Conquest Of Mexico Research Articles

Population expansion, larger, and more homogeneous native American ancestry among Mexican mestizo populations based on 10 X-chromosome STR loci (X-STR decaplex system).

To evaluate the genetic diversity, admixture, genetic relationships, and sex-biased demographic processes in Mexican Mestizo (admixed) populations based on 10 X-chromosome STRs (X-STRs). We analyzed the X-STRs Decaplex system in 104 Mexican Native Americans to obtain the ancestral reference needed to complete the demographic analyses above mentioned. We included reported Iberian and Latin American (admixed) populations from Central and South America, as well as datasets from Mexican Mestizos based on Y-linked STRs (Y-STRs), autosomal STRs (A-STRs), and mtDNA. Higher X-linked Native American ancestry was observed among Latin American populations regarding that reported from A-STRs and Y-STRs. The interpopulation differentiation based on ancestry among Mexican Mestizos diminished according to the inheritance pattern: Y-STRs (highest), A-STRs, X-STRs, and mtDNA (lowest). This finding is related to the peculiar admixture process that occurred during and after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico (and most of Latin America), involving a large number of Spanish men (Y-chromosomes) with a lesser proportion of X-chromosomes than autosomes; besides to the limited number of Spanish women (XX) arrived in the Americas in subsequent and shorter periods. Population expansion was detected in Mexican Mestizos from all the country, except those from the southeast region characterized by elevated indigenous ancestry, marginalization, and poorness. Population growth was detected in most Mexican Mestizos, besides more homogeneous and larger Native American ancestry based on X-linked inheritance than that based on autosomal STRs and Y-STRs.

Reinscribing Malinche in Contemporary Visual Art

Malinche was an indigenous slave woman who helped Cortés communicate with and understand native chiefs during the conquest of Mexico. This paper analyzes the way the Denver Art Museum represented cultural metaphors of Malinche in visual culture in its 2022 show titled “Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche.” The exhibition distinguishes five key metaphors in the reception of Malinche from the sixteenth century through today. The paper highlights the theme of Malinche as the mother of the nation and its diverse appearances in visual culture among the images displayed. The paper surveys the ways in which images of motherhood interact in museum space.

The Conquest of Mexico: 500 Years of Reinventions by Peter B. Villella and Pablo García Loaeza

<i>The Conquest of Mexico: 500 Years of Reinventions</i> by Peter B. Villella and Pablo García Loaeza

Malintzin’s Origins: Slave? Or Cultural Confusion?

Abstract One of the most famous figures in the conquest of Mexico, Malintzin, also known as La Malinche and Doña Marina, has been described in ethnohistorical accounts as an interpreter who came from slavery. But what if this assertion of Malintzin’s origins was a result of cultural confusion, or simply untrue? This article closely examines ethnohistorical sources and their description of Malintzin’s origins. Could cultural bias or cultural misunderstanding be present within them? How might these biases affect our reading of Malintzin’s supposed slave status? The article explores the role of exchange, political marriage, gift giving, and polygyny in Maya and Aztec culture to add further context to Malintzin’s transfer from Indigenous to Conquistador society. It theorizes that Malintzin was never intended to be given to the Spanish invaders as a slave but rather as a bride.

Brienen, Rebecca P. and Jackson, Margaret (eds.) (2008) Invasion and Transformation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico, University Press of Colorado (Louisville), xii + 231 pp.

Bulletin of Latin American ResearchVolume 41, Issue 5 p. 838-839 Book Review Brienen, Rebecca P. and Jackson, Margaret (eds.) (2008) Invasion and Transformation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico, University Press of Colorado (Louisville), xii + 231 pp. John F. Schwaller, John F. Schwaller University at AlbanySearch for more papers by this author John F. Schwaller, John F. Schwaller University at AlbanySearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 December 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.13425Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume41, Issue5November 2022Pages 838-839 RelatedInformation

1028. SALVIA HISPANICA: Lamiaceae

SummaryThe history and application of the name chia and its scientific equivalent, Salvia hispanica, are outlined. The relationship of S. hispanica with other species known as chia is discussed including those within the genus Salvia and those without. Its native distribution and habitat are described. Chia was an important crop in Aztec society and the seeds had a wide range of uses beyond their use as a food grain. Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, cultivation and use both declined but in recent years there has been a striking reawakening of interest in chia as a superfood with many benefits for the consumer. Contemporary as well as traditional uses are described with notes on its culinary uses and its health benefits. Propagation is by seed and its cultivation is discussed and attention drawn to new varieties more suitable for temperate climates.

