Chapter 7: The Settlement of New Spain PDF

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Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. CI-IAPTER 7 T,HE SETTLEMENT' OF NEW S1-AIN he conquerors with.drew to nearby Coyo.atan, I vin the Aztecs. to remove their d d. The pania.rds decided to build a new city 'the ruins of Tenochtitlan, and. sooa anD es ofnativ Ja.bon:s und r the r otion o not onl panish ardtitects an.d mis n but ailro, indigenous clites, laid the foundations for the splendid dty o Mexim. Many continu- iti.es in th lived exp rie□a: of prehispani 'ly life persisted as new matures. wer; cled. Tty theywould, pan.ish o ·ab -fran ·sc n friarncou d not completely ml lndig nous mflnenoes as materiaJ and rnltural e:xch~s e\'olverl. New civic and religious ritnaJs often howed mw of indi no el b tory pra tic:es. tND IA SLAVER A D THE ENC.OM IE DA SYSTE For Spam.ards, the conquest had been the result o a gr:ea clfon by individual advennrrcrs -,;ho recclwd n pay for their work. Man had goo int deb to omfit themselv forthe en~ terpris aU ha suffered hardships and had seen companions die h.orrible deaths; almost all ha. bttn undm. But the treasure: for which th :.had endured so much proved to be a pit- m o th, urv· of th och t had escaped with a few valu bl obj c , u the: butk of the :ri-ches had been lost in the lake iwt.ers, Of the spoils, a ho:r:seman received s sha:re only about a hundred gold os, on.fifth of th co t of' a hom Foot soldiers. o c:onstiture the bul of th~ aMl , ·eoeiv· d even I As th mood of bis companions g1:e,;v uglicr. Cortes relented and aJ ' wed the tortuR of Cuauhtemoc and other.lords. hoping th b to 1 am th lo non of any rem ining hoard of rich s. Th r yal ,eet of m nob were oiled and hcld over fu-e. Despilte thcir agonies, they gave no information1 for thcr-e was no cache-or at least none has, been found. , ow, then, were th oonquacn:s to b rewarded? Invariably th first aru.w,er to this qu tion rame in the fonn of human bodi,es. Indians were inirlally often brutally enslaved and J rn 1981, several (m unde,ground.in t'llico Ci1y a crude gold b.ar was foill!d Quite posribly it was d,opped on the: reuea Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.  11ie St ttlem.ml cf ' pzin 97 forced to perform labor in appallingly inhumane-tasks. The Aztecs. of course, had slaves, :so the practice was Dot new to their s:ubject populations, although the Spanish rationale Willi diff r nt (and ould b challen by legal cholar J. Corte saw that Aztec practices pro- vided other avrmu~ to wealth, and be moved to secure the tribute rolls of the Azt£c empire, hich comained paintings d ·ntifyins th· ubject towns along 'th th · kinds and amoun. ofmbut p:aid to Tenochddan. There we 370 such towns, each having, ]d d to the Aztec empero, one-third of its production. Thus, the Spanish captain acquired knowledge of the po ulation, th graph, and the economy-no to mention the :bu th t the con uer- oIS could now enjoy. In order 1:o calm his irate so]diers, Cones agree. with some misgivings. to distribw the bldian towns to them as rewards, The]) wu a precedent fo.r this pnctic.e; in the Caribbean l n ,s, Spaniards had b en gr.mted native villages for their prom. As originallyconccivcd, this tem, the enmmienda, s th best solution fouJJ oncem d. Th indi "dua.l eservin paniard (th cmrumdem} reccived the Iribute ofd1c Indians, as vcll as cir free 1.mor, in return for which the natives wue cornmm.ded to the encom dcro's care. e was lo see to their con~ers.ion to.." _danhy, to nsl!l'e. pod oTd in th villa.g ,nul in all ways to be resp nsihl for ilheir wclra:re. TheoreticaUy it was thought that thi system could better acrulturatr. control, and protea the lndi.an Vhat hap din practice was quite another maner as tbe suhjeaed co every imagjoable a , kept the Indians in a state of bondage, a) ugh not chattel slavery. Indians Wlm! 0¥ vorke :parated from their families, chem d d physi- call maltre tat Th ·n ady decades wa resp.on ib fo creatin and sodal tragedies that persisted 1n one guise or another into modem tim ~ Th trem ndo - 1 ss o I dian ,.,-- , artributabJ at least in paruo I - and th · enc:o- mie:nda, offered gdm warnings. Moreovn; the panish crown wantt!d the tribute for itscl and thus sought m main - direct contra over the Indians to renrin them as royal vassals. t b cause th did not have th nscal resouro to co p t ·tho who had won cxtensiv.e enitories and millions of people for Spam, the. ·ng 3:Qceded the awarding of in- clig, oiJSI labor and tribute: through th enc:omimda. onmielm, h was n er at with the arrangement and from the firs, ought the m s o bring aU Jndian towns un ,e r myal controL.stmggj!e be~n the crown and the imlividua.ls who hdd enromicndas domi- n uch d1 uxt enth nrury. THE SPIREAD OF CONQUEST Even before the :fall of Tenochtitlan. Cortes had sent small parties to explore the land's 11e- utCi. Th r :um d ·m information on uK:a of old nd ·1v an r ported on th location of natural ports and timber for the construction of ships. Once he had seaned the valley, Cones lost no tim in dispatcliin ape.ditiom in all direcriom to bring othc. inhab- ilan ts in th country un er panish control. ! e was i.mpdl d to o so for various reasons: to gather more information about the people and the land, to satisfy a c.omsumiog mterest in th , exi nee o , trai through th c:on ·n Dt to ! , and to domina muoh territory as possible before rivals staked their claims. His time was short, for the crown had oICdered 21'1 agmt to take ~ the government and to arrest him. 8y August 1521 Crist6ba1 de Tapia Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.  9,9 COLLI Ll I c WORLD had i!d, but h w. inl.imid led b p rti!i:an o and 1 t.hd 1111::: ni:;iu m 'te sent lb king word his d eat o the Azt r ~ ·hld1 Cortes , as or iven hi ordln lion. During the several years pani · ' · Ueulen- Lral America., and J w ·t m. Jn d Ing lhi:s, t.h h.ld partkuJ ad o ,ecs, they were able Lo. in l ll th to the planting Jo o iffi l'ml ~1hni gm. in l h am, nsi n, bm lh j.dir f mi J- though the moqU£Sl o. ta uianls 11 1,rn I nod11 id.11 111 u ,c rcq '5l Ill n · ii It!!'" !! 11 th L,1111 edillou ol rw, 2015. Aiton, AnhutS.AJ11mtlaJc Mmdmbrldgc Univeisicy ('lress,. 1987 lilho1~ John It tmpua of tl1t KJtm,tic \\\,rid: l!nwm a11d ~l'Jm /11 An,,r,r,r, Hd--t 8 JO. New I la,,en, Cl': V l Univeml)I Pr= 2 ~ Flin~ Rich.uil. and Shirley FlmL Do,.-.,mmrs of rh, C,,ronado £...,..,,rion,"1539-1542. Albuquerque: Uni,w- sity of New. \ ~ Press. 2012. Cnt2111 kt, ~e. Wj