Tlaxcala ( , 'place of maize tortillas') was a

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

city and state in central

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. During the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

, the Tlaxcaltecs allied with the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

against their hated enemies, the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

, supplying a large contingent for and sometimes most of the Spanish-led army that eventually destroyed the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...

. Tlaxcala was completely surrounded by Aztec lands, leading to the intermittent so called " flower war" between the

and the Tlaxcalans, fighting for their independence, as the Aztecs wanted to absorb them into the empire.

History

The Tlaxcalans arrived in Central Mexico during the Late Postclassic. They first settled near Texcoco in the

valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, ...

, between the settlement of Cohuatlinchan and the shore of Lake Texcoco. After some years the Tlaxcallans were driven out of the valley of Mexico and moved to the east, splitting into three groups along the way. While one group continued north towards the modern state of Hidalgo and another remained in the vicinity of Texcoco, a third group arrived in the modern valley of Tlaxcala, where they established the city of Tepetícpac Texcallan under the leadership of Culhuatecuhtli Quanex. Over the subsequent years, the Tlaxcallan state expanded with the foundations of Ocotelulco and Tizatlán. The fourth major settlement, Quiahuiztlan, was founded by members of the Tlaxcallan group that had initially remained in the valley of Mexico.

Government

Ancient Tlaxcala was a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

ruled by a council of between 50 and 200 chief political officials (teuctli g. teteuctin l.. These officials gained their positions through service to the state, usually in warfare, and as a result came from both the noble (pilli) and commoner (macehualli) classes.

Contact with conquistadors

Tlaxcala was never conquered by the Aztec empire, but was engaged in a state of perpetual war, the so-called flower wars or garland wars.

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

Bernal Díaz del Castillo Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced ...

describes the first battle between the Spanish force and the Tlaxcaltecah as surprisingly difficult. He writes that they would probably have not survived, had not Xicotencatl the Elder and Maxixcatzin persuaded Xicotencatl the Younger – the Tlaxcalteca warleader – that it would be better to ally with the newcomers than to kill them.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, Xicohtencatl the Younger was later condemned by the Tlaxcalan ruling council and hanged by Cortés for desertion, in April 1521, during the siege of Tenochtitlan. Due to protracted warfare between the Aztecs and the Tlaxcaltecah, the latter were eager to exact revenge, and soon became loyal allies of the Spanish. Even after the Spanish were expelled from

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

, the Tlaxcaltecah continued their support. Tlaxcala also assisted the Spanish in the conquest of Guatemala. As a result of the alliance with the Spaniards, Tlaxcala had privileged status within "New Spain", as confirmed in the Royal Writ of the Foundation of the City of Tlaxcala, Mexico. After the Spanish conquered Tenochtitlan and the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala was allowed to survive and preserve its pre-Columbian culture. In addition, as a reward for the unyielding loyalty the Tlaxcalan federation had shown the Spanish, the city and its inhabitants largely escaped the pillaging and destruction following the Spanish conquest. The Tlaxcaltecah gave further assistance in the Mixtón War. Following the Spanish Conquest, Tlaxcala was divided into four fiefdoms () by the Spanish

corregidor Corregidor (, , ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of Cavite City and thus the province of Cavite. It is located west of Manila, the nation's capi ...

Gómez de Santillán in 1545 (26 years after the Conquest). These fiefdoms were Ocotelolco, Quiahuiztlan, Tepeticpac, and Tizatlan. At this time, four great houses or lineages emerged and claimed hereditary rights to each fiefdom and created fictitious genealogies extending back into the pre-Columbian era to justify their claims. During the colonial period, Tlaxcala's "part in the conquest of the Aztec 'empire,' its favored treatment by the Spanish crown, unique talent for propaganda and litigation and astonishing enterprise" gave the small state an important place in Mexican history. In the 16th and 17th centuries Tlaxcalteca settlers went to live in new northern colonies to protect Mexico from the Chichimecas.

References

Sources

Diego Muñoz Camargo Diego Muñoz Camargo ( – 1599) was the author of '' History of Tlaxcala'', an illustrated codex that highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the Tlaxcalan people. Life Diego Muñoz Camargo was born in Spanish colonial Mex ...

's '' History of Tlaxcala'' (''Lienzo de Tlaxcala''), written in or before 1585, is an illustrated

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

describing the conquest of Mexico. It was painted by Tlaxcalteca artists under Spanish supervision. *

Crónica Mexicayotl Crónica may refer to: * ''Crónica'' (newspaper), Buenos Aires newspaper * Crónica Electrónica or Crónica, independent media label based in Porto, Portugal * Crónica TV, Argentine news cable channel * Crônica, Portuguese-language form of sh ...

was written by Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, in Nahuatl and Spanish, in the last decades of the 16th century.

Bibliography

*Alvarado Tezozomoc, Fernando (1944). ''Crónica Mexicana''. Mexico: Manuel Orozco y Berra, Leyenda. *Fargher, Lane F., Richard E. Blanton and Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza (2010). Egalitarian Ideology and Political Power in Prehispanic Central Mexico: The Case of Tlaxcallan. "Latin American Antiquity," 21(3):227–251. *Gibson, Charles (1952). ''Tlaxcala in the Sixteenth Century''. New Haven: Yale University Press. *Hassig, Ross (2001)
"Xicotencatl: rethinking an indigenous Mexican hero"
Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl, UNAM. *Hicks, Frederic (2009). Land and Succession in the Indigenous Noble Houses of Sixteenth-Century Tlaxcala. ''Ethnohistory,'' 56:4, 569–588. *Muñoz Camargo, Diego (1982)

892 Year 892 (Roman numerals, DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 892nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 892nd year of the 1st millennium, the 92nd year of the 9th century, a ...

''Historia de Tlaxcala''. Alfredo Chavero. México. * *''Our lady of assumption ex convent''. Bienvenidos al INAH. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.inah.gob.mx/en/english/4181-our-lady-of-assumption-ex-convent.

External links

Spanish language description of the historiography of TlaxcalaArticle in Sciencemag about archeological findings at Tizatlan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tlaxcala (Nahua State) Complex altepetl Former confederations History of Tlaxcala Nahua History of New Spain Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire Former republics in North America