In his book, Andean Worlds: Indigenous History, Culture and Consciousness under Spanish rule. 1532-1825, the author, Kenneth J. Andrien, examines the Spanish invasion of the Incan Empire (called Tawintinsuyu) in 1532. This invasion brought cataclysmic change to the entire Andean region, resulted in the complete collapse of the empire and the deaths of most of the citizens through war and pestilence in later years. What had once been the proud and content citizens of the most advanced, powerful…
Cycles of Conquest, by Edward H. Spicer, is notably a classic, “essential” book for readers learning about the history of cultural change in the southwest. Published in 1962, Spicer’s work offers a scope of the histories of southwestern Native Americans—based on available knowledge. Edward Spicer introduces the first part of his book by stating several times that the historical lens is distorted because it is the history of the Spanish and their contacts with Native Americans, rather than the history of the Natives, from the Natives. He writes, “it is in full recognition of the fact that the information about the Indians themselves is secondhand and terribly biased that the exposition of the ‘history’ of the contacts of the Indians of northwestern…
This paper represents a comparison between two different viewpoints of events that led up to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. One perspective is represented by Van Hastings Garner who has a more harmonous intrepretiation. As opposed to Henry Warner Bowden who has a more adverse account of events. A more detailed account can be found in the book What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 by David J. Weber…
This is the most comprehensive collection of The Texas Rangers during the Mexican revolution that has been published. Charles Harris III and Louis Sadler share the details behind this unstable period by uncovering the views and actions of the Rangers during the highest point of border violence up until that time. The Rangers remain as one of the most recognized law enforcement agencies in the United States. In the ten year span of 1910-1920, Texas was involved in a lot of turmoil around the border of The United States and Mexico. These were the years of the Mexican revolution and the increasing racial tensions between Anglos and Hispanics often resulted in bloodshed. They played important roles at various battles and established a fearsome reputation. The Texas Rangers are often portrayed as the last stand of defense between the good and the bad; rugged men with enough ice water in their veins to fuel their souls. After reading this book, one’s perspective of the Texas Rangers, and the myths that surround them, may soon change. Rangers were also cold-hearted angry law men who seemed to have a serious grudge against Hispanics and Mexicans who resided in Texas. They appeared to possess a “what are you going to do about it” mentality. Harris and Sadler are faithful to history and attempt to stick to the facts by being informative as they review the disorder and terror of the Mexican revolution. They suggest that men who joined the Rangers did not change as a whole, but the public’s perception of them did.…
The Battle of San Pasqual was a conflict between Californios and Americans during the Mexican-American War. The battle took place in present-day California between the indigenous people, named Californios, and the United States (U.S.) Army. By analysing this battle with the Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1 Warfighting it becomes clear that the Californios had strengths in leadership, training, and combat power (U.S. Marine Corps, 1997). Even with these strengths, the battle is still debated on who was the successor between the two countries. This paper reflects the success of the Californios because of their specific actions during the Battle of San Pasqual.…
Túpac Amaru II, born José Gabriel Condorcanqui, was a highly educated kuraka who claimed to be a direct descendant of the Inca people. Túpac Amaru II sought to create an “Andean utopia through a restoration of Inca rule”, but at the same time he “professed loyalty to Christianity and the Spanish king” (Galindo, 146). As the Indian leader surrounding the city of Cuzco, Túpac Amaru II gathered the leaders of the surrounding regions to “come up with a plan not only to end exorbitant taxation by the Spaniards, but also to drive out the Europeans and restore an Inca monarchy” (Galindo, 146). While Amaru II claimed to be an Inca, his proclamations in the city of Cuzco “call for respect for the property and lives of mixed-bloods (mestizos) and creoles (criollos)”, but other partisan leaders believed that “all non-Indians should be put to death in a kind of ethnic cleansing” (Galindo, 148/149). When the rebellion ended, word of “the massacres of Spanish immigrants, especially those who had lived amongst the Indians, further widened the gap between the colonizers and the colonized” (Galindo, 155) After “Túpac Amaru’s death, the colonial authorities prohibited Inca nobility from using titles, ordered the destruction of paintings of the Incas, and forced the Indians to dress in Western clothes” (Galindo, 155). Despite the efforts put forth during the rebellion to ensure the survival of Andean society, “the rebellion had destabilized hopes for a return to the integration of the Andean population under Spanish rule” (Galindo, 155).…
When discussing the importance of Spanish alliances, it is important to discuss Matthew Restall’s interpretation of “the myth of the white conquistador”. A common myth in regards to the Spanish Conquest is that the Aztecs were conquered by a small group of white Spanish men. Within Restall’s book titled “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest”, he debunks the myth of the white conquistadors. Restall’s argues that “there is no doubt that the Spanish were consistently outnumbered by native enemies on the battlefield. But what has so often been ignored or forgotten is the fact that Spaniards tended also to be outnumbered by their own native allies. Furthermore, the invisible warriors of this myth took an additional form, that of the Africans, free and enslave, who accompanied Spanish…
