Index :
Mesoamerica
Olmec
Zapotec
Teotihuacan
Toltec
Maya Civilization
Aztec
Mesoamerica (Spanish: Mesoamérica) is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries
As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. Beginning as early as 7000 BC the domestication of maize, beans, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog (Their value in ancient native cultures is evidenced by their frequent appearance in art and artifacts, for example, those produced by the Colima, Aztec and Toltec civilizations in Mexico.
[Xolos were considered sacred dogs by the Aztecs (and also Toltecs, Maya and some other groups) because they believed the dogs were needed by their masters’ souls to help them safely through the underworld, and also they were useful companion animals.The Xolo dog is native to Mexico. Archaeological evidence shows that the breed has existed in Mexico for more than 3,000 years. When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, his journal entries noted the presence of strange hairless dogs. Subsequently, Xolos were transported back to Europe
]
While Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
Olmec
The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's Formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.
The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads".The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking. It is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers
Scholars have not determined the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century. This depopulation was likely the result of "very serious environmental changes that rendered the region unsuited for large groups of farmers", in particular changes to the riverine environment that the Olmec depended upon for agriculture, hunting and gathering, and transportation.
The "Olmec heartland" is an archaeological term used to describe an area in the Gulf lowlands that is generally considered the birthplace of the Olmec culture. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and volcanoes.
What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, where distinctive Olmec features occurred around 1400 BCE. The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization: the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys, and Mesopotamia.
The first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers, with certain important rivers changing course.
Scholars have not determined the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century
In addition to making human and human-like subjects, Olmec artisans were adept at animal portrayals, for example, the fish vessel to the right or the bird vessel in the gallery below.
At the El Manatí site, disarticulated skulls and femurs, as well as the complete skeletons of newborn or unborn children, have been discovered amidst the other offerings, leading to speculation concerning infant sacrifice. Scholars have not determined how the infants met their deaths. Some authors have associated infant sacrifice with Olmec ritual art showing limp were-jaguar babies, most famously in La Venta's Altar 5 (on the right) or Las Limas figure.
Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies:
The Mesoamerican ballgame or o-llamaliztli (hispanized as Ulama) in Nahuatl was a sport with ritual associations played since 1,400 B.C. by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mexico and Central America. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population.
The rules of the ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals (see photo to right) are a late addition to the game.
In the most widespread version of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.
The game had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice.
Games were played between two teams of players. The number of players per team could vary, between 2 to 4. Some games were played on makeshift courts for simple recreation while others were formal spectacles on huge stone ballcourts leading to human sacrifice.
Even without human sacrifice, the game could be brutal and there were often serious injuries inflicted by the solid, heavy ball. Today's hip-ulama players are "perpetually bruised" while nearly 500 years ago Spanish chronicler Diego Durán reported that some bruises were so severe that they had to be lanced open. He also reported that players were even killed when the ball "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines"
The ballgame was played within a large masonry structure. Built in a form that changed remarkably little during 2700 years, over 1300 Mesoamerican ballcourts have been identified, 60% in the last 20 years alone
The ballgame was a ritual deeply engrained in Mesoamerican cultures and served purposes beyond that of a mere sporting event. Fray Juan de Torquemada, a 16th century Spanish missionary and historian, tells that the Aztec emperor Axayacatl played Xihuitlemoc, the leader of Xochimilco, wagering his annual income against several Xochimilco chinampas.Ixtlilxochitl, a contemporary of Torquemada, relates that Topiltzin, the Toltec king, played against 3 rivals, the winner was to rule all
The association between human sacrifice and the ballgame appears rather late in the archaeological record, no earlier than the Classic era. The association was particularly strong within the Classic Veracruz and the Maya cultures, where the most explicit depictions of human sacrifice can be seen on the ballcourt panels – for example at El Tajin (850-1100 CE) and at Chichen Itza (900-1200 CE) – as well as on the well-known decapitated ballplayer stelae from the Classic Veracruz site of Aparicio (700-900 CE).
The Postclassic Maya religious and quasi-historical narrative, the Popol Vuh, also links human sacrifice with the ballgame
Captives were often shown in Maya art, and it is assumed that these captives were sacrificed after losing a rigged ritual ballgame. Rather than nearly nude and sometimes battered captives, however, the ballcourts at El Tajin and Chichen Itza show the sacrifice of practiced ballplayers, perhaps the captain of a team. Decapitation is particularly associated with the ballgame – severed heads are featured in much Late Classic ballgame art and appear repeatedly in the Popol Vuh. There has even been speculation that the heads and skulls were used as balls
For the Aztecs the playing of the ballgame also had religious significance, but where the 16th-century K´iche´ Maya saw the game as a battle between the lords of the underworld and their earthly adversaries
Zapotec
The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica.
The Zapotec state formed at Monte Albán began an expansion during the late Monte Alban 1 phase (400–100 BC) and throughout the Monte Alban 2 phase (100 BC – AD 200). Zapotec rulers began to seize control over the provinces outside the valley of Oaxaca. They could do this during Monte Alban 1c (roughly 200 BC) to Monte Alban 2 (200 BC – AD 100) because none of the surrounding provinces could compete with the valley of Oaxaca both politically and militarily. By 200 AD the Zapotecs had extended their influence, from Quiotepec in the north to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the south. Monte Albán had become the largest city in the southern Mexican highland, and so it remained until approximately 700 AD. The last battle between the Aztecs and the Zapotecs occurred between 1497 and 1502, under the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl. At the time of Spanish conquest of Mexico, when news arrived that the Aztecs were defeated by the Spaniards, King Cosijoeza ordered his people not to confront the Spaniards so they would avoid the same fate. They were defeated by the Spaniards only after several campaigns between 1522 and 1527. However, uprisings against colonial authorities occurred in 1550, 1560 and 1715.
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals.
At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population of perhaps 125,000 or more, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. Teotihuacan began as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the New World. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is debated. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.
The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas. This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic to transport food from farms around the city.The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BC. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 AD
The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BC. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 AD
Scholars had thought that invaders attacked the city in the 7th or 8th century, sacking and burning it. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the elite class. Some think this suggests that the burning was from an internal uprising.
The decline of Teotihuacan has been correlated to lengthy droughts related to the climate changes of 535-536 AD. This theory of ecological decline is supported by archaeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century.
The sudden destruction of Teotihuacan is turning out to be more typical of Mesoamerican city-states than once thought. Many Maya states would suffer similar fates in the coming centuries. Near by in the highlands, Xochicacolo would be sacked and burned in 900 CE and Tula would meet a similar fate around 1150 CE.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct quarters occupied by Otomi, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya and Nahua peoples. The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it. The Aztecs repeated that story, but it has not been corroborated by archaeological findings
Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice: human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper. Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military were also buried alive, imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.
Knowledge of the huge ruins of Teotihuacan was never completely lost. After the fall of the city, various squatters lived on the site. During Aztec times, the city was a place of pilgrimage and identified with the myth of Tollan, the place where the sun was created. Teotihuacan astonished the Spanish conquistadores during the post-conquest era.
The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccoatli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (Third largest in the New World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula) and the Pyramid of the Moon.
Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city.
The city-state of Teotihuacan dominated the Valley of Mexico until the early eight century, but we know little of the political structure of the region because the Teotihuacaners left no written records.
Toltec
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca 800-1000 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization, indeed in the Nahuatl language the word "Toltec" came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec empire giving lists of rulers and their exploits.
While the skeptical school of thought does not deny that cultural traits of a seemingly central Mexican origin have diffused into a larger area of Mesoamerica, it tends to ascribe this to the dominance of Teotihuacán in the Classic period and the general diffusion of cultural traits within the region. Recent scholarship, then, does not see Tula, Hidalgo as the capital of the Toltecs of the Aztec accounts, but rather takes "Toltec" to mean simply an inhabitant of Tula during its apogee. Separating the term "Toltec" from those of the Aztec accounts, it attempts to find archaeological clues to the ethnicity, history and social organization of the inhabitants of Tula.
Other controversy relating to the Toltecs include how best to understand reasons behind the perceived similarities in architecture and iconography between the archaeological site of Tula and the Maya site of Chichén Itzá - as of yet no consensus has emerged about the degree or direction of influence between the two sites. Tula was city was the largest in central Mexico in the 9th and 10th centuries, covering an area of some 12 km² with a population of at least some 30,000, possibly significantly more. While it might have been the largest city in Mesoamerica at the time, some Maya sites in the Yucatán may have rivaled its population during this period. However Tula never grew to the size of Teotihuacan.
Preclassic Maya (1850 BC - 250 AD)
Classic period (250–900 AD)
During this period the Mayas numbered in the millions, they created a multitude of kingdoms and small empires, built monumental palaces and temples, engaged in grandiose ceremonies, and developed an elaborate hieroglyphic writing system.
The Late Classic period (beginning ca. AD 600 until AD 909) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal’s socio-political and economic power at the beginning. It was during this time that a number of other sites, therefore, rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán, Palenque, and Calakmul (who was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710 DC, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeated its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called Maya "collapse", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in the northern lowlands.
Generally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between AD 800/850 and ca. AD 1000. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands, so named after the hills in which they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the "Puuc architectural style") that represents a technological departure from previous construction techniques. Chichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over the past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands.
Collapse of the Clasic Maya:
The Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. The Classic Maya Collapse is one of the biggest mysteries in archaeology. What makes this development so intriguing is the combination of the cultural sophistication attained by the Maya before the collapse and the relative suddenness of the collapse itself
Some 88 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya Collapse have been identified. From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Mayan kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought is gaining momentum as the leading explanation. The colonial Spanish officials accurately documented cycles of drought, famine, disease, and war, providing a reliable historical record of the basic drought pattern in the Maya region.
The Maya succeeded in creating a civilization in a seasonal desert by creating a system of water storage and management which was totally dependent on consistent rainfall. The constant need for water kept the Maya on the edge of survival. “Given this precarious balance of wet and dry conditions, even a slight shift in the distribution of annual precipitation can have serious consequences.
During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterized by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish for centuries more; some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until a revolt in 1450. (This city's name may be the source of the word "Maya", which had a more geographically restricted meaning in Yucatec and colonial Spanish and only grew to its current meaning in the 19th and 20th centuries).
Colonial period
Unlike the Aztec and Inca Empires, there was no single Maya political center that, once overthrown, would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples. Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Maya polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. Most of the conquistadors were motivated by the prospects of the great wealth to be had from the seizure of precious metal resources such as gold or silver; however, the Maya lands themselves were poor in these resources. This would become another factor in forestalling Spanish designs of conquest, as they instead were initially attracted to the reports of great riches in central Mexico or Peru.
First Spanish accidental landing in Yucatán Peninsula
The first known Spanish landing on the Yucatán Peninsula was a product of misfortune, when in 1511 a small vessel bound for the island of Santo Domingo from Darién, Panama ran aground on some shoals in the Caribbean Sea, south of the island of Jamaica. The ship's complement of fifteen men and two women set off in the ship's boat in an attempt to reach Cuba or one of the other colonies. However, the prevailing currents forced them westwards until, after approximately two weeks of drifting, they reached the eastern shoreline of the Peninsula, possibly in present-day Belize. Captured by the local Maya, they were divided up among several of the chieftains as slaves and a number were sacrificed and killed according to offeratory practices. Over the succeeding years their numbers dwindled further as others were lost to disease or exhaustion, until only two were left– Gerónimo de Aguilar who had escaped his former captor and found refuge with another Maya ruler, and Gonzalo Guerrero who had won some prestige among the Maya for his bravery and had now the standing of a ranking warrior and noble. These two would later have notable, but very different, roles to play in future conflicts between the Spanish and the Mesoamerican peoples– Aguilar would become Hernan Cortés's translator and advisor, with Guerrero instead electing to remain with the Maya and served as a tactician and warrior fighting with them against the Spanish.
Friar Diego de Landa described the incident on his 'Account of Things of Yucatan' (see more below for reference for this book) as it follows:
"Que los primeros españoles que llegaron a Yucatán, según se dice, fueron Gerónimo de Aguilar, natural de Ecija, y sus compañeros, los cuales, el año de 1511, en el desbarato del Darien por las revueltas entre Diego de Nicuesa y Vasco Núñez de Balboa, siguieron a Valdivia que venía en una carabela a Santo Domingo, a dar cuenta al Almirante y al Gobernador de lo que pasaba, y a traer 20 mil ducados del rey; y que esta carabela, llegando a Jamaica, dio en los bajos que llaman de Vívores donde se perdió, no escapando sino 20 hombres que con Valdivia entraron en un batel sin velas y con unos ruines remos y sin mantenimiento alguno anduvieron trece días por el mar. Después de muertos de hambre casi la mitad, llegaron a la costa de Yucatán, a una provincía que llaman de la Maya...
... Que esta pobre gente vino a manos de un mal cacique, el cual sacrificó a Valdivia y a otros cuatro a sus ídolos y después hizo banquetes (con la carne) de ellos a la gente, y que dejó para engordar a Aguilar y a Guerrero y a otros cinco o seis, los cuales quebrantaron la prisión y huyeron por unos montes. Y que aportaron a otro señor enemigo del primero y más piadoso, el cual se sirvió de ellos como de esclavos; y que el que sucedió a este señor los trató con buena gracia, pero que ellos, de dolencia, murieron quedando solos Gerónimo de Aguilar y Gonzalo Guerrero, de los cuales Aguilar era buen cristiano y tenía unas horas por las cuales sabía las fiestas. Y que éste se salvó con la ida del marqués Hernando Cortés, el año de 1519, y que Guerrero, como entendía la lengua, se fue a Chectemal (Chactemal), que es la Salamanca de Yucatán, y que allí le recibió un señor llamado Nachancán (Ah Na Chan Can), el cual le dio a cargo las cosas de la guerra en que (est)uvo muy bien, venciendo muchas veces a los enemigos de su señor, y que enseñó a los indios pelear mostrándoles (la manera de) hacer fuertes y bastiones, y que con esto y con tratarse como indio, ganó mucha reputación y le casaron con una muy principal mujer en que hubo hijos; y que por esto nunca procuró salvarse como hizo Aguilar, antes bien labraba su cuerpo, criaba cabello y harpaba las orejas para traer zarcillos como los indios y es creible que fuese idólatra como ellos."
1517 Expedition and Discovery of the Yucatan
Together with some 110 discontented Spanish settlers in early colonial Cuba, Hernández de Córdoba petitioned the governor, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, for permission to launch an expedition in search of new lands and exploitable resources. This permission was granted after some haggling over terms, and the expedition consisting of three ships under Hernández de Córdoba's command left the harbor of Santiago de Cuba on February 8, 1517, to explore the shores of southern Mexico. The main pilot was Antón de Alaminos, the premiere navigator of the region who had accompanied Christopher Columbus on his initial voyages.
Later they had 21 days of fair weather and calm seas after which they spotted land and, quite near the coast and visible from the ships, the first large populated center seen by Europeans in the Americas, with the first solidly built buildings. The Spaniards, who evoked the Muslims in all that was developed but not Christian, spoke of this first city they discovered in America as El gran Cairo, as they later were to refer to pyramids or other religious buildings as mezquitas, "mosques".
These contacts of March 4 may have been the birth of the toponyms Yucatán and Catoche, whose surprising and amusing history — perhaps too amusing to be true — is often cited. Be it history or legend, the story is that the Spaniards asked the Indians for the name of the land they had just discovered and on hearing the predictable replies to the effect of "I don't understand what you said", "those are our houses" gave the land names based on what they had heard: Yucatán, meaning "I don't understand you" for the whole "province" (or island, as they thought), and Catoche, meaning "our houses", for the settlement and the cape where they had debarked.
The Spaniards' fears were almost immediately confirmed. The chief had prepared an ambush for the Spaniards as they approached the town. They were attacked by a multitude of Indians, armed with pikes, bucklers, slings. The Spanish soon learned that the Mayan arrows, while not attaining any distinct force behind them, tended to shatter on impact leading to a slow and painful death. In this days two Indians were captured, taken back on board the Spanish ships. These individuals, who once baptized into the Roman Catholic faith received the names Julianillo and Melchorejo (anglicized, Julián and Melchior), would later became the first Maya language interpreters for the Spanish, on Grijalva's subsequent expedition.
Fifteen days after Catoche, the expedition landed to fill their water vessels near a Maya village they called Lázaro (after St Lazarus' Sunday, the day of their landing; "The proper Indian name for it is Campeche", clarifies Bernal). Once again they were approached by Indians appearing to be peaceable, and the now-suspicious Spaniards maintained a heavy guard on their disembarked forces. During an uneasy meeting, the local Indians repeated a word (according to Bernal) that ought to have been enigmatic to the Spaniards: "Castilian". This curious incident of the Indians apparently knowing the Spaniards' own word for themselves they later attributed the presence of the shipwrecked voyagers of de Nicuesa's unfortunate 1511 fleet. Unbeknownst to de Córdoba's men, the two remaining survivors, Jerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, were living only several days' walk from the present site.
The Spaniards found a solidly-built well used by the Indians to provide themselves with fresh water and they could fill their casks and jugs. The Indians, again with friendly aspect and manner, brought them to their village, where once more they could see solid constructions and many idols (Bernal alludes to the busts of serpents on the walls, so characteristic of Mesoamerica). They also met their first priests, with their white tunics and their long hair impregnated with human blood; this was the end of the Indians' friendly conduct: they convoked a great number of warriors and ordered them to burn some dry reeds, indicating to the Spaniards that if they weren't gone before the fire went out, they would be attacked. Hernández's men decided to retreat to the boats with their casks and jugs of water before the Indians could attack them, leaving safely behind them the discovery of Campeche.
Champotón battle: They sailed some six days in good weather and another four in a tempest that almost wrecked their ships. Their supply of good drinking water was now yet again exhausted, owing to the poor condition of the containers. Being now in an extreme situation, they stopped to gather water in a place that Bernal sometimes calls Potonchán and sometimes by its present-day name of Champotón, where the river of the same name meets the sea. When they had filled the jugs, they found themselves surrounded by great assemblies of Indians. They passed the night on land, with great precautions and wakeful vigilance.
When dawn broke, they were evidently vastly outnumbered ("by two hundred to one", claims Bernal), and only shortly into the ensuing battle Bernal speaks of eighty injured Spaniards. Keeping in mind that the original number of the expedition was about a hundred, not all soldiers, this suggests that at that moment the expedition was close to destruction. They soon discovered that the legions of Indians were being continually replenished by fresh reinforcements, and if good swords, crossbows, and muskets had astonished them at first, they had now overcome the surprise and maintained a certain distance from the Spaniards. At the cry of "Calachumi", which the conquistadors soon learned was a word for "chief" or "captain", the Indians were particularly merciless in attacking Hernández de Córdoba, who was hit by ten arrows. The Spanish also learned the dedication of their opponents to capturing people alive: two were taken prisoner and certainly sacrificed afterwards; of one we know that his name was Alonso Boto, and of the other Bernal is only able to say of him that he was "an old Portuguese".
Eventually, with only one Spanish soldier remaining unhurt, the captain practically unconscious, and the aggression of the Indians only increasing, they decided then that their only recourse was to form a close phalanx and break out of their encirclement in the direction of the launches, and to return to board them. The Spaniards had lost fifty companions, including two who were taken alive. The survivors were badly injured, with the sole exception of a soldier named Berrio, who was surprisingly unscathed. Five died in the following days, the bodies were buried at sea.
The expeditionaries had returned to the ships without the fresh water that had been the original reason to land. Furthermore, they saw their crew reduced by more than fifty men, many of them sailors, which combined with the great number of the seriously injured made it an impossibility to operate three ships. The thirst began to become intolerable. Bernal writes that their tongues and throats cracked, and of soldiers who were driven by desperation to drink sea water. Another land excursion of fifteen men, in a place which they called Estero de los Lagartos, "Lizards' Estuary", obtained only brackish water which increased the desperation of the crew. In the event, the twenty people — among them, Bernal and the pilot Alaminos — who debarked in search of water were attacked by natives, although this time they came out victorious, with Bernal nonetheless receiving his third injury of the voyage, and Alaminos taking an arrow in the neck. One of the sentries who had been placed on guard around the troop disappeared: Berrio, precisely the only soldier who had escaped unscathed in Champotón. Now with fresh water, they headed to Havana in the two remaining ships, and not without difficulties. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba barely reached Cuba; suffering from his mortal wounds, he expired within days of reaching the port, along with three other sailors.
The discovery of El Gran Cairo, in March 1517 encouraged two further expeditions: the first in 1518 under the command of Juan de Grijalva and the second in 1519 under Hernán Cortes commandment. Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, ordered an expedition sent out with four ships supplied with crossbows, muskets, salt pork, and cassava bread for some 240 men led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva. This expedition obtained similar results as the Cordoba's expedition and he was disappointed at gathering very little gold, but came back to Cuba with a tale that a rich empire was further to the west. The news that this "island" of Yucatán had gold, doubted by Bernal but enthusiastically maintained by Julianillo, the Maya prisoner taken at the battle of Catoche, fed the subsequent series of events that was to end with the Conquest of Mexico by the third flotilla sent, that of Hernán Cortés.
Hernan Cortés Expedition in Yucatan
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Cortés was Born in Medellín (Extremadura) Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World.
Through his mother, Hernán was the second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru.
At the age of 14, Cortés was sent to study at the University of Salamanca in west-central Spain. This was Spain's great center of learning, and while accounts vary as to the nature of Cortés's studies, his later writings and actions suggest he studied Law and probably Latin.
Being 18 years old he finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a colonist: Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen, which entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Nicolás de Ovando, still the governor, gave him a encomienda and made him a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. His next five years seemed to help establish him in the colony; in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola, receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts from the leader of the expedition. In 1511, Cortés accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the Governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. Velázquez was appointed as governor. At the age of 26, Cortés was made clerk to the treasurer with the responsibility of ensuring that the Crown received the quinto, or customary one-fifth of the profits from the expedition. The Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, was so impressed with Cortés that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortés was twice appointed municipal magistrate (alcalde) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with a encomienda to provide Indian labor for his mines and cattle. This new position of power also made him the new source of leadership, which opposing forces in the colony could then turn to. It was not until he had been almost 15 years in the Indies, that Cortés began to look beyond his substantial status as mayor of the capital of Cuba and as a man of affairs in the thriving colony. He missed the first two expeditions, under the orders of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and then Juan de Grijalva, sent by Diego Velázquez to Mexico in 1518.
In 1518 Gobernor of Cuba Diego Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old gripe between Velázquez and Cortés, he changed his mind and revoked his charter. Cortés ignored the orders and went ahead anyway, in February 1519, in an act of open mutiny.
Cortés landed at Cozumel and spent some time there, trying to convert the locals to Christianity and achieving mixed results. While at Cozumel, Cortés heard reports of other white men living in the Yucatán. Cortés sent messengers to these reported castilianos, who turned out to be the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck that had occurred in 1511.
On arriving in the island of Cozumel from Cuba, Cortés sent a letter by Maya messenger across to the mainland, inviting the two Spaniards, of whom he'd heard rumors, to join him. Aguilar became a translator, during the Conquest. According to the account of Bernal Díaz, when the newly freed friar attempted to convince Guerrero to join him, Gonzalo Guerrero responded:
Spanish: "Hermano Aguilar, yo soy casado y tengo tres hijos. Tienenme por cacique y capitán, cuando hay guerras, la cara tengo labrada, y horadadas las orejas. ¿Que dirán de mi esos españoles, si me ven ir de este modo? Idos vos con la bendición de Dios, que ya veis que estos mis hijitos son bonitos, y dadme por vida vuestra de esas cuentas verdes que traeis, para darles, y diré, que mis hermanos me las envían de mi tierra."
English Translation: "Brother Aguilar; I am married and have three children, and they look on me as a cacique (lord) here, and captain in time of war. My face is tattooed and my ears are pierced. What would the Spaniards say about me if they saw me like this? Go and God's blessing be with you, for you have seen how handsome these children of mine are. Please give me some of those beads you have brought to give to them and I will tell them that my brothers have sent them from my own country."
Díaz goes on to describe how Gonzalo's Mayan wife Zazil Há interrupted the conversation and angrily addressed Aguilar in her own language:
Spanish: " Y asimismo la india mujer del Gonzalo habló a Aguilar en su lengua, muy enojada y le dijo: Mira con qué viene este esclavo a llamar a mi marido: idos vos y no curéis de más pláticas."
English Translation: "And the Indian wife of Gonzalo spoke to Aguilar in her own tongue very angrily and said to him, "What is this slave coming here for talking to my husband, - go off with you, and don't trouble us with any more words.""
Then Aguilar spoke to Guerrero again, reminding him that he was of Christian faith and should not throw away his everlasting soul for the sake of an Indian woman. But Gonzalo was not to be convinced.
Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yucatec Maya as well as some other indigenous languages, would prove to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator, a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Aztec Empire which would be the end result of Cortés' expedition. Although Guerrero's later fate is uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; he quite possibly was killed in a later battle.
In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the Spanish crown. He stopped in Trinidad to hire more soldiers and obtain more horses. Then he proceeded to Potonchan, Tabasco, where he met with resistance and won a battle against the natives. He received twenty young indigenous women from the vanquished natives and he converted them all to Christianity. Among these women was La Malinche, his future mistress and mother of his child Martín. Malinche knew both the (Aztec) Nahuatl language and Maya, thus enabling Hernán Cortés to communicate in both. She became a very valuable interpreter and counselor.
Through her help, Cortés learned from the Tabascans about the wealthy Aztec Empire and its riches. Christened Marina by Cortés, she later learned Spanish, became Cortés' mistress and bore him a son. Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote in his account The True History of the Conquest of New Spain that Doña Marina was "an Aztec princess sold into Mayan slavery." She was not actually an Aztec princess but was of noble birth, probably of Toltec or Tabascan origins.Native speakers of Nahuatl, her own people, would call her "Malintzin." This name is the closest phonetic approximation possible in Nahuatl to the sound of 'Marina' in Spanish. Over time, "la Malinche" (the modern Spanish cognate of 'Malintzin') became a term that denotes a traitor to one's people. To this day, the word malinchista is used by Mexicans to denote one who apes the language and customs of another country. Cortés then landed his expedition force on the coast of the modern day state of Veracruz with the purpose of conquering the Aztec empire...
Conquest of Yucatan
The richer lands of central Mexico engaged the main attention of the Conquistadors for some years, then in 1526 Francisco de Montejo (a veteran of the Grijalva and Cortés expeditions) successfully petitioned the King of Spain for the right to conquer Yucatán. He arrived in eastern Yucatán in 1527. The Spanish set up a small fort on the coast at Xamanha in 1528, but had no further success in subduing the country. Montejo went to Mexico to gather a larger army. Montejo returned in 1531 with a force that allied with the Maya port city of Campeche. While he set up a fortress at Campeche, he sent his son Francisco Montejo the Younger inland with an army. The leaders of some Maya states pledged that they would be his allies. He continued on to Chichen Itza, which he declared his Royal capital of Spanish Yucatán, but after a few months the locals rose up against him, the Spaniards were constantly attacked, and the Spanish force fled to Honduras. It was rumored that Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who chose to stay in Yucatán, was among those directing Maya resistance to the Spanish crown. Montejo the Elder, who was now in his late 60s, turned his royal rights in Yucatán over to his son, Francisco Montejo the Younger. The younger Montejo invaded Yucatán with a large force in 1540. In 1542, he set up his capital in the Maya city of T'ho, which he renamed Mérida.
The lord of the Tutal Xiu of Maní converted to Christianity. The Xiu dominated most of Western Yucatán and became valuable allies of the Spanish, greatly assisting in the conquest of the rest of the peninsula. A number of Maya states at first pledged loyalty to Spain, but revolted after feeling the heavy hand of Spanish rule. Fighting and revolts continued for years. When the Spanish and Xiu defeated an army of the combined forces of the states of Eastern Yucatán in 1546, the conquest was officially complete; however, periodic revolts, which would be violently put down by Spanish troops and Indian auxiliaries, continued throughout the Spanish colonial era.
Conquest of the Maya highlands (current Guatemala)
After the Aztec empire fell to the Spanish in 1521, the Kaqchikel Maya of Iximche sent envoys to Hernán Cortés to declare their allegiance to the new ruler of Mexico, and the K'iche' Maya of Q'umarkaj may also have sent a delegation. In 1522 Cortés sent Mexican allies to scout the Soconusco region of lowland Chiapas, where they met new delegations from Iximche and Q'umarkaj at Tuxpán; both of the powerful highland Maya kingdoms declared their loyalty to the king of Spain. But Cortés' allies in Soconusco soon informed him that the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel were not loyal, and were instead harassing Spain's allies in the region. Cortés decided to despatch Pedro de Alvarado with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, crossbows, muskets, 4 cannons, large amounts of ammunition and gunpowder, and hundreds of allied Mexican warriors from Tlaxcala and Cholula; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523.
On 12 February 1524 Alvarado's Mexican allies were ambushed in the pass and driven back by K'iche' warriors but the Spanish cavalry charge that followed was a shock for the K'iche', who had never before seen horses. The cavalry scattered the K'iche' and the army crossed to the city of Xelaju (modern Quetzaltenango) only to find it deserted. Although the common view is that the K'iche' prince Tecun Uman died in the later battle near Olintepeque, the Spanish accounts are clear that at least one and possibly two of the lords of Q'umarkaj died in the fierce battles upon the initial approach to Quetzaltenango. The legends say Tecún Umán entered battle adorned with precious quetzal feathers, and his nahual (animal spirit guide), also a quetzal bird, accompanied him during the battle. In the midst of the fray, both Alvarado and Tecún, warriors from worlds apart, met face to face, each with weapon in hand. Alvarado was clad in armor and mounted on his warhorse. As horses were not native to the Americas and peoples of Mesoamerica had no beasts of burden of their own, Tecún Umán assumed they were one being and killed Alvarado's horse.
Tecún Umán was declared a National Hero of Guatemala on March 22, 1960 and is celebrated annually on February 20. Tecún Umán's namesakes include a small town in the department of San Marcos on the Guatemala-Mexico border as well as countless hotels, restaurants, and Spanish schools throughout Guatemala. He is also memorialized in a poem by Miguel Ángel Asturias that bears his name.In contrast to his popularity, he is at times rejected by Maya cultural activists who consider his status as a national hero a source of irony, considering the long history of mistreatment of Guatemala's native population.
Almost a week later, on 18 February 1524,a K'iche' army confronted the Spanish army in the Quetzaltenango valley and were comprehensively defeated; many K'iche' nobles were among the dead. This battle exhausted the K'iche' militarily and they asked for peace and offered tribute, inviting Pedro de Alvarado into their capital Q'umarkaj, which was known as Tecpan Utatlan. He encamped on the plain outside the city rather than accepting lodgings inside. Fearing the great number of K'iche' warriors gathered outside the city and that his cavalry would not be able to maneouvre in the narrow streets of Q'umarkaj, he invited the leading lords of the city, Oxib-Keh (the ajpop, or king) and Beleheb-Tzy (the ajpop k'amha, or king elect) to visit him in his camp. As soon as they did so, he seized them and kept them as prisoners in his camp. The K'iche' warriors, seeing their lords taken prisoner, attacked the Spaniards' indigenous allies and managed to kill one of the Spanish soldiers.At this point Alvarado decided to have the captured K'iche' lords burnt to death, and then proceeded to burn the entire city.The Conquistadores have made alliance with thei Kaqchikel who had long been beitter rivals of the K`iche' . However, Pedro de Alvarado rapidly began to demand gold in tribute from the Kaqchikels, souring the friendship between the two peoples. He demanded that their kings deliver 1000 gold leaves, each worth 15 pesos. A Kaqchikel priest foretold that the Kaqchikel gods would destroy the Spanish—as a result the Kaqchikel people abandoned their city and fled to the forests and hills on 28 August 1524 (7 Ahmak in the Kaqchikel calendar). Ten days later the Spanish declared war on the Kaqchikel. Two years later, on 9 February 1526, a group of sixteen Spanish deserters burnt the palace of the Ahpo Xahil, sacked the temples and kidnapped a priest, acts that the Kaqchikel blamed on Pedro de Alvarado. Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounted how in 1526 he returned to Iximche and spent the night in the "old city of Guatemala" together with Luis Marín and other members of Hernán Cortés's expedition to Honduras. He reported that the houses of the city were still in excellent condition; his account was the last description of the city while it was still inhabitable
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the main Mam population was situated in Xinabahul (also spelled Chinabjul), now the city of Huehuetenango, but Zaculeu's fortifications led to its use as a refuge during the conquest. The refuge was attacked by Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras, brother of conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, in 1525, with 120 soldiers, and some 2,000 Mexican and K'iche' allies. The city was defended by Kayb'il B'alam commanding some 5,000 people (the chronicles are not clear if this is the number of soldiers or the total population of Zaculeu).
After a siege lasting several months the Mam were reduced to starvation. Kayb'il B'alam finally surrendered the city to the Spanish in October 1525. When the Spanish entered the city of Zaculeu they found 1,800 dead Indians, with the survivors eating the corpses of the dead.
By 1537 the area immediately north of the new colony of Guatemala was being referred to as the Tierra de Guerra ("Land of War"). Paradoxically, it was simultaneously known as Verapaz ("True Peace"). The Land of War described an area that was undergoing conquest; it was a region of dense forest that was difficult for the Spanish to penetrate militarily.
Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas arrived in the colony of Guatemala in 1537 and immediately campaigned to replace violent military conquest with peaceful missionary work. Las Casas offered to achieve the conquest of the Land of War through the preaching of the Catholic faith. It was the Dominicans who promoted the use of the name Verapaz instead of the Land of War.
In 1695 the colonial authorities decided to connect the province of Guatemala with Yucatán, and Guatemalan soldiers conquered a number of Ch'ol communities, the most important being Sakb'ajlan on the Lacantún River in eastern Chiapas, now in Mexico, which was renamed as Nuestra Señora de Dolores, or Dolores del Lakandon.
Martín de Ursúa arrived on the western shore of lake Petén Itzá with his soldiers in February 1697, and once there built a galeota, a large and heavily armed oar-powered attack boat. The Itza capital fell in a bloody waterborne assault on 13 March 1697. The Spanish bombardment caused heavy loss of life on the island; many Itza Maya who fled to swim across the lake were killed in the water. Catholic priests from Yucatán founded several mission towns around Lake Petén Itzá in 1702–1703.
Account of the Things of Yucatan (Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán)
A controversial figure in the history of the Christianization of central America was the friar Diego de Landa is at once reviled for his cruelty and for his destruction of invaluable historic materials about Maya culture and valued for his personal contributions to the study of the same. Landa’s Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán is about as complete a treatment of Mayan religion as we are likely to ever have.
Allen Wells calls his work an “ethnographic masterpiece”, while William J. Folan, Laraine A. Fletcher and Ellen R. Kintz have written that Landa‘s account of Maya social organization and towns before conquest is a “gem.” Landa’s writings are our main contemporary source for Mayan history,without which our collective knowledge of Mayan ethnology would be devastatingly small. While Landa might have exaggerated some claims to justify his actions to his accusers, his intimate contact with natives and all around accuracy in other fields heavily implies his version of events has at least some truth in it.
Ironically, historian John F Chuchiak IV has suggested that the result of Landa's fervor to exterminate the traditional Maya religion in fact had the opposite effect and is partially the reason why Maya religion is still alive today in the Yucatán. He argues that Landa's excesses caused the secular authorities to remove the Franciscans' right to take disciplinary measures against idolaters while still leaving the Maya under the care of the Franciscans' cathechization. Chuchiak suggests that the revocation of the Franciscans' "rights" to administer punishments to idolaters was an important factor in the survival of Maya religion to this day.
Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán also created a valuable record of the Mayan writing system, which despite its inaccuracies was later to prove instrumental in the later decipherment of the writing system.
In 1571 Landa was appointed Bishop of Yucatan and he took the seat in 1573. Landa's period as Bishop was marked by continued campaigns of extirpation of idolatry among the Maya and he continued attracting opposition from secular authorities who found his methods excessive.
After hearing of Roman Catholic Maya who continued to practice idol worship, he ordered an Inquisition in Mani ending with a ceremony called auto-da-fé. During the ceremony on July 12, 1562, at least twenty seven Maya codices and approximately 5,000 Maya cult images were burned. These actions earned Landa a controversial place in the history of the Christianization of the Americas.
This caused long conflict between the ecclesiastical judiciary system of de Landa and the Governors of Yucatán. Landa's Inquisition showered a level of physical abuse upon the indigenous Maya that was viewed as excessive even by other members of the church such as his predecessor as Bishop, Francisco de Toral.
Landa claims he had discovered evidence of human sacrifice and other idolatrous practices while rooting out native idolatry.
Landa was remarkable in that he was willing to go where no others would. He entered lands only recently conquered where native resentment of Spaniards was still very intense. Armed with nothing but the conviction to learn as much of native culture as he could, so that it would be easier for him to destroy it in the future, Landa formulated an intimate contact with natives. Natives placed him in such an esteemed position they were willing to show him some of their sacred writings that had been transcribed on deerskin books. To Landa and the other Franciscan friars, the very existence of these Mayan codices was proof of diabolical practices. In references to these books, Landa has said:
"We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction."
Landa himself was never in doubt of the necessity of his inquisition. Whether magic and idolatry were being practiced or not, there can be little doubt Landa was “possessed” by fantasies of demonic power in a new land. Landa, like most Franciscans of the time, subscribed to millenarian ideas, which demanded the mass conversion of as many souls as possible before the turn of the century. Eliminating evil and pagan practices, Landa believed, would usher the Second Coming of Christ that much sooner.
Convinced that the Mayan spiritual traditions were the work of the devil, in July 1562, Landa burned five thousand native religious images and at least twenty-seven painted books filled with hieroglyph-like images.
Bishop Francisco de Toral finally stopped Landa's inquisition and sent him back to Spain, where, in 1564, he was tried for his excesses. He was eventually absolved of any misdeeds. As he waited for his case to be resolved, Landa wrote Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, now considered an authority on Mayan customs and language. The book would not be published for another three hundred years, but in the 20th century, Landa's work provided a valuable record and important clues for modern day scholars trying to decipher Mayan writing. After Toral's death, Landa was sent back to the New World in 1573 and was ordained Bishop of the Yucatan, a position he held until his death at age 54.
The process of conversion was described by Landa:
"Que los vicios de los indios eran idolatrías y repudios y borracheras públicas y vender y comprar esclavos; y que por apartarlos de estas cosas vinieron a aborrecer a los frailes; pero que entre los españoles los que más fatigaron a los religiosos, aunque encubiertamente, fueron los sacerdotes mayas, como gente que había perdido su oficio y los provechos de él
...
Que la manera que se tuvo para adoctrinar a los indios fue recoger a los hijos pequeños de los señores y gente más principal, poniéndolos en torno de los monasterios en casas que cada pueblo hacía para los suyos, donde estaban juntos todos los de cada lugar, cuyos padres y parientes les traían de comer; y con estos niños se recogían los que venían a la doctrina, y con tal frecuentación muchos, con devoción, pidieron el bautismo; y estos niños, después de enseñados, tenían cuidado de avisar a los frailes de las idolatrías y borracheras y rompían los ídolos aunque fuesen de sus padres, y exhortaban a las repudiadas; y a los huérfanos, si los hacían esclavos (los encomenderos o los mismos indios, decían) que se quejasen a los frailes y aunque fueron amenazados por los suyos, no por eso cesaban, antes respondían que les hacían honra pues era por el bien de sus almas
...
Que estando esta gente instruída en la religión y los mozos aprovechados, como dijimos, fueron pervertidos por los sacerdotes mayas que en su idolatría tenían y por los señores, y tornaron a idolatrar y hacer sacrificios no sólo de sahumerios sino de sangre humana, sobre lo cual los frailes hicieron inquisición y pidieron la ayuda del alcalde mayor prendiendo a muchos y haciéndoles procesos; y se celebró un auto (de fe) en que se pusieron muchos cadalsos encorozados. (Algunos indios fueron) azotados y trasquilados y algunos ensambenitados por algún tiempo; y otros, de tristeza, engañados por el demonio, se ahorcaron, y en común mostraron todos mucho arrepentimiento y voluntad de ser buenos cristianos
...
La pena del homicida aunque fuese casual, era morir por insidias de los parientes, o si no, pagar el muerto. El hurto pagaban y castigaban aunque fuese pequeño, con hacer esclavos y por eso hacian tantos esclavos, principalmente en tiempo de hambre, y por eso fue que nosotros los frailes tanto trabajamos en el bautismo: para que les diesen libertad.
....
Las mujeres son cortas en sus razonamientos y no acostumbran a negociar por sí (mismas), especialmente si son pobres, y por eso los señores se mofaban de los frailes que daban oído a pobres y ricos sin distinción.
"
The tense relation between friars and conquistadores was never really easy, as Landa described on his tale:
"Que los españoles tomaban pesar de ver que los frailes hiciesen monasterios y ahuyentaban a los hijos de los indios de sus repartimientos, para que no viniesen a la doctrina; y quemaron dos veces el monasterio de Valladolid con su iglesia, que era de madera y paja; tanto que fue necesario a los frailes irse a vivir entre los indios...
...
Que los frailes viendo este peligro enviaron al muy singular juez Cerrato, Presidente de Guatemala, un religioso que le diese cuenta de lo que pasaba, y visto el desorden y mala cristiandad de los españoles que se llevaban absolutamente los tributos y cuanto podían sin orden del rey (y obligaban a los indios) al servicio personal en todo género de trabajo, hasta alquilarlos para llevar cargas, proveyó cierta tasación, harto larga aunque pasadera, en que señalaba qué cosas eran del indio después de pagado el tributo a su encomendero, y que no fuese todo absolutamente del español. (Los encomenderos) suplicaron de esto y con temor de la tasa sacaban a los indios más que hasta allí, y entonces los frailes tornaron a la Audiencia y reclamaron en España e hicieron tanto que la Audiencia de Guatemala envió a un Oidor, el cual tasó la tierra y quitó el servicio personal e hizo casar a algunos, quitándoles las casas que tenían llenas de mujeres.
....
Que los indios recibían pesadamente el yugo de la servidumbre, mas los españoles tenían bien repartidos los pueblos que abrazaban la tierra, aunque no faltaba entre los indios quien los alterase, sobre lo cual se hicieron castigos muy crueles que fueron causa de que apocase la gente. Quemaron vivos a algunos principales de la provincia de Cupul y ahorcaron a otros. Hízose información contra los de Yobain, pueblo de los Cheles, y prendieron a la gente principal y, en cepos, la metieron en una casa a la que prendieron fuego abrasándola viva con la mayor inhumanidad del mundo, y dice este Diego de Landa que él vio un gran árbol cerca del pueblo en el cual un capitán ahorcó muchas mujeres indias en sus ramas y de los pies de ellas a los niños, sus hijos. Y en este mismo pueblo y en otro que se dice Verey, a dos leguas de él, ahorcaron a dos indias, una doncella y la otra recién casada, no porque tuvieran culpa sino porque eran muy hermosas y temían que se revolviera el real de los españoles sobre ellas y para que mirasen los indios que a los españoles no les importaban las mujeres; de estas dos hay mucha memoria entre indios y españoles por su gran hermosura y por la crueldad con que las mataron.
...
Que se alteraron los indios de la provincia de Cochua y Chectemal y los españoles los apaciguaron de tal manera que, siendo esas dos provincial las más pobladas y llenas de gente, quedaron las más desventuradas de toda aquella tierra. Hicieron (en los indios) crueldades inauditas (pues les) cortaron narices, brazos y piernas, y a las mujeres los pechos y las echaban en lagunas hondas con calabazas atadas a los pies; daban estocadas a los niños porque no andaban tanto como las madres, y si los llevaban en colleras y enfermaban, o no andaban tanto como los otros, cortábanles las cabezas por no pararse a soltarlos. Y trajeron gran número de mujeres y hombres cautivos para su servicio con semejantes tratamientos. Se afirma que don Francisco de Montejo no hizo ninguna de estas crueldades ni se halló en ellas, antes bien le parecieron muy mal, pero que no pudo (evitarlas).
...
por otra parte tenían razón los indios al defender su libertad y confiar en los capitanes muy valientes que tenían para entre ellos y pensaban que así serían contra los españoles.
"
Maya Architecture
At the heart of the Maya city existed the large plazas surrounded by their most valued governmental and religious buildings such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples and occasionally ballcourts. Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that they were constructed in accordance with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the stars.
Often the most important religious temples sat atop the towering Maya pyramids, believed to be the closest place to the heavens.
Landa wrote:
"Si Yucatán hubiere de cobrar nombre y reputación con muchedumbre, grandeza y hermosura de edificios como lo han alcanzado otras partes de las Indias, con oro, plata y riquezas, ella hubiera extendidose tanto como el Perú y la Nueva España, porque es así en esto de edificios y muchedumbre de ellos, la más señalada cosa de cuantas hasta hoy en las Indias se han descubierto, porque son tantos las partes donde los hay y tan bien edificados de cantería....
...En esta tierra no se ha hallado hasta ahora ningún género de metal que ella de suyo tenga, y espanta (que) no habiendo con qué, se hayan labrado tantos edificios porque no dan los indios razón de las herramientas con que se labraron"
Maya Art
The lay-out of the Maya towns and cities, and more particularly of the ceremonial centers where the royal families and courtiers resided, is characterized by the rhythm of immense horizontal stucco floors of plazas often located at various levels, connected by broad and often steep stairs, and surmounted by temple pyramids.
A common form of Maya stone sculpture was the stela. These were large, elongated stone slabs covered with carvings, often with round altars in front. Typical of the Classical period, most of them depict the rulers of the cities they were located in, often disguised as gods. The stelae almost always contain hieroglyphic texts, which have been critical to determining the significance and history of Maya sites.
Maya art of their Classic Era (c. 250 to 900 CE) is of a high level of aesthetic and artisanal sophistication. The carvings and the reliefs made of stucco at Palenque and the statuary of Copán, show a grace and accurate observation of the human form that reminded early archaeologists of Classical civilizations of the Old World, hence the name bestowed on this era. We have only hints of the advanced painting of the classic Maya; mostly what has survived are funerary pottery and other Maya ceramics, and a building at Bonampak holds ancient murals that survived by chance.
The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World which is known to represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than a thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in use, some 200 of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.
At a rough estimate, in excess of 10,000 individual texts have so far been recovered, mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramic pottery. The Maya also produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark, in particular from several species of strangler fig trees such as Ficus cotinifolia and Ficus padifolia. The inscriptions on the stelae mainly record the dynasties and wars of the sites' rulers. Also of note are the inscriptions that reveal information about the lives of ancient Maya women. Much of the remainder of Maya hieroglyphics has been found on funeral pottery, most of which describes the afterlife.
Shortly after the conquest, all of the codices which could be found were ordered to be burnt and destroyed by zealous Spanish priests, notably Bishop Diego de Landa. Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas lamented that when found, such books were destroyed:
"These books were seen by our clergy, and even I saw part of those that were burned by the monks, apparently because they thought [they] might harm the Indians in matters concerning religion, since at that time they were at the beginning of their conversion."
Only three reasonably intact examples of Maya codices are known to have survived through to the present day. These are now known as the Madrid, Dresden, and Paris codices. A few pages survive from a fourth, the Grolier codex, whose authenticity is sometimes disputed, but mostly is held to be genuine.
Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts. Maya art often depicts rulers with trappings indicating they were scribes or at least able to write, such as having pen bundles in their headdresses. Additionally, many rulers have been found in conjunction with writing tools such as shell or clay inkpots. Although the number of logograms and syllabic symbols required to fully write the language numbered in the hundreds, literacy was not necessarily widespread beyond the elite classes.
Madrid codice: This codex was likely written after Spanish arrival, and was the result of hastily absorbed imagery and text from several sources. It is in the Museo de América in Madrid, Spain, where it may have been sent back to the Royal Court by Hernán Cortés. There are 112 pages, which got split up into two separate sections, known as the Troano Codex and the Cortesianus Codex. These were re-united in 1888. This Codex's provenance has been suggested to be Tayasal, the last Maya city to be conquered in 1697.
The Dresden Codex (Codex Dresdensis): It is held in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek (SLUB), the state library in Dresden, Germany. It is the most elaborate of the codices, and also a highly important work of art. Many sections are ritualistic (including so-called 'almanacs'), others are of an astrological nature (eclipses, the Venus cycles). The codex is written on a long sheet of paper that is 'screen-folded' to make a book of 39 leaves, written on both sides. It was probably written before the Spanish conquest, experts agree today, that originally came from Chichen Itza during the post-classical Maya period, in 1250 A. C.. Somehow it made its way to Europe and was bought by the royal library of the court of Saxony in Dresden in 1739. The only exact replica, including the huun, made by a German artist is displayed at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología in Guatemala City, since October, 2007. The Dresden Codex contains astronomical tables of outstanding accuracy. It is most famous for its Lunar Series and Venus table. The lunar series has intervals correlating with eclipses. The Venus Table correlates with the apparent movements of the planet. The codex also contains almanacs, astronomical and astrological tables, and ritual schedules. There are six pages in the Dresden Codex devoted to the accurate calculation of the location of Venus. The Maya were able to achieve such accuracy by careful observation over many centuries. The Venus cycle was especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with war and used it to divine appropriate times (electional astrology) for coronations and war. Venus was often referred to as both "The Morning Star" and "The Evening Star" because of its visibility during both times. Maya rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya may have also tracked the movements of other planets, including Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter.
The Paris Codex (also or formerly the Codex Peresianus) contains prophecies for tuns and katuns (see Maya Calendar), as well as a Maya zodiac, and is thus, in both respects, akin to the Books of Chilam Balam. The codex first appeared in 1832 as an acquisition of France's Bibliothèque Impériale (later the Bibliothèque Nationale, or National Library) in Paris. Three years later the first reproduction drawing of it was prepared for Lord Kingsborough, by his Lombardian artist Agostino Aglio. The original drawing is now lost, but a copy survives among some of Kingsborough's unpublished proof sheets, held in collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Although occasionally referred to over the next quarter-century, its permanent "rediscovery" is attributed to the French orientalist León de Rosny, who in 1859 recovered the codex from a basket of old papers sequestered in a chimney corner at the Bibliothèque Nationale where it had lain discarded and apparently forgotten. As a result, it is in very poor condition. It was found wrapped in a paper with the word Pérez written on it, possibly a reference to the Jose Pérez who had published two brief descriptions of the then-anonymous codex in 1859. De Rosny initially gave it the name Codex Peresianus ("Codex Pérez") after its identifying wrapper, but in due course the codex would be more generally known as the Paris Codex. De Rosny published a facsimile edition of the codex in 1864. It remains in the possession of the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Other sources about the Mayas from the early-colonial (16th-century) period are for example the Popol Vuh, the Ritual of the Bacabs, and (at least in part) the various Chilam Balam books.
- Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic K'iche' kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People." Popol Vuh's prominent features are its creation myth, its diluvian suggestion, its epic tales of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and its genealogies. The myth begins with the exploits of anthropomorphic ancestors and concludes with a regnal genealogy, perhaps as an assertion of divine right rule. Popol Vuh's fortuitous survival is attributable to the 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez.
In 1701, Father Ximénez came to Santo Tomás Chichicastenango (also known as Santo Tomás Chuilá). This town was in the Quiché territory and therefore is probably where Fr. Ximénez first redacted the mythistory. Ximénez transcribed and translated the manuscript in parallel K'iche' and Spanish columns (the K'iche' having been represented phonetically with Latin and Parra characters). In or around 1714, Ximénez incorporated the Spanish content in book one, chapters 2-21 of his Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la orden de predicadores. Ximénez's manuscripts remained posthumously in the possession of the Dominican Order until General Francisco Morazán expelled the clerics from Guatemala in 1829–30 whereupon the Order's documents passed largely to the Universidad de San Carlos.
From 1852 to 1855, Moritz Wagner and Carl Scherzer traveled to Central America, arriving in Guatemala City in early May 1854. Scherzer found Ximénez's writings in the university library, noting that there was one particular item "del mayor interes" ('of greater interest'). With assistance from the Guatemalan historian and archivist Juan Gavarrete, Scherzer copied (or had a copy made) of the Spanish content from the last half of the manuscript, which he published upon his return to Europe. In 1855, French Abbot Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg also found Ximénez's writings in the university library. However, whereas Scherzer copied the manuscript, Brasseur apparently "absconded" with the university's volume and took it back to France. After Brasseur's death in 1874, the Mexico-Guatémalienne collection containing Popol Vuh passed to Alphonse Pinart through whom it was sold to Edward E. Ayer. In 1897, Ayer decided to donate his 17,000 pieces to The Newberry Library, a project that tarried until 1911. Father Ximénez's transcription-translation of "Popol Vuh" was among Ayer's donated items. Father Ximénez's manuscript sank into obscurity until Adrián Recinos (re)discovered it at The Newberry (in Chicago) in 1941.
Contemporary archaeologists (first of all Michael D. Coe) have found depictions of characters and episodes from Popol Vuh on Maya ceramics and other art objects:
- The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial K’iche’ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. The Hero Twins were Xbalanque and Hunahpu (Modern K'iche': Xb‘alanke and Junajpu) who were ballplayers like their father and uncle, Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the K’iche’ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas (200-900 AD). The Twin motif recurs in many native American mythologies; the Mayan Twins in particular could be considered as mythical ancestors to the Mayan ruling lineages. Summoned to Xibalba by the Lords of the Underworld, the father and uncle were defeated and sacrificed. Hun-Hunahpu's head was suspended in a trophy tree and changed to a calabash. Its spittle (i.e., the juice of the calabash) impregnated a daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, Xquic. She fled the underworld and conceived the Twins. The two sons were engendered (by the seed of the dead father). The pregnant mother fled from Xibalba. The sons - or 'Twins' - grew up to avenge their father, and after many trials, finally defeated the lords of the Underworld in the ballgame:
Every day the twins played ball against the gods, just managing to hold their own. A loss would cost them their lives. Each night they faced other dangers in the houses where they slept: the Dark House, Razor House, Jaguar House. They escaped with cunning and the help of forest creatures—until the night in the Bat House, where snatcher bats flew. The boys slept inside the tubes of their blowguns for protection, but Hunahpú stuck his head out too soon and was decapitated. The next day, the gods used Hunahpú’s head in place of the ball. Xbalanqué was able to trick them, however, and reunite his brother’s head and body. In the end, it was the gods who lost that game.
Bartolomé de las Casas described Xbalanque as having entered the underworld as a war leader. His description refers to the Kekchi town of Carcha. Xbalanque is also the name given to the male protagonist in earlier variants of the Kekchi myth of Sun and Moon, where he is hunting for deer (a metaphor for making captives), and capturing the daughter of the Earth Deity. With Xibalba defeated and the arrogant gods disposed of, Hunahpu and Xbalanque had one final act to accomplish. They returned to the Xibalban ballcourt and retrieved the buried remains of their father, One Hunahpu, and attempted to rebuild him. Although his body was made whole again he was not the same, and was unable to function as he once did. The twins left their father there in the ballcourt, but before doing so told him that he would be prayed to by those who sought hope, and this eased his heart. . Then finished, the pair departed Xibalba and climbed back up to the surface of the Earth. They did not stop there, however, and continued climbing straight on up into the sky. One became the Sun, the other became the Moon.
- Howler Monkey Gods: The howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts - including music - and a patron of the artisans among the Classic Mayas, especially of the scribes and sculptors. As such, his sphere of influence overlapped with that of the Tonsured Maize God. The monkey patrons - there are often two of them - have been depicted on Classic vases in the act of writing books (while stereotypically holding an ink nap) and carving human heads.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, the howler monkeys continued to be venerated, although the role they played in mythological narratives diverged. According to the Popol Vuh, Hun-Chowen and Hun-Batz 'One-Howler Monkey' (both artists and musicians) clashed with their stepbrothers, the Maya Hero Twins, a conflict which led to their humiliating transformation into monkeys.
- Vucub-Caquix (perhaps meaning "Seven-Macaw") is a bird demon pretending to be the sun and moon of the twilight world in between the former creation and the present one. He is husband to Chimalmat, and father to the two earthquake demons, Cabracan and Zipacna. According to modern Quiché's, his name refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper asterism. The false sun-moon, Vucub Caquix, was shot out of his tree with a blowgun by Hun-Ahpu, one of the Maya Hero Twins, but still managed to sever the hero's arm. Finally, however, the demon was deprived of his teeth, his eyes, his riches, and his power. Together, the Twins were to become the true sun and moon of the present creation. The episode is only loosely connected to the main tale of the Twins, and is varied by other Mesoamerican hero myths.
- Ritual of the Bacabs is the name given to a manuscript from the Yucatán containing shamanistic incantations written in the Yucatec Maya language. The manuscript was given its name by Mayanist William E. Gates due to the frequent mentioning of the Maya deities known as the Bacabs The manuscript has been dated at the end of the 18th Century, though this is not certain. The style of writing in the manuscript suggests that much of the information included was copied from older works. The work references many figures in Maya mythology who are for the most part unknown from other works.
The manuscript was discovered in the winter of 1914-1915 by Frederic J. Smith through unknown circumstances. William Gates acquired soon after, and gave it the name it is known by today. Athlete Robert Garrett purchased it from Gates in 1930. In 1942, Garrett gave it to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.
Ritual of the Bacabs includes some forty-two main incantations, with fragmentary supplements throughout. Most of the manuscript is written in the same hand. In his translation, Ralph L. Roys referred to this main writer as the "Bacabs hand."
Ritual of the Bacabs is filled with symbolism that has long since lost its significance and meaning.
Many plants, birds, and insects, all clothed in symbolism and allusions to lost mythology, are important features...even in translation the incantations are very hard to comprehend.
- Chilam Balam: The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 17th and 18th-centuries Maya miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Maya and early Spanish traditions have coalesced. Written in the Yucatec Mayan language and using the Latin alphabet, the manuscripts are attributed to a legendary author called Chilam Balam, a chilam being a priest who gives prophecies and balam a common surname meaning 'jaguar'. Some of the texts actually contain prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatán while mentioning a chilam Balam as their first author.
Nine Books of Chilam Balam are known, most importantly those from Chumayel, Mani, and Tizimin, but many more have existed. Both language and content show that parts of the books date back to the time of the Spanish conquest of the Yucatec kingdoms (1527–1546). Taken together, the Books of Chilam Balam give the fullness of 18th-century Yucatec-Maya spiritual life. Whereas the medical texts and chronicles are quite matter-of-fact, the riddles and prognostications make abundant use of traditional Mayan metaphors.
Decipherment of the Mayan writing
The decipherment of the writing was a long and laborious process. 19th century and early 20th century investigators managed to decode the Maya numbers and portions of the texts related to astronomy and the Maya calendar, but understanding of most of the rest long eluded scholars. In the 1930s, Benjamin Whorf wrote a number of published and unpublished essays, proposing to identify phonetic elements within the writing system. Although some specifics of his decipherment claims were later shown to be incorrect, the central argument of his work, that Maya hieroglyphs were phonetic (or more specifically, syllabic), was later supported by the work of Yuri Knorozov, who played a major role in deciphering Maya writing. Sometime in the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin, that Knorozov is supposed to have by chance retrieved a book which would spark his later interest in and association with deciphering the Maya script: Knorozov managed to retrieve from a Berlin library a book, which remarkably enough turned out to be a rare edition containing reproductions of the three Maya codices which were then known—the Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices. In 1952, Knorozov published the paper "Ancient Writing of Central America" arguing that the so-called "de Landa alphabet" contained in Bishop Diego de Landa's manuscript Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán was actually made of syllabic, rather than alphabetic symbols. He further improved his decipherment technique in his 1963 monograph "The Writing of the Maya Indians" and published translations of Maya manuscripts in his 1975 work "Maya Hieroglyphic Manuscripts". In the 1960s, progress revealed the dynastic records of Maya rulers. Since the early 1980s it has been demonstrated that most of the previously unknown symbols form a syllabary, and progress in reading the Maya writing has advanced rapidly since.
Knorozov's key insight was to treat the Maya glyphs represented in de Landa's alphabet not as an alphabet, but rather as a syllabary. He was perhaps not the first to propose a syllabic basis for the script, but his arguments and evidence were the most compelling to date. He maintained that when de Landa had commanded of his informant to write the equivalent of the Spanish letter "b" (for example), the Maya scribe actually produced the glyph which corresponded to the syllable, /be/, as spoken by de Landa. Knorozov did not actually put forward many new transcriptions based on his analysis, nevertheless he maintained that this approach was the key to understanding the script. In effect, the de Landa "alphabet" was to become almost the "Rosetta stone" of Mayan decipherment.
Mathematics
In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) and base 5 numbering system (see Maya numerals). Also, the preclassic Maya and their neighbors had independently developed the concept of zero by 36 BC. Inscriptions show them on occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation.
Calendar
The Mayans had three different calendars. The Tzolkin or Tzolk'in for religious purposes had 260 days. Then a solar type calendar called Haab with 365 days (18 months with 20 days each, plus 5 nameless days at the end of the year, and the Long Count calendar to track long periods of time and was used for inscription of calendar dates. So you are looking at 3 different calendars.
In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya had measured the length of the solar year to a high degree of accuracy, far more accurately than that used in Europe as the basis of the Gregorian calendar. They did not use this figure for the length of year in their calendars, however; the calendars they used were crude, being based on a year length of exactly 365 days, which means that the calendar falls out of step with the seasons by one day every four years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, used in Europe from Roman times until about the 16th Century, accumulated an error of only one day every 128 years. The modern Gregorian calendar is even more accurate, accumulating only a day's error in approximately 3257 years. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin: A total of 13 numbered days (representing a half period of the Moon) simultaneously with the 20 named days. The exact origin of the Tzolk'in is not known, but there are several theories. One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya. The numbers multiplied together equal 260. Another theory is that the 260-day period came from the length of human pregnancy. There are other theories...
In 1492 BC another calendar was introduced, called the "Haab," consisting of 20 numbered days rotating through 18 named "months," which totalled 360 days. The Haab was adjusted in 747 BC to add 5 extra days (a short month), so that the calendar then totalled 365 days. The Haab' was the Maya solar calendar made up of eighteen months of twenty days each plus a period of five days ("nameless days") at the end of the year known as Wayeb' (or Uayeb in 16th C. orthography). The five days of Wayeb', were thought to be a dangerous time. Foster (2002) writes, "During Wayeb, portals between the mortal realm and the Underworld dissolved. No boundaries prevented the ill-intending deities from causing disasters."
Maya mythology
The oldest written myths date from the 16th century and are found in historical sources from the Guatemalan Highlands. The most important of these documents is the Popol Vuh or 'Book of the Council', which contains Quichean creation stories and some of the adventures of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.
Yucatán is an equally important region. The Books of Chilam Balam contain mythological passages of great antiquity, and mythological fragments are found scattered among the early-colonial Spanish chronicles and reports, chief among them Diego de Landa's Relación, and in the dictionaries compiled by the early missionaries. The Popol Vuh describes the creation of the earth by the wind of the sea and sky, as well as its sequel. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel relates the collapse of the sky and the deluge, followed by the raising of the sky and the erection of the five World Trees. The Lacandons also knew the tale of the creation of the Underworld. The Popol Vuh gives a sequence of four efforts at creation: First were animals, then wet clay, wood, then last, the creation of the first ancestors from maize dough. To this, the Lacandons add the creation of the main kin groupings and their 'totemic' animals. The creation of humankind is concluded by the Mesoamerican tale of the opening of the Maize (or Sustenance) Mountain by the Lightning deities.
The best-known hero myth is about the defeat of a bird demon and of the deities of disease and death by the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Of equal importance is the parallel narrative of a maize hero defeating the deities of Thunder and Lightning and establishing a pact with them.
Maya society
A Classic period Maya polity was a small kingdom (ajawil, ajawlel, ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler – ajaw, later k’uhul ajaw.
Such kingdoms were usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several dependent towns (similar to a city-state). There were also larger polities that controlled larger territories and subjugated smaller polities; the extensive systems controlled by Tikal and Caracol serve as examples of these.
Each kingdom had its name that did not necessarily correspond to any locality within its territory. Its identity was that of a political unit associated with a particular ruling dynasty.
De Landa wrote:
"Los señores regían el pueblo concertando los litigios, ordenando y concertando las cosas de sus repúblicas, todo lo cual hacían por manos de los más principales, que eran muy obedecidos y estimados
...
Si moría el señor, aunque le sucediese el hijo mayor, eran siempre los demás hijos muy acatados y ayudados y tenidos por señores."
Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts and had their own patron deities. They are likely to have come from aristocratic families. One must assume that some scribes were attached to the royal house, while others were serving at temples and were, perhaps, counted among the priests. It seems likely that they were organized hierarchically.
The Mayas employed warfare in each period of their development for the purposes of obtaining sacrificial victims, settling competitive rivalries, acquiring critical resources and gaining control of trade routes. Warfare was important to the Maya religion, because raids on surrounding areas provided the victims required for human sacrifice, as well as slaves for the construction of temples. Large-scale battles were also fought to determine and defend territories as well as secure economic power. The Mayas defended their cities with defensive structures such as palisades, gateways, and earthworks.
Landa wrote:
"Que salidos los españoles de Yucatán faltó el agua en la tierra y que por haber gastado sin orden su maíz en las guerras de los españoles, les sobrevino gran hambre; tanta, que vinieron a comer cortezas de árboles, en especial uno que llaman cumché, que es fofo y blando por dentro. Que por esta hambre, los Xiues, que son los señores de Mani, acordaron hacer un sacrificio solemne a los ídolos llevando ciertos esclavos y esclavas a echar en el pozo de Chichenizá (Chi Chheen Itza). Mas como habían de pasar por el pueblo de los señores Cocomes, sus capitales enemigos, y pensando que en tal tiempo se renovarían las viejas pasiones, les enviaron a rogar que los dejasen pasar por su tierra. Los Cocomes los engañaron con buena respuesta y dándoles posada a todos juntos en una gran casa les pegaron fuego y mataron a los que escapaban; y por esto hubo grandes guerras."
