PART II. HISTORY OF MEXICO. CHAPTER I. ABORIGINAL MEXICO. 2. 1. Indian tribes of America. The Abort ginal Mex icans. 3. State of among them. civilization 1. 'AT the time of the discovery of America, nearly ANALYSIS. the whole continent was occupied by barbarous and wandering tribes, of whose history little that is authentic can now be learned. The aboriginal Mexicans, however, differed essentially from the great mass of the race to which they apparently belonged. "They had made considerable advances in civilization-were an agricultural people-had built flourishing and populous cities, and were united under a regular system of government. A brief 4. An account account of their history, of the state of the arts among them, and of their political institutions, national manners, and religion, cannot fail to be interesting and useful, as it will exhibit the human species in a very singular stage of its upward progress from barbarism. of their history, why interesting. History of from the year founding the Toltecs, 2. "The Toltecas, or Toltecs, are the most ancient Mexi- 5. can nation of which history and fable combined furnish us any accounts. The symbolical representations, or hieroglyphics, from which their history is obtained, and which were found among the Mexicans, represent that in the year 472 of the Christian era they were expelled from their own country, called Tollan, situated somewhere to the north of Mexico, and that, for some time after, they led a migratory and wandering life; but, at the expiration of 104 years, they reached a place about fifty miles to the eastward of the city of Mexico, where they remained twenty years. Thence they proceeded a short distance westward, where they founded a city, called, from the name of their original country, Tollan, or Tula.* 3. "The Toltecas, during their journeys, were con 472 to the the city of Tula. 472. 576. 596. 667. 6. Government of the Toltecs. Whence the present city of Tula, near Mexico, is supposed to have derived its name. Sea Map, p. 569. ANALYSIS ducted by chiefs; but after their final settlement, in the year 667, their government was changed into a monarchy, 1 Their pros which lasted nearly four centuries. At the expiration of Anal destruc this time they had increased very considerably in numbers, and had built many cities; but when in the height of their prosperity, almost the whole nation was destroyed by famine and a pestilence. peruty, and tion of the nation. 1. Account of this event, as the Mexican kieroziyplacs. 4. The hieroglyphical symbols, from which the account derived from of this event is derived, represent, that, at a certain festive ball made by the Toltecas, the Sad Looking Devil appeared to them, of a gigantic size, with immense arms, and, in the midst of their entertainments, embraced and suffocated them; that then he appeared in the form of a child with a putrid head, and brought the plague; and, finally, at the persuasion of the same devil, they abandoned the country Tula, and dispersed themselves among the surrounding nations, where they were well received on account of their superior knowledge and civilization. 3 History of the Chiche government, manners, and alliance 10th the Toltecs. 5. About a hundred years after the dispersion of the mecas, their Toltecs, their country was occupied by the Chichemecas, who also came from the north, and were eighteen months on their journey. Although less civilized than the Toltecs, they had a regular form of monarchical government, and were less disgusting in their manners than some of the neighboring nations. They formed an alliance with the remnant of the Toltecs, and intermarried with them; the consequence of which was the introduction of the arts and knowledge of the Toltecas, and a change in the Chi4. The Acol chemecas, from a hunting to an agricultural people. "The Subsequent Chichemecas were soon after joined by the Acolhuans, time of the likewise from the north; after which, the history of the two nations is filled with uninteresting accounts of petty conquests, civil wars, and rebellions, until the appearance of the Aztecs, or Mexicans, also of Indian origin. huans history to the Aztecs. 1160. ings of the 6. The latter are represented to have left their own Wander country, a great distance to the north of the Gulf of CaliAztecs fornia, in the year 1160, by the command of one of their deities; and, after wandering fifty-six years, to have ar rived at the city of Zumpango,* in the valley of Mexico. 6. Remains of During their journey, they are supposed to have stopped suppose to some time on the banks of the river Gila, or San Francisco, an eastern branch of the Colorado; where may still be found remains of the buildings which they are said to have constructed.