The Encounter

1. The Encounter

2. Hispanic Exploration and Conquest1492 -- 1542 • In one generation Hispanics explored and colonized over half the earth & waters • During the period of exploration, in one generation, approximately 300,000 Spaniards had emigrated to the New World • They established over 200 cities and towns throughout the Americas. • In one generation Hispanics acquired more new territory than Rome conquered in five centuries .

3. Major HispanicExplorations and Conquests • 1492- 1504: Columbus’s 4 voyages to New World • 1500: Pedro Cabral discovered Brazil • 1501-02: Amerigo Vespucci (Italian) after accompanying Spanish conquistadors decided that what they had discovered was not Asia, but new continents • 1508-21: Juan Ponce de Leon explored Cuba, Jamaican and Florida –Cuban conquest: 1508 • 1513 -Vasco de Nuñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and named the Pacific ocean Detailed chronology of Spanish explorations and conquests

4. Major HispanicExplorations and Conquests • 1519- 22: Ferdinand Magellan's crew & ship, completed voyage of circumnavigation. • 1519-21: Hernando Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico • 1531: Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas in Peru • 1540: Vasquéz de Coronado explores California, Kansas, Arizona, New México, Texas, Oklahoma. Detailed chronology of Spanish explorations and conquests

5. Central American Civilizations at the time of the Conquest

6. MAYANS • Although there was never such a thing as a Maya Empire, the diverse peoples and politico-religious formations that in the past occupied Yucatán and modern day Belize, Chiapas, Guatemala and Honduras, all had common cultural characteristics: • a highly developed calendar • a rich complex writing system, and sophisticated mathematics.. • Archeologists and historians recognize several periods in the history of these cultures: • Preclassic 2000 bce-100ce • Classic 100 -900 ce • Postclassic 900 ad-1500 ce

8. MAYA Classic Eraca. 300-900 ce

10. “Shield Jaguar” Lord of Yaxchitlan Ritual Bloodletting by Nobles Sun God on mosaic collar Barbed rope Blood-spotted paper Basket

11. Mayan Royal Audience

12. The Great Ballgame • Olmec lords created a ritual ballgame. • A rubber ball was hit back and forth between two teams. The individuals could only return the ball by striking it with their hip, thigh or a cushioned belt adorned around the waist. • The ballgame became so important that by 1500 bce an Olmec ruler’s costume consisted of ballgame equipment as well as rulership emblems and religious emblems of fertility.

14. Mayan Ball Game

15. Mayan Hieroglyphics • The unit of the Maya writing system is the glyphic cartouche, which is equivalent to the words and sentences of a modern language. • Maya cartouches included at least three or four glyphs and as many as fifty. • There is no Maya alphabet. • Writing considered to be a sacred gift from the gods. • Knowledge of reading and writing was jealously guarded by a small elite class, who believed that they alone could interact directly with the gods

16. Codices • Maya glyphs were also painted on codices made of either deer hide or bleached fig-tree paper that was then covered with a thin layer of plaster and folded accordion-style. • Record rituals, chronologies and important events. • Most were burned by the Spanish during the 16th c. 4 Extant Codices: Dresden, Madrid, Paris, Grolier

17. Popul Vuh • Book of Council • Sacred book of Quiche Maya • Lords of the great kingdom of Quiche had a way of seeing what could not be seen with the physical eye. • Their guide was Popul Vuh, a book that could allow the lords to know past and future events. • The book speaks of occurrences before the first sunrise.

18. Madrid Codex

19. Popul Vuh • Popul Vuh is titled “The Dawn of Life” because it describes the creation of the morning star along with the sun and moon. • Authors of Popul Vuh were from three families of lords, the Cauecs, Great Houses and Lord Quiches. • All three families once controlled the Quiche kingdom.

20. The Hero Twins • An imposter god named Gukup-Caqix appeared and claimed to be the sun, moon and light all rolled into one. • He was a giant with a sparkling face adorned with silver and emeralds. • The gods realized they had to get rid of this imposter before they could continue their time on the humans. • It was the hero twins, Hunapu and Xbalanque, who defeated the imposter.

