Indigenous People of Mesoamerica, Essay Example

To what extent did the Spanish “conquest” of Mexico alter Indigenous culture in all aspects (language, religion, life-ways)? 

After the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explored and conquered much of South, Central, and North America.  This movement created many fundamental changes to the lives of those that they came into contact with.  The Spanish “conquest” of Mexico altered indigenous culture to a great extent. This not only changed thee basic languages and religions that were used within the culture, but also their ways of life as well.  These changes persisted long after the various areas went through revolutions of their own to once more gain autonomy from foreign rule.

The Spanish exploration of the new world was essentially a religious one.  Many of these explorations were commissioned by the church itself.  The rulers of Spain at the time were themselves Catholic.  For this reason, there was an attempt to Christianize those cultures that the expeditions came into contact with.  For this reason, many of the religious and spiritual creations by the indigenous people were banned by the Spanish as idolatry.

Attempts to convert the languages of the people of Mexico were not as forced of those that were converted to Catholicism.  While this was not necessarily considered as large of an impact, there still was one.  In the present day, many of the languages spoken by the natives of Mexico have some influence from the Spanish language, and some are based on it entirely.

These cultural changes affected the way of life for these people on a fundamental level.  Many of their old religious and linguistic expressions have been lost, along with their historical accounts and records.  Many of these people had both spoken and written accounts, however the attempt to alter their languages and the burning of many religious books that were deemed sacrilegious were burned by the Spanish.  In this way, many of the ancient traditions and customs have been lost to history.

Would you label Indigenous people of Mesoamerica as “conquered?” Why or why not?

While Indigenous people were at one time under the subjugation of European powers, it is difficult to consider them to have been fully conquered.  The Spanish campaign to conquer the vast areas of Mexico and other parts of America had many victories.  They were able to bring the Aztecs, Mayans, and many other tribes under their control for a time.  However, their inability to ensure the stability of these conquests, as well as their inability to completely overcome the cultural and religious traditions of the people seems to indicate that this was more of a merging of cultures than the establishment of one over another.

The Mesoamerican tribes lost a large amount of their linguistic and religious traditions during the Spanish “conquest” of Mexico.  While there was a large strategic attempt to Christianize many of these cultures, the endeavor was not entirely successful.  Many cultures still retained their languages and religious traditions, despite the Spanish effort to completely eradicate them.  In this sense, it would seem these people were able to overcome the subjugation of their people in order to stop the Spanish attempts at conquest of their entire civilization and culture.

How is “mestizaje” reflected in Mexican Culture?

Both the Spanish attempt to overcome and subjugate the Mexican cultures and the culture’s ability to withstand this attempt, to a certain extent, has led to a blending of the two cultures that are represented in the unique traditions, beliefs, and religious practices of the Mexican people.  This blending, or “mestizaje”, can be seen reflected in the lives of the people within Mexico’s culture.

While at one point in time the Spanish were there to rule the Mexican inhabitants, after the mixture of their blood throughout the generations, it became less clear who was of what culture.  In this way, those with mixed racial heritage became the predominant social class within society, and the boundaries between rulers and ruled began to blur, leading to the identities that the people have now.

What are concrete examples of how Indigenous people negotiated with Europeans through religion, language and culture?

The introduction of the Catholic religion into the Indigenous cultures of  Mexico was detrimental to the early traditions of their cultural way of life.  However, by blending aspects of their own traditions into the teachings that were being given by the Spanish Catholics that had come to convert them, they were able to preserve many of these outlawed traditions.

While the languages spoken by these early people were being converted to Spanish, the existence of etymological roots of varying cultures that are still used throughout the region today represents their ability to blend their cultural heritage with that spoken by the Spanish.  In this way, many of the essential characteristics of the native languages of Mexico were preserved in the cultural traditions of the people who still used them.

Do you view this blending as an act of resistance/survival or subordination/subjugation?

While the expression of traditional religious and linguistic ideas was probably used to resist the attempts of the Spanish to overcome their cultures, the Indigenous people of Mexico most likely used the intermingling of their children as a means of survival.  By offering up those of their own cultures to their Spanish rulers, these tribes would have been able to preserve the peace, while at the same time ensuring the survival of their bloodlines.

This idea of resistance is important in that it helped them to eventually change the circumstances of the cultural influences that existed within their societies.  It may have been difficult to discern how this led to their overcoming the rule of the Spanish conquerors.  This, however, ultimately led to the ability of their descendants to overcome the differences between their two cultures.