† buildings have been erected by them On the eastern shore of the lake of the same name. (See Map, p. 569.) ↑ The Colorado is the principal stream that enters the head of the Gulf of California. (See Map, p. 558.) The locality of the ruins mentioned above is still put down, on Mexican maps, on the south side of the River Gila, in the state of Sonora. They are denoted as " Ruinas de las Casas de los Aztecas," Ruins of the Baillings of the Aztecs. 1160. 1. Other ruins north-west from Chihua hua a. (Gran-de Casa build great, ing.) 2. The Azteca 7. 'Thence they proceeded until they came to a place about two hundred and fifty miles north-west from Chihuahua,* and now known by the name of Casa Grande, on account of a very large building still extant there at the time of the Spanish conquest, and universally attributed to the Aztecs, by the traditions of the country. "Thence, they proceeded southward to Culiacan,† on a river of the same name, which flows into the Gulf of California about the twenty-fourth degree of north latitude. Here they made a wooden image of their god, and Image cona chair of reeds and rushes to support it, and also appointed four priests, called the "Servants of God," to carry it on their shoulders during their subsequent wanderings. 8. When the Aztecs left their original habitations they consisted of six tribes; but at Culiacan the Mexicans separated from the other five, and, taking their deity with them, continued their journey alone. In the year 1216 they arrived in the valley of Mexico, where they were at first well received; but they were afterwards enslaved by a neighboring prince, who claimed the territory, and who was unwilling to have them remain without paying tribute. 3. at Culiacan. constructed by them. Separation cans from the tribes, and of the Mexi other Aztec their arrival in the valley of Mexico. 1216. b. See Map, p. 569. wanderings, until they place of their reach the final settle ment. 1325. 9. They were finally, however, released from bond- 4 Subsequent age, when they resumed their wanderings, which they continued until the year 1325, when they came to a place on the borders of a lake, where the eagle that had guided them in their journeys rested upon a nopal, where it shortly afterwards died. This was the sign given them by their oracle, designating the place where they were finally to settle; and as soon as they had taken possession of the spot, they erected an altar to the god whom they worshipped. "The city which they built here was 5. first called Tenochtitlan, and afterwards Mexico,§ signifying the place of Mexitli, the name of the Mexican god of war. 10. During the time which intervened from the found- 6. The Mexi ing of Mexico to the conquest by the Spaniards, a period the founding of nearty two hundred years, the Mexicans went on gradually increasing in power and resources, and, by conquest and alliances, they extended their dominion, not The city of founded by Mexico them. cans, from of Mexico to the conquest by the Spaniards. Chihuahua, the capital of the state of the same name, is nearly 700 miles N.W. from the city of Mexico. (See Map, p. 558.) (Pronounced Chee-ooh-ooh.) Culiacan is an old city in the state of Sinaloa, pleasantly situated on the south side of a river of the same name, about forty miles from its entrance into the Gulf of California. The nopal, (cactus opuntia, or Indian fig,) is the plant on which the insect that produces the cochineal is bred. The cochineal, now an important article of commerce, is formed from the dead insect, and is used for giving red colors, especially crimson and scarlet, and for making carmine. See Note and Map, p. 116. Also Map, p. 569. ANALYSIS. only over the other Aztec tribes which had accompanied them during most of their wanderings, and which after. wards settled around them, but also over other tribes or nations that spoke languages different from the Aztec or Mexican. 1. Nature of the gubern Mexicans at dijeroni pe This of thes history ca: account of 11. 'Previous to their settlement in the valley of mehe Mexico, the Mexicans continued unacquainted with regal dominion, and were governed in peace, and conducted in war, by such as were entitled to pre-eminence by their wisdom or their valor; but after their power and territories became extensive, the supreme authority finally centred in a single individual; and when the Spaniards, under Cortez, invaded the country, Montezuma was the ninth monarch in order who had swayed the Mexican 2. The histori sceptre, not by hereditary right, but by election. The these events accounts given of all this history, in the hieroglyphic writings of the Mexicans, and which have been faithfully translated by Spanish writers, are minute and circumstantial; but the details would possess little interest for us. 12. According to the histories preserved by the Mexiknee cans, the Toltecs were more polished than the nations which succeeded them; insomuch that, in after ages, it was customary to distinguish people of learning and ingenuity, by the name of Toltecas. They understood the art of working in gold and silver, and possessed some knowledge of the sciences of astronomy and chronology. 