Warfare was a ritual process, believed to be sanctioned by the gods. Military leaders, in many instances, also had religious authority. Before going into battle, the armies would call upon the gods with dances and music of drums, whistles, conch shell horns and singing. The drumming and war cries would signify the start of the battle. The armies also carried religious idols into battle to inspire the warriors. They fought fiercely because they believed that death on the battle field secured them eternal bliss, whereas capture by the enemy was regarded as worse than any death. When an enemy was defeated, the victorious army exploited the religious icons and sometimes humiliated the defeated leader with prolonged captivity. The treatment of prisoners by the victorious was brutal and often ending in decapitation. The Maya also had a ritual of giving blood. The reason that they gave blood was to show respect to their gods. They gave blood from their genitals and tongue. Afterwards, they would drip their blood onto a piece of paper and burn it into the sky to show respect to their gods.
Maya marriages were frequently arranged by matchmakers, and the father of the groom had to approve the match. The bride and groom were required to have different surnames to ensure that they were not from the same lineage. A dowry was required from the groom’s family, which consisted of clothing and household articles for the bride and groom. Marriage ceremonies were performed by a priest in the home of the bride’s father. After the ceremony, the newlyweds lived with the bride's parents for 6-7 years. The groom was required to work for the family during this time as a form of payment for receiving his wife. The married couple then built a permanent home next to the husband’s parents and lived there until death. Couples were usually monogamous, with the exception of wealthy nobles who practiced polygamy. Divorces were permitted by simply leaving the relationship, and usually occurred when one of the parties was infertile or not carrying out his or her family responsibilities. Widowers and widows were required to remain single for one year after the death of their spouses, and could then remarry without a formal ceremony.
Landa wrote:
"Que antiguamente se casaban de 20 años y ahora de 12 o 13 y por eso ahora se repudian más fácilmente, como que se casan sin amor e ignorantes de la vida matrimonial y del oficio de casados; y si los padres no podían persuadirlos de que volviesen con ellas, buscábanles otras y otras. Con la misma facilidad dejaban los hombres con hijos a sus mujeres, sin temor de que otro las tomase por mujeres o después volver a ellas; pero con todo eso son muy celosos y no llevan a paciencia que sus mujeres no sean honestas; y ahora, en vista de que los españoles, sobre eso, matan a las suyas, empiezan a maltratarlas y aun a matarlas. Si cuando repudiaban (a sus mujeres) los hijos eran niños, dejábanlos a las madres; si grandes los varones, con los padres, y (si) hembras, con las madres. Que aunque era tan común y familiar cosa repudiar, los ancianos y de mejores costumbres lo tenían por malo y muchos había que nunca habían tenido sino una (mujer) la cual ninguno tomaba (en la familia) del padre, porque era cosa muy fea entre ellos
...
Los padres tienen mucho cuidado de buscarles con tiempo a sus hijos, mujeres de estado y condición, y si podían, en el mismo lugar; y poquedad era entre ellos buscar las mujeres para sí, y los padres casamiento para sus hijas
...
Venido el día se juntaban en casa del padre de la novia y allí, aparejada la comida, venían los convidados y el sacerdote y reunidos los casados y consuegros trataba el sacerdote cuadrarles y si lo habían mirado bien los suegros y si les estaba bien; y así le daban su mujer al mozo esa noche si era para ello y luego se hacía la comida y convite y de ahí en adelante quedaba el yerno en casa del suegro, trabajando cinco o seis años para el mismo suegro; y si no lo hacía echábanle de la casa. Las madres trabajaban para que la mujer diese siempre de comer al marido en señal de casamiento. Los viudos y viudas se concertaban sin fiesta ni solemnidad y con sólo ir ellos a casa de ellas y admitirlos y darles de comer se hacía el casamiento; de lo cual nacía que (las mujeres) se dejaban con tanta facilidad como se tomaban.
"
Maya religion
The traditional Mayas believe in the existence, within each individual, of various souls, usually described in quasi-material terms (such as 'shadow', 'breath', 'blood', and 'bone'). The loss of one or more souls results in specific diseases (generically called 'soul-loss', 'fright', or susto). In Classic Maya texts, certain glyphs are read as references to the soul. Much more is known about the so-called 'co-essences', that is, animals or other natural phenomena (comets, lightning) linked with the individual (usually a male) and protecting him. In some cases (often connected to black sorcery), one can change into co-essences acting like a sort of 'werewolves' (see also nagual).
The Yucatec Maya had a double concept of the afterlife: Evildoers descended into an underworld (metnal) to be tormented there (a view still held by the 20th-century Lacandons), while others, such as those led by the goddess Ixtab, went to a sort of paradise. The ancestors of Maya kings (Palenque tomb of Pakal, Berlin pot) are shown sprouting from the earth like fruit trees which, together, constitute a blissful orchard. The so-called 'Flower Mountain' has more specifically been interpreted as a reference to an aquatic and solar paradise. To judge by the marine faunal remains found in Classic tombs and by the aquatic imagery used for the depiction of ancestors, this sea paradise may have been the Maya variant of the rain god's paradise (Tlalocan) in Central Mexican religion
The Maya had a baptismal rite. The Baptism took place when there were a number of boys and girls between the ages of three and twelve in the village.
Landa wrote:
"Lo que pensaban (que) recibian en el (bautismo) era una propia disposición para ser buenos en sus costumbres y no ser dañados por los demonios en las cosas temporales, y venir, mediante él y su buena vida, a conseguir la gloria que ellos esperaban, en la cual, según en la de Mahoma, habían de usar de manjares y bebidas.
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...Mesoamerica
Olmec
Zapotec
Teotihuacan
Toltec
Maya Civilization
Aztec
Mesoamerica (Spanish: Mesoamérica) is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries
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| Main pre-Columbian societies |
[Xolos were considered sacred dogs by the Aztecs (and also Toltecs, Maya and some other groups) because they believed the dogs were needed by their masters’ souls to help them safely through the underworld, and also they were useful companion animals.The Xolo dog is native to Mexico. Archaeological evidence shows that the breed has existed in Mexico for more than 3,000 years. When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, his journal entries noted the presence of strange hairless dogs. Subsequently, Xolos were transported back to Europe
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| The Xolo is native to Mexico. Archaeological evidence shows that the breed has existed in Mexico for more than 3,000 year |
While Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
Olmec
The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's Formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.
The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads".The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking. It is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers
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| Olmec colossal heads |
The "Olmec heartland" is an archaeological term used to describe an area in the Gulf lowlands that is generally considered the birthplace of the Olmec culture. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and volcanoes.
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| The Olmec heartland where the Olmec reigned from 1400 - 400 BCE |
What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, where distinctive Olmec features occurred around 1400 BCE. The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization: the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys, and Mesopotamia.
The first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers, with certain important rivers changing course.
Scholars have not determined the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century
In addition to making human and human-like subjects, Olmec artisans were adept at animal portrayals, for example, the fish vessel to the right or the bird vessel in the gallery below.
At the El Manatí site, disarticulated skulls and femurs, as well as the complete skeletons of newborn or unborn children, have been discovered amidst the other offerings, leading to speculation concerning infant sacrifice. Scholars have not determined how the infants met their deaths. Some authors have associated infant sacrifice with Olmec ritual art showing limp were-jaguar babies, most famously in La Venta's Altar 5 (on the right) or Las Limas figure.
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| Altar 5 from La Venta. The inert were-jaguar baby held by the central figure is seen by some as an indication of child sacrifice.In the surviving Olmec archaeological record, jaguars are rarely portrayed naturalistically, but rather with a combination of feline and human characteristics. These feline anthropomorphic figures may range from a human figure with slight jaguar characteristics to depictions of shamanistic transformations in the so-called transformative pose, kneeling with hands on knees, to figures that are nearly completely feline. |
The Mesoamerican ballgame or o-llamaliztli (hispanized as Ulama) in Nahuatl was a sport with ritual associations played since 1,400 B.C. by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mexico and Central America. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population.
The rules of the ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals (see photo to right) are a late addition to the game.
In the most widespread version of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.
The game had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice.
Games were played between two teams of players. The number of players per team could vary, between 2 to 4. Some games were played on makeshift courts for simple recreation while others were formal spectacles on huge stone ballcourts leading to human sacrifice.
Even without human sacrifice, the game could be brutal and there were often serious injuries inflicted by the solid, heavy ball. Today's hip-ulama players are "perpetually bruised" while nearly 500 years ago Spanish chronicler Diego Durán reported that some bruises were so severe that they had to be lanced open. He also reported that players were even killed when the ball "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines"
The ballgame was played within a large masonry structure. Built in a form that changed remarkably little during 2700 years, over 1300 Mesoamerican ballcourts have been identified, 60% in the last 20 years alone
The ballgame was a ritual deeply engrained in Mesoamerican cultures and served purposes beyond that of a mere sporting event. Fray Juan de Torquemada, a 16th century Spanish missionary and historian, tells that the Aztec emperor Axayacatl played Xihuitlemoc, the leader of Xochimilco, wagering his annual income against several Xochimilco chinampas.Ixtlilxochitl, a contemporary of Torquemada, relates that Topiltzin, the Toltec king, played against 3 rivals, the winner was to rule all
The association between human sacrifice and the ballgame appears rather late in the archaeological record, no earlier than the Classic era. The association was particularly strong within the Classic Veracruz and the Maya cultures, where the most explicit depictions of human sacrifice can be seen on the ballcourt panels – for example at El Tajin (850-1100 CE) and at Chichen Itza (900-1200 CE) – as well as on the well-known decapitated ballplayer stelae from the Classic Veracruz site of Aparicio (700-900 CE).
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| One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin, showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer |
Captives were often shown in Maya art, and it is assumed that these captives were sacrificed after losing a rigged ritual ballgame. Rather than nearly nude and sometimes battered captives, however, the ballcourts at El Tajin and Chichen Itza show the sacrifice of practiced ballplayers, perhaps the captain of a team. Decapitation is particularly associated with the ballgame – severed heads are featured in much Late Classic ballgame art and appear repeatedly in the Popol Vuh. There has even been speculation that the heads and skulls were used as balls
For the Aztecs the playing of the ballgame also had religious significance, but where the 16th-century K´iche´ Maya saw the game as a battle between the lords of the underworld and their earthly adversaries
Zapotec
The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica.
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| Valley of Oxaca |
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals.
At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population of perhaps 125,000 or more, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. Teotihuacan began as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the New World. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is debated. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the Florentine Codex, which attributed the site to the Toltecs. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.
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| Teotihuacan location |
The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas. This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic to transport food from farms around the city.The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BC. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 AD
The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BC. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 AD
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| View of Dead Avenue from the Moon Pyramid |
The decline of Teotihuacan has been correlated to lengthy droughts related to the climate changes of 535-536 AD. This theory of ecological decline is supported by archaeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century.
The sudden destruction of Teotihuacan is turning out to be more typical of Mesoamerican city-states than once thought. Many Maya states would suffer similar fates in the coming centuries. Near by in the highlands, Xochicacolo would be sacked and burned in 900 CE and Tula would meet a similar fate around 1150 CE.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct quarters occupied by Otomi, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya and Nahua peoples. The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it. The Aztecs repeated that story, but it has not been corroborated by archaeological findings
Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice: human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper. Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military were also buried alive, imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.
Knowledge of the huge ruins of Teotihuacan was never completely lost. After the fall of the city, various squatters lived on the site. During Aztec times, the city was a place of pilgrimage and identified with the myth of Tollan, the place where the sun was created. Teotihuacan astonished the Spanish conquistadores during the post-conquest era.
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| Teotihuacan plan city |
Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city.
The city-state of Teotihuacan dominated the Valley of Mexico until the early eight century, but we know little of the political structure of the region because the Teotihuacaners left no written records.
Toltec
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca 800-1000 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization, indeed in the Nahuatl language the word "Toltec" came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec empire giving lists of rulers and their exploits.
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| Tula, Mexico |
While the skeptical school of thought does not deny that cultural traits of a seemingly central Mexican origin have diffused into a larger area of Mesoamerica, it tends to ascribe this to the dominance of Teotihuacán in the Classic period and the general diffusion of cultural traits within the region. Recent scholarship, then, does not see Tula, Hidalgo as the capital of the Toltecs of the Aztec accounts, but rather takes "Toltec" to mean simply an inhabitant of Tula during its apogee. Separating the term "Toltec" from those of the Aztec accounts, it attempts to find archaeological clues to the ethnicity, history and social organization of the inhabitants of Tula.
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| Tula ruins |
Maya Civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. 250 to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. 250 to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.
Preclassic Maya (1850 BC - 250 AD)
The first clearly Maya settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast. This period, known as the Early Preclassic, was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines
There is disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe–Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca, respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another.
Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala, is the only site where Olmec and then Maya features have been found.
Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands Kaminal Juyú emerged around 800 BC. For many centuries it controlled the Jade and Obsidian sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik Abaj, and Chocolá at around 600 BC were the main producers of Cacao.
During this period, the Olmec culture reached its zenith, centered around the capital of La Venta in modern-day Tobasco near the early Maya centers. Speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language, the Olmec are generally recognized as the first true civilization in the Americas.
The Preclassic "collapse" refers to the systematic decline and abandoning of the major Preclassic cities such as Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador in the 2nd century AD. A number of theories have been proposed to explain this "collapse", but there is as little consensus here as there is for the causes of the more famous "collapse" between the Classic and Postclassic periods.
There is disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe–Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca, respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another.
Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala, is the only site where Olmec and then Maya features have been found.
Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands Kaminal Juyú emerged around 800 BC. For many centuries it controlled the Jade and Obsidian sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik Abaj, and Chocolá at around 600 BC were the main producers of Cacao.
During this period, the Olmec culture reached its zenith, centered around the capital of La Venta in modern-day Tobasco near the early Maya centers. Speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language, the Olmec are generally recognized as the first true civilization in the Americas.
The Preclassic "collapse" refers to the systematic decline and abandoning of the major Preclassic cities such as Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador in the 2nd century AD. A number of theories have been proposed to explain this "collapse", but there is as little consensus here as there is for the causes of the more famous "collapse" between the Classic and Postclassic periods.
Classic period (250–900 AD)
The Classic period (c. 250–900 AD) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and a period of significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous independent city-states. This includes the well-known cities of Tikal, Palenque, Copán and Calakmul, but also the lesser known Dos Pilas, Uaxactun, Altun Ha, and Bonampak, among others. The Early Classic settlement distribution in the northern Maya lowlands is not as clearly known as the southern zone, but does include a number of population centers, such as Oxkintok, Chunchucmil, and the early occupation of Uxmal.
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| Major Maya sites |
The Late Classic period (beginning ca. AD 600 until AD 909) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal’s socio-political and economic power at the beginning. It was during this time that a number of other sites, therefore, rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán, Palenque, and Calakmul (who was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710 DC, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeated its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called Maya "collapse", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in the northern lowlands.
Generally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between AD 800/850 and ca. AD 1000. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands, so named after the hills in which they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the "Puuc architectural style") that represents a technological departure from previous construction techniques. Chichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over the past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands.
Collapse of the Clasic Maya:
The Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. The Classic Maya Collapse is one of the biggest mysteries in archaeology. What makes this development so intriguing is the combination of the cultural sophistication attained by the Maya before the collapse and the relative suddenness of the collapse itself
Some 88 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya Collapse have been identified. From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Mayan kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought is gaining momentum as the leading explanation. The colonial Spanish officials accurately documented cycles of drought, famine, disease, and war, providing a reliable historical record of the basic drought pattern in the Maya region.
The Maya succeeded in creating a civilization in a seasonal desert by creating a system of water storage and management which was totally dependent on consistent rainfall. The constant need for water kept the Maya on the edge of survival. “Given this precarious balance of wet and dry conditions, even a slight shift in the distribution of annual precipitation can have serious consequences.
During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterized by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish for centuries more; some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until a revolt in 1450. (This city's name may be the source of the word "Maya", which had a more geographically restricted meaning in Yucatec and colonial Spanish and only grew to its current meaning in the 19th and 20th centuries).
Colonial period
Unlike the Aztec and Inca Empires, there was no single Maya political center that, once overthrown, would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples. Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Maya polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. Most of the conquistadors were motivated by the prospects of the great wealth to be had from the seizure of precious metal resources such as gold or silver; however, the Maya lands themselves were poor in these resources. This would become another factor in forestalling Spanish designs of conquest, as they instead were initially attracted to the reports of great riches in central Mexico or Peru.
First Spanish accidental landing in Yucatán Peninsula
The first known Spanish landing on the Yucatán Peninsula was a product of misfortune, when in 1511 a small vessel bound for the island of Santo Domingo from Darién, Panama ran aground on some shoals in the Caribbean Sea, south of the island of Jamaica. The ship's complement of fifteen men and two women set off in the ship's boat in an attempt to reach Cuba or one of the other colonies. However, the prevailing currents forced them westwards until, after approximately two weeks of drifting, they reached the eastern shoreline of the Peninsula, possibly in present-day Belize. Captured by the local Maya, they were divided up among several of the chieftains as slaves and a number were sacrificed and killed according to offeratory practices. Over the succeeding years their numbers dwindled further as others were lost to disease or exhaustion, until only two were left– Gerónimo de Aguilar who had escaped his former captor and found refuge with another Maya ruler, and Gonzalo Guerrero who had won some prestige among the Maya for his bravery and had now the standing of a ranking warrior and noble. These two would later have notable, but very different, roles to play in future conflicts between the Spanish and the Mesoamerican peoples– Aguilar would become Hernan Cortés's translator and advisor, with Guerrero instead electing to remain with the Maya and served as a tactician and warrior fighting with them against the Spanish.
Friar Diego de Landa described the incident on his 'Account of Things of Yucatan' (see more below for reference for this book) as it follows:
"Que los primeros españoles que llegaron a Yucatán, según se dice, fueron Gerónimo de Aguilar, natural de Ecija, y sus compañeros, los cuales, el año de 1511, en el desbarato del Darien por las revueltas entre Diego de Nicuesa y Vasco Núñez de Balboa, siguieron a Valdivia que venía en una carabela a Santo Domingo, a dar cuenta al Almirante y al Gobernador de lo que pasaba, y a traer 20 mil ducados del rey; y que esta carabela, llegando a Jamaica, dio en los bajos que llaman de Vívores donde se perdió, no escapando sino 20 hombres que con Valdivia entraron en un batel sin velas y con unos ruines remos y sin mantenimiento alguno anduvieron trece días por el mar. Después de muertos de hambre casi la mitad, llegaron a la costa de Yucatán, a una provincía que llaman de la Maya...
... Que esta pobre gente vino a manos de un mal cacique, el cual sacrificó a Valdivia y a otros cuatro a sus ídolos y después hizo banquetes (con la carne) de ellos a la gente, y que dejó para engordar a Aguilar y a Guerrero y a otros cinco o seis, los cuales quebrantaron la prisión y huyeron por unos montes. Y que aportaron a otro señor enemigo del primero y más piadoso, el cual se sirvió de ellos como de esclavos; y que el que sucedió a este señor los trató con buena gracia, pero que ellos, de dolencia, murieron quedando solos Gerónimo de Aguilar y Gonzalo Guerrero, de los cuales Aguilar era buen cristiano y tenía unas horas por las cuales sabía las fiestas. Y que éste se salvó con la ida del marqués Hernando Cortés, el año de 1519, y que Guerrero, como entendía la lengua, se fue a Chectemal (Chactemal), que es la Salamanca de Yucatán, y que allí le recibió un señor llamado Nachancán (Ah Na Chan Can), el cual le dio a cargo las cosas de la guerra en que (est)uvo muy bien, venciendo muchas veces a los enemigos de su señor, y que enseñó a los indios pelear mostrándoles (la manera de) hacer fuertes y bastiones, y que con esto y con tratarse como indio, ganó mucha reputación y le casaron con una muy principal mujer en que hubo hijos; y que por esto nunca procuró salvarse como hizo Aguilar, antes bien labraba su cuerpo, criaba cabello y harpaba las orejas para traer zarcillos como los indios y es creible que fuese idólatra como ellos."
1517 Expedition and Discovery of the Yucatan
Together with some 110 discontented Spanish settlers in early colonial Cuba, Hernández de Córdoba petitioned the governor, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, for permission to launch an expedition in search of new lands and exploitable resources. This permission was granted after some haggling over terms, and the expedition consisting of three ships under Hernández de Córdoba's command left the harbor of Santiago de Cuba on February 8, 1517, to explore the shores of southern Mexico. The main pilot was Antón de Alaminos, the premiere navigator of the region who had accompanied Christopher Columbus on his initial voyages.
Later they had 21 days of fair weather and calm seas after which they spotted land and, quite near the coast and visible from the ships, the first large populated center seen by Europeans in the Americas, with the first solidly built buildings. The Spaniards, who evoked the Muslims in all that was developed but not Christian, spoke of this first city they discovered in America as El gran Cairo, as they later were to refer to pyramids or other religious buildings as mezquitas, "mosques".
These contacts of March 4 may have been the birth of the toponyms Yucatán and Catoche, whose surprising and amusing history — perhaps too amusing to be true — is often cited. Be it history or legend, the story is that the Spaniards asked the Indians for the name of the land they had just discovered and on hearing the predictable replies to the effect of "I don't understand what you said", "those are our houses" gave the land names based on what they had heard: Yucatán, meaning "I don't understand you" for the whole "province" (or island, as they thought), and Catoche, meaning "our houses", for the settlement and the cape where they had debarked.
The Spaniards' fears were almost immediately confirmed. The chief had prepared an ambush for the Spaniards as they approached the town. They were attacked by a multitude of Indians, armed with pikes, bucklers, slings. The Spanish soon learned that the Mayan arrows, while not attaining any distinct force behind them, tended to shatter on impact leading to a slow and painful death. In this days two Indians were captured, taken back on board the Spanish ships. These individuals, who once baptized into the Roman Catholic faith received the names Julianillo and Melchorejo (anglicized, Julián and Melchior), would later became the first Maya language interpreters for the Spanish, on Grijalva's subsequent expedition.
Fifteen days after Catoche, the expedition landed to fill their water vessels near a Maya village they called Lázaro (after St Lazarus' Sunday, the day of their landing; "The proper Indian name for it is Campeche", clarifies Bernal). Once again they were approached by Indians appearing to be peaceable, and the now-suspicious Spaniards maintained a heavy guard on their disembarked forces. During an uneasy meeting, the local Indians repeated a word (according to Bernal) that ought to have been enigmatic to the Spaniards: "Castilian". This curious incident of the Indians apparently knowing the Spaniards' own word for themselves they later attributed the presence of the shipwrecked voyagers of de Nicuesa's unfortunate 1511 fleet. Unbeknownst to de Córdoba's men, the two remaining survivors, Jerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, were living only several days' walk from the present site.
The Spaniards found a solidly-built well used by the Indians to provide themselves with fresh water and they could fill their casks and jugs. The Indians, again with friendly aspect and manner, brought them to their village, where once more they could see solid constructions and many idols (Bernal alludes to the busts of serpents on the walls, so characteristic of Mesoamerica). They also met their first priests, with their white tunics and their long hair impregnated with human blood; this was the end of the Indians' friendly conduct: they convoked a great number of warriors and ordered them to burn some dry reeds, indicating to the Spaniards that if they weren't gone before the fire went out, they would be attacked. Hernández's men decided to retreat to the boats with their casks and jugs of water before the Indians could attack them, leaving safely behind them the discovery of Campeche.
Champotón battle: They sailed some six days in good weather and another four in a tempest that almost wrecked their ships. Their supply of good drinking water was now yet again exhausted, owing to the poor condition of the containers. Being now in an extreme situation, they stopped to gather water in a place that Bernal sometimes calls Potonchán and sometimes by its present-day name of Champotón, where the river of the same name meets the sea. When they had filled the jugs, they found themselves surrounded by great assemblies of Indians. They passed the night on land, with great precautions and wakeful vigilance.
When dawn broke, they were evidently vastly outnumbered ("by two hundred to one", claims Bernal), and only shortly into the ensuing battle Bernal speaks of eighty injured Spaniards. Keeping in mind that the original number of the expedition was about a hundred, not all soldiers, this suggests that at that moment the expedition was close to destruction. They soon discovered that the legions of Indians were being continually replenished by fresh reinforcements, and if good swords, crossbows, and muskets had astonished them at first, they had now overcome the surprise and maintained a certain distance from the Spaniards. At the cry of "Calachumi", which the conquistadors soon learned was a word for "chief" or "captain", the Indians were particularly merciless in attacking Hernández de Córdoba, who was hit by ten arrows. The Spanish also learned the dedication of their opponents to capturing people alive: two were taken prisoner and certainly sacrificed afterwards; of one we know that his name was Alonso Boto, and of the other Bernal is only able to say of him that he was "an old Portuguese".
Eventually, with only one Spanish soldier remaining unhurt, the captain practically unconscious, and the aggression of the Indians only increasing, they decided then that their only recourse was to form a close phalanx and break out of their encirclement in the direction of the launches, and to return to board them. The Spaniards had lost fifty companions, including two who were taken alive. The survivors were badly injured, with the sole exception of a soldier named Berrio, who was surprisingly unscathed. Five died in the following days, the bodies were buried at sea.
The expeditionaries had returned to the ships without the fresh water that had been the original reason to land. Furthermore, they saw their crew reduced by more than fifty men, many of them sailors, which combined with the great number of the seriously injured made it an impossibility to operate three ships. The thirst began to become intolerable. Bernal writes that their tongues and throats cracked, and of soldiers who were driven by desperation to drink sea water. Another land excursion of fifteen men, in a place which they called Estero de los Lagartos, "Lizards' Estuary", obtained only brackish water which increased the desperation of the crew. In the event, the twenty people — among them, Bernal and the pilot Alaminos — who debarked in search of water were attacked by natives, although this time they came out victorious, with Bernal nonetheless receiving his third injury of the voyage, and Alaminos taking an arrow in the neck. One of the sentries who had been placed on guard around the troop disappeared: Berrio, precisely the only soldier who had escaped unscathed in Champotón. Now with fresh water, they headed to Havana in the two remaining ships, and not without difficulties. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba barely reached Cuba; suffering from his mortal wounds, he expired within days of reaching the port, along with three other sailors.
The discovery of El Gran Cairo, in March 1517 encouraged two further expeditions: the first in 1518 under the command of Juan de Grijalva and the second in 1519 under Hernán Cortes commandment. Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, ordered an expedition sent out with four ships supplied with crossbows, muskets, salt pork, and cassava bread for some 240 men led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva. This expedition obtained similar results as the Cordoba's expedition and he was disappointed at gathering very little gold, but came back to Cuba with a tale that a rich empire was further to the west. The news that this "island" of Yucatán had gold, doubted by Bernal but enthusiastically maintained by Julianillo, the Maya prisoner taken at the battle of Catoche, fed the subsequent series of events that was to end with the Conquest of Mexico by the third flotilla sent, that of Hernán Cortés.
Hernan Cortés Expedition in Yucatan
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| Hernan Cortés |
Cortés was Born in Medellín (Extremadura) Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World.
Through his mother, Hernán was the second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru.
At the age of 14, Cortés was sent to study at the University of Salamanca in west-central Spain. This was Spain's great center of learning, and while accounts vary as to the nature of Cortés's studies, his later writings and actions suggest he studied Law and probably Latin.
Being 18 years old he finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a colonist: Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen, which entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Nicolás de Ovando, still the governor, gave him a encomienda and made him a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. His next five years seemed to help establish him in the colony; in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola, receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts from the leader of the expedition. In 1511, Cortés accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the Governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. Velázquez was appointed as governor. At the age of 26, Cortés was made clerk to the treasurer with the responsibility of ensuring that the Crown received the quinto, or customary one-fifth of the profits from the expedition. The Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, was so impressed with Cortés that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortés was twice appointed municipal magistrate (alcalde) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with a encomienda to provide Indian labor for his mines and cattle. This new position of power also made him the new source of leadership, which opposing forces in the colony could then turn to. It was not until he had been almost 15 years in the Indies, that Cortés began to look beyond his substantial status as mayor of the capital of Cuba and as a man of affairs in the thriving colony. He missed the first two expeditions, under the orders of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and then Juan de Grijalva, sent by Diego Velázquez to Mexico in 1518.
In 1518 Gobernor of Cuba Diego Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old gripe between Velázquez and Cortés, he changed his mind and revoked his charter. Cortés ignored the orders and went ahead anyway, in February 1519, in an act of open mutiny.
Cortés landed at Cozumel and spent some time there, trying to convert the locals to Christianity and achieving mixed results. While at Cozumel, Cortés heard reports of other white men living in the Yucatán. Cortés sent messengers to these reported castilianos, who turned out to be the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck that had occurred in 1511.
On arriving in the island of Cozumel from Cuba, Cortés sent a letter by Maya messenger across to the mainland, inviting the two Spaniards, of whom he'd heard rumors, to join him. Aguilar became a translator, during the Conquest. According to the account of Bernal Díaz, when the newly freed friar attempted to convince Guerrero to join him, Gonzalo Guerrero responded:
Spanish: "Hermano Aguilar, yo soy casado y tengo tres hijos. Tienenme por cacique y capitán, cuando hay guerras, la cara tengo labrada, y horadadas las orejas. ¿Que dirán de mi esos españoles, si me ven ir de este modo? Idos vos con la bendición de Dios, que ya veis que estos mis hijitos son bonitos, y dadme por vida vuestra de esas cuentas verdes que traeis, para darles, y diré, que mis hermanos me las envían de mi tierra."
English Translation: "Brother Aguilar; I am married and have three children, and they look on me as a cacique (lord) here, and captain in time of war. My face is tattooed and my ears are pierced. What would the Spaniards say about me if they saw me like this? Go and God's blessing be with you, for you have seen how handsome these children of mine are. Please give me some of those beads you have brought to give to them and I will tell them that my brothers have sent them from my own country."
Díaz goes on to describe how Gonzalo's Mayan wife Zazil Há interrupted the conversation and angrily addressed Aguilar in her own language:
Spanish: " Y asimismo la india mujer del Gonzalo habló a Aguilar en su lengua, muy enojada y le dijo: Mira con qué viene este esclavo a llamar a mi marido: idos vos y no curéis de más pláticas."
English Translation: "And the Indian wife of Gonzalo spoke to Aguilar in her own tongue very angrily and said to him, "What is this slave coming here for talking to my husband, - go off with you, and don't trouble us with any more words.""
Then Aguilar spoke to Guerrero again, reminding him that he was of Christian faith and should not throw away his everlasting soul for the sake of an Indian woman. But Gonzalo was not to be convinced.
Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yucatec Maya as well as some other indigenous languages, would prove to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator, a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Aztec Empire which would be the end result of Cortés' expedition. Although Guerrero's later fate is uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; he quite possibly was killed in a later battle.
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| Monumento a Gonzalo Guerrero father of mestizaje en el paseo de Montejo en Mérida Yucatán México |
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| La Malinche and Hernan Cortés in the city of Xaltelolco, in a drawing from the late 16th century codex History of Tlaxcala. |
Conquest of Yucatan
The richer lands of central Mexico engaged the main attention of the Conquistadors for some years, then in 1526 Francisco de Montejo (a veteran of the Grijalva and Cortés expeditions) successfully petitioned the King of Spain for the right to conquer Yucatán. He arrived in eastern Yucatán in 1527. The Spanish set up a small fort on the coast at Xamanha in 1528, but had no further success in subduing the country. Montejo went to Mexico to gather a larger army. Montejo returned in 1531 with a force that allied with the Maya port city of Campeche. While he set up a fortress at Campeche, he sent his son Francisco Montejo the Younger inland with an army. The leaders of some Maya states pledged that they would be his allies. He continued on to Chichen Itza, which he declared his Royal capital of Spanish Yucatán, but after a few months the locals rose up against him, the Spaniards were constantly attacked, and the Spanish force fled to Honduras. It was rumored that Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who chose to stay in Yucatán, was among those directing Maya resistance to the Spanish crown. Montejo the Elder, who was now in his late 60s, turned his royal rights in Yucatán over to his son, Francisco Montejo the Younger. The younger Montejo invaded Yucatán with a large force in 1540. In 1542, he set up his capital in the Maya city of T'ho, which he renamed Mérida.
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| Monumento a los Montejo, Padre e Hijo, conquistadores de Yucatán y fundadores de la Ciudad de Mérida, ubicado en el inicio del Paseo (Bulevar) del mismo nombre en Mérida, Yucatán. |
Conquest of the Maya highlands (current Guatemala)
After the Aztec empire fell to the Spanish in 1521, the Kaqchikel Maya of Iximche sent envoys to Hernán Cortés to declare their allegiance to the new ruler of Mexico, and the K'iche' Maya of Q'umarkaj may also have sent a delegation. In 1522 Cortés sent Mexican allies to scout the Soconusco region of lowland Chiapas, where they met new delegations from Iximche and Q'umarkaj at Tuxpán; both of the powerful highland Maya kingdoms declared their loyalty to the king of Spain. But Cortés' allies in Soconusco soon informed him that the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel were not loyal, and were instead harassing Spain's allies in the region. Cortés decided to despatch Pedro de Alvarado with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, crossbows, muskets, 4 cannons, large amounts of ammunition and gunpowder, and hundreds of allied Mexican warriors from Tlaxcala and Cholula; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523.
