Nahuas of Colonial Mexico
Nahuas of Colonial Mexico
- Richard ConwayRichard ConwayDepartment of History, Montclair State University
Summary
When Spaniards first ventured into central Mexico in the late 1510s, they were astonished at the sheer scale and the grandeur of the Native societies they encountered. What became the modern Mexican states of Tlaxcala, Puebla, Morelos, Mexico, and the Federal District were home to many ethnic groups, but the Nahuatl-speaking peoples, or Nahuas, were the predominant population. While they formed communities in further-flung parts of Mexico, it was in these central regions that the vast population of Nahuas lived in dozens of great city-states. Among these polities were Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan, which together comprised the Aztec Triple Alliance. When the Spaniards arrived, many city-states had fallen under the sway of the Triple Alliance or, like Tlaxcala, had defiantly maintained their independence from its imperial expansion. In the years after 1520, Nahua society was convulsed by the violence from wars of conquest, conflict among Native groups, civil strife, enslavement, and demographic collapse from recurring waves of multiple epidemic diseases. In spite of the catastrophic loss of life, Nahua communities survived. Indeed, they proved remarkably resilient. Nahuas not only maintained the integrity of their communities but also preserved much of their economic orientation, social organization, and, at least at the local level, their sociopolitical order. It was on the foundations of Nahua society—especially Nahua city-states—that Spanish rule came to rest. These foundations remained intact through independence (and beyond). During the three centuries of colonial rule, Nahua society and culture underwent complex processes of continuity and change. Nahuas adapted to changing circumstances and harnessed new opportunities even as they also succeeded in preserving much of their heritage, including their language, whose survival in written sources makes it possible for us to study their rich history.
Keywords
Subjects
- History of Mexico