Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

Camilla Townsend's Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs is not exactly what we were looking for. Our own interests are mainly in the preconquest period, but that comprises less than half of the book. Instead, Townsend, partly due to her use of Nahuatl annals and sources penned by Nahua or part-Nahua authors of the 1500s and 1600s, extends her history of the Mexica into the 1600s. This is admirable since the Mexica and other Nahuas did not disappear overnight with the Spanish conquest. Instead, their culture survived in many ways, despite the destruction, epidemics, and loss of political power in a highly unequal colonial society. Some, like Chimalpahin, became historians adept with adapting the Roman script for writing detailed annals or histories of the central valley of Mexico in Nahuatl. 

Townsend also tries to emphasize the voices of women, elucidate the experience of Malinche, and humanize the Aztec state (Triple Alliance and empire are problematic labels for reasons we shall not delve into here). Indeed, their complex civilization was often reduced to ugly caricatures of obscene human sacrifice or even belittled as irrational cowards (Moctezuma) in the face of the Spaniards, mistakenly believed to have been perceived as gods by the Mexica in bad, questionable histories first produced by Spaniards. In truth, relying as much as possible on Nahua sources to highlight their own memories, experiences, language, and worldview.

However, Townsend believes the Nahuatl annals and sources of the colonial era are most useful for only a century of the region's history before the colonial conquest. Thus, a reader eager for a more detailed examination of Aztec history before the conquest may be somewhat disappointed. Nonetheless, the narrative does encompass the shadowy origins of the Mexica from the distant north, as well as an outline of the history of Mesoamerica and the context in which the early Mexica entered as newcomers to the central valley. Townsend even draws on Diamond and others to help readers understand why, despite the advances made by the Aztecs and other indigenous cultures before 1492, they were "behind" when it came to metallurgy, writing, firearms, domesticated animals, and exposure to deadly diseases. The consequences of these aforementioned factors gave the Spanish a tremendous edge in their colonial expansion. 

What was most interesting for us, however, is the degree of similarity with the Incas. Like their famous Andean counterparts, the Aztecs appear to have only been one of many players in their region in the 1200s and 1300s. Only in the 1400s did their rapid expansion into an imperial power take place, often relying on both military expansion and marriage alliances with other altepetls in the central valley. Moreover, like Pachacuti, whose reign appears to have included a standardization of historical narratives on the Inca past, the Mexica under Itzcoatl had books burned when he took power, presumably leading to him being able to reshape what was later produced under his reign and that of his successors. Moreover, like Pachacuti, Itzcoatl's rise to the throne was not uncontested due him being the son of a slave woman. Pachacuti, of course, had to contend with a brother and their father who favored his sibling, according to the standard narrative of Inca imperial expansion in the 1400s. Furthermore, like the successors of Pachacuti, the Aztec rulers after Itzcoatl continued the expansion of the state (Moctezuma I, Axyacatl) and created a more centralized administration (Moctezuma II). The Aztecs, who did not use khipu to record information, must have relied on their pictures and glyph system to record information on borders, gather tribute information, and standardize calendars across the region, and use the labor and goods from tribute for public works and monuments. Nonetheless, the Inca state appears to have been far more bureaucratic and invested in infrastructure across a huge swathe of land. Intriguingly, like the Incas, the Aztecs appear to have also been unsure how to respond to the Spanish threat, although Townsend is emphatic on the Spaniards NOT being perceived as gods by the Aztecs.

The tale of Mexica expansion here is one in which the Mexica went from underdogs who had to lend their warriors to more powerful altepetls to being the dominant, hegemonic one in the 1400s and early 1500s. In addition, this entailed the growth of their capital, Tenochtitlan, into a metropolis with causeways, canals, chinampas for agriculture, and tribute imposed on conquered people to fully supply the capital and its elite. Through the practice of polygyny, the Mexica elites used their marriages to women from multiple altepetls and lineages to cement alliances and intervene in the affairs of other altepetls. Since primogeniture was not the principle on which royal succession was based, marriages to multiple women were usual within the large royal Mexican clan to determine succession, often alternating it between different branches. Most of the book focuses on the cataclysmic shock of Spanish conquest and the Mexica under colonial rule. 

Aztec Human Sacrifice

Although we remain rather ignorant about the Aztecs and Mesoamerican civilizations, we found this detailed video to be quite informative and interesting. The question of human sacrifice is an important one since the scale of it in prehispanic central Mexico was said to have been of epic proportions. Like our ongoing interest in the Incas, their practice of human sacrifice was also used by the Spaniards to justify colonialism. This video helps dispel some of our preconceived notions about the practice and what it actually looked like on the ground. 