On 12 February 1524 Alvarado's Mexican allies were ambushed in the pass and driven back by K'iche' warriors but the Spanish cavalry charge that followed was a shock for the K'iche', who had never before seen horses. The cavalry scattered the K'iche' and the army crossed to the city of Xelaju (modern Quetzaltenango) only to find it deserted. Although the common view is that the K'iche' prince Tecun Uman died in the later battle near Olintepeque, the Spanish accounts are clear that at least one and possibly two of the lords of Q'umarkaj died in the fierce battles upon the initial approach to Quetzaltenango. The legends say Tecún Umán entered battle adorned with precious quetzal feathers, and his nahual (animal spirit guide), also a quetzal bird, accompanied him during the battle. In the midst of the fray, both Alvarado and Tecún, warriors from worlds apart, met face to face, each with weapon in hand. Alvarado was clad in armor and mounted on his warhorse. As horses were not native to the Americas and peoples of Mesoamerica had no beasts of burden of their own, Tecún Umán assumed they were one being and killed Alvarado's horse.
Tecún Umán was declared a National Hero of Guatemala on March 22, 1960 and is celebrated annually on February 20. Tecún Umán's namesakes include a small town in the department of San Marcos on the Guatemala-Mexico border as well as countless hotels, restaurants, and Spanish schools throughout Guatemala. He is also memorialized in a poem by Miguel Ángel Asturias that bears his name.In contrast to his popularity, he is at times rejected by Maya cultural activists who consider his status as a national hero a source of irony, considering the long history of mistreatment of Guatemala's native population.
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| Statue of Tecún Umán in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, by Rafael Yela Günther. |
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the main Mam population was situated in Xinabahul (also spelled Chinabjul), now the city of Huehuetenango, but Zaculeu's fortifications led to its use as a refuge during the conquest. The refuge was attacked by Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras, brother of conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, in 1525, with 120 soldiers, and some 2,000 Mexican and K'iche' allies. The city was defended by Kayb'il B'alam commanding some 5,000 people (the chronicles are not clear if this is the number of soldiers or the total population of Zaculeu).
After a siege lasting several months the Mam were reduced to starvation. Kayb'il B'alam finally surrendered the city to the Spanish in October 1525. When the Spanish entered the city of Zaculeu they found 1,800 dead Indians, with the survivors eating the corpses of the dead.
By 1537 the area immediately north of the new colony of Guatemala was being referred to as the Tierra de Guerra ("Land of War"). Paradoxically, it was simultaneously known as Verapaz ("True Peace"). The Land of War described an area that was undergoing conquest; it was a region of dense forest that was difficult for the Spanish to penetrate militarily.
Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas arrived in the colony of Guatemala in 1537 and immediately campaigned to replace violent military conquest with peaceful missionary work. Las Casas offered to achieve the conquest of the Land of War through the preaching of the Catholic faith. It was the Dominicans who promoted the use of the name Verapaz instead of the Land of War.
In 1695 the colonial authorities decided to connect the province of Guatemala with Yucatán, and Guatemalan soldiers conquered a number of Ch'ol communities, the most important being Sakb'ajlan on the Lacantún River in eastern Chiapas, now in Mexico, which was renamed as Nuestra Señora de Dolores, or Dolores del Lakandon.
Martín de Ursúa arrived on the western shore of lake Petén Itzá with his soldiers in February 1697, and once there built a galeota, a large and heavily armed oar-powered attack boat. The Itza capital fell in a bloody waterborne assault on 13 March 1697. The Spanish bombardment caused heavy loss of life on the island; many Itza Maya who fled to swim across the lake were killed in the water. Catholic priests from Yucatán founded several mission towns around Lake Petén Itzá in 1702–1703.
Account of the Things of Yucatan (Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán)
A controversial figure in the history of the Christianization of central America was the friar Diego de Landa is at once reviled for his cruelty and for his destruction of invaluable historic materials about Maya culture and valued for his personal contributions to the study of the same. Landa’s Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán is about as complete a treatment of Mayan religion as we are likely to ever have.
Allen Wells calls his work an “ethnographic masterpiece”, while William J. Folan, Laraine A. Fletcher and Ellen R. Kintz have written that Landa‘s account of Maya social organization and towns before conquest is a “gem.” Landa’s writings are our main contemporary source for Mayan history,without which our collective knowledge of Mayan ethnology would be devastatingly small. While Landa might have exaggerated some claims to justify his actions to his accusers, his intimate contact with natives and all around accuracy in other fields heavily implies his version of events has at least some truth in it.
Ironically, historian John F Chuchiak IV has suggested that the result of Landa's fervor to exterminate the traditional Maya religion in fact had the opposite effect and is partially the reason why Maya religion is still alive today in the Yucatán. He argues that Landa's excesses caused the secular authorities to remove the Franciscans' right to take disciplinary measures against idolaters while still leaving the Maya under the care of the Franciscans' cathechization. Chuchiak suggests that the revocation of the Franciscans' "rights" to administer punishments to idolaters was an important factor in the survival of Maya religion to this day.
Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán also created a valuable record of the Mayan writing system, which despite its inaccuracies was later to prove instrumental in the later decipherment of the writing system.
In 1571 Landa was appointed Bishop of Yucatan and he took the seat in 1573. Landa's period as Bishop was marked by continued campaigns of extirpation of idolatry among the Maya and he continued attracting opposition from secular authorities who found his methods excessive.
After hearing of Roman Catholic Maya who continued to practice idol worship, he ordered an Inquisition in Mani ending with a ceremony called auto-da-fé. During the ceremony on July 12, 1562, at least twenty seven Maya codices and approximately 5,000 Maya cult images were burned. These actions earned Landa a controversial place in the history of the Christianization of the Americas.
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| Auto de fe by Landa at Municipal building of Mani |
Landa claims he had discovered evidence of human sacrifice and other idolatrous practices while rooting out native idolatry.
Landa was remarkable in that he was willing to go where no others would. He entered lands only recently conquered where native resentment of Spaniards was still very intense. Armed with nothing but the conviction to learn as much of native culture as he could, so that it would be easier for him to destroy it in the future, Landa formulated an intimate contact with natives. Natives placed him in such an esteemed position they were willing to show him some of their sacred writings that had been transcribed on deerskin books. To Landa and the other Franciscan friars, the very existence of these Mayan codices was proof of diabolical practices. In references to these books, Landa has said:
"We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction."
Landa himself was never in doubt of the necessity of his inquisition. Whether magic and idolatry were being practiced or not, there can be little doubt Landa was “possessed” by fantasies of demonic power in a new land. Landa, like most Franciscans of the time, subscribed to millenarian ideas, which demanded the mass conversion of as many souls as possible before the turn of the century. Eliminating evil and pagan practices, Landa believed, would usher the Second Coming of Christ that much sooner.
Convinced that the Mayan spiritual traditions were the work of the devil, in July 1562, Landa burned five thousand native religious images and at least twenty-seven painted books filled with hieroglyph-like images.
Bishop Francisco de Toral finally stopped Landa's inquisition and sent him back to Spain, where, in 1564, he was tried for his excesses. He was eventually absolved of any misdeeds. As he waited for his case to be resolved, Landa wrote Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, now considered an authority on Mayan customs and language. The book would not be published for another three hundred years, but in the 20th century, Landa's work provided a valuable record and important clues for modern day scholars trying to decipher Mayan writing. After Toral's death, Landa was sent back to the New World in 1573 and was ordained Bishop of the Yucatan, a position he held until his death at age 54.
The process of conversion was described by Landa:
"Que los vicios de los indios eran idolatrías y repudios y borracheras públicas y vender y comprar esclavos; y que por apartarlos de estas cosas vinieron a aborrecer a los frailes; pero que entre los españoles los que más fatigaron a los religiosos, aunque encubiertamente, fueron los sacerdotes mayas, como gente que había perdido su oficio y los provechos de él
...
Que la manera que se tuvo para adoctrinar a los indios fue recoger a los hijos pequeños de los señores y gente más principal, poniéndolos en torno de los monasterios en casas que cada pueblo hacía para los suyos, donde estaban juntos todos los de cada lugar, cuyos padres y parientes les traían de comer; y con estos niños se recogían los que venían a la doctrina, y con tal frecuentación muchos, con devoción, pidieron el bautismo; y estos niños, después de enseñados, tenían cuidado de avisar a los frailes de las idolatrías y borracheras y rompían los ídolos aunque fuesen de sus padres, y exhortaban a las repudiadas; y a los huérfanos, si los hacían esclavos (los encomenderos o los mismos indios, decían) que se quejasen a los frailes y aunque fueron amenazados por los suyos, no por eso cesaban, antes respondían que les hacían honra pues era por el bien de sus almas
...
Que estando esta gente instruída en la religión y los mozos aprovechados, como dijimos, fueron pervertidos por los sacerdotes mayas que en su idolatría tenían y por los señores, y tornaron a idolatrar y hacer sacrificios no sólo de sahumerios sino de sangre humana, sobre lo cual los frailes hicieron inquisición y pidieron la ayuda del alcalde mayor prendiendo a muchos y haciéndoles procesos; y se celebró un auto (de fe) en que se pusieron muchos cadalsos encorozados. (Algunos indios fueron) azotados y trasquilados y algunos ensambenitados por algún tiempo; y otros, de tristeza, engañados por el demonio, se ahorcaron, y en común mostraron todos mucho arrepentimiento y voluntad de ser buenos cristianos
...
La pena del homicida aunque fuese casual, era morir por insidias de los parientes, o si no, pagar el muerto. El hurto pagaban y castigaban aunque fuese pequeño, con hacer esclavos y por eso hacian tantos esclavos, principalmente en tiempo de hambre, y por eso fue que nosotros los frailes tanto trabajamos en el bautismo: para que les diesen libertad.
....
Las mujeres son cortas en sus razonamientos y no acostumbran a negociar por sí (mismas), especialmente si son pobres, y por eso los señores se mofaban de los frailes que daban oído a pobres y ricos sin distinción.
"
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| Izamal, where the Spanish started converting the Maya to Catholicism |
The tense relation between friars and conquistadores was never really easy, as Landa described on his tale:
"Que los españoles tomaban pesar de ver que los frailes hiciesen monasterios y ahuyentaban a los hijos de los indios de sus repartimientos, para que no viniesen a la doctrina; y quemaron dos veces el monasterio de Valladolid con su iglesia, que era de madera y paja; tanto que fue necesario a los frailes irse a vivir entre los indios...
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Que los españoles tomaban pesar de ver que los frailes hiciesen monasterios y ahuyentaban a los hijos de los indios de sus repartimientos, para que no viniesen a la doctrina; y quemaron dos veces el monasterio de Valladolid con su iglesia, que era de madera y paja; tanto que fue necesario a los frailes irse a vivir entre los indios; y cuando se alzaron los indios de aquella provincia escribieron al virrey don Antonio (de Mendoza) que se habían alzado por amor a los frailes y el virrey hizo diligencia y averiguó que al tiempo que se alzaron aún no eran llegados los frailes a aquella provincia; (aun los encomenderos) velaban de noche a los frailes con escándalo de los indios y hacían inquisición de sus vidas y les quitaban las limosnas
...Que los frailes viendo este peligro enviaron al muy singular juez Cerrato, Presidente de Guatemala, un religioso que le diese cuenta de lo que pasaba, y visto el desorden y mala cristiandad de los españoles que se llevaban absolutamente los tributos y cuanto podían sin orden del rey (y obligaban a los indios) al servicio personal en todo género de trabajo, hasta alquilarlos para llevar cargas, proveyó cierta tasación, harto larga aunque pasadera, en que señalaba qué cosas eran del indio después de pagado el tributo a su encomendero, y que no fuese todo absolutamente del español. (Los encomenderos) suplicaron de esto y con temor de la tasa sacaban a los indios más que hasta allí, y entonces los frailes tornaron a la Audiencia y reclamaron en España e hicieron tanto que la Audiencia de Guatemala envió a un Oidor, el cual tasó la tierra y quitó el servicio personal e hizo casar a algunos, quitándoles las casas que tenían llenas de mujeres.
....
Que los indios recibían pesadamente el yugo de la servidumbre, mas los españoles tenían bien repartidos los pueblos que abrazaban la tierra, aunque no faltaba entre los indios quien los alterase, sobre lo cual se hicieron castigos muy crueles que fueron causa de que apocase la gente. Quemaron vivos a algunos principales de la provincia de Cupul y ahorcaron a otros. Hízose información contra los de Yobain, pueblo de los Cheles, y prendieron a la gente principal y, en cepos, la metieron en una casa a la que prendieron fuego abrasándola viva con la mayor inhumanidad del mundo, y dice este Diego de Landa que él vio un gran árbol cerca del pueblo en el cual un capitán ahorcó muchas mujeres indias en sus ramas y de los pies de ellas a los niños, sus hijos. Y en este mismo pueblo y en otro que se dice Verey, a dos leguas de él, ahorcaron a dos indias, una doncella y la otra recién casada, no porque tuvieran culpa sino porque eran muy hermosas y temían que se revolviera el real de los españoles sobre ellas y para que mirasen los indios que a los españoles no les importaban las mujeres; de estas dos hay mucha memoria entre indios y españoles por su gran hermosura y por la crueldad con que las mataron.
...
Que se alteraron los indios de la provincia de Cochua y Chectemal y los españoles los apaciguaron de tal manera que, siendo esas dos provincial las más pobladas y llenas de gente, quedaron las más desventuradas de toda aquella tierra. Hicieron (en los indios) crueldades inauditas (pues les) cortaron narices, brazos y piernas, y a las mujeres los pechos y las echaban en lagunas hondas con calabazas atadas a los pies; daban estocadas a los niños porque no andaban tanto como las madres, y si los llevaban en colleras y enfermaban, o no andaban tanto como los otros, cortábanles las cabezas por no pararse a soltarlos. Y trajeron gran número de mujeres y hombres cautivos para su servicio con semejantes tratamientos. Se afirma que don Francisco de Montejo no hizo ninguna de estas crueldades ni se halló en ellas, antes bien le parecieron muy mal, pero que no pudo (evitarlas).
...
por otra parte tenían razón los indios al defender su libertad y confiar en los capitanes muy valientes que tenían para entre ellos y pensaban que así serían contra los españoles.
"
Maya Architecture
At the heart of the Maya city existed the large plazas surrounded by their most valued governmental and religious buildings such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples and occasionally ballcourts. Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that they were constructed in accordance with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the stars.
Often the most important religious temples sat atop the towering Maya pyramids, believed to be the closest place to the heavens.
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| Chichen Itza Pyramid |
"Si Yucatán hubiere de cobrar nombre y reputación con muchedumbre, grandeza y hermosura de edificios como lo han alcanzado otras partes de las Indias, con oro, plata y riquezas, ella hubiera extendidose tanto como el Perú y la Nueva España, porque es así en esto de edificios y muchedumbre de ellos, la más señalada cosa de cuantas hasta hoy en las Indias se han descubierto, porque son tantos las partes donde los hay y tan bien edificados de cantería....
...En esta tierra no se ha hallado hasta ahora ningún género de metal que ella de suyo tenga, y espanta (que) no habiendo con qué, se hayan labrado tantos edificios porque no dan los indios razón de las herramientas con que se labraron"
Maya Art
The lay-out of the Maya towns and cities, and more particularly of the ceremonial centers where the royal families and courtiers resided, is characterized by the rhythm of immense horizontal stucco floors of plazas often located at various levels, connected by broad and often steep stairs, and surmounted by temple pyramids.
A common form of Maya stone sculpture was the stela. These were large, elongated stone slabs covered with carvings, often with round altars in front. Typical of the Classical period, most of them depict the rulers of the cities they were located in, often disguised as gods. The stelae almost always contain hieroglyphic texts, which have been critical to determining the significance and history of Maya sites.
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| Stele 51 from Calakmul, representing king Yuknoom Took' K'awiil, on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. |
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| Pakal mask |
Writing system
The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World which is known to represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than a thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in use, some 200 of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.
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| Maya inscriptions were most often written in columns two glyphs wide, with each such column read left to right, top to bottom |
At a rough estimate, in excess of 10,000 individual texts have so far been recovered, mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramic pottery. The Maya also produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark, in particular from several species of strangler fig trees such as Ficus cotinifolia and Ficus padifolia. The inscriptions on the stelae mainly record the dynasties and wars of the sites' rulers. Also of note are the inscriptions that reveal information about the lives of ancient Maya women. Much of the remainder of Maya hieroglyphics has been found on funeral pottery, most of which describes the afterlife.
Shortly after the conquest, all of the codices which could be found were ordered to be burnt and destroyed by zealous Spanish priests, notably Bishop Diego de Landa. Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas lamented that when found, such books were destroyed:
"These books were seen by our clergy, and even I saw part of those that were burned by the monks, apparently because they thought [they] might harm the Indians in matters concerning religion, since at that time they were at the beginning of their conversion."
Only three reasonably intact examples of Maya codices are known to have survived through to the present day. These are now known as the Madrid, Dresden, and Paris codices. A few pages survive from a fourth, the Grolier codex, whose authenticity is sometimes disputed, but mostly is held to be genuine.
Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts. Maya art often depicts rulers with trappings indicating they were scribes or at least able to write, such as having pen bundles in their headdresses. Additionally, many rulers have been found in conjunction with writing tools such as shell or clay inkpots. Although the number of logograms and syllabic symbols required to fully write the language numbered in the hundreds, literacy was not necessarily widespread beyond the elite classes.
Madrid codice: This codex was likely written after Spanish arrival, and was the result of hastily absorbed imagery and text from several sources. It is in the Museo de América in Madrid, Spain, where it may have been sent back to the Royal Court by Hernán Cortés. There are 112 pages, which got split up into two separate sections, known as the Troano Codex and the Cortesianus Codex. These were re-united in 1888. This Codex's provenance has been suggested to be Tayasal, the last Maya city to be conquered in 1697.
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| Dresden codex |
The Paris Codex (also or formerly the Codex Peresianus) contains prophecies for tuns and katuns (see Maya Calendar), as well as a Maya zodiac, and is thus, in both respects, akin to the Books of Chilam Balam. The codex first appeared in 1832 as an acquisition of France's Bibliothèque Impériale (later the Bibliothèque Nationale, or National Library) in Paris. Three years later the first reproduction drawing of it was prepared for Lord Kingsborough, by his Lombardian artist Agostino Aglio. The original drawing is now lost, but a copy survives among some of Kingsborough's unpublished proof sheets, held in collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Although occasionally referred to over the next quarter-century, its permanent "rediscovery" is attributed to the French orientalist León de Rosny, who in 1859 recovered the codex from a basket of old papers sequestered in a chimney corner at the Bibliothèque Nationale where it had lain discarded and apparently forgotten. As a result, it is in very poor condition. It was found wrapped in a paper with the word Pérez written on it, possibly a reference to the Jose Pérez who had published two brief descriptions of the then-anonymous codex in 1859. De Rosny initially gave it the name Codex Peresianus ("Codex Pérez") after its identifying wrapper, but in due course the codex would be more generally known as the Paris Codex. De Rosny published a facsimile edition of the codex in 1864. It remains in the possession of the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Other sources about the Mayas from the early-colonial (16th-century) period are for example the Popol Vuh, the Ritual of the Bacabs, and (at least in part) the various Chilam Balam books.
- Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic K'iche' kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People." Popol Vuh's prominent features are its creation myth, its diluvian suggestion, its epic tales of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and its genealogies. The myth begins with the exploits of anthropomorphic ancestors and concludes with a regnal genealogy, perhaps as an assertion of divine right rule. Popol Vuh's fortuitous survival is attributable to the 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez.
In 1701, Father Ximénez came to Santo Tomás Chichicastenango (also known as Santo Tomás Chuilá). This town was in the Quiché territory and therefore is probably where Fr. Ximénez first redacted the mythistory. Ximénez transcribed and translated the manuscript in parallel K'iche' and Spanish columns (the K'iche' having been represented phonetically with Latin and Parra characters). In or around 1714, Ximénez incorporated the Spanish content in book one, chapters 2-21 of his Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la orden de predicadores. Ximénez's manuscripts remained posthumously in the possession of the Dominican Order until General Francisco Morazán expelled the clerics from Guatemala in 1829–30 whereupon the Order's documents passed largely to the Universidad de San Carlos.
From 1852 to 1855, Moritz Wagner and Carl Scherzer traveled to Central America, arriving in Guatemala City in early May 1854. Scherzer found Ximénez's writings in the university library, noting that there was one particular item "del mayor interes" ('of greater interest'). With assistance from the Guatemalan historian and archivist Juan Gavarrete, Scherzer copied (or had a copy made) of the Spanish content from the last half of the manuscript, which he published upon his return to Europe. In 1855, French Abbot Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg also found Ximénez's writings in the university library. However, whereas Scherzer copied the manuscript, Brasseur apparently "absconded" with the university's volume and took it back to France. After Brasseur's death in 1874, the Mexico-Guatémalienne collection containing Popol Vuh passed to Alphonse Pinart through whom it was sold to Edward E. Ayer. In 1897, Ayer decided to donate his 17,000 pieces to The Newberry Library, a project that tarried until 1911. Father Ximénez's transcription-translation of "Popol Vuh" was among Ayer's donated items. Father Ximénez's manuscript sank into obscurity until Adrián Recinos (re)discovered it at The Newberry (in Chicago) in 1941.
Contemporary archaeologists (first of all Michael D. Coe) have found depictions of characters and episodes from Popol Vuh on Maya ceramics and other art objects:
- The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial K’iche’ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. The Hero Twins were Xbalanque and Hunahpu (Modern K'iche': Xb‘alanke and Junajpu) who were ballplayers like their father and uncle, Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the K’iche’ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas (200-900 AD). The Twin motif recurs in many native American mythologies; the Mayan Twins in particular could be considered as mythical ancestors to the Mayan ruling lineages. Summoned to Xibalba by the Lords of the Underworld, the father and uncle were defeated and sacrificed. Hun-Hunahpu's head was suspended in a trophy tree and changed to a calabash. Its spittle (i.e., the juice of the calabash) impregnated a daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, Xquic. She fled the underworld and conceived the Twins. The two sons were engendered (by the seed of the dead father). The pregnant mother fled from Xibalba. The sons - or 'Twins' - grew up to avenge their father, and after many trials, finally defeated the lords of the Underworld in the ballgame:
Every day the twins played ball against the gods, just managing to hold their own. A loss would cost them their lives. Each night they faced other dangers in the houses where they slept: the Dark House, Razor House, Jaguar House. They escaped with cunning and the help of forest creatures—until the night in the Bat House, where snatcher bats flew. The boys slept inside the tubes of their blowguns for protection, but Hunahpú stuck his head out too soon and was decapitated. The next day, the gods used Hunahpú’s head in place of the ball. Xbalanqué was able to trick them, however, and reunite his brother’s head and body. In the end, it was the gods who lost that game.
Bartolomé de las Casas described Xbalanque as having entered the underworld as a war leader. His description refers to the Kekchi town of Carcha. Xbalanque is also the name given to the male protagonist in earlier variants of the Kekchi myth of Sun and Moon, where he is hunting for deer (a metaphor for making captives), and capturing the daughter of the Earth Deity. With Xibalba defeated and the arrogant gods disposed of, Hunahpu and Xbalanque had one final act to accomplish. They returned to the Xibalban ballcourt and retrieved the buried remains of their father, One Hunahpu, and attempted to rebuild him. Although his body was made whole again he was not the same, and was unable to function as he once did. The twins left their father there in the ballcourt, but before doing so told him that he would be prayed to by those who sought hope, and this eased his heart. . Then finished, the pair departed Xibalba and climbed back up to the surface of the Earth. They did not stop there, however, and continued climbing straight on up into the sky. One became the Sun, the other became the Moon.
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| Hunahpu and Xbalanque |
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| Howler Monkey God, Copan |
- Vucub-Caquix (perhaps meaning "Seven-Macaw") is a bird demon pretending to be the sun and moon of the twilight world in between the former creation and the present one. He is husband to Chimalmat, and father to the two earthquake demons, Cabracan and Zipacna. According to modern Quiché's, his name refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper asterism. The false sun-moon, Vucub Caquix, was shot out of his tree with a blowgun by Hun-Ahpu, one of the Maya Hero Twins, but still managed to sever the hero's arm. Finally, however, the demon was deprived of his teeth, his eyes, his riches, and his power. Together, the Twins were to become the true sun and moon of the present creation. The episode is only loosely connected to the main tale of the Twins, and is varied by other Mesoamerican hero myths.
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| Tripod vase probably depicting the bird deity Vucub Caquix. Classic period, c. 200-400 AD |
- Ritual of the Bacabs is the name given to a manuscript from the Yucatán containing shamanistic incantations written in the Yucatec Maya language. The manuscript was given its name by Mayanist William E. Gates due to the frequent mentioning of the Maya deities known as the Bacabs The manuscript has been dated at the end of the 18th Century, though this is not certain. The style of writing in the manuscript suggests that much of the information included was copied from older works. The work references many figures in Maya mythology who are for the most part unknown from other works.
The manuscript was discovered in the winter of 1914-1915 by Frederic J. Smith through unknown circumstances. William Gates acquired soon after, and gave it the name it is known by today. Athlete Robert Garrett purchased it from Gates in 1930. In 1942, Garrett gave it to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.
Ritual of the Bacabs includes some forty-two main incantations, with fragmentary supplements throughout. Most of the manuscript is written in the same hand. In his translation, Ralph L. Roys referred to this main writer as the "Bacabs hand."
Ritual of the Bacabs is filled with symbolism that has long since lost its significance and meaning.
Many plants, birds, and insects, all clothed in symbolism and allusions to lost mythology, are important features...even in translation the incantations are very hard to comprehend.
- Chilam Balam: The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 17th and 18th-centuries Maya miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Maya and early Spanish traditions have coalesced. Written in the Yucatec Mayan language and using the Latin alphabet, the manuscripts are attributed to a legendary author called Chilam Balam, a chilam being a priest who gives prophecies and balam a common surname meaning 'jaguar'. Some of the texts actually contain prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatán while mentioning a chilam Balam as their first author.
Nine Books of Chilam Balam are known, most importantly those from Chumayel, Mani, and Tizimin, but many more have existed. Both language and content show that parts of the books date back to the time of the Spanish conquest of the Yucatec kingdoms (1527–1546). Taken together, the Books of Chilam Balam give the fullness of 18th-century Yucatec-Maya spiritual life. Whereas the medical texts and chronicles are quite matter-of-fact, the riddles and prognostications make abundant use of traditional Mayan metaphors.
Decipherment of the Mayan writing
The decipherment of the writing was a long and laborious process. 19th century and early 20th century investigators managed to decode the Maya numbers and portions of the texts related to astronomy and the Maya calendar, but understanding of most of the rest long eluded scholars. In the 1930s, Benjamin Whorf wrote a number of published and unpublished essays, proposing to identify phonetic elements within the writing system. Although some specifics of his decipherment claims were later shown to be incorrect, the central argument of his work, that Maya hieroglyphs were phonetic (or more specifically, syllabic), was later supported by the work of Yuri Knorozov, who played a major role in deciphering Maya writing. Sometime in the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin, that Knorozov is supposed to have by chance retrieved a book which would spark his later interest in and association with deciphering the Maya script: Knorozov managed to retrieve from a Berlin library a book, which remarkably enough turned out to be a rare edition containing reproductions of the three Maya codices which were then known—the Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices. In 1952, Knorozov published the paper "Ancient Writing of Central America" arguing that the so-called "de Landa alphabet" contained in Bishop Diego de Landa's manuscript Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán was actually made of syllabic, rather than alphabetic symbols. He further improved his decipherment technique in his 1963 monograph "The Writing of the Maya Indians" and published translations of Maya manuscripts in his 1975 work "Maya Hieroglyphic Manuscripts". In the 1960s, progress revealed the dynastic records of Maya rulers. Since the early 1980s it has been demonstrated that most of the previously unknown symbols form a syllabary, and progress in reading the Maya writing has advanced rapidly since.
Knorozov's key insight was to treat the Maya glyphs represented in de Landa's alphabet not as an alphabet, but rather as a syllabary. He was perhaps not the first to propose a syllabic basis for the script, but his arguments and evidence were the most compelling to date. He maintained that when de Landa had commanded of his informant to write the equivalent of the Spanish letter "b" (for example), the Maya scribe actually produced the glyph which corresponded to the syllable, /be/, as spoken by de Landa. Knorozov did not actually put forward many new transcriptions based on his analysis, nevertheless he maintained that this approach was the key to understanding the script. In effect, the de Landa "alphabet" was to become almost the "Rosetta stone" of Mayan decipherment.
Mathematics
In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) and base 5 numbering system (see Maya numerals). Also, the preclassic Maya and their neighbors had independently developed the concept of zero by 36 BC. Inscriptions show them on occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation.
The Mayans had three different calendars. The Tzolkin or Tzolk'in for religious purposes had 260 days. Then a solar type calendar called Haab with 365 days (18 months with 20 days each, plus 5 nameless days at the end of the year, and the Long Count calendar to track long periods of time and was used for inscription of calendar dates. So you are looking at 3 different calendars.
In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya had measured the length of the solar year to a high degree of accuracy, far more accurately than that used in Europe as the basis of the Gregorian calendar. They did not use this figure for the length of year in their calendars, however; the calendars they used were crude, being based on a year length of exactly 365 days, which means that the calendar falls out of step with the seasons by one day every four years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, used in Europe from Roman times until about the 16th Century, accumulated an error of only one day every 128 years. The modern Gregorian calendar is even more accurate, accumulating only a day's error in approximately 3257 years. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin: A total of 13 numbered days (representing a half period of the Moon) simultaneously with the 20 named days. The exact origin of the Tzolk'in is not known, but there are several theories. One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya. The numbers multiplied together equal 260. Another theory is that the 260-day period came from the length of human pregnancy. There are other theories...
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| Tzolkin: 13 numbered days (representing a half period of the Moon) simultaneously with 20 named days. |
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| Tzolkin 20 named days |
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| Haab |
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| Haab' calendar of 18th months + Wayeb |
An accurate count of days was also established in 747 BC, with a system called the "Long Count." The Long Count tallied days, "months" of 20 days, years (called "Tuns") of 360 days (not 365), double decades of 20 Tuns (called "Katuns"), and a measure of 400 years, called simply "400," or, in the nomenclature of archaeologists, "Baktuns." The Maya calculated dates millions of years in the past and the future for ritual purposes with the use of their “Long Count,” or date calendar, which records the total number of days that have elapsed since their zero day 0.0.0.0.0 that can be correlated to August 2nd, 3114 B.C. in our Gregorian calendar. The present Haab calendar cycle will end on 13.0.0.0.0 or December 21st, 2012 A.D. in our Gregorian calendar which will mark the winter equinox.
The oldest written myths date from the 16th century and are found in historical sources from the Guatemalan Highlands. The most important of these documents is the Popol Vuh or 'Book of the Council', which contains Quichean creation stories and some of the adventures of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.
Yucatán is an equally important region. The Books of Chilam Balam contain mythological passages of great antiquity, and mythological fragments are found scattered among the early-colonial Spanish chronicles and reports, chief among them Diego de Landa's Relación, and in the dictionaries compiled by the early missionaries. The Popol Vuh describes the creation of the earth by the wind of the sea and sky, as well as its sequel. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel relates the collapse of the sky and the deluge, followed by the raising of the sky and the erection of the five World Trees. The Lacandons also knew the tale of the creation of the Underworld. The Popol Vuh gives a sequence of four efforts at creation: First were animals, then wet clay, wood, then last, the creation of the first ancestors from maize dough. To this, the Lacandons add the creation of the main kin groupings and their 'totemic' animals. The creation of humankind is concluded by the Mesoamerican tale of the opening of the Maize (or Sustenance) Mountain by the Lightning deities.
The best-known hero myth is about the defeat of a bird demon and of the deities of disease and death by the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Of equal importance is the parallel narrative of a maize hero defeating the deities of Thunder and Lightning and establishing a pact with them.
Maya society
A Classic period Maya polity was a small kingdom (ajawil, ajawlel, ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler – ajaw, later k’uhul ajaw.
Such kingdoms were usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several dependent towns (similar to a city-state). There were also larger polities that controlled larger territories and subjugated smaller polities; the extensive systems controlled by Tikal and Caracol serve as examples of these.
Each kingdom had its name that did not necessarily correspond to any locality within its territory. Its identity was that of a political unit associated with a particular ruling dynasty.
De Landa wrote:
"Los señores regían el pueblo concertando los litigios, ordenando y concertando las cosas de sus repúblicas, todo lo cual hacían por manos de los más principales, que eran muy obedecidos y estimados
...
Si moría el señor, aunque le sucediese el hijo mayor, eran siempre los demás hijos muy acatados y ayudados y tenidos por señores."
Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts and had their own patron deities. They are likely to have come from aristocratic families. One must assume that some scribes were attached to the royal house, while others were serving at temples and were, perhaps, counted among the priests. It seems likely that they were organized hierarchically.
The Mayas employed warfare in each period of their development for the purposes of obtaining sacrificial victims, settling competitive rivalries, acquiring critical resources and gaining control of trade routes. Warfare was important to the Maya religion, because raids on surrounding areas provided the victims required for human sacrifice, as well as slaves for the construction of temples. Large-scale battles were also fought to determine and defend territories as well as secure economic power. The Mayas defended their cities with defensive structures such as palisades, gateways, and earthworks.
