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Cultural-historical framework: |
The great Pre-Columbian Civilizations: Mayas, Aztecs, Incas |
Approximate dates: |
Mayas: Classical 4th to 10th Century CE; New Era 900-? Aztecs: 13th Century CE to 1521 Incas: 13th Century CE to 1532 (The period ends with the arrival of the Europeans, 1492) |
Historical landmarks: |
Arrival of the first Indigenous Americans, 40,000 years ago? The rise of the great Pre-Columbian civilizations. The rise and decline of the Maya Aztecs: founding of Tenochtitlán, 1325 Civil war within the Inca Empire, 1527-1532 |
Literature: |
The oral tradition. In general, the authors are anonymous. "Books" on bark and papyrus, with ideograms, pictographs, some hieroglyphs Mayas: the books of Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam Aztecs: Nezahualcoyotl (1402-1472), Macuilxochitzin (1435?-late 15C Cent) Incas: recorded later by the Inca Garcilaso (1539-1616) |
The arts: |
The great ceremonial cities and monuments. Stonework, sculpture, weavings, work in precious metals, ceramics, feathers. Mayas: the abandoned cities. Stelas. The Bonampak murals. Aztecs: the city of Tenochtitlán Incas: Cities of Cuzco, Machu Picchu |
Indigenous American peoples had spread out all over the so-called "New World" from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, for tens of thousands of years (perhaps as many as 40,000) before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. The numerous events and studies commemorating the 500th anniversary of the 1492 encounter have raised our general sensitivity to this reality, and to the fact that the term "Indian" was one given to Native Americans by Columbus in the mistaken belief that he had arrived in Asia. In one sense, or course, he was not totally wrong, since it is generally believed now that the Indigenous Americans originated in Asia and crossed over land and ice bridges from what is today Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Strait.
But the term "Pre-Colombian" is Euro-centric, even though there is no question that the year 1492, and the period of conquest that followed shortly thereafter, were key turning points in the history of the world. We should also consider the possibility of other contacts before 1492 between the Americas and the civilizations of Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. The likelihood of these contacts varies from the probable to the highly speculative, but perhaps the most important fact is that none of these sporadic contacts radically changed the history of America in the way that Columbus' arrival did in 1492.
And so, in this text we will use the term "Indigenous" or "Native American" instead of "Indian", in recognition of the reality that America was "discovered" long before the 15th century. Interestingly, the Spanish language has long preferred the term "indígena" over the somewhat pejorative "indio", especially in those regions where there are high densities of Indigenous peoples.
As the first Americans moved slowly south from Alaska, they adopted a variety of life styles and activities to sustain themselves. In vast expanses of the lowlands of North and South America they maintained a nomadic existence devoted to hunting and gathering, activities which did not usually lead to the building of cities or empires. These groups are usually referred to as the "low-density" Indigenous peoples, because they formed numerous small tribes which were widely dispersed throughout the Great Plains of North America and the Pampas and major river basins (Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná) of South America. In a few choice sites where conditions were favorable and where a major food crop (such as corn or the potato) was available, the tendency was to settle down permanently and focus on agriculture and the growing of these life-sustaining crops. Some of these crops produced important surpluses which over time permitted specialization of the population into farmers, craftsmen, merchants, soldiers, priests and administrators. The smooth running of such an increasingly complex social and economic structure led to the emergence of a ruling class, and eventually in some cases the construction of large cities and empires. These empires, because they tended to create large administrative bodies centered in important cites, are known as the "high-density" Indigenous peoples.
By about a thousand years ago (and 500 years before the arrival of Columbus) there were important high-density sites in the Central Valley of Mexico (various pre-Aztec peoples), in Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula (the Maya), and in the Andean region of South America (various pre-Inca peoples). By 1492 the Maya Empire had dramatically declined, while the empires of the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in what is today Peru (and parts of Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador) were at their height. Although these empires were conquered by the Spanish, in several countries of Latin America the Indigenous population today still outnumbers the European and the "mestizo" (the mix of Indigenous and Spanish): Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are examples. In several others they form a large minority: Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. And so, to understand Latin America today, we must first explore the history, art and literature of these Native Americans, especially those associated with high-density cultures.