A World Discovered by Columbus

Un mundo que descubrió Colón: las rutas del comercio prehispánico de los metales by Adam Szaszdi Nagy is a fascinating work endeavoring to understand precolonial trade in metals (and shells, slaves, salt, emeralds, and semiprecious stones) across the Americas. Beginning in the Antilles, where Columbus was first informed of places with gold, guanin and precious metals, Nagy takes the Indian guides and informants seriously for testimony on long-distance trade. Guanin, for instance, the gold-copper alloy so highly treasured by the Taino for pectorals and adornment, was indeed acquired through long-distance trade with South America. Guayana, or Guayana, was likely one of the areas from which guanin (also known as caracoli to the Caribs) spread to the Antilles, perhaps through an exchange of slaves. In addition to guanin and other worked metals, the Antilles was also part of an exchange network that connected all the Americas. 

Shells, jadeite, emeralds, salt, slaves, copper, silver, turquoise and textiles connected North and South America via maritime routes through the Caribbean and across the Pacific. Indeed, Nagy draws on evidence of widespread similar uses of guanin for pectorals and nose pieces in the Antilles, Colombia and Central America to posit a long-lasting network of trade. In addition, the ultimate sources of the techniques for advanced metallurgy appear to have first arisen in Peru and Ecuador, from which they spread to Colombia (the Quimbaya, Muisca, Sinu, and Tairona cultures). Then, via trade routes that traveled along South American rivers and overland, guanin or tumbaga reached the Antilles, Mesoamerica, and beyond (as Florida seems to have received some items of South American origin via the Antilles). 

While Nagy seems to uncritically accept some Spanish sources as valid on the cannibalism of the Caribs or those of the Colombian Cauca valley, he interprets them carefully elsewhere to establish the skill and longevity of contact and trade in the Americas. For instance, the Taino of the Greater Antilles told Colombus, Chanca and others of their trade contacts with the mainland (Zuania, or Guania?). Elsewhere, indigenous informants in 16th century Mexico reported the visit of long-distance traders via the sea to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, which is probably evidence of trade contacts with coastal Ecuador. Was there indeed a movement of specialists in metallurgy from Ecuador to Mexico due to Inca expansion in the 15th century is difficult to say with the sources used, but certainly possible. Likewise, Raleigh and others on Guayana indicate how the long-lasting trade in guanin continued as late as the end of the 16th century in South America. Furthermore, was el Turco, the man encountered in the Southwest by Coronada, really a native of Ecuador? Nagy's evidence is insufficient, but certainly suggestive of ancient contacts via trade between Ecuador and Mexico as natives of Ecuador's coast traveled in balsas with sails. 

One wishes more could have been uncovered on direct Taino trade with Colombia and Venezuela without the Carib or Lesser Antilles intermediaries. Nagy argues that Cuba lacked close trade links with the Yucatan and Central America due to the lack of sufficient trade goods that would have attracted merchants from the mainland. But Jamaica, where a cacique's regalia impressed Columbus and resembled that of Indian populations in parts of Panama and Columbia, would presumably have lacked goods to exchange with the mainland, too. Unless, perhaps, captives or carved, wooden objects of Taino artisans attracted a market in the mainland? And what if, contrary to Nagy, the Taino were cultivating cotton in sufficient quantities to export it to the mainland, and trading directly with the coast of Colombia as well as Venezuela?

Maya and Aztec Influences in the Greater Antilles

Influencias mayas y aztecas en los taínos de las Antillas Mayores: del juego de pelota al arte y la mitología by Osvaldo Garcia Gocyo is another speculative study on Mesoamerican influences in the precolonial Antilles. Following in the footsteps of Eugenio Fernandez Mendez, Garcia Goyco suggests the number of parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican cultures in religion and the ballgame are proof of Mesoamerican & Taino contact. He even goes further than Fernandez Mendez in his analysis of the religious and mythological parallels, believing the similarities could not be the product of deep archetypes or independent evolution. In order to affirm this theory, Garcia Goyco takes the reader on an excursion through Taino and Mesoamerican art (usually less persuasive than other evidence), religion, and mythology, with occasional references to the Carib and South American indigenous groups for comparative purposes.