Landa wrote:
"Que salidos los españoles de Yucatán faltó el agua en la tierra y que por haber gastado sin orden su maíz en las guerras de los españoles, les sobrevino gran hambre; tanta, que vinieron a comer cortezas de árboles, en especial uno que llaman cumché, que es fofo y blando por dentro. Que por esta hambre, los Xiues, que son los señores de Mani, acordaron hacer un sacrificio solemne a los ídolos llevando ciertos esclavos y esclavas a echar en el pozo de Chichenizá (Chi Chheen Itza). Mas como habían de pasar por el pueblo de los señores Cocomes, sus capitales enemigos, y pensando que en tal tiempo se renovarían las viejas pasiones, les enviaron a rogar que los dejasen pasar por su tierra. Los Cocomes los engañaron con buena respuesta y dándoles posada a todos juntos en una gran casa les pegaron fuego y mataron a los que escapaban; y por esto hubo grandes guerras."
Warfare was a ritual process, believed to be sanctioned by the gods. Military leaders, in many instances, also had religious authority. Before going into battle, the armies would call upon the gods with dances and music of drums, whistles, conch shell horns and singing. The drumming and war cries would signify the start of the battle. The armies also carried religious idols into battle to inspire the warriors. They fought fiercely because they believed that death on the battle field secured them eternal bliss, whereas capture by the enemy was regarded as worse than any death. When an enemy was defeated, the victorious army exploited the religious icons and sometimes humiliated the defeated leader with prolonged captivity. The treatment of prisoners by the victorious was brutal and often ending in decapitation. The Maya also had a ritual of giving blood. The reason that they gave blood was to show respect to their gods. They gave blood from their genitals and tongue. Afterwards, they would drip their blood onto a piece of paper and burn it into the sky to show respect to their gods.
Maya marriages were frequently arranged by matchmakers, and the father of the groom had to approve the match. The bride and groom were required to have different surnames to ensure that they were not from the same lineage. A dowry was required from the groom’s family, which consisted of clothing and household articles for the bride and groom. Marriage ceremonies were performed by a priest in the home of the bride’s father. After the ceremony, the newlyweds lived with the bride's parents for 6-7 years. The groom was required to work for the family during this time as a form of payment for receiving his wife. The married couple then built a permanent home next to the husband’s parents and lived there until death. Couples were usually monogamous, with the exception of wealthy nobles who practiced polygamy. Divorces were permitted by simply leaving the relationship, and usually occurred when one of the parties was infertile or not carrying out his or her family responsibilities. Widowers and widows were required to remain single for one year after the death of their spouses, and could then remarry without a formal ceremony.
Landa wrote:
"Que antiguamente se casaban de 20 años y ahora de 12 o 13 y por eso ahora se repudian más fácilmente, como que se casan sin amor e ignorantes de la vida matrimonial y del oficio de casados; y si los padres no podían persuadirlos de que volviesen con ellas, buscábanles otras y otras. Con la misma facilidad dejaban los hombres con hijos a sus mujeres, sin temor de que otro las tomase por mujeres o después volver a ellas; pero con todo eso son muy celosos y no llevan a paciencia que sus mujeres no sean honestas; y ahora, en vista de que los españoles, sobre eso, matan a las suyas, empiezan a maltratarlas y aun a matarlas. Si cuando repudiaban (a sus mujeres) los hijos eran niños, dejábanlos a las madres; si grandes los varones, con los padres, y (si) hembras, con las madres. Que aunque era tan común y familiar cosa repudiar, los ancianos y de mejores costumbres lo tenían por malo y muchos había que nunca habían tenido sino una (mujer) la cual ninguno tomaba (en la familia) del padre, porque era cosa muy fea entre ellos
...
Los padres tienen mucho cuidado de buscarles con tiempo a sus hijos, mujeres de estado y condición, y si podían, en el mismo lugar; y poquedad era entre ellos buscar las mujeres para sí, y los padres casamiento para sus hijas
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Venido el día se juntaban en casa del padre de la novia y allí, aparejada la comida, venían los convidados y el sacerdote y reunidos los casados y consuegros trataba el sacerdote cuadrarles y si lo habían mirado bien los suegros y si les estaba bien; y así le daban su mujer al mozo esa noche si era para ello y luego se hacía la comida y convite y de ahí en adelante quedaba el yerno en casa del suegro, trabajando cinco o seis años para el mismo suegro; y si no lo hacía echábanle de la casa. Las madres trabajaban para que la mujer diese siempre de comer al marido en señal de casamiento. Los viudos y viudas se concertaban sin fiesta ni solemnidad y con sólo ir ellos a casa de ellas y admitirlos y darles de comer se hacía el casamiento; de lo cual nacía que (las mujeres) se dejaban con tanta facilidad como se tomaban.
"
Maya religion
The traditional Mayas believe in the existence, within each individual, of various souls, usually described in quasi-material terms (such as 'shadow', 'breath', 'blood', and 'bone'). The loss of one or more souls results in specific diseases (generically called 'soul-loss', 'fright', or susto). In Classic Maya texts, certain glyphs are read as references to the soul. Much more is known about the so-called 'co-essences', that is, animals or other natural phenomena (comets, lightning) linked with the individual (usually a male) and protecting him. In some cases (often connected to black sorcery), one can change into co-essences acting like a sort of 'werewolves' (see also nagual).
The Yucatec Maya had a double concept of the afterlife: Evildoers descended into an underworld (metnal) to be tormented there (a view still held by the 20th-century Lacandons), while others, such as those led by the goddess Ixtab, went to a sort of paradise. The ancestors of Maya kings (Palenque tomb of Pakal, Berlin pot) are shown sprouting from the earth like fruit trees which, together, constitute a blissful orchard. The so-called 'Flower Mountain' has more specifically been interpreted as a reference to an aquatic and solar paradise. To judge by the marine faunal remains found in Classic tombs and by the aquatic imagery used for the depiction of ancestors, this sea paradise may have been the Maya variant of the rain god's paradise (Tlalocan) in Central Mexican religion
The Maya had a baptismal rite. The Baptism took place when there were a number of boys and girls between the ages of three and twelve in the village.
Landa wrote:
"Lo que pensaban (que) recibian en el (bautismo) era una propia disposición para ser buenos en sus costumbres y no ser dañados por los demonios en las cosas temporales, y venir, mediante él y su buena vida, a conseguir la gloria que ellos esperaban, en la cual, según en la de Mahoma, habían de usar de manjares y bebidas.
...
Que los yucatanenses naturalmente conocían que hacían mal, y porque creían que por el mal y pecado les venían muertes, enfermedades y tormentos, tenían por costumbre confesarse cuando ya estaban en ellos. De esta manera, cuando por enfermedad u otra cosa estaban en peligro de muerte, confesaban sus pecados y si se descuidaban traíanselos sus parientes más cercanos o amigos a la memoria, y así decían públicamente sus pecados: al sacerdote si estaba allí, y si no, a los padres y madres, las mujeres a los maridos y los maridos a las mujeres. Los pecados de que comúnmente se acusaban eran el hurto, homicidio, de la carne y falso testimonio y con esto se creían salvos
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Ellos confesaban sus flaquezas salvo las que con sus esclavas, los que las tenían, habían cometido, porque decían que era lícito usar de sus cosas como querían. Los pecados de intención no confesaban aunque teníanlos por malos y en sus consejos y predicaciones aconsejan evitarlos. Que las abstinencias que comúnmente hacían eran de sal y pimienta en los guisados, lo cual les era grave; absteníanse de sus mujeres para la celebración de todas sus fiestas.
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Que esta gente tenía mucho, excesivo temor a la muerte y lo mostraban en todos los servicios que a sus dioses hacían no eran por otro fin ni para otra cosa sino para que les diesen salud y vida y mantenimientos. Pero ya que venían a morir, era cosa de ver las lástimas y llantos que por sus difuntos hacían y la tristeza grande que les causaban. Llorábanlos de día en silencio y de noche a altos y muy dolorosos gritos que era lástima oírlos. Andaban a maravilla tristes muchos días.
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Que esta gente tenía mucho, excesivo temor a la muerte y lo mostraban en todos los servicios que a sus dioses hacían no eran por otro fin ni para otra cosa sino para que les diesen salud y vida y mantenimientos. Pero ya que venían a morir, era cosa de ver las lástimas y llantos que por sus difuntos hacían y la tristeza grande que les causaban. Llorábanlos de día en silencio y de noche a altos y muy dolorosos gritos que era lástima oírlos. Andaban a maravilla tristes muchos días.
Que esta gente ha creído siempre en la inmortalidad del alma más que otras muchas naciones aunque no haya sido de tanta policía, porque creían que después de la muerte había otra vida más excelente de la cual gozaba el alma en apartándose del cuerpo.
Esta vida futura, decían que se dividía en buena y mala vida, en penosa y llena de descanso. La mala y penosa, decían, era para los viciosos; y la buena y deleitosa para los que hubiesen vivido bien en su manera de vivir; los descansos que decían habrían de alcanzar si eran buenos, eran ir a un lugar muy deleitable donde ninguna cosa les diese pena y donde hubiese abundancia de comidas y bebidas de mucha dulzura, y un árbol que allá llaman yaxché (yax che) muy fresco y de gran sombra, que es (una) ceiba, debajo de cuyas ramas y sombra descansarían y holgarían todos siempre. Las penas de la mala vida que decían habrían de tener los malos, eran ir a un lugar más bajo que el otro que llaman mitnal, que quiere decir infierno, y en él ser atormentados por los demonios, y de grandes necesidades de hambre y frío y cansancio y triteza. También había en este lugar un demonio, príncipe de todos los demonios, al cual obedecían todos y llámanle en su lengua Hunhau (Hun Ahau, Hum Ahau, Cum Ahau), y decían (que) estas mala y buena vida no tenían fin, por no tenerlo el alma. Decían también, y lo tenían por muy cierto, (que) iban a esta su gloria los que se ahorcaban; y así había muchos que con pequeñas ocasiones de tristeza, trabajos o enfermedades se ahorcaban para salir de ellas e ir a descansar a su gloria donde, decían, los venía a llevar la diosa de la horca que llamaban Ixtab (Ix Tabay).
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Sacrifice in Maya culture
Sacrifice was a religious activity in Maya culture, involving either the killing of animals or the bloodletting by members of the community, in rituals superintended by priests. Sacrifice has been a feature of almost all pre-modern societies at some stage of their development and for broadly the same reason: to propitiate or fulfill a perceived obligation towards the gods.
Animal sacrifice and bloodletting were a common feature in many Maya festivals and regular rituals. Human sacrifice was far less common, being tied to events such as ill fortune, warfare and the consecration of new leaders or temples. The practice was also far less common than in the neighboring Aztec societies. The Maya people would sacrifice their prisoners. The prisoners were most often from neighboring tribes.
The forms sacrifice might take varies considerably. In contemporary sacrificial rites, there is an overall emphasis on the sprinkling of blood, especially that of turkeys. In the pre-Spanish past, sacrifice usually consisted of animals such as deer, dog, quail, turkey, and fish, but on exceptional occasions (such as accession to the throne, severe illness of the ruler, royal burial, or drought and famine) also came to include human beings. Partaking of the sacrifice was common, but ritual cannibalism appears to have been exceedingly rare. A characteristic feature of ancient Mayan ritual (though not exclusive to the Mayas) were the "bloodletting" sessions held by high officials and members of the royal families, during which the earlobes, tongues, and penises were cut with razor-sharp small knives and stingray spines; the blood fell on paper strips that were possibly burnt afterwards.
The Mayans engaged in a large number of festivals and rituals on fixed days of the year, many of which involved animal sacrifices and all of which seem to have involved bloodletting. The ubiquity of this practice is a unique aspect of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture, and is now believed to have originated with the Olmecs, the region's first civilization.
Ritualised bloodletting was usually performed in public by religious or political leaders piercing a soft body part, most commonly the tongue, ear or foreskin, and collecting the blood to smear directly on the idol or collecting it on paper, which was then burned.
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| In Lintel 24 Lady Xoc performs a blood sacrifice (or bloodletting ritual) by threading a thorned-rope through a hole in her tongue. In Yaxchilan, blood sacrifices were a way for kings to seek help or advice from departed ancestors. Blood sacrifices were seen as a way to get oneself in the favor of the gods – essentially, preparing the king for battle. |
De Landa described some of these sacrifices:
"Que hacian sacrificios con su propia sangre cortándose unas veces las orejas a la redonda, por pedazos, y así las dejaban por señal. Otras veces se agujeraban las mejillas. otras el labio de abajo; otras se sajaban partes de sus cuerpos; otras se agujeraban las lenguas, al soslayo, por los lados, y pasaban por los agujeros unas pajas con grandisimo dolor; otras, se harpaban lo superfluo del miembro vergonzoso dejándolo como las orejas, con lo cual se engañó el historiador general de las Indias cuando dijo que se circuncidaban... Otras veces hacian un sucio y penoso sacrificio, juntándose en el templo los que lo hacian y puestos en regla se hacían sendos agujeros en los miembros viriles, al soslayo, por el lado, y hechos pasaban toda la mayor cantidad de hilo que podian, quedando así todos ensartados; también untaban con la sangre de todos aquellas partes al demonio, y el que más hacía era tenido por más valiente y sus hijos, desde pequeños, comenzaban a ocuparse en ello y es cosa espantable cuán aficionados eran a ello."
Blood sacrifice to the Maya gods was vigorously opposed by the Spanish clergy as the most visible sign of native apostasy, as De Landa, who was later to become the second bishop of the Yucatán, makes clear:
"After the people had been thus instructed in religion, and the youths benefitted as we have said, they were perverted by their priests and chiefs to return to their idolatry; this they did, making sacrifices not only by incense, but also of human blood. Upon this the friars held an Inquisition, calling upon the Alcalde Mayor for aid; they held trials and celebrated an Auto, putting many on scaffolds, capped, shorn and beaten, and some in the penitential robes for a time. Some of the Indians out of grief, and deluded by the devil, hung themselves; but generally they all showed much repentance and readiness to be good Christians."
The city of Chichen Itza, the main focus of Maya regional power from the Late Classical period, appears to have also been a major focus of human sacrifice. There are two natural sink holes, or cenotes, at the site of the city, which would have provided a plentiful supply of potable water. The largest of these, Cenote Sagrado (also known as the Well of Sacrifice), was where many victims were cast as an offering to the rain god Chaac. A 2007 study of remains taken from this cenote found that they had wounds consistent with human sacrifice.
Because Maya society was organised as independent city states, the local political and religious elites could independently initiate human sacrifices as they saw fit. De Landa notes that a common cause for temple sacrifices in many cities was the occurrence of "pestilences, dissensions, or droughts or the like ills". (p. 91) In such cases, slaves were usually purchased and after a variety of rituals were anointed with blue dye and either shot with arrows through the heart or held on an altar while the priest swiftly removed the heart using a ceremonial knife. In either case the heart was presented to the temple idol, which was also anointed with blood.
Capturing prisoners after a successful battle also provided victims for sacrifice, presumably to propitiate whatever deity had promised victory in the first place, although there is no record of the Maya initiating conflicts solely for this purpose as was apparently the case with the Aztecs. Modern analysis of Maya art indicates a large number of representations of captured prisoners of war that are now understood to be sacrificial victims:
"The analysis of the representations and sometimes of their context shows that the crossedarms-on-the-chest gesture is associated with the concepts of submissiveness, captivity and death — in a word, sacrifice."
Mayanists believe that, like the Aztecs, the Maya performed child sacrifice in specific circumstances, most commonly as foundation dedications for temples and other structures. Maya art from the Classic period also depicts the extraction of children's hearts during the ascension to the throne of the new kings, or at the beginnings of the Maya calendar. In one of these cases, Stele 11 in Piedras Negras, Guatemala, a sacrificed boy can be seen. Other scenes of sacrificed boys are visible on painted jars.
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| Stele 11 in Piedras Negras, Guatemala |
Both blood and human sacrifice were ubiquitous in all cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but beyond some uncontroversial generalisations there is no scholarly consensus on the broader questions (and specific mysteries) this raises. Most scholars agree that both practices arose among the Olmecs at least 3,000 years ago, and have been transmitted to subsequent cultures, including the Maya. Why they arose among the Olmecs is unknown.
Blood, and by extension the still-beating heart, is the central element in both the ethnography and iconography of sacrifice, and its use through ritual established or renewed for the Maya a connection with the sacred that was for them essential to the very existence of the natural order.
Landa described extensively the Blood and Human sacrifices in his "Account of things of Yucatan":
"Que sin las fiestas, en las cuales para solemnizarlas se sacrificaban animales, también por alguna tribulación o necesidad les mandaba el sacerdote o chilanes (chilam) sacrificar personas y para esto contribuían todos. Algunos daban para que se comprasen esclavos o por devoción entregaban a sus hijitos los cuales eran muy regalados hasta el día y fiesta de sus personas, y muy guardados (para) que no se huyesen o ensuciasen de algún pecado carnal; y mientras les llevaban de pueblo en pueblo con bailes, los sacerdotes ayunaban con los chilanes y oficiales. Y llegado el dia juntábanse en el patio del templo y si habia (el esclavo) de ser sacrificado a saetazos, desnudábanle en cueros y untábanle el cuerpo de azul (poniéndole) una coroza en la cabeza; y después de echado el demonio, hacia la gente un solemne baile con él, todos con flechas y arcos alrededor del palo y bailando subían en él y atábanle siempre bailando y mirándole todos. Subía el sucio del sacerdote vestido y con una flecha le heria en la parte verenda, fuese mujer u hombre, y sacaba sangre y bajábase y untaba con ella los rostros del demonio; y haciendo cierta señal a los bailadores, ellos, como bailando, pasaban de prisa y por orden le comenzaban a flechar el corazón el cual tenia señalado con una señal blanca; y de esta manera ponianle al punto los pechos como un erizo de flechas.
Si le habian de sacar el corazón, le traian al patio con gran aparato y compañia de gente y embadurnado de azul y su coroza puesta, le llevaban a la grada redonda que era el sacrificadero y después de que el sacerdote y sus oficiales untaban aquella piedra con color azul y echaban al demonio purificando el templo, tomaban los chaces (chac) al pobre que sacrificaban y con gran presteza le ponian de espaldas en aquella piedra y asíanle de las piernas y brazos que le partían por enmedio. En esto llegaba el sayón nacón (nacom) con un navajón de piedra y dábale con mucha destreza y crueldad un cuchillada entre las costillas, del lado izquierdo, debajo de la tetilla y acudíale allí luego con la mano y echaba la mano al corazón como rabioso tigre arrancándoselo vivo, y puesto en un plato lo daba al sacerdote el cual iba muy de prisa y untaba a los idolos los rostros con aquella sangre fresca.
...
Algunas veces hacian este sacrificio en la piedra y grada alta del templo y entonces echaban el cuerpo ya muerto a rodar gradas abajo y tomábanle abajo los oficiales y desollábanle el cuerpo entero, salvo los pies y las manos, y desnudo el sacerdote, en cueros vivos, se forraba con aquella piel y bailaban con él los demás, y esto era cosa de mucha solemnidad para ellos. A estos sacrificados comúnmente solian enterrar en el patio del templo, o si no, comíanselos repartiendo entre los señores y los que alcanzaban; y las manos y los pies y cabeza eran del sacerdote y oficiales; y a estos sacrificados tenían por santos. Si eran esclavos cautivos en guerra, su señor tomaba los huesos para sacarlos como divisa en los bailes, en señal de victoria. Algunas veces echaban personas vivas en el pozo de Chichenizá (Chi Chheen Itza) creyendo que salian al tercer día aunque nunca más parecian.
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Otros derramaban sangre cortandose las orejas y untaban can ella una piedra que allí tenían de un demonio (llamado) Kanalacantun (Kanal Acantun). Hacían un corazon de pan y otro pan con pepitas de calabazas y ofrecíanlos a la imagen del demonio Kanuuayayab (Kan Uayab Haab). Tenían así esta estatua e imagen estos días aciagos y sahumabanlas con su incienso mezclado a los (granos de) maiz molido. Tenían creido que si no hacían estas ceremonias habían de tener ciertas enfermidades que ellos tienen en este año
...
...
Mandábales, pues, hiciesen un ídolo que llamaban Yzamnakauil (Itzam Na Kauil) y que le pusiesen en su templo y le quemasen en el patio del templo tres pelotes de una leche o resina llamada kik, y que le sacrificasen un perro o un hombre lo cual ellos hacían guardando el orden que ya se dijo, tenían con los que sacrificaban, salvo que el modo de sacrificar en esta fiesta era diferente, porque hacían en el patio del templo un gran montón de piedras y ponían al hombre o perro que habían de sacrificar en alguna cosa más alta que él, y echando atado al paciente del lo alto a las piedras, le arrebataban aquellos oficiales y con gran presteza le sacaban el corazón y le llevaban al nuevo ídolo, y se lo ofrecían entre dos platos. Ofrecían otros dones de comidas y en esta fiesta bailaban las viejas del pueblo que para ello tenían elegidas, vestidas de ciertas vestiduras. Decían que dascendía un ángel y recibía este sacrificio.
...
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Pero porque eran sus fiestas sólo para tener gratos y propicios a sus dioses, sino era teniéndolos airados no (las) hacían más sangrientas; y creían estar airados (los dioses) cuando tenían necesidades o pestilencias o disensiones o esterilidades u otras semejantes necesidades; entonces no curaban de aplacar los demonios sacrificándoles animales, ni haciéndoles solamente ofrendas de sus comidas y bebidas o derramando su sangre y afligiéndose con velas y ayunos y abstinencias; mas olvidada toda natural piedad y toda ley de razón, les hacían sacrificios de personas humanas con tanta facilidad como si sacrificasen aves, y tantas veces cuantas los malvados sacerdotes o los chilanes les decían era menester, o a los señores se les antojaba o parecía, Y dado que en esta tierra, por no ser mucha la gente como en México, ni regirse ya después de la destrucción de Mayapán por una cabeza sino por muchas, no hacían así tan junta la matanza de hombres, ni por eso dejaban de morir miserablemente hartos pues tenía cada pueblo autoridad de sacrificar los que el sacerdote o chilán o señor le parecía y para hacerlo tenían sus públicos lugares en los templos como si fuera la cosa más necesaria del mundo a la conservación de la república. Después de matar en sus pueblos, tenían aquellos dos descomulgados santuarios de Chichenizá y Cuzmil donde infinitos pobres enviaban a sacrificar o despeñar al uno, y al otro a sacar los corazones."
The practice of deliberate cranial deformation or flattening is well documented among the pre-Columbian Maya peoples, and is evidenced from the Preclassic era onwards. By the use of cradleboards and other compression techniques applied to the growing skull from infancy, a variety of head-shapes were fashioned, with different regions and time-periods exhibiting a difference in style and ideal. The practice was applied to both males and females, and was not thought to be particularly associated with class or social standing. It was widely adopted however, to the point where one particular study. which examined over 1,500 skulls drawn from across the Maya region determined that at least 88% exhibited some form of intentional cranial deformation. These practices have no known therapeutic value although they may have been intertwined with the expression of Maya cultural values, beliefs and identity.
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| Methods used by Mayan peoples to shape a child's head. |
"Que las indias criaban a sus hijitos en toda la aspereza y desnudez del mundo, porque a los cuatro o cinco días de nacida la criaturita poníanla tendidita en un lecho pequeño, hecho de varillas, y allí, boca abajo, le ponían entre dos tablillas la cabeza: la una en el colodrillo y a otra en la frente entre las cuales se la apretaban tan reciamente y la tenían allí padeciendo hasta que acabados algunos días les quedaba la cabeza llana y enmoldada como la usaban todos ellos. Era tanta la molestia y el peligro de los pobres niños, que algunos peligraban, y el autor vio agujerarle a uno la cabeza por detrás de las orejas, y así debían hacer a muchos."
The Mayans also believed that being cross-eyed was attractive. So they tied a bead on the front of a child's head so it dangled between their eyes. The child would get cross-eyes by looking at the bead.
"Tenían por gala ser bizcos, lo cual hacían por arte las madres colgándoles del pelo cuando niños, un pegotillo que les llegaba al medio de las cejas; y como les andaba allí jugando, ellos alzaban los ojos y venian a quedar bizcos. Y que tenían las cabezas y frentes llanas, hecho también por sus madres, por industria, desde niños, que traian las orejas horadadas para zarcillos y muy harpadas de los sacrificios. No criaban barbas y decían que les quemaban los rostros sus madres con paños calientes siendo niños, para que no les naciesen. Y que ahora crían barbas aunque muy ásperas como cerdas de rocines.
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Que usaban pintarse de colorado el rostro y cuerpo y les parecía muy mal, pero teníanlo por gran gala."
Aztecs
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to 16th centuries.
Sometimes the term also includes the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan's two principal allied city-states, the Acolhuas of Texcoco and the Tepanecs of Tlacopan, who together with the Mexica formed the Aztec Triple Alliance which controlled what is often known as "the Aztec Empire". In other contexts, Aztec may refer to all the various city states and their peoples, who shared large parts of their ethnic history and cultural traits with the Mexica, Acolhua and Tepanecs, and who often also used the Nahuatl language as a lingua franca.
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| The maximal extent of the Aztec Empire (1519) |
From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of Aztec civilization: here the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance, the city of Tenochtitlan, was built upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco. The Triple Alliance formed a tributary empire expanding its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica. At its pinnacle Aztec culture had rich and complex mythological and religious traditions, as well as reaching remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments.
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| The Valley of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. |
Tenochtitlan was founded on an islet in the western part of the lake in the year 1325. Around it, the Aztecs created a large artificial island using a system similar to the creation of chinampas. To overcome the problems of drinking water, the Aztecs built a system of dams to separate the salty waters of the lake from the rain water of the effluents. It also permitted them to control the level of the lake. The city also had an inner system of channels that helped to control the water.
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| Lake Texcoco and its waters, circa 1519. |
History of the Triple Alliance
In the 13th century in the Valley of Mexico, there existed many city-states including Chalco, Xochimilco, Tlacopan, Culhuacan, and Atzcapotzalco. The most powerful were Culhuacan on the south shore of Lake Texcoco and Azcapotzalco on the west shore.
As a result, when the Mexica arrived in the Valley of Mexico as a semi-nomadic tribe, they had nowhere to go. In roughly 1248, they first settled on Chapultepec, a hill on the west shore of Lake Texcoco, the site of numerous springs.
In time, the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco ousted the Mexica from Chapultepec and the ruler of Culhuacan, Cocoxtli, gave the Mexica permission to settle in the empty barrens of Tizaapan in 1299. There they married and assimilated into Culhuacan culture.
In 1323, they asked the new ruler of Culhuacan, Achicometl, for his daughter, in order to make her the goddess Yaocihuatl. Unknown to the king, the Mexica actually planned to sacrifice her. The Mexica believed that by doing this the princess would join the gods as a deity. As the story goes, during a festival dinner, a priest came out wearing her flayed skin as part of the ritual. Upon seeing this, the king and the people of Culhuacan were horrified and expelled the Mexica.
Forced to flee, in 1325 they went to a small island on the west side of Lake Texcoco, where they began to build their city Tenochtitlan, eventually creating a large artificial island. It is said that the Aztec god, Huitzlipochtli, instructed the Aztecs to found their city at the location where they saw an eagle, on a cactus, with a snake in its talons(which is on the current Mexican flag). The Aztecs, apparently, saw this vision on the small island where Tenochtitlan was founded.
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| The legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan as feature in Mexico's coat-of-arms |
From 1376 until 1427, the Mexica were a tributary of Azcapotzalco. The Aztec rulers Acamapichtli, Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca were, in fact, vassals of Tezozomoc, the Tepanec ruler of Azcapotzalco.When Tezozomoc died in 1425, his son Maxtla ascended to the throne of Azcapotzalco. Maxtla sought to tighten Azcapotzalco's grip on the nearby city-states in the Valley of Mexico. In the process, Chimalpopoca, tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, was assassinated by Maxtla's agents while Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco was forced into exile.
The new Mexica king Itzcoatl remained defiant to Maxtla, and in response Maxtla had Tenochtitlan blockaded and demanded increased tribute payments. Maxtla similarly turned against the Acolhua, and the king of Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl fled into exile. Nezahualcoyotl recruited the military assistance of the king of Huexotzinco, and the Mexica gained the support of a dissident Tepanec city, Tlacopan. In 1427, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan, and Huexotzinco went to war with Azcapotzalco and emerged victorious in 1428.
After the war, Huexotzinco withdrew and the three remaining cities formed a treaty known today as the Triple Alliance. The Tepanec lands were carved up between the three cities who agreed to cooperate in future wars of conquest. Land acquired from these conquests was to be held by the three cities together. Tribute was to be divided so that two fifths each went to Tenochtitlan and Texcoco and one fifth went to Tlacopan.
The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan would, in the next 100 years, come to dominate the Valley of Mexico and extend its power to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific shore. Over this period, Tenochtitlan gradually became the dominant power in the alliance. Two of the primary architects of this alliance were the half-brothers Tlacaelel and Motecuzoma, nephews of Itzcoatl. Moctezuma I succeeded Itzcoatl as the 6th Hueyi Tlatoani in 1449. Tlacaelel became the power behind the throne and reformed both the Aztec state and the Aztec religion.
Moctezuma I's son, Axayacatl, ascended to the throne in 1469. During his reign, Tenochtitlan absorbed the kingdom of Tlatelolco. Axayacatl's sister was married to the tlatoani of Tlatelolco, and, as a pretext for war, Axayacatl declared that she was mistreated.
In 1481 Axayacatl's brother Tizoc ruled briefly, but his rule was marred by the humiliation he received in his coronation war: fighting the Otomies at Metztitlan he brought home only 40 prisoners for sacrifice at his coronation ceremony. After this defeat Tizoc had to fight principally to maintain control of the already conquered territories, and failing to subdue new towns he was replaced, possibly poisoned, by his younger brother Ahuitzotl.
By the reign of Ahuitzotl, the Mexica were the largest and most powerful faction in the Aztec Triple Alliance.Building upon the prestige the Mexica had acquired over the course of the conquests, Ahuitzotl began to use the title "huehuetlatoani" ("Eldest Speaker") to distinguish himself from the rulers of Texcoco and Tlacopan. Even though the alliance still technically ran the empire, the Mexica Emperor now assumed nominal if not actual seniority.
Ahuitzotl was succeeded by his brother Motecuzoma II in 1502. Motecuzoma II spent most of his reign consolidating power in lands conquered by his predecessors. In 1515, Aztec armies commanded by the Tlaxcalan general Tlahuicole invaded the Tarascan Empire once again. The Aztec army failed to take any territory and was mostly restricted to raiding. The Tarascans defeated them and the army withdrew.
Motecuzoma II instituted more imperial reforms. After the death of Nezahualcoyotl, the Mexica Emperors had become the de facto rulers of the alliance. Motecuzoma II used his reign to attempt to consolidate power more closely with the Mexica Emperor. He removed many of Ahuitzotl's advisors and had several of them executed.
Fall of the Atzec Empire
Hernán Cortés landed his expedition force on the coast of the modern day state of Veracruz. He learned of an indigenous settlement called Cempoala and marched his forces there. On their arrival in Cempoala, they were greeted by 20 dignitaries and cheering townsfolk.
Cortés quickly persuaded the Totonac chief Chicomecoatl (misspelled as Chicomacatt by Spanish writers) to rebel against the Aztecs.
Faced with imprisonment or death for defying the governor, Cortés' only alternative was to continue on with his enterprise in the hope of redeeming himself with the Spanish Crown. To do this, he directed his men to establish a settlement called La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. The legally constituted "town council of Villa Rica" then promptly offered him the position of adelantado.
This strategy was not unique. Velásquez had used this same legal mechanism to free himself from Diego Columbus' authority in Cuba. In being named adelantado by a duly constituted cabildo, Cortés was able to free himself from Velásquez's authority and continue his expedition. To ensure the legality of this action several members of his expedition, including Francisco Montejo, returned to Spain to seek royal acceptance of the cabildo's declaration.
The Totonacs helped Cortés build the town of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, which was the starting point for his attempt to conquer the Aztec empire. This settlement eventually grew into the city now known as Veracruz ("True Cross").
Those of his men still loyal to the Governor of Cuba conspired to seize a ship and escape to Cuba, but Cortés moved swiftly to squash their plans. To make sure such a mutiny did not happen again, he decided to scuttle his ships, on the pretext that they were no longer seaworthy. There is a popular misconception that Cortés burned the ships to prevent further mutiny. This misconception has been attributed to the reference made by Cervantes de Salazar in 1546 as to Cortés burning his ships.
The Totonacs allied with the Spanish, and when Cortés decided to go inland to Tenochtitlan, the Totonacas guided them to other subject peoples who would be willing to ally with them, including and especially the Tlaxcalans. Tlaxcala was a confederacy of about 200 towns, but without central government. Their main city was Tlaxcala. However, after entering Tlaxcalan territory, the Spanish were met by a hostile Tlaxcalan force of 30,000. The Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish and their Indian allies in a number of battles, with the Spanish inflicting heavy casualties on the Tlaxcalans despite their superior numbers. The Spaniards’ prowess in battle impressed the Tlaxcalan King Xi-cohte-ncatl A-xa-yacatzin, who then not only allowed the Spanish to pass through his territory, but also invited them into the capital city of Tlaxcala.
