The Indigenous Background
History of Mexico
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“Indians”
Corn (Maize)
Maya
Tikal
Caciques
Zapotecs
Oaxaca
Monte Alban
Mixtecs
Teotihuacán
Toltecs
Quetzalcoatl
Itza
Chichen Itza
Tula
League of Mayapan
Aztecs
Chichimecas
Nahuatl
Tenochtitlan
Montezuma II
Huitzilopochtli
Yaqui
The Iberian Background
• Reconquest (Reconquista)
711-1492
• Santiago
• Inquisition
• “Black Legend”
• Christopher Columbus
• Treaty of Tordesillas
• Hispaniola (Santo Domingo)
1493
• Diego Velazquez
• Hernán (Hernando) Cortes
(Cortez)
• Aguilar
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Malinche (Dona Marina)
Quetzalcoatl Legend
Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz
Tenochtitlan
Tlaxcalans
Montezuma II
Panfilo de Narvaez
Pedro de Alvarado
Smallpox
“Noche Triste”
Cuauhtémoc
Encomienda
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Audiencia
Viceroy
Antonio de Mendoza
Cortes (Parliament)
“Devine Right of Kings”
“Obedezco pero no cumplo”
Casa de Contratacion 1503
Council of the Indies 1524
Adelantados
Cabildo
Regidores (councilors)
Alcaldes Ordinarios
(magistrates)
• Creoles
• Oidores (Judges)
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Peninsulares (“Gachupines”)
Residencia
Presidencias
Captaincies-General
Corregidores
Reparto de Mercancias
Mestizo
Encomienda
Repartimiento
Laws of Burgos 1512
New Laws 1542
Bartolome de las Casas
Aristotle and the American
Indians
Indian Contribution to Modern
Agriculture
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Potato*, sweet potato
Tomato
Pumpkin, squash
Peanut, Lima Bean
Kidney bean, chili pepper
Cacao
Agave
Sunflower seed
Pineapple
• Strawberry
• Avocado, Papaya
• Guava
• Cashew
• Vanilla bean
• Corn*
Dyes: Cochineal, Indigo
Rubber, Chicle
Drugs: Coca, quinine,
Curare, Tobacco
Animals: Turkey, Llama, etc.
Bartolomé de las Casas
• Breve Relación (Brief Relation): Tells of
Spanish actrocities against the Indians
• 1550-1551 debates whether Indians are
“gente de razón” with Dr. Juan Gines de
Sepulveda at the Spanish court.
1544-1555: Bishop of Chiapas Mexico
Colonial Mexico
• Religous orders:
Dominicans, Franciscans,
Mercedarians,
Augustinians, etc.
• Jesuits come later
• Syncretism
• Real Patrionato
• Ecclesiastical Fuero
• Freemasonry
• Bourbon Kings (18th
Century)
• Charles III (r. 1759-1788)
• Intendents
• “The Enlightenment”
• Rousseau
• Locke
• Montesquieu
• Newton
• Adam Smith, Wealth of
Nations
• Voltaire
Background to Revolution
• Comparative Revolutions
1. United States 1775-1783
• 2. French Revolution 1789
• 3. Haitian Revolution
(St. Dominique)1789-1804
• 4. Spanish American Revolutions 18081823
• Social or Political Revolutions?
Iberian Background to Mexican
Independence
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Francisco Miranda
Napoleon
Charles IV
Manuel Godoy
Ferdinand VII
Joseph Bonaparte (“Pepe
Botellas”)
• Guerilla War (from
“guerilla”-little war in
Spanish
• Juntas Para La Defensa
de Fernando VII
• Constitution of Cadiz
1812
• Duke of Wellington
• Riego Revolt 1820
• U.S. proclaims the
“Monroe Doctrine” in
1823 (written by
Secretary of State John
Quincy Adams) starts out
as a defensive doctrine
by 1880s an offensive
one- 1898 Spanish
American War- 20th
Century US interventions
Comparison of Colonial Brazil with Colonial Mexico
including difference in background to Independence:
• Brazil a backwater of
Portuguese Empire
• Lightly Populated
• Portugal exerts light
control over Brazil
• Black slavery important
• Portugese royal family
leads independence
• Slavery not ended until
almost the 20th Century
• Mexico crown jewel of
Spanish Empire (along
with Peru)
• Heavily populated
• Spanish control tight
• Indian labor important
• Mexican Creoles lead
independence
• Slavery quickly outlawed
after indpendence