21. Hero Twins • They also believed they had a duty to go into the underworld and revenge their father’s death and challenge the lords of the underworld to a ballgame. • This ballgame had started many years ago when their father, Hun-Hunapu, had not only been defeated but had his head chopped off and hung on a tree in Xibalba as a warning to any other challengers. • In honor of their victory over the underworld and the evil lords of Xibalba, the hero twins were reborn as the sun and moon and they have enjoyed the new earth in light ever since.

22. The Lords of Xibalba view the Ballgame

23. Aztecs1350-1519

24. Aztecs1350-1519 • Aztecs came into the Valley of Mexico during the 12th and 13th century and rose to be the greatest power in the Americas by the time the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century. • According to myth, Huitzilopochtli told Tenoch to lead his people to a place of refuge on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. When they reached their destination, they were to look for an eagle perched on a cactus. • At that location, they were to build their city and honor Huitzilopochtli with human sacrifices. The city they built was called Tenochtitlán, the city of Tenoch.

25. Aztec Foundation Myth

26. Tenochtitlan

27. Tenochtitlán • Its site had been fixed by the god Huitzilopochtli, who sent a sign in the form of a great eagle Codex Mendoza

28. Offerings to the Gods • Images of the gods Huehueteotl and Tlaloc, presided over most of the offerings found in the Templo Mayor. • Representing fire and water respectively, they symbolized the concept of "burning water," a metaphor for warfare

29. Human Sacrifice • Human sacrifice was conducted on a sacrificial stone with a flint knife • The most precious thing was offered, namely blood and life itself, so that by way of death life arose anew.

30. Aztec Creativity • Aztec art often reflects the culture’s fierceness • Coatlicue, goddess of the earth embodies Aztec belief in the creative principal

31. Aztec Poetry • “Flower-songs” • Celebrated warriors • Endurance of warriors on the battlefield • Endurance of women in childbirth At Aztec feasts guests were presented with flowers,Florentine Codex,late 16th century

32. The Conquest of MexicoDuring the year Ce Acatl ( One Reed)1519

33. Hernán Cortés • April 21, 1519 (Good Friday), Cortés landed on an island off eastern Gulf Coast with 11 galleons, 550 soldiers and sailors, and 16 horses • Staked claim for God and King and founded a settlement Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz • Sailed to Cozumel and rescued de Aguilar from the Mayas – valuable Mayan interpreter • Took Malintzin/Marina as Nahuatl interpreter and mistress • Burnt the remainder of his fleet and proceeded on to Tenochtitlán, making allies of tribes hostile to the Aztecs.

34. La Malinchec. 1505- c.1529 • Malinalli (Malintzin) was born to a noble family, but sold to a Tabascan chief by her mother to ensure her half-brother’s inheritance • Brought from her native Nahuatl-speaking home of Veracruz to the Yucatan, she learned the Maya language

35. La Malinche • Given to the Spaniards by the Maya, she was baptized as Marina in 1519. • She began to work for the Spanish as an interpreter between the Nahuatl and Maya and quickly learned Spanish.

36. La Malinche • She became Cortés’s interpreter, confidante and mistress, called "la lengua de Cortés" (Cortés's tongue, or interpreter) • Bore him a son, Martín, the first mestizo of historical note • “After God we owe this conquest of New Spain to Doña Marina.” – Cortés José Clemente Orozco Cortés and Malinche

37. La Malinche Diego Rivera, murales del Palacio Nacional Malina, the homonym of the Spanish name, Marina, became Malintzin (the Nahuatl suffix "-tzin" denotes respect). Then, attempting to pronounce this Nahuatl name, Spanish-speakers rendered the soft Nahuatl tzin-é sound as ch; the result was Malinche. Today Mexican Spanish-speakers use the word "malinchista" to mean "one who prefers foreign things," and for many Malinche is synonymous with "traitor." Others view Doña Marina, the mother of mestizo children as the Mother of the Mexican Nation

