The Spanish Conquest, 1500s
Conquest introduced the Caste system, the building of races, colorism, Mestizaje, etc. When we think of conquest, we think of the Mestizo nation. It is a romanticized version of Spanish conquest. The idea that two groups of people come together and make a perfect blend of indigenous and Spanish blood to make a Mestizo.
Conquest depends on violence, it is warfare. “Romanticization” implies a happy union, which it was not. If you mix these two people, you will have a whitened version of the indigenous population.
Is conquest ever complete? People who are descendants of conquest have thought about this exchange in the 1500s and they have formed their own opinions about conquest and what it has done.
“My Blood Is Red” Song from the Aztlan Underground (Xicana Records and Film, 1994) How am I illegal; chronological retelling of the events of conquest; blood is red as a way to humanize the indigenous person, that the mother was raped and impregnated by the father, even if the conquistadors think they are superior, they have the same red blood as we do. “I cannot escape this confusion”
“Conquest: Is the acquisition of a territory and its inhabitants through war. It is an institution that requires enforcing labor/economic systems; usurping of local politics and governments; and imposing power through religion, culture, education, and history.” Stripping the indigenous from their religions, language, culture, and history makes it easier to conquer a land. The Spanish had a mission to conquer and they did so by military might and spiritual conquest. It was important for the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italian, they wanted to bring Christianity to the indigenous. Spiritual conquest. To gain riches for the King of Spain to make Spain a first world power, to make conquest profitable.
When it comes to the conquest of Mexico, it is done through three major processes: military might, weapons never before seen or used in the Americas, steel and iron, the cannon; European animals (horses, dogs); diseases, influenza, smallpox, and some venereal diseases.
How does conquest happen and why does it happen? The myth of Quetzalcoatl. A god of the Aztecs, the Aztecs are very devout religious groups. For the Aztecs, religion is very important and they believe in Quetzalcoatl. He was a fun, friendly, and loving god. He departed on a raft made of snakes into the Eastern horizon. Promising his people that he would return to rule again. On the Aztec calendar year Ce-Actl. This is a very exact date that Quetzalcoatl would return to his people. It is believed that 500~ years after he left, he would return. On this year, Ce-Actl, the indigenous people noticed something on the Eastern horizon which they couldn’t make out, it looked like floating houses. They relayed this information to their king Moctezuma. They had never before seen steel or these floating houses, so they believed that Quetzalcoatl had returned.
On November 8, 1519, Hernan Cortez arrises on the Yucatan peninsula with roughly 400 men. Moctezuma and his people believed that this must be Quetzalcoatl. Hernan Cortez was born in Medellin as an only child, very sickly. His parents coddled him and wanted the best educational opportunities for him. The send him to live with his aunt in Salamanca to go to school and learn Latin. Latin was the language to know back then. They are paying for his private schooling and hope for him to become a lawyer. He’s really antsy, he doesn’t invest much time into studying and goes home at 17 to tell his parents he does not want to be a lawyer and instead he wants to travel the world and go on an expedition. He goes to the West Indies and is there for 12 years. He then hears about Cuba and wants to go there instead. He goes to Cuba and he finds his wife Catalina who cannot have children.
He then meets the governor of Cuba, Diego Velazquez. Hernan Cortez pitches his idea to lead his own expedition to Diego Velazquez to conquer what is now known as Mexico. Diego tells him, if he can get 3 ships and 400 men he will grant Hernan his own expedition. He does not believe that Hernan can find these things. 3 ships because of it’s importance in Catholicism, the Holy Trinity. He also needs a priest to go on board these missions. Religion gives it justification, and they hoped the sailors would behave around a Catholic priest. They want to go to Mexico because they believe that Mexico has gold after someone had brought a small piece of gold back from their own expedition.
The indigenous did not value gold the same way the Spaniards did. They saw no value in gold at all.
Hernan had 400 soldiers, 19 horses, 14 cannons and various dogs. They are given strict orders not to rape indigenous women, no gambling, they are supposed to conquer in the name of God and the King of Spain.
Moctezuma greets Hernan Cortez and welcomes him, thinking he is Quetzalcoatl. Immediately, Moctezuma has his people welcome and provide gifts to Cortez and his men. Among those gifts was gold. Hernan Cortez asks to meet the almighty Moctezuma, and asks to arrange a meeting. Moctezuma is in Tenochtitlan, and no one can request a meeting with him, he requests a meeting with you. So he asks to be taken to Tenochtitlan to meet with Moctezuma.