After almost a century of fighting the Flower wars, a great deal of hate and bitterness had developed between the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans knew that eventually the Aztecs would try to conquer them. It was just a matter of time before this tension developed into a real conflict. The Aztecs had already conquered much of the territory around Tlaxcala. It is possible that the Aztecs left Tlaxcala independent so they would have a constant supply of war captives to sacrifice to their gods. On 18 September 1519, Cortés arrived in Tlaxcala and was greeted with joy by the rulers, who already saw the Spanish as a possible ally against the Aztecs. Due to a commercial blockade by the Aztecs, Tlaxcala was poor, lacking, among other things, both salt and cotton cloth, so they could only offer Cortés and his men food and women. All that time Cortés offered to talk about the benefits of Christianity. Legends say that he convinced the four leaders of Tlaxcala to become baptized. Maxixcatzin, Xicotencatl the Elder, Citalpopocatzin and Temiloltecutl received the names of Don Lorenzo, Don Vicente, Don Bartolomé and Don Gonzalo.
On 12 October 1519, Cortés and his men, accompanied by about 1,000 Tlaxcalteca, marched to Cholula. Moctezuma had apparently tried to stop the advance of Cortés and his troops, and it seems that he ordered the leaders of Cholula to stop them, capture them and bring them to him as prisioners (probably for Human Sacrifice). Cholula had a very small army, since as a sacred city, they put their confidence in their prestige and their gods. La Malinche told Cortés, after talking to the wife of one of the lords of Cholula, that the locals planned to murder the Spaniards in their sleep. The conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounts this on "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España":
"...y nuestro capitán nos mandó juntar, y nos dijo: Muy desconcertada veo esta gente; estemos muy alerta, que alguna maldad hay entre ellos. Y luego envió a llamar al cacique principal, que ya no se me acuerda cómo se llamaba, o que enviase algunos principales; y respondió que estaba malo y que no podía venir...
... luego vinieron juntos con él al aposento de Cortés. Y les preguntó con nuestras leguas que por qué habían miedo y que por qué causa no nos daban de comer, y que si reciben pena de nuestra estada en su ciudad, que otro día por la mañana nos queríamos partir para México a ver y hablar al señor Montezuma; y que le tengan aparejados tamemes para llevar el fardaje y tepuzques, que son las lombardas, y también que luego traigan comida. Y el cacique estaba tan cortado, que no acertaba a hablar, y dijo que la comida que la buscarían; mas que su señor Montezuma les ha enviado a mandar que no la diesen, ni quería que pasásemos de allí adelante...
...Y en aquel instante vinieron ocho indios tlaxcaltecas, de los que dejamos en el campo, que no entraron en Cholula, y dijeron a Cortés: Mira, Malinche, que esta ciudad está de mala manera, porque sabemos que esta noche han sacrificado a su ídolo, que es el de la guerra, siete personas, y los cinco de ellos son niños, porque les dé victoria contra vosotros, y también habemos visto que sacan todo el fardaje y mujeres y niños...
...Y aquella noche estuvimos muy apercibidos y armados, y los caballos ensillados enfrenados con grandes velas y rondas, que esto siempre lo teníamos de costumbres, porque tuvimos por cierto que todas las capitanías, así de mexicanos como de cholultecas, aquella noche habían de dar sobre nosotros...
...Y una india vieja, mujer de un cacique, como sabía el concierto y trama que tenían ordenado, vino secretamente a doña Marina, nuestra lengua; como la vió moza y de buen parecer y rica, le dijo y aconsejó que se fuese con ella (a) su casa si quería escapar la vida, porque ciertamente aquella noche y otro día nos habían de matar a todos, porque ya estaba así mandado y concertado por el gran Montezuma, para que entre los de aquella ciudad y los mexicanos se juntasen y no quedase ninguno de nosotros a vida, y nos llevasen atados a México...
"
Cortés ordered a pre-emptive strike, urged on by the Tlaxcalans, the enemies of the Cholulans. The Spaniards seized and killed many of the local nobles to serve as a lesson. After Cortés arrived in Cholula he seized their leaders Tlaquiach and Tlalchiac and then ordered the city set fire. The troops started in the palace of Xacayatzin, and then on to Chialinco and Yetzcoloc. In his letters, Cortés claimed that in three hours time his troops (helped by the Tlaxcalans) killed 3,000 people and burned the city.
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| Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops by Emanuel Leutze |
Cortés welcomed by Moctezuma:
Cortes added 6,000 Tlaxcala warriors and continued his way to Tenochtitlan. Then he sent emissaries to Moctezuma with the message that the people of Cholula had treated him with disrespect and had therefore been punished. Cortés' message continued that the Aztecs need not fear his wrath if Moctezuma treated him with respect and gifts of gold.
On 8 November 1519 after nearly three months, Cortés arrived at the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, the island capital of the Mexica-Aztecs. It is believed that the city was one of the largest in the world at that time. Of all the cities in Europe, only Constantinople was larger than Tenochtitlan. The most common estimates put the population at around 60,000 to over 300,000 people.
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| La gran Tenochtitlán, mural by Diego Rivera at Palacion Nacional |
"Ya que llegábamos cerca de México, adonde estaban otras torrecillas, se apeó el gran Montezuma de las andas, y traíanle de brazo aquellos grandes caciques, debajo de un palio muy riquísimo a maravilla y el color de plumas verdes con grandes labores de oro, con mucha argentería y perlas y piedras chalchihuis, que colgaban de unas como bordaduras, que hubo mucho que mirar en ello. Y el gran Montezuma venía muy ricamente ataviado, según su usanza, y traía calzados unos como cotaras, que así se dice lo que se calzan; las suelas de oro y muy preciada pedrería por encima en ellas; y los cuatro señores que le traían de brazo venían con rica manera de vestidos a su usanza, que parece ser se los tenían aparejados en el camino para entrar con su señor, que no traían los vestidos con los que nos fueron a recibir, y venían, sin aquellos cuatro señores, otros cuatro grandes caciques que traían el palio sobre sus cabezas, y otros muchos señores que venían delante del gran Montezuma, barriendo el suelo por donde había de pisar, y le ponían mantas porque no pisase la tierra. Todos estos señores ni por pensamiento le miraban en la cara, sino los ojos bajos y con mucho acato, excepto aquellos cuatro deudos y sobrinos suyos que lo llevaban de brazo. Y como Cortés vió y entendió y le dijeron que venía el gran Montezuma, se apeó del caballo, y desde que llegó cerca de Montezuma, a una se hicieron grandes acatos"
A fragment of the greetings of Moctezuma says: "My lord, you have become fatigued, you have become tired: to the land you have arrived. You have come to your city: Mexico, here you have come to sit on your place, on your throne. Oh, it has been reserved to you for a small time, it was conserved by those who have gone, your substitutes... This is what has been told by our rulers, those of whom governed this city, ruled this city. That you would come to ask for your throne, your place, that you would come here. Come to the land, come and rest: take possession of your royal houses, give food to your body."
According to Sahagún's manuscript, Moctezuma personally dressed Cortés with flowers from his own gardens, the highest honour he could give, although probably Cortés did not understand the significance of the gesture.
Also from the letter of Cortes 'Letter from Mexico':
Moctezuma came down the middle of this street with two chiefs, one on his right hand and the other on his left. When we met I dismounted and stepped forward to embrace him, but the two lords who were with him stopped me with their hands so that I should not touch him; and they likewise all performed the ceremony of kissing the earth. When at last I came to speak to Moctezuma himself I took off a necklace of pearls and cut glass that I was wearing and placed it round his neck; after we had walked a little way up the street a servant of his came with two necklaces, wrapped in a cloth, made from red snails' shells, which they hold in great esteem; and from each necklace hung eight shrimps of refined gold almost a span in length. And after he had given me these things he sat on another throne which they placed there next to the one on which I was sitting, and addressed me in he following way:
"For a long time we have known from the writings of our ancestors that neither I [Moctezuma], nor any of those who dwell in this land, are natives of it, but foreigners who came from very distant parts; and likewise we know that a chieftain, of whom they were all vassals, brought our people to this region. And he returned to his native land and after many years came again, by which time all those who had remained were married to native women and had built villages and raised children. And when he wished to lead them away again they would not go nor even admit him as their chief, and so he departed. And we have always held that those who descended from him would come and conquer this land and take us as their vassals. So because of the place from which you claim to come, namely, from where the sun rises, and the things you tell us of the great lord or king who sent you here, we believe and are certain that he is our natural lord, especially as you say that he has known of us for some time. So be assured that we shall obey you and hold you as our lord in place of that great sovereign of whom you speak; and in this there shall be no offense or betrayal whatsoever. I know full well of all that has happened to you from Puntunchan to here, and I also know how those of Cempoal and Tascalteca have told you much evil of me; believe only what you see with your eyes, for those are my enemies, and some were my vassals, and have rebelled against me at your coming and said those things to gain favor with you. I also know that they have told you the walls of my houses are, made of gold, and that the floor mats in my rooms and other things in my household are likewise of gold, and that I was, and claimed to be, a god; and many other things besides. The houses as you see are of stone and lime and clay."
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| Cortez and Montezuma, US Capitol Frieze |
"See that I am of flesh and blood like you and all other men, and I am mortal and substantial. See how they have lied to you? It is true that I have some pieces of gold left to me by my ancestors; anything I might have shall be given to you whenever you ask. Now I shall go to other houses where I live, but here you shall be provided with all that you and your people require, and you shall receive no hurt, for you are in your own land and your own house."
Moctezuma personally met Cortés on the Great Causeway spite of the proscriptions and prohibitions regarding the emperor vis-à-vis his subjects. For instance, when Moctezuma dined, he ate behind a screen so as to shield him from his court and servants. There were various restrictions on seeing and touching his person. The conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounts Montezuma life on his "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España":
"Y otra cosa vi: que cuando otros grandes señores venían de lejas tierras a pleitos o negocios, cuando llegaban a los aposentos del gran Montezuma habían de venir descalzos y con pobres mantas, y no habían de entrar derecho en los palacios, sino rodear un poco por un lado de la puerta del palacio, que entrar de rota batida teníanlo por desacato...
...Y ya que encomenzaba a comer echábanle delante una como puerta de madera muy pintada de oro, porque no le viesen comer, y estaban apartadas las cuatro mujeres aparte; y allí se le ponían a sus lados cuatro grandes señores viejos y de edad, con quien Montezuma de cuando en cuando platicaba y preguntaba cosas; y por mucho favor daba a cada uno de estos viejos un plato de lo que él más le sabía, y decían que aquellos viejos eran sus deudos muy cercanos y consejeros y jueces de pleitos, y el plato y manjar que les daba Montezuma, comían en pie y con mucho acato, y todo sin mirarle a la cara.
...En el comer, le tenían sus cocineros sobre treinta manera de guisados, hechos a su manera y usanza, y teníanlos puestos en braseros de barro chicos debajo, porque no se enfriasen, y de aquello que el gran Montezuma había de comer guisaban más de trescientos platos, sin más de mil para la gente de guarda; y cuando habían de comer salíase Montezuma algunas veces con sus principales y mayordomos y le señalaban cuál guisado era mejor, y de qué aves y cosas estaba guisado, y de lo que le decían de aquello había de comer, y cuando salía a verlo eran pocas veces como por pasatiempo.
...En una gran casa tenían muchos ídolos y decían que eran sus dioses bravos, y con ellos todo género de alimañas, de tigres y leones de dos maneras, unos que son de hechura de lobos. que en esta tierra se llaman adives y zorros, y otras alimañas chicas, y todas estas carniceras se mantenían con carne, y las más de ellas criaban en aquella casa, y las daban de comer venados, gallinas, perrillos y otras cosas que cazaban; y aun oí decir que cuerpos de indios de los que sacrificaban.Y es de esta manera; que ya me habrán oído decir que cuando sacrificaban algún triste indio, que le aserraban con unos navajones de pedernal por los pechos, y bulliendo le sacaban el corazón y sangre y lo presentaban a sus ídolos, en cuyo nombre hacían aquel sacrificio, y luego les cortaban los muslos y brazos y cabeza, y aquello comían en fiestas y banquetes, y la cabeza colgaban de unas vigas, y el cuerpo del sacrificado no llegaban a él para comerle, sino dábanlo a aquellos bravos animales.
Y así no miramos de ello; mas sé que ciertamente desde que nuestro capitán le reprehendía el sacrificio y comer de carne humana, que desde entonces mandó que no le guisasen tal manjar.
Mientras que comía, ni por pensamiento habían de hacer alboroto ni hablar alto los de su guarda, que estaban en sus salas, cerca de la de Montezuma. Traíanle fruta de todas cuantas había en la tierra, mas no comía sino muy poca de cuando en cuando. Traían en unas como a manera de copas de oro fino con cierta bebida hecha del mismo cacao; decían que era para tener acceso con mujeres, y entonces no mirábamos en ello; mas lo que yo vi que traían sobre cincuenta jarros grandes, hechos de buen cacao, con su espuma, y de aquello bebía, y las mujeres le servían con gran acato, y algunas veces al tiempo de comer estaban unos indios corcovados, muy feos, porque eran chicos de cuerpo y quebrados por medio los cuerpos, que entre ellos eran chocarreros, y otros indios que debieran ser truhanes, que le decían gracias y otros que le cantaban y bailaban, porque Montezuma era aficionado a placeres y cantares, y (a) aquéllos mandaba dar los relieves y jarros del cacao, y las mismas cuatro mujeres alzaban los manteles y le tornaban a dar aguamanos, y con mucho acato que le hacían; y hablaba Montezuma (a) aquellos cuatro principales viejos en cosas que le convenían; y se despedían de él con gran reverencia que le tenían; y él se quedaba reposando.
Y después que el gran Montezuma había comido, luego comían todos los de su guarda y otros muchos de sus serviciales de casa, y me parece que sacaban sobre mil platos de aquellos manjares que dicho tengo; pues jarros de cacao en su espuma, como entre mexicanos se hace, más de dos mil, y fruta infinita. Pues para sus mujeres, y criadas, y panaderas, y cacahuateras ¡qué gran costo tendría! Dejemos de hablar de la costa y comida de su casa, y digamos de los mayordomos y tesoreros y despensas y botelleria, y de los que tenían cargo de las casas adonde tenían el maíz. Digo que había tanto, que escribir cada cosa por sí, que no sé por dónde encomenzar, sino que estábamos admirados del gran concierto y abasto que en todo tenía, y más digo, que se me había olvidado, que es bien tomarlo a recitar, y es que le servían a Montezuma, estando a la mesa cuando comía, como dicho tengo, otras dos mujeres muy agraciadas de traer tortillas amasadas con huevos y otras cosas substanciosas, y eran muy blancas las tortillas, y traíanselas en unos platos cobijado con sus paños limpios y también le traían otra manera de pan, que son como bollos largos hechos y amasados con otra manera de cosas substanciales, y pan pachol, que en esta tierra así se dice, que es a manera de unas obleas; también le ponían en la mesa tres cañutos muy pintados y dorados, y dentro tenían liquidámbar revuelto con unas yerbas que se dice tabaco, y cuando acababa de comer, después que le habían bailado y cantado y alzado la mesa, tomaba el humo de uno de aquellos cañutos, y muy poco, y con ello se adormía."
This contradiction between "the arrogant emperor" and the "humble servant of Quetzalcoatl" has been problematic for historians to explain and has led to much speculation. All the proscriptions and prohibitions regarding Moctezuma and his people had been established by Moctezuma, and were not part of the traditional Aztec customs. Those prohibitions had already caused friction between Moctezuma and the pillis (noble classes). There is even an Aztec legend in which Huemac, the legendary last lord of Tollan Xicotitlan, instructed Moctezuma to live humbly, and eat only the food of the poor, to divert a future catastrophe. Thus, it seems out of character for Moctezuma to violate rules that he himself had promulgated.
Moctezuma had the palace of his father Axayácatl prepared to house the Spanish and their 3000 native allies. Four days later Cortés asked Moctezuma to visit the main Religious buildings and the market of the city. Moctezuma himself accompanied him. The Spaniards were schocked about what they saw (Bernal Diaz):
"...Como había ya cuatro días que estábamos en México y no salía el capitán ni ninguno de nosotros de los aposentos, excepto a las casas y huertas, nos dijo Cortés que seria bien ir a la plaza mayor y ver el gran adoratorio de su Uichilobos, y que quería enviarlo a decir al gran Montezuma que lo tuviese por bien. Y para ello envió por mensajero a Jerónimo de Aguilar y a doña Marina, y con ellos a un pajecillo de nuestro capitán que entendía ya algo la lengua, que, se decía Orteguilla. Y Montezuma como lo supo envió a decir que fuésemos mucho en buena hora, y por otra parte temió no le fuésemos a hacer algún deshonor en sus ídolos, y acordó de ir él en persona con muchos de sus principales, y en sus ricas andas salió de sus palacios hasta la mitad del camino; cabe unos adoratorios se apeó de las andas, porque tenía por gran deshonor de sus ídolos ir hasta su casa y adoratorio de aquella manera, y llevábanle del brazo grandes principales; iban adelante de él señores de vasallos, y llevaban delante dos bastones como cetros alzados en alto, que era señal que allí iba el gran Montezuma, y cuando iban en las andas llevaba una varita medio de oro y medio de palo, levantada, como vara de justicia. Y así se fue y subió en su gran cú, acompañado de muchos papas, y comenzó a sahumar y hacer otras ceremonias a Uichilobos...
...Iban muchos caciques que Montezuma envió para que nos acompañasen; y desde que llegamos a la gran plaza, que se dice el Tatelulco, como no habíamos visto tal cosa, quedamos admirados de la multitud de gente y mercaderías que en ella había y del gran concierto y regimiento que en todo tenían. Y los prtncipales que iban con nosotros nos lo iban mostrando; cada género de mercaderías estaba por sí, y tenían situados y señalados sus asientos. Comencemos por los mercaderes de oro y plata y piedras ricas y plumas y mantas y cosas labradas, y otras mercaderías de indios esclavos y esclavas; digo que traían tantos de ellos a vender (a) aquella gran plaza como traen los portugueses los negros de Guinea, y traíanlos atados en unas varas largas con colleras a los pescuezos, porque no se les huyesen, y otros dejaban sueltos. Luego estaban otros mercaderes que vendían ropa más basta y algodón y cosas de hilo torcido, y cacahuateros que vendían cacao, y de esta manera estaban cuantos géneros de mercaderías hay en toda la Nueva España, puesto por su concierto de la manera que hay en mi tierra, que es Medina del Campo, donde se hacen las ferias, que en cada calle están sus mercaderías por sí; así estaban en esta gran plaza, y los que vendían mantas de henequén y sogas y cotaras, que son los zapatos que calzan y hacen del mismo árbol, y raíces muy dulces cocidas, y otras rebusterías, que sacan del mismo árbol, todo estaba en una parte de la plaza en su lugar señalado; y cueros de tigres, de leones y de nutrias, y de adives y de venados y de otras alimañas, tejones y gatos monteses, de ellos adobados, y otros sin adobar, estaban en otra parte, y otros géneros de cosas y de mercaderías...
...Así dejamos la gran plaza sin más verla y llegamos a los grandes patios y cercas donde está el gran cú; tenía antes de llegar a él un gran circuito de patios, que me parece que eran más que la plaza que hay en Salamanca, y con dos cercas alrededor, de calicanto, y el mismo patio y sitio todo empedrado de piedras grandes, de losas blancas y muy lisas, y adonde no había de aquellas piedras estaba encalado y bruñido y todo muy limpio, que no hallaran una paja ni polvo en todo él. Y desde que llegamos cerca del gran cú, antes que subiésemos ninguna grada de él envió el gran Montezuma desde arriba, donde estaba haciendo sacrificios, seis papas y dos principales para que acompañasen a nuestro capitán, y al subir de las gradas, que eran ciento y catorce, le iban a tomar de los brazos para ayudarle a subir, creyendo que se cansaría, como ayudaban a su señor Montezuma, y Cortés no quiso que llegasen a él. Y después que subimos a lo alto del gran cú en una placeta que arriba se hacía, adonde tenían un espacio a manera de andamios, y en ellos puestas unas grandes piedras, adonde ponían los tristes indios para sacrificar, y allí había un gran bulto de como dragón, y otras malas figuras, y mucha sangre derramada de aquel día.
Y así como llegamos salió Montezuma de un adoratorio, adonde estaban sus malditos ídolos, que era en lo alto del gran cú, y vinieron con él dos papas, y con mucho acato que hicieron a Cortés y a todos nosotros, le dijo: Cansado estaréis, señor Malinche, de subir a este nuestro gran templo. Y Cortés le dijo con nuestras lenguas, que iban con nosotros, que él ni nosotros no nos cansábamos en cosa ninguna. Y luego le tomó por la mano y le dijo que mirase su gran ciudad y todas las más ciudades que había dentro en el agua, y otros muchos pueblos alrededor de la misma laguna, en tierra; y que si no había visto muy bien a su gran plaza, que desde allí la podría ver muy mejor, y así lo estuvimos mirando, porque desde aquel grande y maldito templo estaba tan alto que todolo señoreaba muy bien; y de allí vimos las tres calzadas que entran en México, que es la de Iztapalapa, que fue por la que entramos cuatro días había, y la de Tacuba, que fue por donde después salimos huyendo la noche de nuestro gran desbarate, cuando Cuedlavaca, nuevo señor, nos echó de la ciudad, como adelante diremos, y la de Tepeaquilla. Y veíamos el agua dulce que venía de Chapultepec, de que se proveía la ciudad, y en aquellas tres calzadas, las puentes que tenía hechas de trecho a trecho, por donde entraba y salía el agua de la laguna de una parte a otra; y veíamos en aquella gran laguna tanta multitud de canoas, unas que venían con bastimentos y otras que volvían con cargas y mercaderías; y veíamos que cada casa de aquella gran ciudad, y de todas las más ciudades que estaban pobladas en el agua, de casa a casa no se pasaba sino por unas puentes levadizas que tenían hechas de madera, o en canoas; y veíamos en aquellas ciudades cúes y adoratorios a manera de torres y fortalezas, y todas blanqueando, que era cosa de admiración, y las casas de azoteas, y en las calzadas otras torrecillas y adoratorios que eran como fortalezas.
Y después de bien mirado y considerado todo lo que habíamos visto, tornamos a ver la gran plaza y la multitud de gente que en ella había, unos comprando y otros vendiendo, que solamente el rumor y zumbido de las voces y palabras que allí había sonaba más que de una legua, y entre nosotros hubo soldados que habían estado en muchas partes del mundo, y en Constantinopla, y en toda Italia y Roma, y dijeron que plaza tan bien compasada y con tanto concierto y tamaño y llena de tanta gente no la habían visto.
Dejemos esto y volvamos a nuestro capitán, que dijo a fray Bartolomé de Olmedo, ya otras veces por mí mencionado, que allí se halló: Paréceme, señor padre, que será bien que demos un tiento a Montezuma sobre que nos deje hacer aquí nuestra iglesia. Y el padre dijo que sería bien, si aprovechase; mas que le parecía que no era cosa convenible hablar en tal tiempo; que no veía a Montezuma de arte que en tal cosa concediese. Y luego nuestro Cortés dijo a Montezuma, con doña Marina, la lengua: Muy señor es vuestra merced, y de mucho más es merecedor; hemos holgado de ver vuestras ciudades; lo que os pido por merced, que pues que estamos aquí, en este vuestro templo, que nos mostréis vuestros dioses y teules. Y Montezuma dijo que primero hablaría con sus grandes papas. Y luego que con ellos hubo hablado dijo que entrásemos en una torrecilla y apartamiento a manera de sala, donde estaban dos como altares, con muy ricas tablazones encima del techo, y en cada altar estaban dos bultos, como de gigante, de muy altos cuerpos y muy gordos, y el primero, que estaba a mano derecha, decían que era el de Uichilobos, su dios de la guerra, y tenía la cara y rostro muy ancho y los ojos disformes y espantables; en todo el cuerpo tanta de la pedrería y oro y perlas y alfójar pegado con engrudo, que hacen en esta tierra unas como raíces, que todo el cuerpo y cabeza estaba lleno de ello, y ceñido el cuerpo unas a manera de grandes culebras hechas de oro y pedrería, y en una mano tenía un arco y en otra unas flechas. Y otro ídolo pequeño que allí junto a él estaba, que decían que era su paje, le tenía una lanza no larga y una rodela muy rica de oro y pedrería; y tenía puestos al cuello el Uichilobos unas caras de indios y otros como corazones de los mismos indios, y éstos de oro y de ellos de plata, con mucha pedrería azules; y estaban allí unos braseros con incienso, que es su copal, y con tres corazones de indios que aquel día habían sacrificado y se quemaban, y con el humo y copal le habían hecho aquel sacrificio. Y estaban todas las paredes de aquel adoratorio tan bañado y negro de costras de sangre, y asimismo el suelo, que todo hedía muy malamente. Luego vimos a otra parte, de la mano izquierda, estar el otro gran bulto del altar de Uichilobos, y tenía un rostro como de oso, y unos ojos que le relumbraban, hechos de sus espejos, que se dice tezeal, y el cuerpo con ricas piedras pegadas según y de la manera del otro su Uichilobos, porque según decían, entrambos eran hermanos, este Tezcatepuca era el dios de los infiernos, y tenía cargo de las ánimas de los mexicanos, y tenía ceñido el cuerpo con unas figuras como diablillos chicos y las colas de ellos como sierpes, y tenía en las paredes tantas costras de sangre y el suelo todo bañado de ello, como en los mataderos de Castilla no había tanto hedor. Y allí le tenían presentado cinco corazones de aquel día sacrificados, y en lo alto de todo el cú estaba otra concavidad muy ricamente labrada la madera de ella, y estaba otro bulto como de medio hombre y medio lagarto, todo lleno de piedras ricas y la mitad de él enmantado. Este decían que el cuerpo de él estaba lleno de todas las semillas que había en toda la tierra, y decían que era el dios de las sementeras y frutas; no se me acuerda el nombre, y todo estaba lleno de sangre, así paredes como altar, y era tanto el hedor, que no veíamos la hora de salirnos afuera. Y allí tenían un atambor muy grande en demasía, que cuando le tañían el sonido de él era tan triste y de tal manera como dicen estrumento de los infiernos, y más de dos leguas de allí se oía; decían que los cueros de aquel atambor eran de sierpes muy grandes.
Y en aquella placeta tenían tantas cosas muy diabólicas de ver, de bocinas y trompetillas y navajones, y muchos corazones de indios que habían quemado, con que sahumaban a aquellos sus ídolos, y todo cuajado de sangre. Tenían tanto, que los doy a la maldición; y como todo hedía a carnicería, no veíamos la hora de quitarnos de tan mal hedor y peor vista. Y nuestro capitán dijo a Montezuma, con nuestra lengua, como medio riendo: Señor Montezuma: no sé yo cómo un tan gran señor y sabio varón como vuestra merced es, no haya colegido en su pensamiento cómo no son vuestros ídolos dioses, sino cosas malas, que se llaman diablos, y para que vuestra merced lo conozca y todos sus papas lo vean claro, hacedme una merced: que hayáis por bien que en lo alto de esta torre pongamos una cruz, y en una parte de estos adoratorios, donde están vuestros Uichilobos y Tezcatepuca, haremos un apartado donde pongamos una imagen de Nuestra Señora (la cual imagen ya Montezuma la había visto), y veréis el temor que de ello tienen esos ídolos que os tienen engañados. Y Montezuma respondió medio enojado, y dos papas que con él estaban mostraron malas señales, y dijo: Señor Malinche: si tal deshonor como has dicho creyera que habíais de decir, no te mostrara mis dioses. Estos tenemos por muy buenos,y ellos nos dan salud y aguas y buenas sementeras y temporales y victorias cuantas queremos: y tenémoslos de adorar y sacrificar; lo que os ruego es que no se diga otras palabras en su deshonor. Y desde que aquello le oyó nuestro capitán y tan alterado, no le replicó más en ello, y con cara alegre le dijo: Hora es que vuestra merced y nosotros nos vamos. Y Montezuma respondió que era bien: y que porque él tenía que rezar y hacer cierto sacrificio en recompensa del gran tatacul, que quiere decir pecado, que había hecho en dejarnos subir en su gran cú y ser causa de que nos dejase ver a sus dioses, y del deshonor que les hicimos en decir mal de ellos, que antes que se fuese lo había de rezar y adorar. Y Cortés le dijo: Pues que así es, perdone, señor.
Y luego nos bajamos las gradas abajo, y como eran ciento y catorce y algunos de nuestros soldados estaban malos de bubas o humores, les dolieron los muslos del bajar. Y dejaré de hablar de su adoratorio y diré lo que me parece del circuito y manera que tenía, y si no le dijere tan al natural como era, no se maravillen, porque en aquel tiempo tenía otro pensamiento de entender en lo que traíamos entre manos, que es en lo militar y en lo que mi capitán me mandaba, y no en hacer relaciones. Volvamos a nuestra materia. Paréceme que el circuito del gran cú, sería de seis muy grandes solares de los que dan en esta tierra, y desde abajo hasta arriba, adonde estaba una torrecilla, y allí estaban sus ídolos, ya estrechando, y en medio del alto cú, hasta lo más alto de él, van cinco concavidades a manera de barbacanas y descubiertas sin mamparos. Y porque hay muchos cúes pintados en reposteros de conquistadores, y en uno que yo tengo, que cualquiera de ellos a quien los han visto podrían colegir la manera que tenían por de fuera; mas no lo que yo vi y entendí, y de ello hubo fama en aquellos tiempos que fundaron aquel gran cú, en el cimiento de él habían ofrecido de todos los vecinos de aquella gran ciudad oro y plata y aljófar y piedras ricas,y que le habían bañado con mucha sangre de indios que sacrificaron, que habían tomado en las guerras, y de toda manera de diversidad de semillas que había en la tierra, porque les diesen sus ídolos victorias y riquezas y muchos frutos.
Dirán ahora algunos lectores muy curiosos que cómo pudimos alcanzar a saber que en el cimiento de aquel gran eu echaron oro y plata y piedras de chalchiuis ricas y semillas, y lo rociaban con sangre humana de indios que sacrificaban, habiendo sobre mil años que se fabricó y se hizo. A esto doy por respuesta, que después que ganamos aquella fuerte y gran ciudad y se repartieron los solares, que luego propusimos que en aquel gran cú habíamos de hacer la iglesia de nuestro patrón y guiador Señor Santiago, y cupo mucha parte de la del solar del alto cú para el solar de la santa iglesia de aquel cú de Uichilobos, y cuando abrían los cimientos para hacerlos más fijos, hallaron mucho oro y plata y chalchihuis y perlas y aljófar y otras piedras: y asimismo a un vecino de México, que le cupo otra parte del mismo solar, halló lo mismo, y los oficiales de la Hacienda de su majestad lo demandaban por de su majestad, que les venía de derecho, y sobre ello hubo pleito, y no se me acuerda lo que pasó, más que se informaron de los caciques y principales de México y (de) Guatemuz, que entonces era vivo, y dijeron que es verdad que todos los vecinos de México de aquel tiempo echaron en los cimientos aquellas joyas y todo lo demás, y que así lo tenían por memoria en sus libros y pinturas de cosas antiguas, y por esta causa aquella riqueza se quedó para la obra de la santa iglesia del Señor Santiago.
Dejemos esto y digamos que los grandes y suntuosos patios que estaban delante del Uichilobos, adonde está ahora Señor Santiago, que se dice el Tatelulco, porque así se solía llamar. Ya he dicho que tenían dos cercas de calicanto antes de entrar dentro, y que era empedrado de piedras blancas como losas, y muy encalado y bruñido y limpio, y sería de tanto compás y tan ancho como la plaza de Salamanca; y un poco apartado del gran cú estaba otra torrtecilla que también era casa de ídolos o puro infierno, porque tenía la boca de la una puerta una muy espantable boca de las que pintan que dicen que están en los infiernos con la boca abierta y grandes colmillos para tragar las ánimas; y asimismo estaban unos bultos de diablos y cuerpos de sierpes juntos a la puerta, y tenían un poco apartado un sacrificadero, y todo ello muy ensangrentado y negro de humo y costras de sangre, y tenían muchas ollas grandes y cántaros y tinajas dentro en la casa llenas de agua, que era allí donde cocinaban la carne de los tristes indios que sacrificaban y que comían los papas, porque también tenían cabe el sacrificadero muchos navajones y unos tajos de madera, como en los que cortan carne en las carnicerías: y asimismo detrás de aquella maldita casa, bien apartado de ella, estaban unos grandes rimeros de leña, y no muy lejos una gran alberca de agua, que se henchía y vaciaba, que le venía por su caño encubierto de lo que entraba en la ciudad, de Chapultepec. Yo siempre le llamaba (a) aquella casa el infierno.
Pasemos adelante del patio, y vamos a otro cú, donde era enterramiento de grandes señores mexicanos, que también tenían otros muchos ídolos, y todo lleno de sangre y humo, y tenía otras puertas y figuras de infierno; y luego junto de aquel cú estaba otro lleno de calaveras y zancarrones, puestos con gran concierto, que se podían ver mas no se podrían contar, porque eran muchas, y las calaveras por sí y los zancarrones en otros rimeros; y allí había otros ídolos, y en cada casa o cú y adoratorio que he dicho estaban papas con sus vestiduras largas de mantas prietas y las capillas largas asimismo, como de dominicos, que también tiraban un poco a las de los canónigos, y el cabello muy largo y hecho que no se puede esparcir ni desenhebrar, y todos los más sacrificadas las orejas, y en los mismos cabellos mucha sangre...
