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THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST
Juan Manuel Galván, ABD
Spring 2013
OUTLINE
• Thesis
• Ancient and Medieval
Iberia
• The Spice Trade
• The Catholic Kings
• 1492
• Christopher Columbus
• Gonzalo Guerrero
• The Spanish in Mexico
• The Tlaxcallan-Spanish
Alliance
• The Destruction of
Tenochtitlan
• The Conquest of the
Tarascam
• African-Mexicans
• Conclusion
• Sources
Thesis
• The Spanish conquest of Mexico marked a new phase in the
history of Mesoamerica. The Iberian peninsula had its own
fascinating history, the result of thousands of years of
historical evolution that involved the participation of Celt,
Basque, Iberian, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Vandal, Visigoth,
Jewish, Muslim, and Christian participants.
• The history of Spain was unique in many ways. The
interaction, often violent, of the cultures above resulted in a
unique civilization which promoted the exploitation and
conversion of conquered peoples, in this case, Mesoamerican
cultures.
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Ancient and Early Medieval Iberia
• Originally inhabited by Iberians, Basques and Celts.
• Later a Phoenician and then a Greek province in ancient
times.
• Conquered by the Romans in 206 BC.
• Massive Jewish migration starting c. 70 AD.
• Conquered by the Vandals in 409 AD.
• Conquered by the Visigoths in 418 AD.
• Conquered by the Moors in 711-721 AD.
• Muslim-Christian Wars in Iberia, 711-1492.
• Asturias, pagan kingdom. Not conquered by the Moors.
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Iberian Peninsula in 721 AD
Medieval Iberia
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Christian conquest of Spain, 711-1492.
Jewish Diaspora
Convivencia. Life in Muslim Spain: Muslims, Christian, Jewish
Iberians result from the mix of these three cultures
Encomienda. System of conquest used by the Christians.
Private military subcontractors are “encommended” the
salvation of the inhabitants in the Muslim kingdoms they
conquer.
• The Christians bred blood hounds to use in war
• Christian conquerors habitually murdered Muslim clerics,
burned books, destroyed Mosques. Conquered Moors
reduced to forced labor
• Rape is part of war. This war was no exception
Virgin of Guadalupe
• 714 AD. Appears in the Rio Guadalupejo, in
the Basin of Guadalquivir.
• A dark-skinned saint. Meant that Virgin Mary,
the mother of God, had appeared to the
Moors and wished for them to become
Catholic.
• A powerful symbol in the Reconquista (7111492).
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The Guadalquivir Basin
Santa María de Guadalupe.
Patron Saint of the Extremadura Province, Spain.
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The Spice Trade
• Spice trade with Persia India, China, etc.
• Iberian (Portuguese, Aragonese, Castillian)
monarchs heavily invested.
• 1453. The Ottoman Turks conquered
Constantinople. Sealed off the east to
European trade.
• Iberian kings commission exploration around
southern Africa, searching for an alternative
route to India and China.
Iberian Kingdoms in 1453
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The Catholic Kings
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Centuries of war against Muslims.
Encomienda system
A militant Catholicism
Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabella of Castille
marry in 1469. Unite their kingdoms in 1479.
Birth of the nation of Spain
Religion, War, and Conquest:
The European Mindset of Late Medieval and Early Modern Times
• Mercantilism: There is only so much wealth out there and war is
the way to acquire it
• Forced labor. Aristotelian concept: In order for some to enjoy life,
others must be enslaved
• Encomienda. God has entrusted Christians with the salvation of
non-Christians, and slavery is the medium for their conversion
• Racism. Dark peoples are savages. Slavery is a tool for their
conversion
• Christianity. Non-Christians must be converted or die
• Slavery. A long tradition in the Iberian peninsula. Systematic
enslavement of non-Christians, especially Muslims
• Rape. Soldiers encouraged to participate in war so they can rape as
many women as they find.