Wound healing activity of the hydroalcoholic extract and the main metabolites of Amphipterygium adstringens (cuachalalate) in a rat excision model

Ethnopharmacological relevanceThe bark of Amphipterygium adstringens Schiede ex Schltdl (Anacardiaceae), commonly known as ‘cuachalalate’ has been used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of skin and oral lesions, gastric ulcers, and other conditions. The use as wound healing of the bark of this plant has been known since before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Its uses are mentioned in the first writings of the Spanish in the 16th century. It is important to highlight that its use for wound healing treatment has no scientific previous reports. Aim of the studyThe objectives of this study were to determine the wound healing effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of the stem bark of Amphipterygium adstringens and its main metabolites, using a model of excision in the back of Wistar rats. To evaluate its antimicrobial effect against common bacteria that living on the skin of wounds and to evaluate its effect on angiogenesis. Materials and methodsThe hydroalcoholic extract of cuachalalate (HAE, 10 mg/wound/day), the 3α-hydroxymasticadienoic acid (3 MA, 300 μg/wound/day), the masticadienoic acid (MA, 300 μg/wound/day), and a mixture of anacardic acids (ANA, 300 μg per wound) were tested in a murine excision model topically for 15 days, to evaluate their wound-healing effect. The results were reported in a wound closure percentage (n = 30 animals per treatment curve), using pirfenidone (PIR, 8% in vehicle) as a reference drug. In addition, histologic analysis was performed to evaluate the structure and quality of the scar. The effect on angiogenesis was assessed using the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model (n = 6 eggs per treatment). The concentration evaluated for each treatment was 300 μg, using as proangiogenic reference drug the histamine (HIS, 5.6 μg) and as antiangiogenic drugs pirfenidone (9 μg) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, 9 μg). The antimicrobial test was performed against S. mutans, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa y E. coli using a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay. ResultsThe 3α-hydroxymasticadienoic (3 MA) acid and the anacardic acids (ANA) improve the wound closure by approximates 30% (similar to pirfenidone) in comparison with the control-treated with the vehicle in the proliferative phase. On the other hand, the hydroalcoholic extract of cuachalalate (HAE) did not show an effect on the wound healing process. The histologic analysis demonstrated that the three main metabolites showed an improvement in the scar structure. According to the CAM results, it is probable that the main action mechanism of the 3α-hydroxymasticadienoic acid and the anacardic acids is related to their proangiogenic effect. In addition, ANA showed a modest antimicrobial effect. ConclusionsThe 3α-hydroxymasticadienoic acid and anacardic acids showed a better tissue structure and reduced the time closure of the wound. In addition, the anacardic acids showed antimicrobial effects and both metabolites promote angiogenesis, suggesting that these effects may be related to their action mechanism. These metabolites of cuachalalate could be a good alternative for wound healing treatment.

1. CHASING INDIA IN MEXICO CITY

ABSTRACTA paradox informs the writing of Mexican and Indian history. In Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico (2006), Camilla Townsend writes that Mexico was conquered and could never be conquered because indigenous ways of being in the world survived, adapted, and continued. Similarly, in A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia (2016), Manan Ahmed Asif writes that Sindh was conquered by British armies but cities such as Uch, in which shrines and trees remain imbued with the sacred, point to that which is impossible to conquer. If change itself has unchanging essence embedded within it (we must know what Sindh or Mexico are in order to recognize that they have changed), then what would it mean for postcolonized historians to think more deeply about what historical narrative cannot conquer, tame, or control? How might we think about ways of doing history that we have internalized despite these being products of European conquest themselves? To reflect on these questions, I draw on my forays into Mexican history as a Mughal historian and discuss how examining premodern and modern encounters between the Muslim world and the Americas might open windows into unexplored ways of inhabiting the past and present.