...Y allí cerca estaban otros grandes aposentos a manera de monasterios, adonde estaban recogidas muchas hijas de vecinos mexicanos, como monjas, hasta que se casaban; y allí estaban dos bultos de ídolos de mujeres, que eran abogadas de los casamientos de las mujeres, y aquellas sacrificaban y hacían fiestas porque les diesen buenos maridos. Mucho me he detenido en contar de este gran cú del Tatelulco y sus patios, pues digo era el mayor templo de todo México, porque había tantos y muy suntuosos, que entre cuatro o cinco parroquias o barrios tenían un adoratorio y sus ídolos; y porque eran muchos y yo no sé la cuenta de todos, pasaré adelante y diré que, en Cholula, el gran adoratorio que en él tenían era de mayor altor que no en el de México, porque tenía ciento veinte gradas y, según decían, el ídolo de Cholula teníanle por bueno e iban a él en romería de todas partes de la Nueva España a ganar perdones, y a esta causa le hicieron tan suntuoso cú; mas era de otra hechura que el mexicano, y asimismo los patios muy grandes y con dos cercas. También digo que el cú de la ciudad de Tezcuco era muy alto de ciento y diez y siete gradas, y los patios anchos y buenos y hechos de otra manera que los demás, y una cosa de reír es que tenían en cada provincia sus ídolos, y los de la una provincia o ciudad no aprovechaba a los otros, y así tenían infinitos ídolos, y a todos sacrificaban. Y después que nuestro capitán y todos osotros nos cansamos de andar y ver tantas diversidades de ídolos y sus sacrificios, nos volvimos a nuestros aposentos, y siempre muy acompañados de principales y caciques que Montezuma enviaba con nosotros. Y quedarse ha aquí y diré lo que más hicimos.
"
Then Cortés and the Spaniard started being frightened due to the size of the city, numbers of Indians and the power of Moctezuma. So they start thinking of a plan on how to seize him. Bernal Díaz account:
"juntamente doce soldados de quien él se fiaba y comunicaba, y yo era uno de ellos, y le dijimos que mirase la red y garlito donde estábamos y la gran fortaleza de aquella ciudad, y mirase las puentes y calzadas y las palabras y avisos que por todos los pueblos donde hemos venido nos han dado que había aconsejado el Uichilobos a Montezuma que nos dejase entrar en su ciudad y que allí nos matarían, y que mirase que los corazones de los hombres que son muy mudables, en especial en los indios, y que no tuviese confianza de la buena voluntad, y amor que Montezuma nos muestra, porque de una hora a otra hora la mudaría, cuando se le antojase darnos guerra, que con quitarnos la comida o el agua o alzar cualquiera puente, que no nos podríamos valer, y que mire la gran multitud de indios que tiene de guerra en su guarda, y que qué podríamos nosotros hacer para ofenderlos o para defendernos, porque todas las casas tienen en el agua. Pues socorros de nuestros amigos los de Tlaxcala, ¿por dónde han de entrar?
Y pues es cosa de ponderar todo esto que le decíamos, que luego sin más dilación prendiésemos a Montezuma, si queríamos asegurar nuestras vidas, y que no se aguardase para otro día, y que mirase que con todo el oro que nos daba Montezuma, ni el que habíamos visto en el tesoro de su padre Axayaca, ni con cuanta comida comíamos, que todo se nos hacía rejalgar en el cuerpo, y que de noche ni de día no dormíamos ni reposábamos con este pensamiento, y que si otra cosa algunos de nuestros soldados menos que esto que le decían sintiesen, que serían como bestias que no tenían sentido, que se están al dulzor del oro, no viendo la muerte al ojo. Y después que esto oyó Cortés, dijo: No creáis, caballeros, que duermo ni estoy sin el mismo cuidado, que bien me lo habréis sentido, mas ¿qué poder tenemos nosotros para hacer tan grande atrevimiento, prender a tan gran señor en sus mismos palacios, teniendo sus gentes de guarda y de guerra? ¿Qué manera o arte se puede tener en quererlo poner por efecto que no apellide sus guerreros y luego nos combatan?
Y replicaron nuestros capitanes, que fue Juan Velázquez de León, y Diego de Ordaz, y Gonzalo de Sandoval, y Pedro de Alvarado, que con buenas palabras sacarle de su sala y traerlo a nuestros aposentos, y decirle que ha de estar preso, que si se altera o diere voces que lo pagará su persona, y que si Cortés no lo quiere hacer luego, que les dé licencia, que ellos lo pondrán por la obra, y que de dos grandes peligros en que estamos, que el mejor y más a propósito es prenderle y no aguardar que nos diese guerra, que si la comenzaba, ¿qué remedio podríamos tener?"
Y pues es cosa de ponderar todo esto que le decíamos, que luego sin más dilación prendiésemos a Montezuma, si queríamos asegurar nuestras vidas, y que no se aguardase para otro día, y que mirase que con todo el oro que nos daba Montezuma, ni el que habíamos visto en el tesoro de su padre Axayaca, ni con cuanta comida comíamos, que todo se nos hacía rejalgar en el cuerpo, y que de noche ni de día no dormíamos ni reposábamos con este pensamiento, y que si otra cosa algunos de nuestros soldados menos que esto que le decían sintiesen, que serían como bestias que no tenían sentido, que se están al dulzor del oro, no viendo la muerte al ojo. Y después que esto oyó Cortés, dijo: No creáis, caballeros, que duermo ni estoy sin el mismo cuidado, que bien me lo habréis sentido, mas ¿qué poder tenemos nosotros para hacer tan grande atrevimiento, prender a tan gran señor en sus mismos palacios, teniendo sus gentes de guarda y de guerra? ¿Qué manera o arte se puede tener en quererlo poner por efecto que no apellide sus guerreros y luego nos combatan?
Y replicaron nuestros capitanes, que fue Juan Velázquez de León, y Diego de Ordaz, y Gonzalo de Sandoval, y Pedro de Alvarado, que con buenas palabras sacarle de su sala y traerlo a nuestros aposentos, y decirle que ha de estar preso, que si se altera o diere voces que lo pagará su persona, y que si Cortés no lo quiere hacer luego, que les dé licencia, que ellos lo pondrán por la obra, y que de dos grandes peligros en que estamos, que el mejor y más a propósito es prenderle y no aguardar que nos diese guerra, que si la comenzaba, ¿qué remedio podríamos tener?"
In the meantime troubles came from Nauhtla. Nauhtla was a border city of the Aztec Empire, the garrison there exerting Aztec dominion over the local population, who were largely Totonac in ethnic origin. The province had only recently been added to the Aztec Empire through conquest, and when Hernan Cortes arrived in the region (now the Mexican state of Veracruz) in 1520, one of his first acts was to overthrow Aztec dominon by seizing Aztec tribute collectors in the town of Quiahuiztlan and only returning them after a personal request from the Aztec Emperor. He then returned the state to the native Totonacs under their leader Tlacochcalcatl of Cempoala.
To restore the province to Aztec control, Moctezuma despatched Qualpopoca with instructions to defeat the Totonacs and their Spanish allies. Arriving in October 1519, Qualpopoca demanded that the Totonac towns pay their regular tribute to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. The towns appealed to the Spanish garrisons at Villa Rica and Veracruz and Juan de Escalante, the conquistador then in command, warned Qualpopoca not to threaten the Totonacs and demanded gold as recompense. Qualpopoca took no notice and continued to organise reprisals against Totonac villages that had not paid tribute. Escalante counterattacked with an army of conquistadors and Totonac warriors and met Qualpopoca in a battle near Nauhtla.
The battle was short, the Totonac forces routing early on and Escalante forced to withdraw under heavy attack, leaving Nauthla in flames.During the retreat, Escalante was mortally wounded, five Spaniards were killed and one, Juan de Argüello, captured. As was traditional in Aztec society, Argüello and the captured Totonacs were sacrificed, the Spaniard's head being sent to Moctezuma as a trophy. News of the battle at Nauhtla, accompanied by the arrival of Argüello's head, caused concern among the Aztec government that it might provoke the Spanish or their allies into an attack on the city's nobility as had happened at Cholula. The head was sent away and Moctezuma agreed to a private meeting with Cortes.
To restore the province to Aztec control, Moctezuma despatched Qualpopoca with instructions to defeat the Totonacs and their Spanish allies. Arriving in October 1519, Qualpopoca demanded that the Totonac towns pay their regular tribute to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. The towns appealed to the Spanish garrisons at Villa Rica and Veracruz and Juan de Escalante, the conquistador then in command, warned Qualpopoca not to threaten the Totonacs and demanded gold as recompense. Qualpopoca took no notice and continued to organise reprisals against Totonac villages that had not paid tribute. Escalante counterattacked with an army of conquistadors and Totonac warriors and met Qualpopoca in a battle near Nauhtla.
The battle was short, the Totonac forces routing early on and Escalante forced to withdraw under heavy attack, leaving Nauthla in flames.During the retreat, Escalante was mortally wounded, five Spaniards were killed and one, Juan de Argüello, captured. As was traditional in Aztec society, Argüello and the captured Totonacs were sacrificed, the Spaniard's head being sent to Moctezuma as a trophy. News of the battle at Nauhtla, accompanied by the arrival of Argüello's head, caused concern among the Aztec government that it might provoke the Spanish or their allies into an attack on the city's nobility as had happened at Cholula. The head was sent away and Moctezuma agreed to a private meeting with Cortes.
This defeat proved to the Atzecs that the Spaniards were not invencible and at the same time urged the Spaniard to find a way to seize Moctezuma (Bernal Díaz):
"Después de estas pláticas, otro día por la mañana vinieron dos indios de Tlaxcala y muy secretamente con unas cartas de la Villa Rica; y lo que se contenía en ellas decía que Juan de Escalante, que quedó por alguacil mayor, era muerto y seis soldados juntamente con él, en una batalla que le dieron los mexicanos, y también le mataron el caballo y a muchos indios totonaques que llevó en su compañía, y que todos los pueblos de la sierra y Cempoal y su sujeto están alterados y no les quieren dar comida ni servir en la fortaleza, y que no saben qué se hacer, y que como de antes los tenían por teules, que ahora que han visto aquel desbarate les hacen fieron, así los totonaques como los mexícanos, y que no les tienen en nada ni saben qué remedio tomar. Y desde que oímos aquellas nuevas, sabe Dios cuánto pesar tuvimos todos. Este fue el primer desbarate que tuvimos en la Nueva España. Miren los curiosos lectores la adversa fortuna cómo vuelve rodando. ¡Quién nos vió entrar en aquella ciudad con tan solemne recibimiento y triunfante, y nos teníamos en posesión de ricos con lo que Montezuma nos daba cada día, así al capitán como a nosotros, y haber visto la casa por mí memorada llena de oro, y que nos tenían por teules, que son ídolos, y que todas las batallas vencíamos, y ahora habernos venido tan gran desmán que no nos tuviesen en aquella reputación que de antes, sino por hombres que podíamos ser vencidos, y haber sentido cómo se desvergonzaban contra nosotros! En fin, de más razones fue acordado que aquel mismo día, de una manera o de otra, se prendiese (a) Montezuma, o morir todos sobre ello. Y porque para que vean los lectores de la manera que fue esta batalla de Juan de Escalante, y cómo le mataron a él y a los seis soldados y el caballo y los amigos totonaques que llevaba consigo, lo quiero aquí declarar antes de la prisión de Montezuma, por no quedarle atrás, porque es menester darlo bien a entender."
One of the first actions of the new prisoner emperor was to order the arrest of Qualpopoca, two of his sons and fifteen other Aztec nobles. These men were brought to Tenochtitlan where Moctezuma gave them to Cortes. Under questioning, Qualpopoca insisted that he had been acting on his own initiative when attacking Escalante but later changed his story, possibly under torture, to claim that Moctezuma had deliberately ordered him to wage war on the Spanish. One of the first actions of the new prisoner emperor was to order the arrest of Qualpopoca, two of his sons and fifteen other Aztec nobles. These men were brought to Tenochtitlan where Moctezuma gave them to Cortes. Under questioning, Qualpopoca insisted that he had been acting on his own initiative when attacking Escalante but later changed his story, possibly under torture, to claim that Moctezuma had deliberately ordered him to wage war on the Spanish.
Cortés seized Moctezuma on 14 November 1519 and made him his prisoner as insurance against any further resistance and demanded an enormous payment of gold, which was duly delivered. From this date, until the end of May 1520, Moctezuma lived with Cortés in the palace of Axayácatl. Knowing that their leader was in chains and being required to feed not just a band of Spaniards but thousands of their Tlaxcalteca allies, the populace of Tenochtitlan began to feel a strain weighing upon them
Defeat of de Narváez:
At this point, Cortés received news from the coast that a much larger party of Spaniards under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez had arrived. Narváez had been sent by Governor Velázquez not only to supersede Cortés, but to arrest him and bring him to trial in Cuba for insubordination, mutiny, and treason.
Cortés' response was arguably one of the most daring of his many exploits. Some describe it as absolutely reckless but he really had few other options. If arrested and convicted, he could have been executed. Leaving only one hundred and forty men under Pedro de Alvarado to hold Tenochtitlan, Cortés set out against de Narváez, who had nine hundred soldiers, whereas Cortés, reinforced as he approached the coast, mustered about two hundred and sixty. With this much smaller force, Cortés surprised his antagonist with a night attack during which Cortés' men took de Narváez prisoner.
The move was a desperate one but the secret of Cortés' success lay in his quick movements, for which de Narváez was not prepared, as well as in his rapid return to the plateau, by which he surprised the Natives who held Alvarado and his people at their mercy.
The desperate defense of the Spaniards in the absence of Cortés would have been unavailing had the latter not moved quickly. In contrast with that quickness, but equally well adapted to the necessities of the case, was the methodical investment and capture of Tenochtitlan, showing the flexibility of Cortés in adapting his tactics to various situations. When Cortés told the defeated soldiers about the city of gold, Tenochtitlan, they agreed to join him (Narváez remained a prisoner at Veracruz for approximately two years and was eventually killed during the exploration of Florida.)
The massacre in the Main Temple
On May 10 1520 and during his absence , Moctezuma asked deputy governor Pedro de Alvarado for permission to celebrate Toxcatl (an Aztec festivity in honor of Tezcatlipoca, one of their main gods). But after the festivities had started, Alvarado interrupted the celebration, killing the most prominent people of the Aztec upper classes.The Spanish version of the incident says the conquistadors interrupted a human sacrifice in the Templo Mayor; the Aztec version says the Spaniards were enticed into action by the gold the Aztecs were wearing.
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| Massacre in the Main temple (Duran Codex) |
Alvarado's explanation to Cortés was that Alvarado had learned that the Aztecs planned to attack the Spanish garrison in the city once the festival was complete, and so he had launched a preemptive attack. Considerable doubt has been cast by different commentators on this explanation, which may have been self-serving rationalization on the part of Alvarado, who may have attacked out of fear (or greed) where no immediate threat existed. In any event, the population of the city rose en masse after the Spanish attack.
The sad night (La noche triste)
The Aztec troops besieged the palace housing the Spaniards and Moctezuma. The people of Tenochtitlan chose a new leader, Cuitláhuac. Cortés ordered Moctezuma to speak to his people from a palace balcony and persuade them to let the Spanish return to the coast in peace. Moctezuma was jeered and stones were thrown at him, injuring him badly. Moctezuma died a few days later.
The Spaniards and their allies had to flee the city, as the population of Tenochtitlan had risen against them and the Spanish situation could only deteriorate. Because the Aztecs had removed the bridges over the gaps in the causeways that linked the city to the mainland, Cortés' men constructed a portable bridge with which to cross the openings. On the rainy night of 1 July 1520, the Spaniards and their allies set out for the mainland via the causeway to Tlacopan. They placed the bridge unit in the first gap, but at that moment their movement was detected and Aztec forces attacked, both along the causeway and by means of canoes on the lake. The Spanish were thus caught on a narrow road with water on two sides. The retreat quickly turned into chaos
During the escape, Alvarado is alleged to have jumped across one of the narrower channels. The channel is now a street in Mexico City, called "Puente de Alvarado" (Alvarado's Bridge), because it seemed Alvarado escaped across an invisible bridge.
In this retreat the Spaniards suffered heavy casualties, losing probably more than 600 of their own number and several thousand Tlaxcalan warriors. It is said that Cortés, upon reaching the mainland at Tlacopan, wept over their losses. This episode is called "La Noche Triste" (The sad night), and the old tree ("El árbol de la noche triste") where Cortés allegedly cried is still a monument in Mexico.
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| La Noche triste by Manuel Ramirez Ibanez |
The Aztecs pursued and harassed the Spanish, who, guided by their Tlaxcalan allies, moved around Lake Zumpango toward sanctuary in Tlaxcala. On 8 July 1520 the Aztecs attempted to destroy the Spanish for good at the battle of Otumba. Although hard-pressed, the Spanish infantry was able to hold off the overwhelming numbers of enemy warriors, while the Spanish cavalry under the leadership of Cortés charged through the enemy ranks again and again. When Cortés and his men killed one of the Aztec leaders, the Aztecs broke off the battle and left the field. The Spanish were able then to complete their escape to Tlaxcala. There they were given assistance and comfort, since almost all of them were wounded, and only 20 horses were left. The Aztecs sent emissaries and asked the Tlaxcalteca to turn over the Spaniards to them, but Tlaxcala refused.
Siege of Tenochtitlan
Most of the Tlaxcalan leaders were receptive when Cortés, once his men had the chance to recuperate, proposed an alliance to conquer Tenochtitlan. Xicotencatl the Younger, however, opposed the idea, and instead connived with the Aztec ambassadors in an attempt to form a new alliance with the Mexicans, since the Tlaxcalans and the Aztecs shared the same language and religion. Finally the elders of Tlaxcala accepted Cortés' offer under stringent conditions: they would not be required to pay any form of tribute to the Spaniards, they should receive the city of Cholula in return, they would have the right to build a fortress in Tenochtitlan, so they could have control of the city, and they would receive a share of the spoils of war. Cortés agreed. Cortes and the Tlaxcalans returned to Tenochtitlan in December of 1520.
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| Xicotencatl the Elder confirms alliances with Cortes. Mural by Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin, a tlaxcalteca author |
Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan and mounted a siege of the city that relied on cutting the causeways from the mainland, while controlling the lake with armed brigantines constructed by the Spanish. The siege of Tenochtitlan lasted eight months. The besiegers cut off the supply of food and destroyed the aqueduct carrying water to the city. Even worse, many of the inhabitants of the city were also being ravaged by the effects of smallpox, which spread rapidly across most of Central Mexico (and beyond), killing hundreds of thousands. In fact, a third of the inhabitants of the entire valley died in less than six months from the new disease brought from Europe.
The Spanish forces and their allies advanced into the city. Their advance was slow and painful. Aztec warriors attacked them from every angle, in front, behind, even above. Every building and street had to be taken in a bloodbath. But, despite their bravery and inflicting heavy casualites on the Spanish, the Aztecs could not halt the Spanish advance. While the fighting in the city raged, the Aztecs cut out the hearts of 70 Spanish prisoners at the altar at Huichilobos. By August, many of the people of the city had fled Tlatelolco. Cortés sent emissaries to negotiate with the Tlatelolcas to join his side, but the Tlatelolcas remained loyal to the Aztecs.
Despite the resistance , Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco fell on 13 August 1521 when the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered to Cortés. Cortés then ordered the Aztec gods in the temples taken down and replaced with icons of Christianity. He also announced that the temple would never again be used for human sacrifice.
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| Cuauhtémoc surrenders to Cortés |
The city had been almost totally destroyed by fire and cannon shot during the siege, and once it finally fell the Spanish continued its dismantlement, as they soon began to establish the foundations of what would become Mexico City on the site. Meanwhile the surviving Aztec people were forbidden to live in Tenochtitlan and the surrounding isles. The survivors went to live in Tlatelolco.
Cuauhtémoc was tortured by having his feet put to a fire, along with Tetlepanquetzal, the tlatoani of Tlacopán, and the Cihuacóatl (counselor) Tlacotzin, but even so they refused to divulge information about the treasures the Spanish coveted. It is said that during the torture, Tetlepanquetzal asked him to reveal the location of the treasures in order to stop the pain given to them, and Cuauhtémoc is quoted to say "Do you think I am in a bath for pleasure?" This would be popularized in the 19th century as "Do you think I am in a bed of roses?" Eventually Cortés recovered some gold from a noble's house, but most of the tales about "Aztec gold" were a myth. Since for the Aztecs, gold had no intrinsic value, they did not have big solid pieces of gold, instead they preferred wood covered with gold.
In 1525, Cortés took Cuauhtémoc and several other indigenous nobles on his expedition to Honduras, fearing that Cuauhtémoc could have led an insurrection in his absence. While the expedition was stopped in the Chontal Maya capital of Itzamkanac, known as Acalan in Nahuatl, Cortés had Cuauhtémoc executed for allegedly conspiring to kill him and the other Spaniards.
There are a number of discrepancies in the various accounts of the event. According to Cortés himself, on 27 February 1525 it was revealed to him by a citizen of Tenochtitlan named Mexicalcingo that Cuauhtémoc, Coanacoch (the ruler of Texcoco) and Tetlepanquetzal (the ruler of Tlacopan) were plotting his death. Cortés interrogated them until each confessed, and then had Cuauhtémoc, Tetlepanquetzal, and another lord named Tlacatlec hanged. Cortés wrote that the other lords would be too frightened to plot against him again, as they believed he had uncovered the plan through magic powers. Cortés's account is supported by the historian Francisco López de Gómara.
According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a conquistador serving under Cortés who recorded his experiences in his book The Conquest of New Spain, the supposed plot was revealed by two men, named Tapia and Juan Velásquez. Díaz portrays the executions as unjust and based on no evidence, and admits to having liked Cuauhtémoc personally. He also records Cuauhtémoc giving the following speech to Cortés, through his interpreter Malinche:
Oh Malinzin [i.e., Cortés]! Now I understand your false promises and the kind of death you have had in store for me. For you are killing me unjustly. May God demand justice from you, as it was taken from me when I entrusted myself to you in my city of Mexico!
The fall of Tenochtitlan usually is referred to as the main episode in the process of the conquest of Mesoamerica. However, this process was much more complex and took longer than the three years that it took Cortés to conquer Tenochtitlan. It took almost 60 years of wars for the Spaniards to suppress the resistance of the Indian population of Mesoamerica. For the most part, the Spanish kept their promise to the Tlaxcalans. Unlike Tenochtitlan and other cities, Tlaxcala was not destroyed after the Conquest. They also allowed many Tlaxcalans to retain their indigenous names. The Tlaxcalans were mostly able to keep their traditional form of government. For 300 years of colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain rule, the Spanish mostly held true to the Tlaxcalans' conditions of 1520.
One of the major cultural interventions, however, was the evangelization of the region. Franciscan friars arrived in 1524. They built monasteries and churches and renamed the city of Tlaxcala “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.” The first archbishopric of New Spain was established here. Most of the conversion work was done by 1530 and in 1535, the city of Tlaxcala received its coat-of-arms from the Spanish king. Unlike the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala was under the direct protection of the Spanish crown, part of its reward for its support in the Conquest. This shielded the Tlaxcalans from the worst of the oppression of the native peoples, which reached its peak in the 1530s. In fact, Tlaxcalan allegiance to the Spaniards became an enduring partnership. Tlaxcalan forces joined Spanish forces to put down revolts such as the Mixtón Rebellion and accompanied them to conquer places such as Guatemala and northwest Mexico.
After the Spanish conquest of central Mexico, expeditions were sent further northward in Mesoamerica, to the region known as La Gran Chichimeca. The expeditions under Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán were particularly harsh on the Chichimeca population, causing them to rebel under the leadership of Tenamaxtli and thus launch the Mixton War.
In 1540, the Chichimecas fortified Mixtón, Nochistlán, and other mountain towns then besieged the Spanish settlement in Guadalajara. The famous conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, coming to the aid of acting governor Cristóbal de Oñate, led an attack on Nochistlán. However, the Chichimecas counter-attacked and Alvarado's forces were routed. Under the leadership of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish forces and their Indian allies ultimately succeeded in recapturing the towns and suppressing resistance. However, fighting did not completely come to a halt in the ensuing years.
In 1546, Spanish authorities discovered silver in the Zacatecas region and established mining settlements in Chichimeca territory which altered the terrain and the Chichimeca traditional way of life. The Chichimeca resisted the intrusions on their ancestral lands by attacking travellers and merchants along the "silver roads." The ensuing Chichimeca War (1550–1590) would become the longest and costliest conflict between Spanish forces and indigenous peoples in the Americas. The attacks intensified with each passing year. In 1554, the Chichimecas inflicted a great loss upon the Spanish when they attacked a train of sixty wagons and captured more than 30,000 pesos worth of valuables.
[As the Chichimeca war continued unabated, it became clear that the Spanish policy of a war of fire and blood had failed. The royal treasury was being emptied by the demands of the war. Churchmen and others who had initially supported the war of fire and blood now questioned the policy. Mistreatment and enslavement of the Chichimeca by Spaniards increasingly came to be seen as the cause of the war. In 1574, the Dominicans, contrary to the Augustinians and Franciscans, declared that the Chichimeca War was unjust and caused by Spanish aggression. Thus, to end the conflict, the Spanish began to work toward an effective counter insurgency policy which rewarded the Chichimeca for peaceful behavior while taking steps to assimilate them. In 1584, the Bishop of Guadalajara made a proposal for a “Christian remedy” to the war: the establishment of new towns with priests, soldiers, and friendly Indians to gradually domesticate and Christianize the Chichimecas. The Viceroy, Alvaro Manrique de Zuniga, followed this idea in 1586 with a policy of removing many Spanish soldiers from the frontier as they were considered more a provocation than a remedy. The Viceroy opened negotiations with Chichimeca leaders and promised them food, clothing, land, priests, and tools to encourage them through “gentle persuasion” to settle down. He forbade military operations to seek out and capture and kill hostile Indians. Beginning in 1590 and continuing for several decades the Spanish implemented the “Peace by Purchase” program by sending large quantities of goods northward to be distributed to the Chichimecas. In 1590 the Viceroy declared the program a success and the roads to Zacatecas safe for the first time in 40 years.
The next step, in 1591, was for a new Viceroy, Luis de Velasco, to persuade 400 families of Tlaxcalan Indians, old allies of the Spanish, to establish eight settlements in Chichimeca areas. They served as Christian examples to the Chichimecas and taught animal husbandry and farming to them. In return for moving to the frontier, the Tlaxcalans extracted concessions “mandamientos de amparo" from the Spanish, including land grants, freedom from taxes, the right to carry arms, and provisions for two years. These settlers were instrumental in pacifying this part of Mexico, and although these families eventually intermarried with the Chichimeca, they never completely lost their Tlaxcalan identity. The Spanish also took steps to curb slavery on Mexico’s northern frontier by ordering the arrest of members of the Carabajal family and Gaspar Castano de Sosa. An essential part of their strategy was conversion of the Chichimeca to Catholicism. The Franciscans sent priests to the frontier to aid in the pacification effort.
The Peace by Purchase program worked. Hostilities died down and the majority of the Chichimecas gradually became sedentary, Catholic or nominally Catholic, and peaceful.
Over time most of the Chichimeca people lost their ethnic identities and were absorbed into the mestizo population of Mexico. The Zacatecos and Guamares totally disappeared as distinct peoples.
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The Aztec empire under Spanish rule
It seems that Cortés' intention was to maintain the basic structure of the Aztec empire under his leadership, and at first it seemed the Aztec empire could survive. The upper Aztec classes, at first, were considered as noblemen (to this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family). The upper classes learned Spanish, and several learned to write in European characters. Some of their surviving writings are crucial in our knowledge of the Aztecs. As well, the first missionaries tried to learn Nahuatl and some (somewhat), like Bernardino de Sahagún, decided to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture. Sahagún, in his studies of the Meixica and the nobility of Tlatelolco, compiled a 12 volume reference, entitled the Florentine Codex, of the life and culture of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire before the arrival of the Spanish.
To reward the Spanish army that captured what is now contemporary Mexico, the soldiers and officers were granted large areas of land and native labor under the Spanish land management system of Encomienda. Although officially the natives were not to become slaves, the system became one of oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent
The other discovery that perpetuated this system was extensive silver mines discovered at Potosi, in Peru and other places that were worked for hundreds of years by forced native labor and contributed most of the wealth that flowed to Spain. Spain spent enormous amounts of this wealth hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation and to halt the Turkish invasions of Europe. The silver was used to purchase goods, as European manufactured goods were not in demand in Asia and the Middle East. The Manila Galleon brought in far more silver direct from South American mines to China than the overland Silk Road, or even European trade routes in the Indian oceans could.
In the 16th century, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century. Unlike the English-speaking colonists of North America, the majority of the Spanish colonists were single men who married or made concubines of the natives, and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage and secret mistresses, a vast class of people known as "Mestizos" and mulattoes came into being.
Cortés return to Spain
Many historical sources have conveyed an impression that Cortés was unjustly treated by the Spanish Crown, and that he received nothing but ingratitude for his role in establishing New Spain. This picture is the one Cortés presents in his letters and in the later biography written by Gomara. However, there may be more to the picture than this. Cortés's own greed and vanity may have played a part in his deteriorating position with the king
"Cortés personally was not ungenerously rewarded, but he speedily complained of insufficient compensation to himself and his comrades. Thinking himself beyond reach of restraint, he disobeyed many of the orders of the Crown, and, what was more imprudent, said so in a letter to the emperor, dated October 15, 1524 (Ycazbalceta, "Documentos para la Historia de México", Mexico, 1858, I). In this letter Cortés, besides recalling in a rather abrupt manner that the conquest of Mexico was due to him alone, deliberately acknowledges his disobedience in terms which could not fail to create a most unfavourable impression."
King Charles I of Spain, who had become Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519, appointed Cortés as governor, captain general and chief justice of the newly conquered territory, dubbed "New Spain of the Ocean Sea". But also, much to the dismay of Cortés, four royal officials were appointed at the same time to assist him in his governing — in effect submitting him to close observation and administration
From 1524 to 1526, Cortés headed an expedition to Honduras where he defeated Cristóbal de Olid, who had claimed Honduras as his own under the influence of the Governor of Cuba Diego Velázquez. Fearing that Cuauhtémoc might head an insurrection in Mexico, he brought him with him in Honduras and hanged him during the journey. Raging over Olid's treason, Cortés issued a decree to arrest Velázquez, whom he was sure was behind Olid's treason. This, however, only served to further estrange the Crown of Castile and the Council of Indies, both of which were already beginning to feel anxious about Cortés's rising power
Velázquez and Fonseca persuaded the regent to appoint a commissioner with powers, (a Juez de residencia, Luis Ponce de León), to investigate Cortés's conduct and even arrest him. Cortés was once quoted as saying that it was "more difficult to contend against (his) own countrymen than against the Aztecs.
A few days after Cortés's return from his expedition, Ponce de León suspended Cortés from his office of governor of New Spain. The Licentiate then fell ill and died shortly after his arrival, appointing Marcos de Aguilar as alcalde mayor. The aged Aguilar also became sick and appointed Alonso de Estrada governor, who was confirmed in his functions by a royal decree in August 1527. Cortés, suspected of poisoning them, refrained from taking over the government.
In 1528, Cortés returned to Spain to appeal to the justice of his master, Charles V Cortés presented himself with great splendor before Charles V's court. By this time Charles V had returned and Cortés forthrightly responded to his enemy's charges. Denying he had held back on gold due the crown, he showed that he had contributed more than the quinto (one-fifth) required. Indeed, he had spent lavishly to rebuild Tenochtitlán, damaged during the siege that brought down the Aztec empire.
He was received by Charles with every distinction, and decorated with the order of Santiago. In return for his efforts in expanding the still young Spanish Empire, Cortés was rewarded in 1529 by being named the "Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca" (Marquis of the Oaxaca Valley), a noble title and senorial estate which was passed down to his descendants until 1811. La Malinche More died at some point in 152, probably victim of Smallpax. Cortés married in 1529 to doña Juana Ramírez de Arellano de Zúñiga who will give him 6 children.
While Cortés was out of the country from 1529 to 1530 , Spanish colonial administrators intervened in the daily activities of the community and forced the Nahuas to pay excessive taxes in the form of goods and services. When Cortés returned, the Nahuas joined him in a legal case against the abuses of the Spanish administrators (Huexotzinco Codex).
The plaintiffs were successful in their suit in Mexico, and later when it was retried in Spain. The record shows [in a document uncovered in the collections of the Library of Congress] that in 1538, Charles I of Spain agreed with the judgement against the Spanish administrators and ruled that two-thirds of all tributes taken from the people of Huexotzinco be returned.
Cortés returned to Mexico in 1530 with new titles and honors, but with diminished power. Although Cortés still retained military authority and permission to continue his conquests, viceroy Antonio de Mendoza was appointed in 1535 to administer New Spain's civil affairs. This division of power led to continual dissension, and caused the failure of several enterprises in which Cortés was engaged.
He was accused of murdering his first wife. The proceedings of the investigation were kept secret. No report, either exonerating or condemning Cortés, was published.