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1492
• Final defeat of the Muslim kingdom of
Granada
• Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain
• Thousands of adventurer soldiers, officers,
and lesser nobles with nothing to do, nowhere
to go
• Commissioning of Christopher Columbus’ first
trip. A shorter route to India
Christopher Columbus
• Genoese navigator. Believed in a shorter way
to India by sailing west
• 1480s. Turned down by Portuguese king.
• 1492. Secures sponsorship by Spanish Queen
Isabella.
Columbus’s Voyages
• Columbus crew: Unemployed soldiers,
homeless men, pig farmers, murderers
• 1492. First Voyage. 3 ships. Columbus bumps
into the Bahamas, thinks he is in India. Explores
Hispaniola and Cuba, keeps thinking he is in
India.
• 1492-1499. Columbus, Viceroy of the Indies
• Flood of explorers and conquistadors follow
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Columbus’s Voyages
• 1493. Second Voyage. 17 ships. Explored the
Caribbean. Slavery of Native Americans.
Extermination. Disease. Colonization of
Hispaniola and Cuba.
• 1498. Third Voyage. 6 ships. The Caribbean, the
coast of Venezuela.
• 1502. Fourth Voyage. 4 ships. The Caribbean,
the coasts of Central America.
Columbus’s Voyages. 1492, 1502.
A brief account of the Destruction of the Indies
by Bartolome de Las Casas (published 1552)
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Reaching Mexico
• 1508. First Spanish crew reached Yucatan, returned
to the Caribbean
• 1511. Pedro de Valdivia expedition to Yucatan.
Shiprecked. 10 made to Yucatan’s shores.
• 5, including Valdivia, are sacrificed to the gods and
eaten
• 3 die of disease
• Geronimo de Aguilar enslaved
• Gonzalo Guerrero enslaved.
Gonzalo Guerrero
• Gonzalo Guerrero enslaved. Married a princess, had three
Maya children
• Became the Maya king of Ichpaatun, north of Chetumal
• Refused to join Cortez
• Taught European military tactics to the Maya
• Lead Maya resistance against the Spanish in the Chetumal
region
• Died fighting the Spanish in the 1530s
• The Spanish destroyed most of the documents related to
Guerrero’s story
• Some Yucatecan documents and oral stories survived
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Hector Osvaldo Perez,
The transformation of Gonzalo Guerrero
Modern Illustration
http://hectorosvaldoperez.blogspot.com/2010/07/historia-de-america-latina-gonzalo.html
Monument to Gonzalo Guerrero and his family.
Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Twentieth Century
Grijalva and Cortez
• Diego Velazquez, governor of Cuba.
• 1518. Juan de Grijalva expedition in Yucatan.
• 1519. Hernando Cortez expedition into Mexico. Recalled by
governor Velazquez. Cortez disobeyed, burned his ships.
• c. 450 soldiers. Harquebuses. Steel swords. Cannons. Horses. Blood
hounds.
• Cortez ransomed Jeronimo de Aguilar, who had learned Yucatecan
Maya
• Potonchan, Tabasco. Local ruler gave Cortez 20 young female slaves.
Among them Doña Marina (Malintzin, Malinche), a 12 year old
princess who knew Nahuatl and Yucatecan Maya. Cortez gave
Marina to one of his soldiers
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Malinche. Wax Museum, Veracruz.
Twentieth Century
Cortez’s Advance
• Cortez moved inland. Heard of the great riches
of the Aztec
• Learned about the discontent of Aztec
tributaries
• Claimed Marina for himself
• Used Geronimo de Aguilar and Marina as
translators
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Jose Clemente Orozco,
Cortez and La Malinche (1926).
Malinche translates for Hernán Cortez.