Pandemic Spikes and Broken Spears: Indigenous Resilience after the Conquest of Mexico

It is well-established that the Conquest of the Americas by Europeans led to catastrophic declines in indigenous populations. However, less is known about the conditions under which indigenous communities were able to overcome the onslaught of disease and violence that they faced. Drawing upon a rich set of sources, including Aztec tribute rolls and early Conquest censuses, we develop a new disaggregated dataset on the pre-Conquest economic, epidemiological and political conditions both in 11,888 potential settlement locations in the historic core of Mexico and speci fically in 1093 actual settlements recorded in an early Conquest-era census, the Suma de Visitas (1548). Of these 1093 settlements, we show that 37% had disappeared entirely by 1790. Yet, despite being subject to Conquest-era violence, subsequent coercion and multiple pandemics that led average populations in those settlements to fall from 2377 to 128 by 1646, 13% would still end the colonial era larger than they started. We show that both indigenous settlement survival durations and population levels through the colonial period are robustly predicted, not just by Spanish settler choices or by their diseases, but also by the extent to which indigenous communities could themselves leverage nonreplicable and non-expropriable resources and skills from the pre-Columbian period that would prove complementary to global trade. Thus indigenous opportunities and agency played important roles in shaping their own resilience.

MALINTZIN AS A CONQUISTADORA AND WARRIOR WOMAN IN THE LIENZO DE TLAXCALA (c. 1552)

AbstractThis article foregrounds a new interpretation of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, an indigenous-authored source depicting the Tlaxcalteca's role in the conquest of Mexico, from 1519 to 1521. It analyses this document's unique visual portrayal of Malintzin, an indigenous woman who acted as Hernando Cortés's translator during the conquest, amid the battle for the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Challenging the traditional perception of Malintzin as a peaceful mediator, the Lienzo demonstrates that its Tlaxcalan authors saw her as a powerful warrior or conquistadora, who was intricately connected with violent acts of conquest. By contextualizing depictions of Malintzin as a warrior within the wider entanglement of female figures with violence and warfare, this article underscores indigenous perceptions of the conquest and contributes to the wider, critical deconstruction of triumphalist, Eurocentric narratives. With a particular focus on indigenous associations of Malintzin with the Virgin Mary, this article explores the significance ascribed to these two figures by the Lienzo's authors and their city.