Following the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the territory of northern Mexico became the burgeoning American South West. Nuevomexicanos, residents of the area of New Mexico, were attempting to dissuade Anglo perceptions that they were still loyal to the Mexico. What emerged was the idea of “hispanidad”, Spanishness, seeing as Spain is a white European country and being white was paramount to gaining political and social status in America at the time. Nuevomexicanos felt being of Spanish descent would shift white perceptions and remove them from their link to Mexican heritage. What emerged from this culture of hispanidad, was a rigid caste system that aimed to use bloodlines to prove Nuevomexicanos were descended from Spanish colonizers. Their goal was to “conjure up an entire history of conquest and settlement with which Americans could identify and that they could even admire.” (pg. 9)…
In “Máximo Castillo and the Revolution in Chihuahua” by Maximo Castillo, and “Los de Abajo” by Mario Anzuela, the revolution comes to life. Cultural history, personal memoirs, and historical fiction can be perceived as subjective narratives but them provide a colorful addition to political, social, and economical analysis.…
The myth is that the conquistadors conquered the America’s relatively quickly in a sovereign effort but Restall explains that the Spaniards had a lot of help from the Natives and African’s and the “completion” of conquest was anything but; as mass portions of the land remained unscathed by the conquest. Restall effortlessly explains how the conquistador myths of superior communication between the Spaniards and Natives were just as fabricated as the modern misconception of inferior communication by historians. The communication between the two, or lack thereof, fell somewhere between both myths. Restall uses his concise writing style to explain the resilience of the Natives, debunking the myth of Native desolation and how the myth of superiority derives from Eurocentric beliefs of racial dominance which lead to racist ideologies that “underpinned colonial expansion from the late fifteenth to early twentieth centuries.”…
The subject of the Yucatan caste war is a subject that is not particularly studied and there is not an abundant amount of written material pertaining to this topic out there. Nelson Reed’s The Caste War of Yucatan is a monography that gave a detailed overview of the Yucatan caste war in its entirety. Nelson looked at not only the physical confrontation of the war, but also the factors contributing, such as the landscape, social structure of Yucatan society, and the impact of the conflict had on the religion and economy of Yucatan. The Yucatan Caste War is a complex confrontation of ethnic tensions between the indigenous peoples and the Dzuls, white peoples, of Yucatan, which all is steaming from Spanish influence and oppression after conquest.…
At the root of this system of institutionalized violence lay the fear of an indigenous uprising “coming down from the highlands”; the uprising of the early 1980s came closer than any other experience to realizing that great fear” (p.364). During this time, although the genocide had concluded…the ambition of ridding out the communist within the Mayan society was still continuing, especially from 1983-1990s. It was because of this that the Mayas were forced: to serve in the PACS (the self-defense patrol), to live in modern villages under military control, and to be overseen by the militarily administration in a constant effort to establish martial law which was all supervised by the General Victores. It was during this effort that the PACS were forced to kill villagers, the army used the essence of hunger to establish social control, and the ladino army felt it had the rights to control the Maya civilization of the highlands. Therefore… although the genocide itself was concluded…the efforts to control the Mayan society continued until 1990 when the war finally was concluded through the Guatemalan Peace…
As a child I knew I was of élite class, my parents being respected Spanish creoles. The call to greatness was embedded into my very core early in life. While other colonial children played childish games I marveled at my father’s grandeur and poise as he served as a sub-delegate for the Spanish province of Veracruz. I had no time for immature play; my days were composed of tactful secret reconnaissance and reenactment of private meetings held amongst my father and important officials. My desire was to be just like my father, if not better.…
Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs, is about a brotherhood of the Mexican people taking a journey with only one thing on their mind; revenge against Huerta and the Federales. In this story, we as the reader are confronted with characters, such as Demetrio Macias, who is destined to lead his people into the depths of retaining an incorrupt lifestyle and hopes to find peace from the effect of war. Although Demetrio is seen as one of the main characters in the novel, we are also briefly engaged in the other revolutionary forces under Pancho Villa, Carranza, Obregon, and by peasants under Zapata. These appositional forces gain strength against the Huerta government as well. The Underdogs almost symbolizes a Robin Hood story, in which, Demetrio and his peasant guerrilla forces revolt against a higher commanding army of the government, that relies on corrupting the lives of innocent people.…
In this paper, I will be summarizing the following chapters: Chapter 3: "A Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico’s Northwest”; Chapter 4: “Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas”; and Chapter 5: “Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. All three chapters are from the book, “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo F. Acuna. In chapter three, Acuna explains the causes of the war between Mexico and North America. In chapter four, Acuna explains the colonization of Texas and how Mexicans migrated from Mexico to Texas. In chapter five, Acuna explains the colonization of New Mexico and the economic changes that the people had to go through.…