4. Their 'It is supposed that about a hundred years before the astronomy. Christian era they observed the difference between the solar and the civil year; supplying the defect, as we do, by the addition of a day once in four years. 3. The advancement in made by the Toltecs. knowledge of 5. The use the Mexicans art of paini ing. of their * 13. The art of painting, which was derived from the made of the Toltecs, was much practised by the Mexicans, as it was only by means of paintings that they recorded their histoCharacter ries. Some of these paintings contained an account of paintings particular historical events; some were mythological; some were codes of laws; while others were astronomical -in which were represented their calendar, the position Many of of the stars, changes of the moon, and eclipses. Great them destroy numbers of these were burned by the superstitious SpanSpaniards. iards, who imagined that they contained some emblems of ed by the 8. The most valuable col heathen worship. 14. "The most valuable collection of these picture writlection note ings, which has been preserved, is divided into three parts. The first contains the entire history of the Mexican empire. The second is a tribute-roll, representing what exiant. It must not be overlooked that the Mexicans here spoken of were Indians; although the word Mexicans is now applied to the present inhabitants of Mexico, descendants of the Spaniards. 2. cal paintings, each conquered town paid into the royal treasury. The 1520. third is a code of the domestic, political, and military institutions of the Mexicans. 'There were likewise geo- 1, Geographi graphical paintings, or maps, which showed the boundaries of states, the situation of places, the direction of the coasts, and the courses of rivers. Cortez was shown maps of almost the entire coast on the Gulf of Mexico. "These paintings were executed on skins, on cloth made of the thread of the aloe, or a kind of palm, on the bark of trees prepared with gum, and upon paper; which last was made of the leaves of a kind of aloe, steeped like hemp, and afterwards washed, stretched, and smoothed. From 3 Instruction these symbolical paintings, aided by traditionary songs and narratives, the Mexican children were diligently instructed in the history, mythology, religious rites, laws, and customs of the nation. 15. But in sculpture, casting of metals, and mosaic work, the Mexicans attained greater perfection than in painting. They had sculptors among them when they left their native country; and many of the Toltecan statues were preserved till the time of the conquest. Statues were made of clay, wood, and stone; and the instruments employed were chisels of copper and of flint. 'The number of these statues is almost incredible; but so active were the Spanish priests in destroying them, that there are now few vestiges of them remaining. The foundation of the first church in Mexico was laid with idols, when many thousand statues of the Mexican gods were broken in pieces. The materi these paint als on tchich ins were executed. of the young. 4. sculpture The art of among the Mexicans. 5 Statues de Spaniards. stroyed by the account of the casting of metals by the Mexicans. 16. Clavigero asserts that "the miracles produced by 6. Clavigero's the Mexicans in the casting of metals would not be credible, if, besides the testimony of those who saw them, a great number of curiosities of this kind had not been sent from Mexico to Europe. The works of gold and silver, sent as presents from the conqueror Cortez to Charles V., filled the goldsmiths of Europe with astonishment; who, as several authors of that period assert, declared that they were altogether inimitable. This wonderful art, for- 7 The art merly practised by the Toltecas, the invention of which they ascribed to one of their gods, has been entirely lost by the debasement of the Indians, and the indolent neglect of the Spaniards.” now lost. * Mosaic work is an assemblage of little pieces of glass, marble, precious stones, &c., of various colors, cemented on a ground of stucco or plaster, in such a manner as to imitate the colors and gradations of painting. Clavigero, a native of Vera Cruz, in Mexico, in which country he resided thirty-six years, was born about the year 1720. Being a Jesuit, on the expulsion of his order from America he settled in Italy, where he employed himself in writing a History of Mexico, which was published in 1780 and 1781, in four volumes octavo. |