38. Malinche Here I am in the defendant’s seat you call me traitor whom have I betrayed? I was still a child when my father – my stepfather really – fearing his son would not inherit the lands there were mine took me to the south and gave me to strangers who did not speak my language. I grew up in that tribe Serving as a slave And the white men arrived And they gave me to the whites. What do you mean By the word treason? Was I not the one betrayed? Which of my people defended me when I was raped by the first white man, when I was forced to kneel and kiss his phallus, when I felt my body sundered and with it my soul? You demand that I be loyal even though I’ve been unable to be loyal to myself. Before I flowered my love withered: a child in my womb who never saw the light. How did I betry my homeland? My homeland is my people and they abandoned me. To whom am I responsible? To whom? Tell me. To Whom. Claribel Alegria (1924-) Translated by D.J. Flakoll

39. Moctezuma • Emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma was aware of Cortés’s approach • He sent Cortés a cordial message and gifts but warned against approaching Tenochtitlan • The gold and finery whetted the Spaniards’ greed • Although Moctezuma commanded a huge army, he feared to greet Cortés with a hostile force because of ancient legend 17th C. portrait, artist unknown

40. The Prophecy of Quetzalcoatl’s Return • Ancient legend prophesied that Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, the bearded, fair-skinned Toltec ruler-god would return in the year Ce Acatl to reclaim his kingdom. http://www.cedarcreekclay.com/

41. Omens of Return • Lake Texcoco flooded Tenochtitlan • The temple of Huitzlopochtli caught fire • The voice of woman wailing in the night disturbed the city • Immense comets shot through the sky • A column of fire appeared every night fora year

42. Tenochtitlán A great white city, lightly moored to the shores by three long causeways, floating on a shimmering lake.

43. Tenochtitlán • The last city the Spanish had seen was Seville, the largest in Spain, population: 60,000. • London, Europe’s largest city, had a population of 100,000. • Tenochtitlán was almost four times as large as Seville, with thousands more people clustered in the "suburbs" fringing the mainland. • Tenochtitlán, unlike the cramped muddle of houses, streets, and byways that made up medieval Spanish towns, had been planned.

45. Tenochtitlán • Priests were everywhere. Like Spanish priests, they wore long dark robes. But the robes were stained with human blood, and their long hair was clotted with it, and while some of the blood was their own, most came from the human victims they slew daily. • An essential part of the rituals conducted in the shrines crowning the shining pyramids was human sacrifice.

46. Sacrifice of Prisoners To Huitzlipotchli Códice Magliabecchi., siglo XVI

47. The Beginning of the End • Cortés met little resistence and on November 8, 1519 he crossed the causeway over Lake Texcoco to enter Tenochtitlán. • Moctezuma personally went out to meet Cortés and his men. Doña Marina interpreted what Moctezuma said for Cortés: "Lord, you are weary. The journey has tired you, but now you have arrived on earth. You have come to your city of México." • Then Cortés responded through Marina: "Tell Moctezuma that we are his friends and that there is nothing to fear. We have waited long to meet with him." (Florentine Codex) • Within a week Cortés seized the emperor, put him in chains and held him hostage.

48. Death of Moctezuma • Cortés had to leave Tenochtitlan to deal with a Spanish rival • In his absence, the Spanish attacked the citizens during a religious festival • The Aztecs rebelled • Cortes tried to use Moctezuma to appeal for peace, but the people hurled stones and arrows at him • The Spaniards threw the body of Moctezuma into a canal

49. La Noche Triste • Cuitláhuac, Moctezuma’s successor, besieiged the Spaniards • June 30, 1520, the Spaniards tried to escape but were attacked by the Aztecs – hundreds died • Cuitláhuac died of smallpox, succeeded by Cuauhtemoc • Cortés regrouped with Tlaxcalan allies

50. CuauhtemocLast Aztec Emperor • January, 1521, Cortés reentered valley of Mexico and demanded surrender • Cuauhtemoc refused • Cortés attacked with a newly built fleet and besieged Tenochtitlan • After a valiant resistance and an 80 day seige, the Aztecs, overcome by smallpox and famine, surrendered • The Spaniards lay the Aztec Empire to waste, burned Tenochtilan, and levelled the temples.