From November 8, 1519, it will take the conquistadores 2 years to reach Tenochtitlan. Along the way, they will group up with some allies who are enemies of the Aztecs. They form an allegiance headed to Tenochtitlan to meet with Moctezuma and conquer the people in Tenochtitlan. There is war all along the way to Tenochtitlan. Aztecs defending themselves against the conquistadors, and the conquistadors firing at the homes and families, determined to reach the mineral wealth, gold.
The Aztec Empire is over 1 million in population, and Tenochtitlan was an urban area, very populous, had apartment complexes, mercados, the city could rival any European city at the time. They were very clean people and they did not have disease the way that Europeans did. Cortez and his men were blown away by how sophisticated the people in Tenochtitlan were. Cortez takes Moctezuma captive and orders him to fill the castle with gold. They do this for Cortez, and Moctezuma supposedly is stoned to death by his people, this may or may not be true.
Those who are being subjugated by the victors don’t just take it peacefully. That has never happened and will never happen. The history of Chicanx people is a history of resistance. We know that the thread of resistance has always been present and that there are circumstances that allow for the process of conquest to begin. Conquest is never complete because of resistance.
Did Moctezuma really die at the hands of his own people? And why is this the version we are being provided with? The fact is that he was killed in captivity at some point, and the Spaniards wanted to paint a picture that the Aztecs were a violent people, because it served them better than the Spaniards having killed him.
La Malinche:
How do we know about La Malinche? She has many names but is most known by this. It is thought that her indigenous name was Malintzin. When she was baptized by the missionaries, she was given the Christian name, La Doña Marina. We know her as a critical figure in Spanish conquest. We know that she was at the side of Hernan Cortez when he arrived to Tenochtitlan. She is an indigenous woman, who is very young. She is also beautiful. Very intelligent.
For any expedition that is held on behalf of Spain, a Catholic priest must be present. Priest are literate from many years of schooling and they have to keep diaries. The name of the priest on the expedition was Bernal Díaz Del Castillo. The book he wrote about the Spanish conquest is “The True History of the Conquest of New Spain”. He speaks of Doña Marina in very flattering terms, paying special attention to her intelligence and to her poise, her role, and her beauty. Some believe that the priest had a crush on La Malinche, this is just a theory. The Aztecs themselves drew images of Doña Marina as a central figure in Spanish Conquest. You can see she is right next to Cortez at the time of conquest
Things change when Mexico becomes independent from Spain in 1810. Mexican historians write the first rewritten history of La Malinche where she is a villain of Mexico. She is viewed as a traitor, for facilitating Spanish conquest. Had it not been for her, Mexico would not have been conquered by the Spanish. Malinche in Mexico is synonymous with being a traitor, Malinchista.
An Aztec princess born to Nahuatl nobility. Those who are born into royalty in the Aztec empire speak a different dialect of Nahuatl that is only recognizable to other nobility. It is believed that her mother died at a young age and her father remarried, and her stepmother did not like her. Women could inherit property under Aztec rule, so it is believed that her stepmother arranged for her capture and enslavement to the Mayans, at which time she was roughly 12 years old.
She learns the Mayan language and is bilingual now that she has been living with them, and she is able to pick up the commoners Nahuatl. The Mayans give her and 19 other virgins as a gift to the Spaniards when she is 14, in hopes that the Spaniards do not conquer them.
She picks up Spanish very quickly while in captivity. Cortez is 34 years old at the time. Remember that there was an agreement when he was given his own expedition to not have sex or rape the women, but these girls become the Spanish sex slaves. When Cortez notices that she understands Spanish, he keeps her for himself.
After two years of being under Cortez’ rule, she becomes pregnant and has a young girl named Maria. Cortez is still married at this time to Catalina. Later, Doña Marina will have a second child at the hands of Cortez who she will name Martín. Cortez kidnaps the children since his wife in Spain could not have children, and it is believed that he takes them and raises them in Spain. This is thought to be where the legend of La Llorona comes from.
So, was La Malinche a traitor, or a survivor?
Tlaxcalans & Totonacs Welcome Spaniards and Become their Allies
It is believed that these two groups allied with the Spaniards and helped them to kill Moctezuma and take over the Aztec Empire.
The Spaniards had superior weapons and technologies, horses, amongst other things. And they had been believed to be their God, Queztalcoatl.
It is believed that ¼ of the Aztec population was killed by disease brought by the Europeans.
Fall of Tenochtitlan, 1521
Disease, warfare, military might, allying with other indigenous groups, that allow for the ultimate downfall of the Aztec empire.
Malinche should be seen as a survivor, as a victim of Cortez and his men, that she was traded many times, raped, has children that are later taken from her and never seen again, and eventually she will die after 10 years in captivity, at ~24.
As Chicana historians began to rewrite her history, they stated that she should be seen as a survivor of the traumas she faced, not as a traitor.