Lienzo de Quauhquechollan is a large painting, eight feet tall and eleven feet wide, made out of fifteen sheets of cloth that were stitched together sometime after the invasion of highland Guatemala in 1527. The reason I say this is because the painting is an actual account of how the Quauhquecholteca warriors conquered this region of Guatemala with the help of the Spaniards, meaning that it had to have been painted after the conquest was completed.
It was only recently that a Dutch art historian, Florentine Asselbergs, identified the painting as a story line of the events that took place in the Nahua town at this time. In 1520, warriors from the town of Quauhquechollan formed an alliance with the Spaniards against the Aztec empire to conquer their land.
The Lienzo is both a roadmap and storyline told from the perspective of the Quauhquecholteca warriors, in which they depict themselves as “fearsome fighters”, harshly defeating the enemy with their spears. I noted that the Spanish warriors, which are lighter in skin tone than the rest, are also shown in this painting riding their horses and fighting with more advanced weaponry such as swords and pikes, whereas their opponents are using bows and arrows. This highlights a significant factor that might have contributed the success of the Quauhquecholteca and the Spaniards. As discussed in class, the double-headed eagle at the top left of the painting represents this unusual alliance, the black head being the Spaniards because of the metal sword it is holding, and the yellow one being the Nahuas. The starting point at the beginning of this path, where the warriors are departing their hometown, breaks off into many different trails, which signifies the idea that the history of this invasion was not just one straight timeline of events. It depicts multiple historical moments happening at once at certain points.
The relationship between the two groups is depicted as a mutual effort because in the eyes of the Quauhquecholteca, the Spaniards helped them escape the Aztec’s dominion, and for this, they paid tribute to the Europeans. This alliance is noteworthy because the main reason the warriors of Quauhquechollan teamed up with the Spanish was to escape oppression, however, the main reason the latter allied with the Nahuas was to begin establishing some sense of Spanish colonial authority in the highlands (Restall & Lane 116).
Part II.
1. Prior to the European Conquest, indigenous groups were in the process of developing their own societies. The Caribbean islands were beginning to populate during the Archaic period (Sanabria 55). There was an overall increase of population at this time; indigenous groups were beginning to adopt pottery and domestication practices (Sanabria 56); and, as a result, political, social, and economic issues arose (Sanabria 59). The Incas and Aztecs, for example, were two of them most prominent states that confronted the conquistadors when they arrived in the New World. The Incas and the Aztecs were “densely populated, ethnically and linguistically diverse, and highly stratified state societies” (Sanabria 65). According to Sanabria, there is a possibility that there were hundreds of civilizations all throughout the highlands of Mesoamerica and Andes (Sanabria 66). Both indigenous societies employed several different strategies to expand their rule. They would persuade their opponents into thinking that they would not perform well in battles and were better off surrendering to their dominion. Additionally, they were very respectful of land integrity (Sanabria 68).
2. Spaniards were impelled to conquer by their drive to convert the indigenous people to Christianity (Sanabria 81). Additionally, a lot of their voyages were sponsored by the king and queen of Spain (Sanabria 76). Nonetheless, indigenous people “rejected colonialism” through rebellions and other forms of resistance (Sanabria 95). For example, Haiti’s Slave Revolution eventually drove French armies and planters away. It was so bad that Napoleon lost more troops in Saint-Domingue than he did in the battle of Waterloo. It was actually the only successful rebellion against the Europeans (Sanabria 97). Another more common and less confrontational way of resisting was simply running away and hiding in far-away land outside of the colonists’ reach (Sanabria 98).
Part III
• Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism: Ethnocentrism is being biased towards your own culture and believing that it is better than others’, whereas cultural relativism is the belief that other cultures should not be judged from one’s own culture standpoint (Sanabria 7). Both terms have to do with the anthropology of Latin American and the Caribbean.
• Codex: “An ancient hand-written manuscript book with illustrations” (Lecture 9/21). The Codex is a significant source for all of these indigenous folklores such as the time Cortes was confused with Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs.
• Columbian Exchange: The two-way flow of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and the New World (Sanabria 84). The Columbian Exchange led to the extinction of native societies in the Caribbean and Brazil, leaving “an imprint on the racial and cultural makeup of the region” (Sanabria 85).
• Encomineda: “A Spanish crown grant over indigenous labor” (Sanabria 86). The establishment of encomiendas was one of the most important ruling devices that deeply affected indigenous groups.