Historian with a Double Major: The Church and Feminism

Historian with a Double Major:The Church and Feminism Asunción Lavrin (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photograph by Andrew Lavrin [End Page 460] I became a historian of the Church by serendipity. But then, I have learned that many of my colleagues who also cultivate this field have confessed that they had a similar experience. It is a good club to belong to. As for the feminism side of my career, it was a well-thought choice, but it came much after I began navigating the waters of church history. The serendipity part came as a recently married twenty-three-year-old graduate student walked into the office of a historian at the University of California in Berkeley. He was Robert C. Padden, who had published a justifiably popular and well-researched book on the conquest of Mexico, the Hummingbird and the Hawk. He was not a historian of religion or the Church. Yet, he was sympathetic and friendly to this rather disoriented young woman who was seeking a good topic for research for her doctorate degree. He pointed to a title on women in convents in Mexico, the first in the field, by historian Josefina Muriel, and suggested that there was more to do on both women and convents, should that topic be of my interest. For some reason still unclear to me, I was. And that is how it all began. A bit of background history is necessary at this point. I arrived in the U.S. from my native Cuba with a solid college education that covered three years of Latin and three years of Greek—most of which are now gone—history of art, history of world literatures, philosophy and, yes, western history. I loved them all, but inside me I knew I preferred history. Exactly what period or what area? I was unsure, but there was plenty of time ahead. I won a scholarship to study at a place named Radcliffe College, about which I knew nothing, but was glad to travel to, and begin my next adventure [End Page 461] in life. I arrived with hardly any experience of spoken English, although I could read it very well. After three weeks in a foreign students' summer initiation camp—what a joy to meet other young people from so many different countries—I had all the preparation I was going to get to tackle that place, Radcliffe, and its relative, Harvard University. Needless to say, everything was foreign and marvelous, but it was hard work: writing in English, remembering a bibliography in that language, getting to know how professors taught and what they expected from students, navigating a new school environment with rules that pointed to getting a degree, exploring libraries, making friends. It was puzzling, but I was young and my professors were kind. Much later, I learned how "big" those professors were and appreciated the degree of their understanding of foreign students. Among such puzzling experiences, I met a young man from England who was attending business school at Harvard. Two years later he proposed and I accepted. It was that simple. By then he had transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, abandoned business school, and entered a program in Biochemistry and Immunology. He would get his doctorate in that field while I worked on my own. And that is how I found myself in Berkeley, California, looking for a topic for a dissertation. Harvard was easier then than now: two years of graduate courses, an oral examination in three fields, and if one passed, one was a doctoral candidate. So, I became one. I had some excellent professors while at Harvard, but I cannot say that they were "mentors." They were kind, but our time together was short and passed fast, and none of them was available for a degree in Latin American history, one of the weak points in the program. My dissertation was read by a professor in the Spanish Department. I graduated in 1963, the first class of women historians in the history of Harvard University. Despite all obvious handicaps, I had become a full-fledged historian—or so I thought, at any...

When Montezuma Met Cortes: The True History of the Meetings that Changed History

November 8 of 1519, Moctezuma II, Mexica Tlatoani, the “one who speaks,” leader and emperor, and Hernan Cortes, head of the invading Spanish military force, met on what currently is downtown Mexico City. A memorial plaque marks the site of the meeting alongside a colonial church and the remnants of a hospital. There is a tile picture with a representation of the event. The Spanish conquest of Mexico and the fall of Tenochtitlan is one of the most studied and controversial episodes in the history of Mexico and the Americas. It is a story never settled. Matthew Restall's book is a reexamination of the encounter of leaders of different worlds. It is a story retold many times over. Based on an exhaustive review of the existing evidence, Restall corrects prevailing interpretations, demystifies romanticized narratives, and provides a nuanced reading of the sources. The book appeared just before the five-hundred years commemoration of the event. When Montezuma met Cortes is divided into two parts and eight chapters. The text contains illustrations from codexes, paintings, photos and portraits, cartoons, and pictures from engravings. In all, they exemplify the description and analysis by the author. Restall includes in his commentary, the study of Vivaldi's operatic masterpiece, Montezuma, first performed in Venice in 1733. There is an explanatory appendix clarifying term use and short biographies of the main actors of the Spanish-Aztec War. Copious notes annotate the text.

An Exploration of the Chingada Complex: The Legacy of Conquest

The Chingada Complex is the result of the conquest of the Americas. La Chingada is a Mexican expression that reveals a defining cultural complex for people of the Americas, which is expressed through language and image. Beginning in 1492, La Chingada was the name given to describe the conquest of Mexico. It is the story of the birth of a people, the mestizo, a mixed race—a blending of European conquistadores and the indigenous people of the Americas. Not only did La Chingada occur in Mexico—a second “Chingada” occurred in the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War of 1846, which created a new collective trauma that continues to the present day. Who are these people, these mestizos, that live within the borders of the United States? The Xicanx are the Hijos de la Chingada, they are the children of the conquest and internal colonialism. The trauma of this conquest is seen in unique cultural expressions rooted in Mexican heritage but uniquely expressed by today’s Xicanx. This paper will begin to examine the children of the conquest living in the United States. We will examine the archetypal phenomena of Pachuquismo and the oppression of the indigenous feminine through past and current events. As we shall see, the Chingada Complex impacts us all. By examining this North American complex, we can bring to consciousness the shadow of both the European conquest and the American Dream so that a process of reconciliation may begin. I am reminded of Jung’s wisdom when he wrote, “When there is a light in the darkness, which comprehends the darkness, darkness no longer prevails.” (Jung, 1970/1956, para. 345)

