
[969] Oviedo, iii. 335; and so Herrera also intimates in reference to Camargo’s
only remaining vessel, ‘la qual se anegò tãbien dẽtro de 10. dias en el puerto.’
dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xviii.
[970] The last two vessels bring 150 men and 16 horses, probably over 20, to
which must be added Camargo’s force, amounting no doubt to 50 effective men,
for Bernal Diaz admits 60 soldiers, not counting sailors; and Herrera intimates that
over 100 men must have reached Villa Rica of the total force on board Camargo’s
three vessels. Bernal Diaz’ estimates for the five vessels which he enumerates
exceed 170 soldiers and 20 horses; on fol. 115 he contradicts several points,
including the total, to which the sailors may be added, while a small reduction is to
be made for deaths among Camargo’s men. Vetancurt follows Bernal Diaz, and so
does Prescott, who assumes that full 150 men and 20 horses must have been
obtained. Mex., ii. 438. Robertson raises this nearer to the truth by saying 180
men, Hist. Am., ii. 104, as does Brasseur de Bourbourg, who nevertheless, on an
earlier page, adds Sahagun’s fanciful reinforcement of 300 men. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv.
371, 387. While the Spaniards were curing themselves, ‘llegó á Tlaxcala un
Francisco Hernandez, español, con 300 soldados castellanos y con muchos
caballos y armas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., i. 37. The later edition does not give the
number. Gomara merely states that numerous small parties came over from the
Antilles, attracted by Cortés’ fame, through Aillon’s reports, he seems to say. Many
of them were murdered on the way, but sufficient numbers reached him to restore
the army and encourage the prosecution of the conquest. Hist. Mex., 173.
[971] Said to have been named Francisco Eguia. Sahagun, Hist. Conq., i. 39, 66,
and Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., i. 278. Herrera writes that many assumed the malady
to have been one of the periodical scourges that used to fall on the country. ‘Y el
no auer tocado a los Castellanos, parece que trae aparencia de razon.’ dec. ii. lib.
x. cap. iv. But it appears to have been wholly a new disease to the natives.
[972] ‘En el mes que llamaban Tepeilhuitl que es al fin de setiembre,’ as Sahagun
assumes. Hist. Conq., i. 39.
[973] Motolinia, Hist. Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 14-15; Sahagun, Hist.
Conq., i. 39, 66; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 514; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 101; Id.
(Paris ed. 1837), iv. 460 (a chapter omitted in the original); Gomara, Hist. Mex.,
148; Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., i. 279; Torquemada, i. 489; Tezcoco en los ultimos
tiempos, 273.
[974] ‘Vivió despues de su elecçion solos sessenta dias.’ Cano, in Oviedo, iii. 549.
The election having taken place twenty days after Montezuma’s death, according
to Ixtlilxochitl, who assumes that he ruled only 40 or 47 days. Hist. Chich., 304; Id.,
Relaciones, 413. Others extend the rule to 80 days, both as leader and king,
perhaps, which would agree with Cano’s version.
[975] Such characteristics may be seen in Spanish as well as native records; yet
Solis writes, ‘su tibieza y falta de aplicacion dexáse poco menos que borrada
entre los suyos la memoria de su nombre.’ Hist. Mex., 372. Sufficient proof of his
energy is found in the siege resulting in the expulsion from Mexico.
[976] The native authorities incline to Quauhtemoc, but the Spanish generally add
the ‘tzin,’ the ‘c’ being elided, and the ‘Q’ changed to ‘G,’ making the name
Guatemotzin. ‘Quauhtemoc, que significa Aguila que baja.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex.,
pt. iii. 51.
[977] Bernal Diaz describes him about a year later as 23 or 24 years old, while on
another occasion he alludes to him as 25. Hist. Verdad., 112, 155. Ixtlilxochitl
makes him 18. Hist. Chich., 304.
[978] ‘Por muerte de su Padre gobernaba el Tlatelulco.’ Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii.
479. ‘Sobrino de Monteçuma, que era papa ó saçerdote mayor entre los indios.’
Cano, in Oviedo, iii. 549; Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. vi. ‘Cuauhtemotctzin hijo del
rey Ahuitzotzin y de la heredera de el Tlatelulco.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, 413.
This incorrect view is adopted by Brasseur de Bourbourg and many others.
[979] ‘Moglie già del suo Zio Cuitlahuatzin,’ is the supposition of Clavigero, Storia
Mess., iii. 160. ‘Se hizo temer de tal manera, que todos los suyos temblauan dél.’
Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 112. For fanciful portraits of these last two emperors,
see Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., 104, 114.
[981] ‘Al que solo fue causa q̄ los Christianos se conseruassen en aquella tierra.’
Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xix.
[983] During the absence of the troops, says Herrera, a part of the Tepeacans had
formed a plot to surprise them when divided; but some women informed Marina in
time to prevent trouble. Cortés inflicted on them severe chastisement. dec. ii. lib. x.
cap. xvi. xviii.
[984] The reports and other papers by Cortés, written during a period of nearly
three decades in connection with New Spain, are both numerous and lengthy, but
only the five letters relating to the actual conquest of Mexico and Central America
have achieved bibliographic celebrity, under the title of Cortés’ Letters or
Relations. Although the first letter has been lost, and the companion letter long
missing, yet an allusion to the expedition against Mexico appeared as early as
1520 in Ein auszug ettlicher sendbrieff dem aller durchleüchtigisten
grossmechtigistẽ Fürsten ... von wegen einer new gefundẽ Inseln. Nürmberg
durch Fryderichen Peypus am. 17. tag Marcij MDXX., wherein the voyages of
Córdoba and Grijalva are also described. Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., 179, assumes
that the information is taken from Peter Martyr’s Decades. A later brief reference
to the city of Mexico itself is given in Translationuss hispanischer sprach zü
Frantzösisch gemacht so durch dẽ Vice Rey in Neapole fraw Margareten
Hertzogiñ iñ Burgundi zü geschrieben, published in 1522. On folio A. iii. is written:
Not far from the same island they have conquered a city called Tenustitan,
wherein 60,000 hearths have been counted, within a good wall. The letter of the
ayuntamiento was first published in Col. Doc. Inéd., i., 1842.
By the time of the receipt in Spain of Cortés’ second letter, of October 30,
1520, the general and his conquest had become so famous that his
communications were not likely to be lost sight of. The incidents treated of were
besides highly enticing, particularly the victories in Tlascala, the entry into
Montezuma’s wonderful island city, the disastrous expulsion, and the renewal of
the campaign, and Cromberger had it printed in 1522 under the title of Carta de
relaciõ ẽbiada a su. S. majestad del ẽpador nt̃o señor por el capitã general dela
nueua spaña: llamado fernãdo cortes, etc. Seuilla: por Jacobo crõberger aleman.
A viii. dias de Nouiẽbre. Año de M. d. y xxij. ‘Fué las Primicias de el Arte de la
Imprenta en Sevilla, y acaso de toda España,’ observes Lorenzana, in Cortes,
Hist. N. España, 171, but this is a great mistake, for printing had been done
already for several decades in Spain. An Italian abstract of the letter appeared
immediately after, as Noue de le Isole & Terra ferma Nouamente trouate In India
per el Capitaneo de larmata de la Cesarea Maiestate. Mediolani decimosexto
calẽ. Decembris M.D.XXII. A reprint of the Seville text was issued at Saragossa in
January, 1523. A later abridged account of the conquest is given in Ein schöne
Newe zeytung so Kayserlich Mayestet auss India yetz newlich zükommen seind,
ascribed to Sigmund Grimm of Augsburg, about 1522. Bibliotheca Grenvilliana
and Harrisse. Ternaux-Compans wrongly supposes the narrative to extend only to
1519, instead of 1522, and assumes the imprint to be Augsburg, 1520. Bibl.
Amér., 5. Perhaps 1523 is the more correct date, which may also be ascribed to
Tres sacree Imperiale et catholique mageste ... eust nouuelles des marches ysles
et terre ferme occeanes. Colophon, fol. 16. Depuis sont venues a sa mageste
nouuelles de certaīes ysles trouuez par les espagnolz plaines despecerie et
beaucoup de mines dor, lesquelles nouuelles il receupt en ceste ville de vailladolid
le primier doctobre xv. cent. xxij. This is a book noticed by no bibliographer except
Sabin, who believes that it contains only the second letter, although the holder
supposes the third letter to be also used. In 1524 appeared the first Latin version
of the second letter, by Savorgnanus, Praeclara Ferdinãdi Cortesii de Noua maris
Oceani Hyspania Narratio, Norimberga. M.D.XXIIII., which contains a copy of the
now lost map of the Gulf of Mexico, and also a plan of Mexico City. In the same
year two Italian translations of this version, by Liburnius, La Preclara Narratione,
were printed at Venice, one by Lexona, the other by Sabio, yet both at the
instance of Pederzani. The plan and map are often missing. Antonio, Bib. Hisp.