Fig 3-1:Pre-columbian civilizations
Another useful way of envisioning the process of populating the Americas is to see it as a succession of waves, some major and some of lesser significance. The three major waves would be the Asian (perhaps 40,000 years ago), the European (starting in 1492), and the African (with the slave trade, mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries).
B. Pre-Columbian literature.
We begin our attempts to use literature to illustrate history by considering pre-Columbian literature, although it is somewhat misleading to speak of the few transcribed and translated fragments that remain as "literature". None of the pre-Columbian civilizations had an advanced system of writing which would permit the recording of texts. Although the Spaniards found many records and even "books" on bark, papyrus and stone, these records usually consisted of ideograms and symbols which simply chronicled major events or quantified certain information pertaining to dates or items of value. Only the Maya had apparently begun the transition from ideograms to phonetic symbols, and even here there is much confusion since few Maya ideograms have been deciphered, and it is difficult to separate the decorative ornaments and chronologies from what might be considered literature. Research in this area has been greatly hampered because the Spaniards deliberately destroyed anything they felt might serve to sustain the religious and political framework of the civilizations they conquered. In doing so the Spaniards were tacitly recognizing what conquerors have known throughout history: that it is easier to control a civilization you have defeated militarily if you can also defeat and destroy its culture, language and religion, and then impose your own.
Further complicating our attempt to study their history through their literature is the fact that the great pre-Columbian civilizations relied on the oral tradition to pass on their history, poetry, and knowledge. Literature passed on by the oral tradition inevitably changes over the years, especially in times of disease, destruction and hardship. Some of these traditions survived the devastating early years of the conquest and were later recorded in Latin or Spanish. While we may question how faithful these accounts are to their pre-Columbian origins, we have no choice but to rely on them as the only forms of pre-Columbian literature we have available to us. The extracts given below in this chapter are typical.
C. The Maya.
The history of the Maya prior to 1492 can be divided into two major periods, each focusing on a different region of Middle America. The so-called Classical Period ran from about the fourth to tenth centuries of our current era, and its cities were located in what is today Guatemala. The Classical Maya period can be called the golden age of pre-Columbian civilization, with extraordinary accomplishments in sculpture, architecture, astronomy calenderics, hieroglyphics, and painting.
Figure 3-1: Maya temple
Indeed, this period has often been described as having a parallel to the height of Greek culture in the Mediterranean. Then, for reasons that still remain a mystery (but which might be related to crop failure, disease, drought, or war), around the year 900 CE the Mayan cities were abandoned and the center of their civilization moved to the Yucatan Peninsula in Southeastern Mexico. There it flourished for a relatively brief period and then declined considerably over the next few centuries until the arrival of the Spaniards.
Maya calenderics blended their refined knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, science, and art. Like many of the pre-Columbian civilizations, their notion of time was cyclical, and not linear, like the Europeans'. Thus, what had occurred in the past could happen again when the next cycle evolved. The Maya had calculated the solar year with considerable accuracy, and they built their chronology on the basic unit of time, the katun (20 years). They believed there were five major cycles of 5,200 years which the earth would go through before destruction by some cataclysm. At the time of their height they were living in the fifth of these cycles, which they calculated would come to a destructive end on 24 December of the year 2011. This idea that events that occurred at a similar point in a previous cycle could very well repeat themselves causes some confusion when reading the scattered bits of surviving Maya poetry, since it is not entirely clear (as we shall see below) whether the poet is speaking of events which have already happened or are still to come (or both).