The conquest of Guatemala: a Nahua and Kaqchikel conquest

Traditionally history has been narrated through a Eurocentric lens and has omitted indigenous perspectives about the Mexican conquests. When learning about the conquest, Iberians have been the main focus of the discussion. However, recent scholars have refocused their attention on indigenous sources that profoundly reshape the historical narrative. As Guatemalan myself, it was not until reading the book Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquests by Matthew Restall that I learned the contributions of indigenous people not only in the conquest of the Mexica Empire but also in the conquest of Guatemala. Acknowledges the contributions of indigenous groups in the conquest of Guatemala, a new approach started by anthropologist Florine G.L. Asselbergs in her book Conquered Conquistadors. This paper seeks to emphasize the agency of indigenous groups in the conquests of Mexico and Guatemala, as the story of their alliance is often ignored and their accomplishments forgotten, as the Iberians’ self-proclaimed superiority has marginalized native contributions.&#x0D; &#x0D;

Privilege Campaigning in Tlaxcala

This research examines the alliance formed between the Spanish and the Tlaxcalans during the Conquest of Mexico with particular emphasis on the granting of privileges after petitions to the Spanish Crown. Using arguments made by Matthew Restall’s Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest as a starting point, primary sources such as the Florentine Codex and The Tlaxcalan Actas are used to cite examples of Tlaxcalan motivations, such as land grants and tribute relief, in forming an alliance with Cortes and his men. The Tlaxcalans, who felt that their contribution to the Conquest was not rewarded, made multiple campaigns in order to persuade the Crown to grant economic rewards. The Lienzo de Tlaxcala, a primary pictorial source made one generation post-Conquest, is one petition that is analyzed in this research. Emphasis when analyzing the Lienzo will be placed on the elements of visual persuasion that would appeal to a Spanish audience, such as the acceptance of Catholicism and military aide. The significance of the Lienzo campaign is that it demonstrates indigenous agency in a system that ultimately favored Spaniards.

Early Sixteenth-century Shipbuilding in Mexico: Dimensions and tonnages of the vessels designed for Pacific Ocean navigation

Shortly after the conquest of Mexico, Cortes ordered the construction of a shipyard in Tehuantepec (Oaxaca), on the Pacific coast, known as El Carbón. This article examines a document dated to 1535 which provides the principal dimensions, tonnages, and construction characteristics of three navíos (ships) designed and built in this shipyard for Pacific Ocean navigation. The ships’ dimensions are given in Portuguese goas and palmos instead of Spanish codos, and the tonnages indicated in Spanish botas and pipas from Seville. The term navío appears to designate a specific ship type rather than being a generic word to refer ships.