In terms of the actual evidence, like Eugenio Fernandez Mendez, Garcia Goyco's argument is strongest with regard to the ballgame and the plazas or courtyards associated with it. The astronomically-aligned Taino batey does not have an equivalent in the northern South American regions their ancestors came from. Moreover, there is possible evidence for human sacrifice in the plazas and the use of stone collars that are reminiscent of those found in Mesoamerica. While the ballgame and courtyards associated with it can be found as far back as the Olmecs, there is so far no evidence for the construction of elaborate plazas in Venezuela or the Orinoco Basin. Thus, Garcia Goyco finds it quite likely that Mesoamerican influences reached Hispaniola and Puerto Rico by or around the 600s or 700s of the Common Era, around the time for the earliest known courtyards in the Greater Antilles. Why we do not find evidence of such elaborate plazas in western Cuba or Jamaica early on is perhaps, according to our author, a product of the later spread of the Taino culture to those islands. It is suggested that the less "advanced" cultures resident on the island were less interesting for economic or cultural purposes to Mesoamerican peoples (perhaps akin to the Putun Maya traders?). 

Besides the evidence from Taino and Mesoamerican ballgames, the rest of the evidence is more suggestive than anything else. The fact that the Taino on one side and Mayas and Aztecs on the other believed in cosmogonic eras and believed there was once a flood or deluge is one example of the types of sources utilized by the Garcia Goyco. It is certainly interesting that in Taino myth children are transformed into frogs, an animal associated with rain. However, it could be purely random that the mother goddess figure of the Aztecs, called Tona, happens to have a name similar to the cry of the children-turned-frogs in Taino myth. Indeed, the association of the frog with rain among the Taino, Aztecs, and Maya does not constitute evidence of Mesoamerican influence on the former. Furthermore, the deity or god Juracan or Hurakan, supposedly tied to the Yura-can of the Galibi Caribs, may not be connected to the Maya Hurakan. Garcia Goyco tries to develop this theory based on Coatrisquie, a deity associated with Guabancex. Coatrisquie's name is similar to the Aztec Coatlicue, who was associated with subterranean waters. Perhaps Guabancex had multiple names like other cemis of the Taino, so Garcia Goyco postulates that Juracan was one of these additional names. Moreover, the Hurakan of the Maya in Guatemala is part of a trilogy of gods associated with the sky, sea, land and life. Indeed, Hurakan to the Maya meant heart of the sky and "a leg." For our author, Jurakan may also be another reference to Anacacuya, whose name points to the Polar Star (hurricanes also rotate around the Polar star).

In addition, the author suggests more parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican mythology. For instance, take the Xibalbay mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Since it bears a slight resemblance to the Taino Coaybay and both were the land of the dead, it is possible there may be a connection between Taino and Maya beliefs. The two cultures also associated bats with death or spirits. Similarly, the Taino Opiyelbuobiran, a cemi with four legs, is linked to the Chacs of the Maya, which also are associated with dogs, forests, and lagoons. Perhaps even more intriguing is the alleged relationship between the Aztec montecitos and the three-pointer cemis of the Taino. Believing the three-pointers to be identified with Baibrama and fertility, Garcia Goyco argues for similar practices among Taino and Aztec communities with regard to the reverence attached to these objects. He even argues that the myth of Deminan and his three brothers has a Maya parallel in a tradition collected from the Yucatan by Antonio Mediz Bolio. Indeed, the tale of Deminan, Yaya, Yayael and the deluge does bear some common features with the Yucatecan tradition of Giaia and his two sons, Giayala'el and Halal. In the the Maya version, however, the father, Giaia, is killed by one of his sons but the same ending with a flood caused by siblings occurs. In fact, perhaps even the 4 Bacabes or brothers in Maya tradition is also an influence on the Taino myth of Deminan and his twin siblings (gemelos divinos). Something similar may also be seen in the Taino and Maya perception of the land as a giant iguana or reptitle floating in water. 

Overall, Garcia Goyco's study finds some interesting parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican cultures. While his evidence is strongest with regard to the ballgame and plazas, some of the similarities in mythology might point to deeper shared influences or cultures. Mesoamerican cultural influences spread far and wide so it is certainly not impossible for elements of them to be found among the Taino of the Greater Antilles. However, is it not possible that some of the mythological similarities might be a product of later influences? Perhaps Taino who accompanied the Spanish to Mesoamerica introduced elements of these myths and traditions? And one cannot discount the possibility of Taino (and Carib) seafarers in the Caribbean traveling to Mesoamerica in the distant past. Perhaps some of the similarities are also merely a coincidence of similar mythologizing based on animals like bats, frogs, and reptiles. By and large, studies pointing to greater similarities with South American lowland Indians are more convincing. Of course, it does seem likely that Mesoamerican influences must have also reached the Antilles either via Central America or directly from Mesoamerica at some point in the precolonial past. 

