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000835 Visit since May 5, 2005
| TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY... A history of the Mexican people (part 32st). |
| By Prof. German Estrada - May 2005 |
A NEW SPAIN
Picture of Hernán Cortés, XVI Century
I
By the 1550s, the Spaniards had put in place the building blocks for three centuries of colonial rule. Like conquerors the world over, they wanted, as the name New Spain testifies, to rekindle the ashes of what they had forsaken in the patria. "There is so much similarity between this country and Spain," Cortés confirmed Charles I, "that it seemed to me the most suitable name..and thus...Your Majesty I have christened it." Until 1821, Spaniards celebrated the Conquest of New Spain. Its establishment, for the most part, hardly brought a heaven on earth for its ancient inhabitants, who, unable to stand sentinel, watched Spaniards plunder their land.
II
From the Conquest, a New Spain appeared on the stage, the foundation for the Mexico to follow. Spaniard and Indian, each on his own way, bestowed life on the society and, as José Vasconcelos, a litigious intellectual, boasted, on a "cosmic race", referring to the universe of the mestizo, partly Indian and partly Spaniard. Since Spaniards, who never doubted their racial superiority, rarely married Indians, their sons and daughters saw the light of day as bastards. Cortés and his mistress Dońa Marina, the first of the long line of Indian collaborators, conceived one of the first mestizos. Cortés called him Martín. When he had a son by his Spanish wife, in the eyes of the church his legitimate heir, Cortés baptized him Martín too. This Martín, born of Spanish parents in the New World, went on to become a founding father of the criollos, or creoles, of New Spain, rivals of their Spanish parents.
The Spaniard did not arrive empty-handed: he brought baggage, introducing, to start, 170 varieties of fruits, grains, and vegetables, including rice, wheat, and sugarcane, as well as oranges, lemons, and limes and, beyond that, apples, peaches, pears, and apricots. Despite the coming of wheat, corn (or maize) more than held its own, remaining not merely the staple of the Indian diet but, in the shape of the tortilla, the bread of Spaniards and mestizos. Horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, and donkeys, novelties in ancient Anahuac, accompanied the Spaniards. With astonishing enthusiasm, the Indian adopted donkeys and chickens, making them virtually the hallmark of his life. Cattle, meanwhile, multiplied with alacrity, invading lands of central and southern Mexico and, as time went by, the north, home of the hostile Chichimecas.
From the Spanish contribution originated the justly famous and unique "Mexican cuisine," a concoction of indigenous dishes made tastier by the infusion of pork, chicken, beef, and lamb. Until the arrival of the Europeans, the Indians had eaten merely venison, rabbit, and a small dog called zoloitzcuincle by the Aztecs and kik-bil by the Maya. The Spanish ingredients added flavor and buen gusto to the tamale, enchilada, and tostada and paved the way for mole, the piquant dark chili sauce from Puebla.
The Conquest and its aftermath brought a technical revolution of untold importance. The dawn of the iron age, as well as the introduction of the wheel, added a profound dimension to the changes that befell the Indian community. While the iron tools of sixteen-century Europeans had scarcely changed for centuries, they transformed the ways of the Indian, who took to the wheel and tools of iron like a duck to water. When describing how the Indians adopted European techniques, Jerónimo de Mendieta, the scholarly friar, likened them to "monkeys who imitated everything done by the Spaniards in their shops." So facile were the Indians at learning that Spanish craftsmen had second thoughts about teaching their skills. Reliance on European technology, to employ a favorite term of anthropologists, helped "acculturate" the Indian to the Spanish way of life. Whether he knew it or not, the Indian, when he learned to use European technology, fell out of step with ancient society
Source: From the book Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization. (. (W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London).
In the next issue we'll continue with Chapter III of this fascinating book: A NEW SPAIN
Prof. Germán Estrada
estradanav@yahoo.com
Prof. Germán
Estrada is the author of the best selling book,
"México
Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know
About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto
Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books,
Books as well as directly from the author by internet.
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