Nova, iii. 375, mentions only Lexona’s issue. A translation from Flavigny appeared
in the Portfolio, Philadelphia, 1817. The originals of the second and other letters
were, in the early part of the eighteenth century, ‘en la Libreria de Don Miguel
Nuñez de Rojas, del Consejo Real de las Ordenes,’ says Pinelo, Epitome, ii. 597.
Much of the vagueness which involves the narrative of events previous to the flight
from Mexico may be due to the loss of diary and documents during that episode.
The loss was convenient to Cortés, since it afforded an excuse for glossing over
many irregularities and misfortunes.
The third letter, dated Coyuhuacan, May 15, 1522, and relating the siege and
fall of Mexico, was first published at Seville, on Cromberger’s press, March 30,
1523, as Carta tercera de relaciõ: embiada por Fernãdo cortes capitan y justicia
mayor del yucatan llamado la nueua espana del mar oceano. It received a
reproduction in Latin by the same hand and at the same time as the second letter.
Both were reprinted, together with some missionary letters and Peter Martyr’s De
Insulis, in De Insvlis nuper Inventis Ferdinandi Cortesii. Coloniæ, M.D.XXXII. The
title-page displays a portrait of Charles V., and is bordered with his arms. Martyr’s
part, which tells rather briefly of Cortés, found frequent reprint, while the second
and third letters were republished, with other matter, in the Spanish Thesoro de
virtudes, 1543; in the German Ferdinandi Cortesii. Von dem Newen Hispanien.
Augspurg, 1550, wherein they are called first and second narratives, and divided
into chapters, with considerable liberty; in the Latin Novus Orbis of 1555 and 1616;
and in the Flemish Nieuwe Weerelt of 1563; while a French abridgment appeared
at Paris in 1532. The secret epistle accompanying the third letter was first printed
in Col. Doc. Inéd., i., and afterward by Kingsborough and Gayangos.
The fourth letter, on the progress of conquest after the fall of Mexico, dated at
Temixtitan (Mexico), October 15, 1524, was issued at Toledo, 1525, as La quarta
relacion, together with Alvarado’s and Godoy’s reports to Cortés. A second edition
followed at Valencia the year after. The secret letter accompanying it was not
published till 1865, when Icazbalceta, the well known Mexican collector,
reproduced it in separate black-letter form, and in his Col. Doc., i. 470-83.
The substance of the above three relations has been given in a vast number
of collections and histories, while in only a limited number have they been
reproduced in a full or abridged form, the first reproduction being in the third
volume of Ramusio Viaggi, of 1556, 1565, and 1606, which contains several other
pieces on the conquest, all supplied with appropriate headings and marginals.
Barcia next published them direct from the manuscript, in the Historiadores
Primitivos, i. This collection bears the imprint Madrid, 1749, but the letters had
already been printed in 1731, as Pinelo affirms, Epitome, ii. 597. Barcia died a few
years before his set was issued. From this source Archbishop Lorenzana took the
version published by him under the title of Historia de Nueva-España, Mexico,
1770, which is not free from omissions and faults, though provided with valuable
notes on localities and customs, and supplemented with illustrated pieces on
routes and native institutions, a map of New Spain by Alzate, an article on the
Gobierno Politico by Vetancurt, a copy of a native tribute-roll from picture records,
not very accurately explained, and the first map of Lower California and adjoining
coast, by Castillo, in 1541. This version of the letters was reproduced in New York,
1828, with a not wholly successful attempt by Del Mar to introduce modern
spelling. The work is also marked by a number of omissions and blunders, and the
introductory biographic sketch by Robert Sands adds little to its value. An
abridgment from Lorenzana appeared as Correspondance de Fernand Cortés, par
le Vicomte de Flavigny, Paris, 1778, which obtained three reprints during the
following year at different places. A great many liberties are taken with facts, as
may be imagined; and the letters are, beside, misnamed first, second, and third.
From the same source, or perhaps from Flavigny, of whom they savor, are Briefe
des Ferdinand Cortes, Heidelberg, 1779, with several reproductions, and with
notes; and the corrected Brieven van Ferdinand Cortes, Amsterdam, 1780-1. The
first edition in English, from Lorenzana, was issued by Folsom, as Despatches of
Hernando Cortes, New York, 1843, also with notes.