The political organization of the Mayas has been described as one of semi-independent "city-states" under no single unifying empire, thus further strengthening the notion of a parallel to Greek civilization. This notion is reinforced by the fact that the most impressive surviving legacies of the Maya are their ruined cities and the artifacts found in them. Ironically, it seems that these cities, for all their religious, civic and ceremonial monuments, were not inhabited by many individual Maya, and remained fairly empty except for ceremonial occasions. The typical Maya focused his or her life in the villages and fields which surrounded the major cities. Here is where corn, the staple of their civilization, was grown, and where they lived out the years of their existence.
Furthermore, one of the basic purposes of the sophisticated advances in science, mathematics, religion and astronomy was to help guarantee abundant harvests of corn and other foods by making sure the moments were just right in the chronological cycle, and that the gods would be pleased by the timing of the sowing and harvesting. This need to predict and choose the correct time extended beyond agriculture to many other ritualistic activities of the Maya, from the compressing of the baby's head for cosmetic purposes, through the rituals of puberty and marriage, to the moment of death and burial.
Figure 3-3: Maya profile
D. Maya art.
Maya art was unique, and of a refinement and grace that make its Classical period comparable to that of any of the other advanced civilizations on earth. Although the monuments and sculptures were not as large as those of the civilizations of the Central Valley of Mexico, nor the stonework as precise as that of the Incas to the south, Maya art had a special quality of delicacy and humanity that gave it distinct characteristics.
The dominant artform was architecture, in the shape of the ceremonial cities which served as places of gathering and ritual. One hallmark of Maya architecture was the corbeled arch, constructed by placing stones closer and closer together until the final gap was closed by the keystone. Sculpture served to enhance architecture, and stela recorded important events and names associated with the great cities. Relatively little Maya painting has survived, but that which has, such as the Bonampak murals, serves as invaluable records of their way of life.
Fig. 3-4: Corbeled arch
E. Maya literature
1. Introduction.
The Maya civilization had declined markedly by the time the Spanish conquistadors arrived in what is today southern Mexico and Central America, but the Quiché, a major branch of the Mayas, still existed in the area of today's Guatemala and maintained many of the oral traditions of their ancestors. They also had old book-like records, but most were destroyed by the Spaniards or had seriously deteriorated due to the tropical climate. Three of these codices or books which have been preserved apparently deal mainly with numbers, the calendar, and rites; they include many decorative elements and picture writings.
Fig 3-5: Maya god of writing
2. The Popol Vuh
Somewhere around the year 1550 a Maya-Quiché who also knew Spanish wrote down from memory the history and legends he or she had received from story-tellers or relatives covering the period from about 1050 to 1550. The language was Quiché, but the letters and phonetic spelling were from the Spanish introduced by the new conquerors. This original version was lost for a century and a half until a Spanish priest discovered it. The resulting text was called the Popol Vuh, or Sacred Book of the Quiché People. In the brief extract which follows, note the similarity to the Genesis creation story, and the importance given to corn, which is still venerated today in the old Mayan area as the source of life.
From the Popol Vuh (Sacred Book of the Quiché People).
It was the beginning. All was silent and calm. Nothing moved, all was suspended, in the long and unending night.
The Ancestors Tepeu and Gucumatz were the only beings that were, all bathed in light. In the ecstasy of a great passion came the Mind of the Sky, the Hurricane. And then the Ancestors felt the need to talk and thus the first Word was born. With the Word came deliberation and discourse. In this deliberation, under the inspiration of the Hurricane, they reached agreement that life should be created.
They created Earth from a giant cloud. And on it they raised mountains and created valleys, and then the woods and the forests of pines and cypresses. Then they scattered the waters, and the rivers ran between the green hills. But the gods wanted to see their work and so they illuminated it with the first dawn. And then Mother God Gucumatz cried out with joy: "How great has been your inspiration, oh Hurricane!"
But the Earth remained quiet and silent. The Creators said: "This cannot be, we must break the silence." And so came the animals, of all kinds and colors and sizes, wild and tame. And the Creators said to them: "Talk to us. Do not be silent, tell us your names. Invoke us." But the animals could not speak, nor say their names, nor invoke their Creators. And so the Creators said: "This is not what we want. We will change them. They will keep their lives, but they will be sacrificed and will be eaten. This is our decision and they must accept it because they refuse to speak and recognize their Creators."