Remaining in Mexico between 1530 and 1541, Cortés quarreled with Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán and disputed the right to explore the territory that is today California with Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy. In 1536, Cortés explored the northwestern part of Mexico and discovered the Baja California peninsula. Cortés also spent time exploring the Pacific coast of Mexico.
After his exploration of Baja California, Cortés returned to Spain in 1541, hoping to confound his angry civilians, who had brought many lawsuits against him (for debts, abuse of power, etc.)
On his return he was utterly neglected, and could scarcely obtain an audience. On one occasion he forced his way through a crowd that surrounded the emperor's carriage, and mounted on the footstep. The emperor, astounded at such audacity, demanded of him who he was. "I am a man," replied Cortés proudly, "who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities."
The emperor finally permitted Cortés to join him and his fleet commanded by Andrea Doria at the great expedition against Algiers in the Barbary Coast in 1541, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire and was used as a base by the famous Turkish corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa who was also the Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman Fleet. During this unfortunate campaign, which was his last, Cortés was almost drowned in a storm that hit his fleet while he was pursuing Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, who managed to defeat the fleet of Charles V for a second time after the 1538 Battle of Preveza
Having spent a great deal of his own money to finance expeditions, he was now heavily in debt. In February 1544 he made a claim on the royal treasury, but was given a royal runaround for the next three years. Disgusted, he decided to return to Mexico in 1547. When he reached Seville, he was stricken with dysentery. He died in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Seville province, on December 2, 1547, from a case of pleurisy at the age of 62.
Like Columbus, he died a wealthy but embittered man. He left his many mestizo and white children well cared for in his will, along with every one of their mothers. He requested in his will that his remains eventually be buried in Mexico.
Aztec writing (Escritura mexica) and sources of knowledge about the Atzecs
Aztec writing is considered to be a proto-writing system.
Aztec was pictographic and ideographic proto-writing, augmented by phonetic rebuses. There was no alphabet, but puns also contributed to recording sounds of the Aztec language. Unlike the Maya Script, Aztec is not considered a complete writing system because there was no set corpus of signs or set rules on how they were used. Instead, Aztec scribes created individual compositions, with each scribe deciding how to represent the ideas he wished to convey. Although there are very few atzec surviving pre-conquest codices, the tlacuilo (codex painter) tradition endured the transition to colonial culture; scholars now have access to a body of around 500 colonial-era codices.
- The Codex Borbonicus is an Aztec codex written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The codex is named after the Palais Bourbon in France. It is held at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris.
It was kept in the El Escorial until the Spanish War of independence. Then it made misteriously its way to France with the first and last pages missing
It can be divided into three sections:
- An intricate tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar;
- A documentation of the Mesoamerican 52 year cycle, showing in order the dates of the first days of each of these 52 solar years; and
- A section of rituals and ceremonies, particularly those that end the 52 year cycle, when the "new fire" must be lit.
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| Codex Borbonicus pages - ballgame |
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| Codex Borbonicus pages -Lover Goddess (Diosa de los enamorados) |
- The Codex Borgia (or Borgia Codex or Codex Yoalli Ehecatl) is a Mesoamerican ritual and divinatory manuscript. It is generally believed to have been written before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, somewhere within what is now today southern or western Puebla. The Codex Borgia is a member of, and gives its name to, the Borgia Group of manuscripts. It is kept at the Vatican museum.
- The Boturini Codex was painted by an unknown Aztec author some time between 1530 and 1541, roughly a decade after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Pictorial in nature, it tells the story of the legendary Aztec journey from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico. It is now held in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.
- The Codex Telleriano-Remensis, produced in sixteenth century Mexico and printed on European paper, is one of the finest surviving examples of Aztec manuscript painting. Its Latinized name comes from Charles-Maurice Le Tellier, archbishop of Reims, who had possession of the manuscript in the late 17th century. The Codex is held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
- The Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, created about twenty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico with the intent that it be seen by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. It contains a history of the Aztec rulers and their conquests, a list of the tribute paid by the conquered, and a description of daily Aztec life, in traditional Aztec pictograms with Spanish explanations and commentary.
The Codex Mendoza was hurriedly created in Mexico City, to be sent by ship to Spain. The fleet was attacked by French privateers, and the codex, along with the rest of the booty, taken to France. There it came into the possession of André Thévet, cosmographer to King Henry II of France. Thévet wrote his name in five places on the codex, twice with the date 1553. It was later bought by the Englishman Richard Hakluyt for 20 French francs. Some time after 1616 it was passed to Samuel Purchase, then to his son, and then to John Selden. The codex was deposited into the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in 1659, 5 years after Selden's death, where it remained in obscurity until 1831, when it was rediscovered by Viscount Kingsborough and brought to the attention of scholars.
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| Codex mendoza - Foundation of Tenochtitlan |
- The Florentine Codex is the common name given to a 16th century ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Bernardino originally titled it: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana (in English: the General History of the Things of New Spain). It is commonly referred to as "The Florentine Codex" after the Italian archive library where the best-preserved manuscript is preserved.
In partnership with Aztec men who were formerly his students, Bernardino conducted research, organized evidence, wrote and edited his findings starting in 1545 up until his death in 1590. It consists of 2400 pages organized into twelve books with over 2000 illustrations drawn by native artists providing vivid images of this era. It documents the culture, religious cosmology (worldview) and ritual practices, society, economics, and natural history of the Aztec people. One scholar described The Florentine Codex as “one of the most remarkable accounts of a non-Western culture ever composed.”
Bernardino conducted research for several decades, edited and revised it over several decades, created several versions of a 2400 page manuscript, and addressed a cluster of religious, cultural and nature themes.
Copies of it were sent back to the royal court of Spain and to the Vatican in the late 16th century to explain Aztec culture. The document was essentially lost for about two centuries, until a scholar rediscovered it in an archive library in Florence, Italy. A scholarly community of historians, anthropologists, art historians, and linguists has been actively investigating Bernardino’s work, its subtleties and mysteries, for more than 200 years
The manuscript pages are generally of two columns, with Nahuatl, written first, on the right and a Spanish translation on the left.
Scholars have proposed several classical and medieval worldbook authors that inspired Bernardino, such as Aristotle, Pliny, Isidore of Seville, and Bartholomew the Englishman. These shaped the late medieval approach to the organization of knowledge. The twelve books of the Florentine Codex are organized in the following way:
1. Gods, religious beliefs and rituals, cosmology, and moral philosophy,
2. Humanity (society, politics, economics, including anatomy and disease),
3. Natural history.
The story of the conquest of Mexico is appended to the end of this presentation.
Bernardino was among the first to develop a bundle of strategies for gathering and validating knowledge of indigenous New World cultures. Much later, the scientific discipline of anthropology would later formalize these as ethnography (the scientific research strategy to document the beliefs, behavior, social roles and relationships, and worldview of another culture, but to explain these within the logic of that culture). Ethnography requires the practice of empathy with those very different from oneself, and the suspension of one’s own cultural beliefs in order to understand and explain the worldview of those living in another culture. Bernardino systematically gathered knowledge from a range of diverse informants who were recognized as having expert knowledge of Aztec culture. He gathered knowledge from a range of diverse informants who were recognized as having knowledge of cultural tradition. He did so in the native language of Nahuatl, but then compared the answers from different sources of information.
He developed a methodology with the following elements:
He used the native language of Nahuatl.
He dialogued with elders, cultural authorities publicly recognized as most knowledgeable.
He adapted himself to the ways in which Aztec culture recorded and transmitted knowledge.
He used the expertise of his former students.
He attempted to capture the totality or complete reality of Aztec culture on its own terms.
He structured his inquiry, using questionnaires, but was prepared to set this aside when more valuable information was shared through other means.
He attended to the diverse ways in which diverse meanings are transmitted through Nahuatl.
He undertook a comparative evaluation of information, drawing from multiple sources, in order to determine the degree of confidence with which he could hold that information.
These methodological innovations substantiate the claim Bernardino was the first anthropologist.
He reported the worldview of people of Mesoamerica as they understood it, and not exclusively from the European perspective. “The scope of the Historia's coverage of contact-period Central Mexico indigenous culture is remarkable, unmatched by any other sixteenth-century works that attempted to describe the native way of life.” Foremost in his own mind, Bernardino was a Franciscan missionary, but he may also rightfully claim the title as Father of American Ethnography.
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| Sculture of Fray Bernardino by Valentín Yugueros |
Fray Bernardino was born Bernardino de Rivera (Ribera, Ribeira) 1499 in Sahagún, Spain. He attended the University of Salamanca, where he was exposed to the currents of Renaissance humanism. During this period, the university at Salamanca was strongly influenced by Erasmus, and was a center for Spanish Franciscan intellectual life. It was there that he joined the Order of Friars Minor or Franciscans. He was probably ordained around 1527.
Franciscan Friars who came to the New World were motivated by a desire to preach the Gospel to new peoples. During Many Franciscans were convinced that there was great religious meaning in the discovery and evangelization of these new peoples. They were astonished to discover these new peoples and their culture, and they thought that by preaching to them that they would bring about the return of Christ and the end of time, a set of beliefs called millenarianism. Concurrently, many of the friars were discontent with the corruption of European society, including, at times, the leadership of the Catholic Church, and saw New Spain as the opportunity to revive the pure spirit of primitive Christianity. During the first decades of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, many indigenous people converted to Christianity, at least superficially. Inspired by their Franciscan spirituality and Catholic humanism, the friars organized the indigenous peoples into utopian communities. There were massive waves of indigenous peoples converting to Catholicism, as measured by hundreds of thousands of baptisms in massive evangelization centers set up by the friars.
Perhaps as a result of these initial investigations, Sahagún grew increasingly skeptical of the authenticity of the mass conversions in Mexico. He thought that many if not most of the conversions were superficial. He also became concerned about the tendency of his fellow Franciscan missionaries to misunderstand basic elements of traditional Aztec religious beliefs and cosmology. He became convinced that only by mastering native languages and worldviews could missionaries be effective.
In his five decades of research we perceive a Franciscan philosophy of knowledge in action. He was not content to speculate about these new peoples, but rather invested his life’s effort in meeting, interviewing, and interpreting them and their worldview as an expression of his faith. While others – in Europe and New Spain – were debating whether or not they were human and had souls, he was interviewing them, seeking to understand who they were, how they loved each other, what they believed, and how they made sense of the world. He fell in love with their culture. Even as he expressed disgust at their sacrifices and their “idolatries,” he spent five decades investigating Aztec culture.
He died in Tlatelolco, México at the age of 91.
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| Florentine Codex - Sacrifices |
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| Florentine Codex - Sacrifices |
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| Florentine Codex- Aztec doctor |
The Durán Codex - a history by Dominican friar Diego Durán. The History of the Indies of New Spain, sometimes referred to as the Durán Codex, contains seventy-eight chapters spanning from the Aztec creation story until after Spanish conquest of Mexico, and includes a chronology of Aztec kings. Durán's work has become invaluable to archaeologists and others studying Mesoamerica. Although there are few surviving Aztec codices written before the Spanish conquest, the more numerous post-conquest codices and near-contemporary works such as Durán's are invaluable secondary sources for the interpretation of archaeological theories and evidence.
Most scholars believe that he based this work on an earlier Nahuatl source (now lost), that is presumed to have been compiled by one or more Christianized Aztecs sometime shortly after the conquest. This earlier document (or documents) is often referred to as "Crónica X" ("Chronicle X") and is proposed to be to be the original or influential source of a number of early manuscripts (such as the Ramírez, Durán and Acosta codices), based on similarities in their content.
Durán was born in Seville, Spain sometime around 1537. His family traveled to Mexico when he was very young. It was in Texcoco where he learned Nahuatl. Durán was torn between two worlds, that of his people, and that of the Aztec. On one hand, he respected them greatly and their government organization before conquest, and he grew to admire the people of Mexico, and often said so. On the other hand, he was repulsed by certain acts of his native informants, particularly human sacrifice. It was, after all, his duty to evangelize them and his Catholic background gave him a great disdain for such things. Another of his duties was to document the cultural ways and practices of the native people to serve as a manual to other monks in their attempt to evangelize the so-called heathens. He died in 1588 of an unknown illness.
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| Codex Duran - Human Sacrifice |
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| Codex duran - Foundation of Tenochtitlan |
The Ramírez Codex (also known as the Tovar Codex) is a post-conquest codex from the late 16th century entitled Relación del origen de los indios que hábitan esta Nueva España según sus Historias ("Relation of the Origin of the Indians who Inhabit this New Spain according to their Histories"). The Tovar manuscript was created using traditional indigenous techniques and consists of four manuscripts that narrate the history of the Aztecs, from their peregrination into the Anahuac valley to the fall of Tenochtitlan. It also discusses some aspects of the Aztec religion. The Ramírez Codex (Tovar manuscript) was discovered in 1856 by José Fernando Ramírez in the library of the convent of San Francisco in Mexico[not in citation given]. There remain two extant copies of the codex. One is located in the Mexico's Museo Nacional de Antropología, while the other is in the library of John Carter Brown, in Rhode Island.
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| Ramirez codex: A depiction of a tzompantli, or skull rack, associated with the depiction of a temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli from Juan de Tovar's manuscript. Only in Tenochtitlan were 7 tzompantlis. The tzompantli in Templo mayor had up to 60.000 skulls when the Spaniards arrived. |
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| Ramirez codex: Dancing |
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| Ramirez codex: ritual gladiatorial combat (sacrifice for Tezcatlipoc) |
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| Codex Magliabechiano: Human Sacrifice |
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| Codex Magliabechiano: Human Sacrifice |
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| Codex Magliabechiano: Human Sacrifice & Cannibalism |
Little is known about the codex's history. The Spanish government bought the manuscript when it was rediscovered in 1940, and it is now held by the Museo de América in Madrid.
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| Codex Tudela - Human sacrifice |
- Codex de la Cruz-Badiano or The Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Latin for "Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians") is an Aztec herbal manuscript, describing the medicinal properties of various plants used by the Aztecs. It was translated into Latin by Juan Badiano, from a Nahuatl original composed in the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco in 1552 by Martín de la Cruz that is no longer extant. The Libellus is also known as the Badianus Manuscript, after the translator; the Codex de la Cruz-Badiano, after both the original author and translator; and the Codex Barberini, after Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who had possession of the manuscript in the early 17th century.
In 1552 Jacobo de Grado, the friar in charge of the Convent of Tlatelolco and the College of Santa Cruz, had the herbal created and translated for Francisco de Mendoza, son of Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy of New Spain. Mendoza sent the Latin manuscript to Spain, where it was deposited into the royal library. There it presumably remained until the early 17th century, when it somehow came into the possession of Diego de Cortavila y Sanabria, pharmacist to King Philip IV. From Cortavila it travelled to the Italian Cardinal Francesco Barberini, possibly via intermediate owners. The manuscript remained in the Barberini library until 1902, when the Barberini library became part of the Vatican Library, and the manuscript along with it. Finally, in 1990 — over four centuries after it was sent to Spain — Pope John Paul II returned the Libellus to Mexico, and it is now in the library of the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.
Aztec mythology
The Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities (over 100) and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.
The Mexica/Aztec were said to be guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird" or "Hummingbird from the South." When they arrived at an island in the lake, they saw an eagle which was perched on a nopal cactus full of its fruits (nochtli). (Due to a mistranslation of an account by Tesozomoc, it became popular to say the eagle was devouring a snake, but in the original Aztec accounts, the snake is not mentioned. One states that it was eating a bird, another indicates that it was only perched in the cactus, and a third just says it was eating something.)
Because the Aztec adopted and combined several traditions with their own earlier traditions, they had several creation myths. One of these, the Five Suns describes four great ages preceding the present world, each of which ended in a catastrophe, and "were named in fonction of the force or divine element that violentyl put an end to each one of them"
Another myth describes the earth as a creation of the twin gods Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Some sources say Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the process of creating the world and some representations of these gods show him without a foot and with a bone exposed. Others say he had one foot which was the foot of a beast, a representation for his speed. Yet other versions represent him as being able to shift to a jaguar form. Quetzalcoatl is also called "White Tezcatlipoca."
Quetzalcoatl (Classical Nahuatl: Quetzalcohua-tl) is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent".
The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD. That period lies within the Late Preclassic to Early Classic period (400 BC–600AD) of Mesoamerican chronology, and veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout Mesoamerica by the Late Classic (600–900 AD).
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| Mexican Codex Telleriano: Quetzalcoatl |
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| The Maya knew Quetzalcoatl as Kukulkna; the Quiche as Gukumatz. The Feathered Serpent deity was important in art and religion in most of Mesoamerica for close to 2,000 years, from the Pre-Classic era until the Spanish Conquest. El Castillo in Chichen Itza served as a temple to Kukulkan. During the spring and fall equinoxes the shadow cast by the angle of the sun and edges of the nine steps of the pyramid combined with the northern stairway and the stone serpent head carvings create the illusion of a massive serpent descending the pyramid. |
In the iconography of the classic period Maya serpent imagery is also prevalent: a snake is often seen as the embodiment of the sky itself, and a vision serpent is a shamanic helper presenting Maya kings with visions of the underworld.
Since the sixteenth century it has been widely held that the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Hernán Cortés in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. This has been questioned by ethno-historian Matthew Restall (and a great majority of others) who argues that the Quetzalcoatl-Cortés connection is not found in any document that was created independently of post-Conquest Spanish influence, and that there is little proof of a pre-Hispanic belief in Quetzalcoatl's return. Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Cortés's letters to Charles V of Spain, in which Cortés goes to great pains to present the naïve gullibility of the Aztecs in general as a great aid in his conquest of Mexico.
Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex written down some 50 years after the conquest. In the codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which, as described in the codex written by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and his Tlatelolcan informants, included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as,
"You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you,"
and,
"You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth."
Subtleties in, and an imperfect scholarly understanding of, high Nahuatl rhetorical style make the exact intent of these comments tricky to ascertain, but Restall argues that Moctezuma politely offering his throne to Cortés (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. This speech, which has been widely referred to, has been a factor in the widespread belief that Moctezuma was addressing Cortés as the returning god Quetzalcoatl.
Other parties have also propagated the idea that the Mesoamericans believed the conquistadors, and in particular Cortés, to be awaited gods: most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gerónimo de Mendieta. Some Franciscans at this time held millennarian beliefs and some of them believed that Cortés' coming to the New World ushered in the final era of evangelization before the coming of the millennium. Franciscans such as Toribio de Benavente "Motolinia" saw elements of Christianity in the precolumbian religions and therefore believed that Mesoamerica had been evangelized before, possibly by St. Thomas whom legend had it had "gone to preach beyond the Ganges". Franciscans then equated the original Quetzalcoatl with St. Thomas and imagined that the Indians had long awaited his return to take part once again in God's kingdom. Historian Matthew Restall concludes that:
"The legend of the returning lords, originated during the Spanish-Mexica war in Cortés' reworking of Moctezuma's welcome speech, had by the 1550's merged with the Cortés-as-Quetzalcoatl legend that the Franciscans had started spreading in the 1530's." (Restall 2001:114 )
Some scholarship still maintains the view that the Aztec Empire's fall may be attributed in part to the belief in Cortés as the returning Quetzalcoatl
However, a majority of modern Mesoamericanist scholars among others, consider the "Quetzalcoatl/Cortés myth" as one of many myths about the Spanish conquest which have risen in the early post-conquest period.
Human sacrifice in Aztec culture
Human sacrifice was a religious practice characteristic of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization, as well as of other mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and the Zapotec. The extent of the practice is debated by modern scholars.
Spanish explorers, soldiers and clergy who had contact with the Aztecs between 1517, when an expedition from Cuba first explored the Yucatan, and 1521, when Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, made observations of and wrote reports about the practice of human sacrifice. For example, Bernal Díaz's The Conquest of New Spain includes eyewitness accounts of human sacrifices as well as descriptions of the remains of sacrificial victims.
Most scholars of Pre-Columbian civilization see human sacrifice among the Aztecs as a part of the long cultural tradition of human sacrifice in Mesoamerica.
Sacrifice was a common theme in Mesoamerican cultures. In the Aztec "Legend of the Five Suns", all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live. Some years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a body of Franciscans confronted the remaining Aztec priesthood and demanded, under threat of death, that they desist from this traditional practice. The Aztec priests defended themselves as follows:
“Life is because of the gods; with their sacrifice they gave us life.... They produce our sustenance... which nourishes life"
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| Aztec or Mixtec sacrificial knife, probably for ceremonial use only, in the British Museum |
What the Aztec priests were referring to was a central Mesoamerican belief: that a great, on-going sacrifice sustains the Universe. Everything is tonacayotl: the "spiritual flesh-hood" on earth.
Blood held a central place in Mesoamerican cultures. The Florentine Codex reports that in one of the creation myths Quetzalcóatl offered blood extracted from a wound in his own genital to give life to humanity. There are several other myths in which Nahua gods offer their blood to help humanity.
Common people would offer maguey thorns with their blood. Lloyd deMause has argued that, like present-day self harmers, the Aztecs also practiced bloodletting from cuts made with obsidian knives or bone needles on fleshy parts of the body, like earlobes, lips, tongue, chest and calves. This was considered private and a personal act of penitence toward the gods. The thorns were later placed in an adoratorium.
A great deal of cosmological thought seems to have underlain each of the Aztec sacrificial rites. The most common form of human sacrifice was heart-extraction. The Aztec believed that the heart (tona) was both the seat of the individual and a fragment of the Sun's heat (istli). To this day, the Nahua consider the Sun to be a heart-soul (tona-tiuh): "round, hot, pulsating".
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli was the tribal deity of the Mexica and, as such, he represented the character of the Mexica people and was often identified with the sun at the zenith, and with warfare.
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| Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. |
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| Florentine Codex: Huitzilopochtli Standing At Summit Of Coatepec killing Coyolxauhqui And Her 400 Brothers |
Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli (Classical Nahuatl: Hui-tzilopo-chtli), was a god of war, sun, human sacrifice and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of \Tenochtitlan.
Huitzilopochtli was a tribal god and a legendary wizard of the Aztecs. Originally he was of little importance to the Nahuas, but after the rise of the Aztecs, Tlacaelel reformed their religion and put Huitzilopochtli at the same level as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Tezcatlipoca, making him a solar god.
Huitzilopochtli was said to be in a constant struggle with the darkness and required nourishment in the form of sacrifices to ensure the sun would survive the cycle of 52 years, which was the basis of many Mesoamerican myths.
For the reconsecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 20,400 prisoners over the course of four days. There were 19 altars in the city of Tenochtitlan.
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca was generally considered the most powerful god, the god of night, sorcery and destiny (the name tezcatlipoca means "smoking mirror", or "obsidian"). The Aztecs believed that Tezcatlipoca created war to provide food and drink to the gods. Tezcatlipoca was known by several epithets including "the Enemy" and "the Enemy of Both Sides", which stress his affinity for discord. Tezcatlipoca had the power to forgive sins and to relieve disease, or to release a man from the fate assigned to him by his date of birth; however, nothing in Tezcatlipoca's nature compelled him to do so.
Some captives were sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca in ritual gladiatorial combat. The victim was tethered in place and given a mock weapon. He died fighting against up to four fully armed jaguar knights and eagle warriors.
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| Codex Magliabechiano: Victim of sacrificial gladiatorial combat, from . Note that he is tied to a large stone and his macuahuitl (sword/club) is covered with what appears to be feathers instead of obsidian. |
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| This mosaic is believed to represent the god Tezcatlipoca, The base for the mosaic is a human skull. Long deerskin straps would have allowed the skull to be worn as part of priestly regalia. Skull ornaments like this are depicted in the Mixtec Zouche Nuttall codex. The people and culture we know as 'Aztec' referred to themselves as the Mexica (pronounced 'Mé-shee-ka'). |
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| Mixtec Zouche Nuttall codex: Priest with Skull-regalia |
To appease Huehueteotl, the fire god and a senior deity, the Aztecs had a ceremony where they prepared a large feast at the end of which they would burn captives and before they died they would be taken from the fire and their hearts would be cut out. Motolinía and Sahagún reported that the Aztecs believed that if they did not placate Huehueteotl a plague of fire would strike their city. The sacrifice was considered an offering to the deity.
Tlaloc
Tlaloc was the god of rain. The Aztecs believed that if sacrifices weren't supplied for Tlaloc, rain wouldn't come and their crops wouldn't flourish. Leprosy and rheumatism, diseases caused by Tlaloc, would infest the village. Tlaloc required the tears of the young as part of the sacrifice. The priests made the children cry during their way to immolation: a good omen that Tlaloc would wet the earth in the raining season. In the Florentine Codex, also known as General History of the Things of New Spain, Sahagún wrote:
“ They offered them as sacrifices to [Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue] so that they would give them water"
Most of the sacrificial rituals took more than two people to perform. In the usual procedure of the ritual, the sacrifice would be taken to the top of the temple. The sacrifice would then be laid on a stone slab by four priests, and his/her abdomen would be sliced open by a fifth priest with a ceremonial knife made of flint. The cut was made in the abdomen and went through the diaphragm. The priest would grab the heart and tear it out, still beating. It would be placed in a bowl held by a statue of the honored god, and the body thrown down the temple's stairs.
The body parts would then be disposed of: the viscera fed the animals in the zoo; the bleeding head was placed on display in the tzompantli, meaning 'hairy skulls'.
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| Duran codex: Tzompantli |
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| Florentine Codex: Aztec Tzompantli or Skull Rack of Spaniards and Horses |
For the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days, though there were probably far fewer sacrifices. According to Ross Hassig, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed in the ceremony. Nonetheless, according to Codex Telleriano-Remensis, old Aztecs who talked with the missionaries told about a much lower figure for the reconsecration of the temple, approximately 4,000 victims in total.
Sacrifices were made on specific days. Sahagún, Juan Bautista de Pomar and Motolinía report that the Aztecs had eighteen festivities each year, one for each Aztec month. They clearly state that in those festivities sacrifices were made. Each god required a different kind of victim: young women were drowned for Xilonen; children were sacrificed to Tláloc; Nahuatl-speaking prisoners to Huitzilopochtli, and a single nahua would volunteer for Tezcatlipoca. The Ramírez Codex states that for the annual festivity of Huitzilopochtli more than sixty prisoners were sacrificed in the main temple, and prisoners were sacrificed in other large Aztec cities as well.
Every Aztec warrior would have to provide at least one prisoner for sacrifice. All the male population was trained to be warriors, but only the few who succeeded in providing captives could became full-time members of the warrior elite.
There is still much debate as to what social groups constituted the usual victims of these sacrifices. It is often assumed that all victims were 'disposable' commoners or foreigners. However, slaves - a major source of victims - were not a permanent class but rather persons from any level of Aztec society who had fallen into debt or committed some crime.
Likewise, most of the earliest accounts talk of prisoners of war of diverse social status, and concur that virtually all child sacrifices were locals of noble lineage, offered by their own parents .
Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1581), the 16th-century military adventurer, conquistador said on his book "The Conquest of New Spain":
"On these altars were idols with evil looking bodies, and that every night five Indians had been sacrificed before them; their chests had been cut open, and their arms and thighs had been cut off. The walls were covered with blood. We stood greatly amazed and gave the island the name isleta de Sacrificios."
In The Conquest of New Spain Díaz recounted that, after landing on the coast, they came across a temple dedicated to Tezcatlipoca. "That day they had sacrificed two boys, cutting open their chests and offering their blood and hearts to that accursed idol". Díaz narrates several more sacrificial descriptions on the later Cortés expedition. Arriving at Cholula, they find "cages of stout wooden bars […] full of men and boys who were being fattened for the sacrifice at which their flesh would be eaten". When the conquistadors reached Tenochtitlan, Díaz described the sacrifices at the Great Pyramid:
"They strike open the wretched Indian's chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols […]. They cut off the arms, thighs and head, eating the arms and thighs at ceremonial banquets. The head they hang up on a beam, and the body is […] given to the beasts of prey."
According to Bernal Díaz, the chiefs of the surrounding towns, for example Cempoala, would complain on numerous occasions to Cortés about the perennial need to supply the Aztecs with victims for human sacrifice. It is clear from his description of their fear and resentment toward the Mexicas that, in their opinion, it was no honor to surrender their kinsmen to be sacrificed by them. Cortés describes similar events in his Letters:
"They have a most horrid and abominable custom which truly ought to be punished and which until now we have seen in no other part, and this is that, whenever they wish to ask something of the idols, in order that their plea may find more acceptance, they take many girls and boys and even adults, and in the presence of these idols they open their chests while they are still alive and take out their hearts and entrails and burn them before the idols, offering the smoke as sacrifice. Some of us have seen this, and they say it is the most terrible and frightful thing they have ever witnessed"
Diego Durán states that Aztecs made "indifferent or sarcastic remarks" when the Spaniards severely criticized the rite. In his Book of the Gods and Rites some of the Nahuas even ridiculed the Christian sensibilities.
Sacrifices were ritualistic and symbolic acts accompanying huge feasts and festivals. Victims usually died in the "center stage" amidst the splendor of dancing troupes, percussion orchestras, elaborate costumes and decorations, carpets of flowers, crowds of thousands of commoners, and all the assembled elite. Aztec texts frequently refer to human sacrifice as neteotoquiliztli, “the desire to be regarded as a god”.
Some of the Proposed explanations of Aztec human sacrifice:
- The nutritional explanation: Scholars Michael Harner and Marvin Harris have argued that the motivation behind human sacrifice among the Aztecs was actually the cannibalization of the sacrificial victims. While there is universal agreement that the Aztecs practiced sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism was widespread.
- The political explanation: The high-profile nature of the sacrificial ceremonies indicates that human sacrifice played an important political function. The Mexica used a sophisticated package of psychological weaponry to maintain their empire, aimed at instilling a sense of fear into their neighbours. The Mexica used human sacrifice as a weapon of terror even against the Spanish conquistadors, whose fallen victims were sacrificed and sometimes skinned and their bloody heads placed at the tzompantli.
Chac-Mool is the name given to a type of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican stone statue. The Chac-Mool depicts a human figure in a position of reclining with the head up and turned to one side, holding a tray over the stomach. The meaning of the position or the statue itself remains unknown.
Chac-Mool statues are found in or around temples in Toltec and other post-Classic central Mexican sites, and in post-Classic Maya civilization sites with heavy Toltec influence, such as Chichen Itza.
They could probably serve for offerings to the gods as food or victims' heart or a place of sacrifices.
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| Maya Chac-Mool |
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| cuauhxicalli of Templo Mayor |
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| Aztec calendar stone |
The exact purpose and meaning of the stone is unclear. However archaeologists and historians have proposed a number of theories and it seems likely that there are many aspects to the stone.
One aspect of the stone is its religious significance. One theory is that the face at the centre of the stone represents Tonatiuh, the Mexica god of the sun.
It is for this reason that the stone became known as the "sun stone".
The four square images around the central deity represent the former four suns before the five sun. The term Five Suns in the context of creation myths, describes the doctrine of the Aztec and other Nahua peoples, supported amply by ancient texts and calendars, in which the present world was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction. It is primarily derived from the mythological, cosmological and eschatological beliefs and traditions of earlier cultures from central Mexico and the Mesoamerican region in general.
- The first ring contains the 20 days of the Aztec calendar (Tonalpohualli):
Cipactli, Ehecatl, Calli, Cuetzpallin, Cóatl, Miquiztli, Mazatl, Tochtli, Atl, Itzcuintli, Ozomatli, Malinalli, Ácatl, Ocelotl, Cuauhtli, Cozcaquauhtli, Ollin, Tecpátl, Quiahuitl y Xochitl.
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| Tonalpohualli |
- Second ring has also square sections with each section containing 5 points that could represent the week of 5 days. There are also 8 angles that divide the stone in 8 parts. These are probably sun lights in different cardinal points.
- Third ring: In the low part of the stone, there are 2 fire snakes: Xiuhcoatl. Their bodies are splitted in different sections. This could represent the 52 years of an atzec cycle.
- In the upper part of the stone between the snake tails there is a date "13 Acatl" This was supposed to be the year 1479 when the stone was completed.
- In the extreme of the surface there are 8 holes representing different constellations.
(The Aztec calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the basic structure of calendars from throughout ancient Mesoamerica.The calendar consisted of a 365-day calendar cycle called xiuhpohualli (year count) and a 260-day ritual cycle called tonalpohualli (day count). These two cycles together formed a 52-year "century," sometimes called the "calendar round".
)
Despite being known as a "calendar stone," modern archaeologists such as those at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, at which the stone is housed, believe it is more likely to have been used primarily as a ceremonial basin or ritual altar for gladiatorial sacrifices, than as an astrological or astronomical reference.
The two Aztec and Maya calendars were was basically similar. The Aztecs call their 260 day calendar Tonalpohualli and the Maya calls it Tzolkin. Xiuhpohualli is the Aztec 360 day calendar and Haab is the Mayan. And the glyphs used to name days is different too. Where the Aztec differed most significantly from the Maya was in their more primitive number system and in their less precise way of recording dates. One major difference is that they Aztec didn't use the long count to fix dates into a larger chronological frame than the 52-year cycle. The longest Mayans count is 63 million years.
Normally, the Atzec noted only the day on which an event occurred and the name of the current year. This is ambiguous, since the same day, as designated in the way mentioned above, can occur twice in a year.
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