chris rodriguez: mexico history & diversity part 2
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Part 2 (of 2) of Chris Rodriguez's 3/15/2013 Presentation on History & Diversity in Mexico for Primary Source. For educational use only.TRANSCRIPT
2. Spanish Conquest and Cultural mestizaje
1519Hernan Cortes, 6 African slaves, and hundreds of Spanish soldiers
Land in Mexico
What did they want?
Cortes and Malintzin/Dona Marina
made indigenous Mexicans a deal: diplomacy or dogs?
Meeting between (right) Cortés, (middle) Doña Marina, and (left) leading Tlaxcalans
Tens of thousands Tlaxcalan allies march with Spanish against mutual enemy - Aztecs
With Tlaxcalan allies, Spanish head to Tenochtitlan
arrive in Aztec controlled Cholula
September 1519, Cholula massacre, 10,000 killed.
What strikes you about these images of the Cholula massacre?
Aug 13, 1521: Spanish and Tlaxcalans conquer city, how?
Smallpox, typhus, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, mumps, yellow fever, whooping cough.
80% of 60 Million NativeAmericansdied aftercontact with Europeans
Conquistadores awarded Indian towns and people
Spaniards dependent on Indian labor and taxes
But what’s happening to Mexicans?
The Columbian Exchange
Aztec poem, Broken Spears, 1523
Broken spears lie in the roads;We have torn our hair in our griefThe houses are roofless now, and their wallsAre 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 dyedAnd when we drink it,It has the taste of brine
We have pounded our hands in despairAgainst the adobe walls,For our inheritance, our city, is lost and deadThe 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 wormsWhen we had meat, we ate it almost raw.
Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead)
Above, Oaxaca, Mexico
Left, Los Angeles alter
Native Mexicans dying turned to enslaved Africans
1500s Enslaved Africans outnumbered Spaniards in Mexico City
Spanish govern
Spanish prey
“Indians” work
Spain’s Colonial Ideal
Reality…
Cultural mestizaje
Indigenous Mexicans 1492: 30 Million 1600: 4 Million
Spaniards1500s:240,0001600s:450,000
Mestizo populationfastest growing
What strikes you about the
Spanish conquest?
And
Bernal Díaz, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain?
Aztec Templo Mayor ruins, Cathedral in background
Destruction and creativity of ConquestSpanish capital, Mexico City built atop and with ruins of Tenochtitlan
Spanish Conquest and Cultural mestizaje:
Virgin of Guadalupe
Right, Apparition tunic, 1530s
1500s
Spanish
arrived with
Sword and Cross
1532 Virgin Mary appeared to newly converted native,
Juan Diego
at Guadalupe.
Right, 1911 Guadalupe Posada woodcut to celebrating anniversary of her apparition.
Virgin of Guadalupeappeared in same
location
as Aztec goddess, Tonantzin
Church to Virgin of Guadalupe atop Temple of Tonantzin
Christian architecture, ceremony literally overlaid indigenous.
Soon, #1 pilgrimage site for Native Mexicans
Aztec pyramid with Church on top in Cholula
Mt. Popocatépetl with church atop Aztec pyramid
Basilica of Virgin of Guadalupe
#1 Pilgrimage site in Americas
Mexican Founding Father
Miguel Hidalgo
and Virgin of Guadalupe, 1810s
Pope John Paul II canonizes Juan Diego
Dec. 12, 2002
First indigenous Catholic saint
3. Mexican Revolution 1910-20 and “Racial Homage”
David Siqueiros, The Revolutionaries, 1950s
Yucatan’s Elite
Late 1800s
Certain Mexicans enjoyed great prosperity
…but at great cost
Before Revolution: National identityEuropean focused
Before Revolution
Governmentcommemorated dead Indians
Right, President Porfirio Diaz and the Aztec Calendar Stone
Revolutionaries Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata
in President’s chair, 1914
Out of 14 million, 1 million died, 1 million emigrated
Post-revolution: rebuilt and redefined nation
Government Embraced indigenous heritage“Racial Homage” celebration, 1932
Many Mexico’s celebrated... Luis Covarrubias, 1940s
…promoted tourism.
Left, “Visit Mexico,” Tourist Office, 1943
Above, Dressing Indian and selling
crafts
Left, Frida Kahlo, 1943
Below, Film: “La Zandunga,” 1937
1943 Tehuanas at festival celebrating indigenous population
Also made political demands!
Indigenous festival, “Guelaguetza,” 2000