Театр в поисках мифа: Антонен Арто и Мигель Анхель Астуриас

Two tendencies define one of the “master -currents” (Ch. Innes) in the XXth century drama, epitomized by Antonin Artaud’s “theatre of cruelty”: revival of ritual practices and search for a “new myth”. Artaud perceives the Myth both as the end and the means: by creating a new myth, theatre reveals and heals illnesses of modernity; by reviving the ancient, theatre conducts the primitive, metaphysical “forces” of the “great cultures”. Particularly attracted to the Mesoamerican world, Artaud intended to stage “The Conquest of Mexico” (1933), a drama in four acts, to inaugurate his new theatre. Considering this, a special relevance should be given to the fact that M.A. Asturias’s article –manifesto “Reflections on the Possibility of an American Theatre in Indian spirit” was published in November 1930, anticipating Artaud’s conception of theatre based on myth. The ideas stated in the manifesto will be put into practice in “Cuculcán” play, the last piece of the “Legends of Guatemala”, second edition (1948). Settled in Paris since 1924, Asturias received the same aesthetic impulses as Artaud did: surrealism, avant -garde cinematography, “Ballets russes”, primitivism in all its forms. However, their preferences were not thoroughly the same. A parallel reading of the manifesto and the chronicles reveals how Asturias’s ideas on theatre correspond to the cultural context. It can be affirmed that many of Asturias’s and Artaud’s principles are isomorphic: accentuation of colour and disproportion in decorations, abolition of stage, use of masks, formalized movements, rejection of rhetoric and declamation, revelation of word’s religious force. Yet the ways Asturias and Artaud work with myth differ: it is in a playful, not tragic and ritualistic mode that myths are being actualized in Asturias’s theatre, and not only by means of “mise en scène”. Asturias considers the Myth as an inherited language, that is why the action in “Cuculcán” is determined by speech and what he calls “the Word’s value”, in accordance with indigenous philosophy.

From the Epistolae et Evangelia (c. 1540) to the Espejo divino (1607)

In 1536, fifteen years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the Imperial College of Santa Cruz was founded in Santiago Tlatelolco, an Indian enclave to the north of Mexico City. The students at the college, who were drawn from native elites, received an advanced education in Latin from Franciscan missionaries. The present discussion will explain why such a training was provided to those indigenous youths, and clarify the nature of their accomplishments (1). A discussion of the translations of biblical texts into Nahuatl made at the College of Santa Cruz (2) will be followed by a survey of original religious texts produced there in the Mexican language, many of which had identifiable Latin precedents (3). The concluding section then offers some tentative general reflections on the part played by Latin Christian humanism in shaping early Nahuatl literature, arguing that it bears some comparison to the way Latin had already underscored the development of vernacular literature in early modern Europe (4).

A Translation of Pedro de Alvarado’s 1526 Contract with the Spanish Crown: Pacific Exploration and Territoriality

Following the return to Spain of the remnant from the Magellan-Elcano voyage around the world (1519–22), various other Spanish voyages attempted to find the elusive return route eastward across the Pacific. Among those who proposed to search for that route was Pedro de Alvarado, a veteran of the conquests of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. In 1526, Alvarado visited the court of the young king of Spain, Charles I, then residing in Granada, and obtained a contract with the crown to build a fleet of ships in Guatemala to explore both westward into the Pacific, and northward along the coast of North America. The full text of the contract included benefits to Alvarado for the preparation of the voyage and rewards that he would receive if he was successful, but it left no doubt that the crown and its delegated overseers would remain in control of the enterprise. Nearly half of the text dealt with the proper treatment of peoples whom Alvarado’s expedition might encounter, in an attempt to atone for the abuses committed by earlier expeditions. The contract with Alvarado was an early articulation of the principle of territoriality, by which states claimed and defended rights of ownership and jurisdiction over lands, peoples, and resources, whether or not they had already been discovered.

Presidential Address: A Rainbow of Spanish Illusions: Research Frontiers in Colonial Guatemala

Abstract Compared still to what we know about Mexico and Peru, the historiography of colonial Guatemala, despite notable advances, continues to lag behind, registering minimally in the Latin American scholarly imagination. The field is surveyed by examining some of the issues that have intrigued the author over the course of his career. Personal reflections are offered of research activities that engage indigenous resistance to Spanish intrusion, demographic collapse in the wake of conquest, the link between disease outbreaks and Maya demise, and the role played by Pedro de Alvarado (1485–1541) in attaining imperial objectives. Scrutiny of the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, a sixteenth-century source the contents of which have been incisively reappraised, affords fuller appreciation of strategic Indian involvement in the act of subjugation. Alvarado, a key protagonist in the conquest of Mexico, also harbored ambitions to muscle in on the conquest of Peru, a little-known episode that awaits further investigation. The conqueror’s own life, like Central America itself, may indeed have been a rainbow of Spanish illusions, pots of gold dreamed of, lost and found at native expense.