Lienzo Tlaxcala. XVI Century
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Divided Mesoamerican Leadership
• Approached Tlaxcala in Sept. 1519. Bitter disagreement
within the Tlaxcalan leadership. Xicotencatl the Elder
wanted to make the Spanish his allies. His son,
Xicotencatl the Younger, wanted to fight them
• Motecuhzoma II deeply disturbed. Repeatedly sent gold
and gifts to the Spanish, telling them not to approach
Tenochtitlan
• Motecuhzoma’s allies and advisors wanted to fight the
Spanish off, Motecuhzoma II didn’t. Major opposition
from Cuitlahuac, his brother, and from the Lords of
Texcoco and Tlacopan.
Tlaxcalan-Spanish Alliance
• Xicotencatl gave Cortez c. 6,000 Tlaxcalan
warriors
• Xicotencatl adviced Cortez to attack Cholula
for being an ally of the Aztec
• Cholula, a sacred city. Seat of the cult of the
Feathered Serpent
• The kingdom of Huexotzinco, to the south of
Tlaxcala, also allied with the Spanish
Tlaxcallan soldiers leading a Spanish soldier to Chalco.
Lienzo deTlaxcala. XVI Century
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The Cholula Massacre
• The Spanish and Tlaxcalan entered Cholula
unopposed. Stayed for several days
• October 18, 1519. Annual Festival. The
Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies suddently
slaughter c. 6,000 unarmed Cholulans within
six hours. Thousands more taken to Tlaxcala to
be sacrificed
The Cholula Massacre
Lienzo de Tlaxcala. XVI Century
Motecuhzoma II, prisoner of fear
• Motecuhzoma II. Deeply superstitious
• November 8, 1519. Motecuhzoma II met the
Spanish and Tlaxcalan outside Tenochtitlan.
Welcomed them into the palaces of Axayacatl
• The Spanish kept him prisoner for about seven
months
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Hernán Cortez and La Malinche meet Motecuhzoma II in Tenochtitlan,
November 8, 1519. Lienzo Tlaxcala. XVI Century
The Templo Mayor Massacre
• May 21, 1520. Toxcal festival in honor of
Huitzilopochtli. Human sacrifices.
• Pedro de Alvarado, Cortez’s second in
command, blocked the exits and led the
slaughter of hundreds of Aztec priests, nobles,
and military officers. Aztec leadership
decapitated. Cuitlahuac and Cuauhtemoc
escaped.
• Cuitlahuac mobilized the Tenochca
The Templo Mayor Massacre
Codex Duran
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Death of Motecuhzoma II
• July 1, 1520. Motecuhzoma II either stoned to
death by the Aztec or strangled the Spanish.
The Spanish then hurled his body into the
waterways. Body rescued by the Aztec
• The Spanish then killed dozens of nobles who
attended Motecuhzoma
Death and funeral of Motecuhzoma II
Florentine Codex
The Sad Night
• July 1, 1520.
• Cuitlahuac lead the resistance against the Spanish
• The Spanish and Tlaxcalan tried to escape under the
cover of darkness
• Spanish horses burdened with gold. Slow.
• Routed by the Aztec. Hundreds of Spanish and
thousands of Tlaxcalan died
• The Spanish lost most of the gold they were looting
• Cortez and approximately 200 Spanish and some
Tlaxcalan escape
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Monument to Cuitlahuac
Mexico City. 20th Century
Welcomed into Tlaxcala
• Early June, 1520. The Spanish at their most vulnerable
• Xicotencatl the Elder and his son quarreled over
whether to destroy the Spanish (the Younger) or
continue the alliance (the Elder)
• Xicotencatl had his son executed for insolence
• Tlaxcalan and Spanish prepared for the final assault on
Tenochtitlan
• Built brigantines in Tlaxcala, transported them
disassembled into Lake Texcoco
First Major Epidemic
Fall 1520-1521.
Smallpox epidemic
decimated the
Aztec.
November 1520.