And so they created new beings. This time they used clay, but the bodies were not firm. The beings could speak but they could not understand and they could not move, and their sight was clouded.
And so the gods asked themselves, "how can we create the kind of beings we want?" They consulted with the Ancients of the Dawn, Ixpicané and Izmucané, and these Ancients answered: "Let us try once again, but this time we will carve their mouths and eyes from wood." The new beings were created from wood and they indeed could exist, and talk, and walk, and multiply themselves, but they had no soul and no mind. They did not know where they came from, nor why they were created, and could remember nothing. They had no blood, no flesh, no expression. Their bodies were dry and their heads empty. They were automatons. The Gods decided to destroy the wooden humans, but they did not destroy them all. Some remain lost in the jungles, with human figures, but without humanity.
And so dawn came again and yet the beings that the gods desired had not been created. Then Tepeu said: "We will make humans appear on the face of the earth". This was just before the sun, the moon, and the stars appeared in the skies. The Creators heard Tepeu and they decided to create a human capable of remembering, of understanding, and of glorifying its creators. This time the material they chose was corn, because of its color and its flexibility. From this corn was created the flesh of four men who were: Balám-Quitzé, Balám-Acab, Mahy-cutah and Iqui-Balám. They had no mother nor father, nor were they born of woman. They were the miracle of Tepeu. They could speak, and think, and know things that were near and things that were far. They could remember and they could be grateful. So intelligent were the answers the four men gave to Tepeu when he talked with them that Tepeu thought he had created gods and not simple humans. And so Tepeu ordered that their power be limited. To do this he blew fog into the eyes of the four men, and ever since then the eyes of humans have been cloudy like a fogged mirror. From that day on humans can only know that which is close to them.
Later Tepeu wished that humans multiply on the face of the earth and know joy. As the four men slept, the Gods placed a beautiful woman next to each one. The names of the women were Cahá-Paluna, Chomihá, Tzunuihá and Caquizahá. All of humanity is descended from these four couples.
From the book of Chilam Balam
The 11 Ahau Katun
the first which was counted,
is the initial katun.
Ichcaansihó, Visage of the birth of the sky,
was the site of the katun
in which the strangers with blonde beards arrived,
the sons of the sun,
the men with light skin.
Oh! We have become sad with their arrival!
From the east they came,
and when the bearded ones arrived in these lands, Figure 3-6: Maya glyphs
the messengers of the sign of divinity,
the strangers of the earth,
the blond men...,
...here come the cowardly white men from the sky,
the white sons of the sky!
The stick of the white man will come down,
will come from the sky,
it will come in all parts,
at dawn you will see the announcing sign.
Oh! We have become sad because they arrived,
because the great stone mound-builders arrived,
the great mound-builders of construction beams,
the false leaders, "roots" of the earth
who shoot fire from the ends of their arms,
the ones wrapped in their cloaks,
with the ropes to hang our lords!
Oh! We have become sad because they arrived!
Oh Itzá, Sorcerer of the water,
your gods have now lost their value!
This True God who comes from the sky
will only speak of sin,
only of sin will his teachings be.
His soldiers will be inhuman,
his fierce mastiffs will be cruel.
What will become of the Al Kin,
Priest of the solar cult,
and of Bobat the Prophet,
who understands what will happen
to the peoples of Mayapan,
Deer-standard, and Chichén Itzá,
The shores of the wells of the water sorcerer?
Woe be unto you
my Younger Brothers
because in the 7 Ahau Katun
you will have much pain
and much misery,
because of the tribute you must give
with violence,
and above all, given with speed!
A different tribute tomorrow
and the day after you will give;
this is what is coming, my children.
Prepare yourself to bear the load of misery
which is coming to your people
because this katun that is coming
is the katun of misery,
katun of struggle with evil, Figure 3-7: Maya priest offers
struggle of the 11 katun. a jade figurine to the sun