The pre-Columbian era was crucial to the making of Modern Day Mexico. The process in which modern day Mexico was made was viewed as uncivilized before there were changes made and the Spanish arrived to colonize. This process in which should be very closely examined because of the complexity it took in order to create the “most sophisticated societies in the Western Hemisphere” (Vigil 1998: 15). In the prehistoric era, Mexica were able to study the land and creating something that would benefit everyone. Their process was “dividing and allocating the labor, collecting and distributing the wealth” (Vigil 1998: 15) this benefitted and helped many who contributing into relating to the land. The Mexica was the group who was more sophisticated and constructed the society for the better. The Mexica created a society with “various social classes, land and educational systems, and sociocultural practices” (Vigil 1998: 9). The Mexica group were a very respectful and they were respected the women in their society. Women of the Mexican society helped influence the people, they helped the people with military service, medicine, religion, and education. Women were so valued that they also had a female god named Omecihuatl. The Mexica culture evolved into a very respected and large group of people right before the time the Spanish conquistadors arrived to Tenochititlan. Another culture named the Olmecs also developed new measures that were said to be uncivilized innovations. According to (Vigil 1998), they developed the invention of the zero concept, the development of a calendar, and the invention of a system of writing. The groups that came later eventually added onto those inventions and ideas and improved them as the years went on.
Colonialism
Spanish conquistadors went to America with a goal in mind, there first stop was and now is New Mexico. Their goal was to colonize America to take over land, teach the culture, take over the people, and find resources for their people. The Spanish conquistadors had process in which they were going to colonize the land. The Spanish were going to colonize the land and conquer new land by spreading their religious views to save the indigenous people from all the sin. Nations that were European stated that these actions taken against the indigenous people were just a Doctrine of Discovery, this meant that them and the Christians obtained was a suitable opportunity to take over the land of non-Christians with a reason to expand and God. There were many explorers who got sent out to the conquest. One of them was Hernan Cortes who “carried out the work of the invasion and conquest of economic exploitation financed by the Spanish crown (Borunda 2012: 48). The conquistadors had sought out to expand and colonize new regions for many reason, however the main four were: “the Spanish centralized government encouraging Spanish nationalism and expansionism, the Spanish accessing and controlling the continental gateway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the Spanish evangelic Catholic religious culture Inquisition that had recently expelled the Moors and, the Spanish disposition of wealth accumulation by its non-first born men who joined the military” (Borunda 2012: 48) Hernan Cortes was sent with his men and once they arrived the were immediately greeted by the Mexica. A conflict rose after they arrived, a leader of the Mexica was missing and being held captive. A conflict drew between the conquistadors and the Mexica, and this led to the conquering the of the Mexica by the conquistadors. A way they did this was they created alliances, and this made them stronger when it came to conquer, indigenous groups were involved during the conflict it became barbaric, “the Spaniard’s instruments violent discipline and punishment that were imposed and inflicted upon the Native peoples, were those that had been used on the Moorish and Jewish populations in the European Nations” (Borunda 2012: 48). The conquering gave the conquistadors new opportunities, they were given immense large contribution. The Spanish who owned the land created “haciendas” for the natives to live in oppression for the landowners. They were put into the different lands by separating them. The people who were mixed of different races were called “mestizaje”, whereas the people who were native and had the Spanish blood had a different name and that was “La Gente de Razon”. This created a chain of command and it became more intricate, “Spaniard man and Indian women create Mestizo, Mestizo and Spanish women create Castizo, Castizo women and Spaniard man create Spaniard, Spanish women and African man create Mulatto, Spaniard and Mulatto women create Moorish, Moorish women and Spaniard create Albino” (Borunda 2012: 52). At the top of the chain of command were the people who had light skin and the bottom were the people of color. There were desperate measure taken to change the people to Christianity such as, conducting guidelines against the people to forbidding them from speaking their languages and practicing their spiritual beliefs as well. This created new tensions around and eventually evolved into what is now California. The way they created this was by, New Spain gaining many new territories, causing the government more conflicts than they could handle. In the development, churches were built and new systems were created. The reasoning behind this was because of the military. The people working for the military were taking new extremes by taking at their gain control of the women. This is where the churches came in and tried to get the attention of others that the military were doing no good to the women. They were desperate and in need of help. “Missionaries constantly complained to the authorities about soldiers sexual abuse of women and girls. The padres understood that this undermined conversion efforts. The behavior also threatened to incite rebellion against the gente de razon” (Chavez 2004: 8). The church was their only help and as a result that is who every natives turned to when it came to looking for that light at the end of the tunnel.
Resistance
The conquistadors were hopeful in passing on their spiritual beliefs and what they truly believed in such as their culture. However, they did not receive it well, all they were given back was resistance to their triumphs. The people were already the native did not correlate to what they believed in. This meant there would be a loss in everything they always knew such as their religion and their native language. This changed when the arrival of La Virgen de Guadalupe came. There was a different perspective on the religious figures, they always seen the figure as a light person. However, when the Virgen de Guadalupe came she was seen as darker complexities and named her “Mother Earth”. The natives were proud of the Virgen because it was someone they sought to be able to relate to. The natives still found certain things to resist against to the new comers, they would still speak their language even though they were forbidden to. Natives also went against the laws by still practicing their danza and started doing it in the church as well.
Conclusion
These three parts were crucial to the history of the Mexican-American society. They were able to go against others wishes and laws to be able to incorporate their practices and beliefs into the world they created by conquering it piece by piece. The Spanish by continuing their religion eventually helped spread it all throughout. The conquistadors were a crucial part in the colonization of the new world
References
Borunda, R. & Moreno, M. (2012). Speaking from the heart: Herstories of Chicana, Latina, and Amerindian women. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
Chavez-Garcia, Miroslava. Negotiating Conquest: Gender and Power in California, 1770s to 1880s. University of Arizona Press, 2004.
Vigil, Diego. “From Indians to Chicanos.” Google Books, books.google.com/books/about/From_Indians_to_Chicanos.html?id=RH4MAAAAYAA