The Spanish invasion of Mexico in 1519 left the capital city,
Tenochtitlan, in ruins. Conquistador Hernan Cortes, following the
city's surrender in 1521, established a governing body to organize
its reconstruction. Cortes was careful to appoint native people to
govern who had held positions of authority before his arrival,
establishing a pattern that endured for centuries. William F.
Connell's "After Moctezuma: Indigenous Politics and Self-Government
in Mexico City, 1524-1730" reveals how native self-government in
former Tenochtitlan evolved over time as the city and its
population changed.
Drawing on extensive research in Mexico's Archivo General de la
Nacion, Connell shows how the hereditary political system of the
Mexica was converted into a government by elected town councilmen,
patterned after the Spanish "cabildo, " or municipal council. In
the process, the Spanish relied upon existing Mexica administrative
entities--the native ethnic state, or "altepetl" of Mexico
Tenochtitlan, became the" parcialidad" of San Juan Tenochtitlan,
for instance--preserving indigenous ideas of government within an
imposed Spanish structure. Over time, the electoral system
undermined the preconquest elite and introduced new native
political players, facilitating social change. By the early
eighteenth century, a process that had begun in the 1500s with the
demise of Moctezuma and the royal line of Tenochtitlan had resulted
in a politically independent indigenous cabildo.
"After Moctezuma" is the first systematic study of the
indigenous political structures at the heart of New Spain. With
careful attention to relations among colonial officials and
indigenous power brokers, Connell shows that the ongoing contest
for control of indigenous government in Mexico City made possible a
new kind of political system neither wholly indigenous nor entirely
Spanish. Ultimately, he offers insight into the political voice
Tenochtitlan's indigenous people gained with the ability to choose
their own leaders--exercising power that endured through the end of
the colonial period and beyond.
General
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