Cuitlahuac died
Cuauhtemoc took
Aztec leadership
Smallpox decimates Tenochtitlan’s
inhabitants
Florentine Codex
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Spanish Alliance with Tlaxcala,
Huexotzinco, Itzocan, and Texcoco
• The Spanish by then had made alliances with the
Tlaxcalan confederacy and with the kingdoms of
Huexotzinco and Itzocan
• Texcoco’s leadership interpreted resistance to the
Spanish as a lost cause. Joined the Spanish
• The Spanish and their c. 100,000 indigenous auxiliary
troops moved into Texcoco
• Dredge wider canals
• Summer 1521. It is the Tlaxcalan, Huexotzinca, Itzocan,
Texcocan, and Spanish invading the city of Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan Alone
• The Tenochca sent emissaries seeking
alliances with other indigenous kingdoms,
including the Tarascan. Nobody came to the
rescue.
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Destruction of the Nezahualcoyotl Dam
The Aztec built a dam in the
middle of Lake Texcoco,
which help de-salinified
the water on the eastern
part of the western part
of the lake, making it
drinkable. The Spanish
destroyed the dam and
thus effectively poisoned
the water and speeding
the collapse of
Tenochtitlan.
The Decisive Battle
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Early summer, 1521.
Cuauhtemoc, tlatoani of Tenochtitlan
Most military officers dead
City under siege. Famine. Pestilence
The Spanish destroy Nezahuacoyotl’s Dam. Brackish water. Only
grass to eat
The Aztec lose the naval battle
House-to-house fighting
August 13, 1521. Tenochtitlan crumbles. Tlatoani Cuauhtemoc
surrenders. Kept prisoner until 1525.
The Spanish then systematically killed Aztec nobles, priests, and
scholars
Clark J. Townsend, The Engagement between ye Spanish Brigantines and
the Canoes of the Mexicans [1521]. 1724.
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The Lake Texcoco naval battle
Jorge Gonzalez Camarena, The Embrace
Mexico. 20th Century
The Fall of Tenochtitlan
Broken spears lie in the roads;
We have torn our hair in our grief
The houses are roofless now, and
their walls
Are red with blood.
Worms are swarming in the streets and
plazas,
And the walks are spattered with
gore
The water has turned red, as if it
were dyed
And when we drink it,
It has the taste of brine
We have pounded our hands in despair
Against the adobe walls,
For our inheritance, our city, is lost
and dead
The shields of our warriors were its
defense.
But they could not save it.
We have chewed dry twigs and salt
grasses:
We have filled our mouths with dust
and bits of adobe.
We have eaten lizards, rats and
worms
When we had meat, we ate it almost
raw.
- Cantares Mexicanos, c. 1523.
The National Library of Mexico
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Murder of Cuauhtemoc
• Cortez took Cuauhtemoc prisoner during the
naval battle of Lake Texcoco.
• Consistently tortured him. Demanded more
gold.
• Finally murdered him in 1525.
David Alfaro Siqueiros, The Torment of Cuauhtemoc.
Twentieth Century. Mexico
Fernando Castro Pacheco, Hernán Cortez tortures Cuauhtémoc.
Modern Illustration
http://zoomzap.com/scripts/zcards/choose-eng.php?cat=5
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Monument to Cuauhtémoc
Tijuana, Mexico. 20th Century
Yucatan and the West
• The Purhepecha divided. One camp
joined the Spanish and another one
fought them.
• Conquest of Yucatan and the
Mexican west continued for two
more decades
Gonzalo Guerrero
• Gonzalo Guerrero enslaved. Married a princess, had three
Maya children
• Became the Maya king of Ichpaatun, north of Chetumal
• Refused to join Cortez
• Taught European military tactics to the Maya
• Lead Maya resistance against the Spanish in the Chetumal
region
• Died fighting the Spanish in the 1530s
• The Spanish destroyed most of the documents related to
Guerrero’s story
• Some Yucatecan documents and oral stories survived
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A Spiritual Conquest?
