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The last issue described early civilization in México as more advanced than
any in the world at that time. In 400 B.C., the Olmecs flourished, with
highly developed technical skills, a written language, a calendar and huge
cities. The Maya civilization reached its peak in the years 300 to 900 A.D.,
building monumental cities in the jungle. They were unique and without equal
in world history. The beginnings of the Aztecs were so humble that their
rise to supremacy over most of México in a few hundred years seems almost
miraculous. They were late upstarts, their empire a brilliant and final
flicker before the light of native civilization was put out once and for
all. In the early 1300s, the Aztecs filtered down from the northwest. On
the site of what is now México City, the Aztecs founded the island city
of Tenochtitlan. It was one of the really great cities of the world. By
the end of the 15th century, Tenochtitlan was a beautiful and luxurious
city of fountains, gardens, and canals. It was the commercial center of
an empire. In the great market, one could but luxury products of gold, silver,
jade, feathers, clothing of all sorts, foods-- both prepared and unprepared--
chocolate and vanilla, copper tools, tobacco, pipes, cigars, even slaves
from conquered tribes. The Aztecs were brilliant in their technical ability,
and for the great learning of their astronomers and fortune tellers. However,
the Aztecs were ruthlessly powerful; their lavish lifestlye was financed
by conquering other tribes. They retained the barbarism of a tribal society.
Their downfall was inevitable. If it had not been for the arrival of the
Spaniards, it is probable that other tribes would have united to overthrow
their hated masters. Few conquistadors have ever had such spectacular luck
as Hernan Cortes. He came to conquer, to extend the realm of Spain. Drawn
by dreams of gold and conquest, he came searching for fortune. How an adventure-seeker
with a tiny band of followers could so successfully conquer the most aggressive
warrior nation in the New World is one of history's greatest mysteries.
The Aztec King, Moctezuma II, in Tenochtitlan, was dumbfounded when a messenger
arrived from the coast to inform him that a great white mountain had been
seen on the water, moving without touching the rocks. Messengers who met
Cortes |
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believed that the pale-faced invader was the reincarnation of the god Quetzalcoatl.
Quetzalcoatl had vanished and was to reappear during that year in that place.
Moctezuma was sure this was Quetzalcoatl. Who else could ride the sea in
a floating fortress, carry sticks that spat deadly fire, and travel across
land on armored steeds that made the earth sound like thunder? By the time
Cortes and his men made it to Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma not only let the strangers
inside the gates, he treated them as honored guests, as gods to be pleased.
The New World would never again seem so innocent. Cortes' landing in 1519
caused one of the greatest cultural tragedies in the history of the world
and revolutionized the world economy. When Cortes and his men marched into
Tenochtitlan, it was five times the city of London, with 300, 000 inhabitants.
In all of México at that time, there were 15 to 20 million people, most
under the savage domination of the Aztecs. Within a few years, the Spanish
conquistadors had toppled the vast Aztec empire and conquered an entire
country. Their sweeping destruction of the Indian culture and achievements
ranks as one of history's greatest calamities. New Spain was created, made
up of all the Spanish possessions in North and Central America. New Spain
began pumping silver, gold, and raw materials back to Spain, or used it
to build feudal estates in México. The natives did not benefit; they were
put to work in the silver mines, toiled in the fields or performed backbreaking
manual labor to construct lavish buildings. The population of México dwindled.
Not many natives of Spain moved to México, only about 300, 000 during the
300 years of Spanish rule. The Indians were decimated by a combination of
diseases that had been introduced by the Spanish, cultural upheaval and
the strict suppression. The marriage of Old and New Worlds lasted for the
next four centuries. They were bound by a culture, commerce, a common language
and by the inevitable mixing of Spanish and Indian blood. Today, 75 percent
of the population of México is of mixed European and Indian descent. Fifteen
percent of the population today are Indians, direct descendents of the Aztec,
Maya and other ancient civilizations. For most of them, life is still very
harsh, and poverty is a chronic fact of life. |
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