Art and mythology of the Taino Indians of the Greater West Indies

Eugenio Fernandez Mendez's Art and Mythology of the Taino Indians of the Greater West Indies is a frustrating read. A short work based on Taino art, mythology and archaeology seen in several examples of Taino art and glimpses from the Spanish chronicles, the author posits a significant Mesoamerican and/or Central American influence on the Taino. The actual chronology of this influence is uncertain, but the author is convinced of various mythological, theogonic and aesthetic similarities between the Taino and Mesoamerica, which presumably can be traced all the way back to the Olmec or proto-Olmec culture. How exactly this influence reached the Greater Antilles, and mainly Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, is unclear. If the general chronology of the rise of chiefdoms with greater political centralization and social differentiation began around 1000-1200 CE for Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, this is long after the Olmec and Classic Maya. However, if Mesoamerican influences may have sprung from an earlier period in the history of the circum-Caribbean, perhaps one in which peoples from the Yucatan, southern Mexico and other areas migrated to or traded with peoples living in the Greater Antilles, perhaps some stylistic and religious practices were transferred to the Taino. And who knows, perhaps the Totonac stone yokes are related to the famous stone collars of pre-Hispanic Puerto Rico. 

There likely were contacts of some sort between the Antilles and Central America and Mesoamerica. Fernandez Mendez cites a number of sources indicating Taino contacts with Florida, northern South America, and Central America in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. These contacts likely existed long before Europeans arrived in the region. That said, there is a huge hole in Fernandez Mendez's theory. If Mesoamerican influences were so important on Taino mythology and art, why is so little evidence of this found in Jamaica and Cuba? We know indigenous people of Jamaica and Cuba likely had some degree of contact with the Yucatan, for example, but why is so little evidence of the influence of Mesoamerican "high" cultures evident on those islands? Why is it that more distant Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, where the most elaborate ballcourts, plazas, stone sculpture, duhos, and cacicazgos were developed, lack any incontrovertible evidence of trade or exchange with Mesoamerica? Did seafarers, traders, priests, and skilled laborers from Mesoamerica or Central America decide to skip most of Cuba and Jamaica because they were backwaters, demographically or culturally? It seems rather more likely that ideas or ritual practices may have reached Puerto Rico and Hispaniola via South America rather than a direct link to Mesoamerica. Fernandez Mendez seems to think otherwise, especially given the lack of elaborate ballcourts in northern South America. 

However, the rest of his argument relies on speculative interpretations of Las Casas, Pane, Oviedo, and other chroniclers and the Spanish sources on Mesoamerican religion and ritual to claim a strong influence of the Maya, Huastecs and others on the Taino. While there definitely are parallels between the religious and mythological world of the Taino and, perhaps, the Aztecs and Maya, one can also find even more numerous direct parallels and ethnolinguistic evidence linking the Taino to the cultures of northern South America. Interpretations of Pane such as those of Arrom and Stevens-Arroyo are more convincing, particularly in that they are better supplied by ethnographic evidence on the indigenous peoples of the Orinoco Basin as well as linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence pointing to South America as a primary source of Taino civilization. Of course, this does not mean that there was no influence from Central America and Mexico. Human sacrifice and the religious symbolism of the Taino batey very well could have some degree of Mesoamerican influence which is not evident in the cultures of South America where similar ballgames were played. Unfortunately, Fernandez Mendez's speculative reading of Yocahu and Guabancex in relation to the pantheon of Mesoamerican belief relies too heavily on assumptions on identifying Taino cemis and artifacts with particular gods and attributes which are not verifiable. He proposes a number of interesting hypotheses and notes certain recurring motifs among indigenous peoples in the circum-Caribbean region. Yet some of these similarities are likely archetypes common across many cultures, especially the role of fertility, sun cults, the importance of wind and rain, and divine twins or gods with multiple attributes. He also relies on possibly outdated theories of the hurricane as a deity or deified force.

Whether or not a cultural stream from Mexico reached the Greater Antilles in the 14th century, also spreading to the southeastern US and other areas, actually transpired remains to be proven. Based on Fernandez Mendez's analysis, more work must be done to ascertain the nature of contacts between the Taino and their mainland neighbors to the west. Whether or not the common "fire god" of the Taino and various cultures in Central America can be proven by alleged stylistic conventions shared across time and space raises even more questions that we do not possess sufficient evidence to support. Similarly, do we truly possess enough evidence to claim the behiques of the Taino were ritualists associated with the Moon, the mother goddess and the serpent? Intriguingly, Fernandez Mendez does claim that the jibaros of Puerto Rico retained some interesting traces of their Taino ancestors and predecessors. For instance, the word soco, allegedly the central post in a caney of the Tainos, survived in Puerto Rican Spanish with the same meaning (and sexual connotations).