The fifth letter of the conqueror, on the famous expedition to Honduras, dated
at Temixtitan, September 3, 1526, lay hidden in the Vienna Imperial Library till
Robertson’s search for the first letter brought it to light. Hist. Am., i. xi. He made
use of it, but the first complete copy was not published till of late, in Col. Doc.
Inéd., iv. 8-167, reprinted at New York, 1848, and, in translation, in the Hakluyt
Society collection, London, 1868. It bore no date, but the copy found at Madrid has
that of September 3, 1526, and the companion letter printed in Col. Doc. Inéd., i.
14-23, that of September 11th. This, as well as the preceding letters, was issued
by Vedia, in Ribadeneyra’s Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, xxii.; the first three
letters being taken from Barcia, and the fifth from its MS. The letter of the
ayuntamiento is given and a bibliographic notice of little value. A very similar
collection is to be found in the Biblioteca Historica de la Iberia, i. But the most
complete reproduction of the principal writings by Cortés, and connected with him,
is in the Cartas y Relaciones de Hernan Cortés, Paris, 1866, by Gayangos, which
contains 26 pieces, beside the relations, chiefly letters and memorials to the
sovereign, a third of which are here printed for the first time. Although a few of
Lorenzana’s blunders find correction, others are committed, and the notes of the
archbishop are adopted without credit, and without the necessary amendment of
date, etc., which often makes them absurd. The earliest combined production of
Cortés’ relations, and many of his other writings, may be credited to Peter Martyr,
who in his Decades gave the substance of all that they relate, although he also
mingled other versions. Oviedo, in the third volume of his Hist. Gen., gives two
versions of the conquest, the first, p. 258 et seq., almost a reproduction of Cortés’
letters, and the other, p. 506 et seq., from different sources.
Beside the relations, there are a number of miscellaneous letters, petitions,
orders, instructions, and regulations, by Cortés, largely published in Navarrete,
Col. de Viages; Col. Doc. Inéd.; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc.; Icazbalceta,
Col. Doc.; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq.; Alaman, Disert., and as appendices to
histories of Mexico. A special collection is the Escritos Sueltos de Hernan Cortés,
Mex., 1871, forming vol. xii. of the Bib. Hist. de la Iberia, which presents 43
miscellaneous documents from various printed sources, instructions, memorials,
and brief letters, nearly all of which are filled with complaints against ruling men in
Mexico.
Cortés’ letters have not inaptly been compared by Prescott to the
Commentaries of Cæsar, for both men were military commanders of the highest
order, who spoke and wrote like soldiers; but their relative positions with regard to
the superior authorities of their states were different, and so were their race
feelings, and their times, and these features are stamped upon their writings.
Cortés was not the powerful consul, the commander of legions, but the leader of a
horde of adventurers, and an aspirant for favor, who made his narrative an
advocate. The simplicity and energy of the style lend an air of truth to the
statements, and Helps, among others, is so impressed thereby as to declare that
Cortés ‘would as soon have thought of committing a small theft as of uttering a
falsehood in a despatch addressed to his sovereign.’ Cortés, ii. 211. But it requires
little study of the reports to discover that they are full of calculated misstatements,
both direct and negative, made whenever he considered it best for his interest to
conceal disagreeable and discreditable facts, or to magnify the danger and the
deed. They are also stamped with the religious zeal and superstition of the age,
the naïve expressions of reliance on God being even more frequent than the
measured declarations of devotedness to the king; while in between are calmly
related the most cold-blooded outrages on behalf of both. There is no apparent
effort to attract attention to himself; there is even at times displayed a modesty
most refreshing in the narrative of his own achievements, by which writers have as
a rule been quite entranced; but this savors of calculation, for the general tone is
in support of the ego, and this often to the exclusion of deserving officers. Indeed,
generous allusions to the character or deeds of others are not frequent, or they
are merged in the non-committing term of ‘one of my captains.’ Pedro de Alvarado
complains of this in one of his Relaciones, in Barcia, Hist. Prim., i. 165-6. In truth,
the calculating egotism of the diplomate mingles freely with the frankness of the
soldier. Cortés, however, is ever mindful of his character as an hidalgo, for he
never stoops to meanness, and even in speaking of his enemies he does not
resort to the invectives or sharp insinuations which they so freely scatter. His style
bears evidence of training in rhetoric and Latin, yet the parade of the latter is not
so frequent as might be expected from the half-bred student and zealot. Equally