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Missionaries
Children of the indigenous nobility
Idols behind altars
Religious syncretism
Popular Catholicism
The Other Conquest
(La Otra Conquista) 1998.
• Director: Salvador Carrasco
• Script: Salvador Carrasco
• Main Characters:
-Topiltzin
-Tecuichpo (Doña Isabel Moctezuma)
- Don Hernando Cortez
Genocide?
• 1519. Mesoamerica’s population estimated at
25 million
• 1619. Reduced to c. 1 million
• Forced labor, starvation, disease, execution,
warfare
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Diego Rivera, The Spanish in Mexico.
20th Century
Conquest of the Tarascan
• 1520. A slave infected with smallpox had
come ashore with the army of Pánfilo de
Narvaez triggered an epidemic that was quite
widespread amongst the Tarascan, killing also
the Tarascan cazonci Zuangua (Tzuiangua) .
• February 23, 1521. The first Spanish soldier
appeared on the borders of Michoacán.
• Measles epidemic brought by the Spanish.
Conquest of the Tarascan
(continued)
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1525. The newly-invested cazonci Tangaxoan II submitted to the Spanish
without a fight, accepted baptism taking the Spanish name Francisco, and
brought Franciscan missionaries into the region.
Other Tarascan lords fought, and were defeated, by the Spanish and their
indigenous allies.
1529. Nuño de Guzmán accused Tangaxoan II of apostasy, dragged him
with a horse through the streets of Patzcuaro, and burned him at the
stake.
Tarascan rebellion.
According to legend, Erendira, daughter of Tangaxoan, led the Tarascan
against the Spanish.
Tangáxoan’s son, Don Antonio Huitzimengari, succeeded him as cacique of
Pátzcuaro.
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Erendira Ikikunari (2007)
• Director: Juan Mora Catlett
• Script: Juan Mora Catlett
• Main Characters:
-
Erendira
Nanuma
Uncle Timas
Cuynierangari
Tangaxoan II
Tishue
Tata Curicaueri
Nana Xaratanga
African Mexicans
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Mexico’s indigenous population decreased from c. 25 million in 1521 to c.
1 million in 1600.
Some Christian clerics defended the indigenous from slavery and
advocated African slavery
Mexico’s Revolutionary government in the 20 th century promoted a
Mestizo identity: that Mexicans descend from Spanish and indigenous
Actually, at least 80% of Mexico’s population is primarily indigenous.
Number is higher in Guatemala
c. 200,000 Spanish migrated to Mexico between 1521 and 1821, mostly
males
c. 200,000 African slaves brought into Mexico, mostly males
Mexicans are primarily indigenous and are as much Euro-Mestizo as they
are Afro-Mestizo
The Mestizo and Indigenous
Population
• Most Spanish conquistadors were men. Few Spanish
women migrated to Mexico
• Most African slaves were men
• Both Spanish and African men took Indian women
• Until today, Mexico’s population remains at least 80%
indigenous in origin
• Millions of speakers of indigenous languages. Major
families of languages: Uto-Aztecan and Maya
• Post-indigenous. People of indigenous origin who no
longer speak indigenous languages
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Conclusion
• Today, there are millions of speakers of indigenous languages
in Mexico and central America. Racism in Latin America is
reflected in everyday life and areas such as government,
higher education, sports, and entertainment. Yet, indigenous
people also consistently assert their right to a life with dignity.
Upon Spanish conquest, the demographic makeup of Latin
America changed dramatically, with a small but dominant
population of European descent and a much larger population
of color, especially of indigenous and African origin.
Sources
• William Beezley, ed. The Oxford History of Mexico.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Michael Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the
Olmec to the Aztec. London: Thames and Hudson,
2009.
• Ross Hassigg. Mexico and the Spanish Conquest. New
York: Pearson Longman, 2003.
• Rodolfo Acuña, Occupied America: A History of
Chicanos, Seventh Edition. New York: Pearson
Longman, 2011.
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