History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 1/Chapter 1
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
VOYAGE OF HERNANDEZ DE CÓRDOBA TO YUCATAN.
1516-1517.
A Glance at the State of European Discovery and Government in America at the Opening of this Volume—Diego Velazquez in Cuba—Character of the Man—A Band of Adventurers Arrives from Darien—The Governor Counsels them to Embark in Slave-Catching—Under Hernandez de Cordoba they Sail Westward and Discover Yucatan—And are Filled with Astonishment at the Large Towns and Stone Towers they See there—They Fight the Natives at Cape Catoche—Skirt the Peninsula to Champoton—Sanguinary Battle—Return to Cuba—Death of Córdoba.
During the first quarter of a century after the landing of Columbus on San Salvador, three thousand leagues of mainland coast were examined, chiefly in the hope of finding a passage through to the India of Marco Polo. The Cabots from England and the Cortereals from Portugal made voyages to Newfoundland and down the east coast of North America; Amerigo Vespucci sailed hither and thither in the service of Spain, and wrote letters confounding knowledge; Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope; Columbus, Ojeda, Niño, Guerra, Bastidas, and Pinzon and Solis coasted the Tierra Firme of Central and South America; Ocampo skirted Cuba and found it an island; Cabral accidentally discovered Brazil; Juan Ponce de Leon hunted for the Fountain of Youth in Florida; Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus and floated his ships on the South Sea. Prior to 1517 almost every province of the eastern continental seaboard, from Labrador to Patagonia, had been uncovered, save those of the Mexican Gulf, which casketed wonders greater than them all. This little niche alone remained wrapped in aboriginal obscurity, although less than forty leagues of strait separated the proximate points of Cuba and Yucatan.
Meanwhile, in the government of these Western Indies, Columbus, first admiral of the Ocean Sea, had been succeeded by Bobadilla, Ovando, and the son and heir of the discoverer, Diego Colon, each managing, wherein it was possible, worse than his predecessor; so that it was found necessary to establish at Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Indies, a sovereign tribunal, to which appeals might be made from any viceroy, governor, or other representative of royalty, and which should eventually, as a royal audiencia, exercise for a time executive as well as judicial supremacy. But before clothing this tribunal with full administrative powers. Cardinal Jimenez, then dominant in New World affairs, had determined to try upon the turbulent colonists the effect of ecclesiastical influence in secular matters, and had sent over three friars of the order of St Jerome, Luis de Figueroa, Alonso de Santo Domingo, and Bernardo de Manzanedo, to whose direction governors and all others were made subject. Just before the period in our history at which this volume opens, the Jeronimite Fathers, as the three friars were called, had practically superseded Diego Colon at Eyspañola, and were supervising Pedrarias Dávila of Castilla del Oro, Francisco de Garay governor of Jamaica, and Diego Velazquez governor of Cuba. It will be remembered that Diego Colon had sent Juan de Esquivel in 1509 to Jamaica, where he was succeeded by Francisco de Garay; and Diego Velazquez had been sent in 1511 to Cuba to subdue and govern that isle, subject to the young admiral's dictation; and beside these, a small establishment at Puerto Rico, and Pedrarias on the Isthmus, there was no European ruler in the regions, islands or firm land, between the two main continents of America.
The administration of the religiosos showed little improvement on the governments of their predecessors, who, while professing less honesty and piety, practised more worldly wisdom; hence within two short years the friars were recalled by Fonseca, who, on the death of Jimenez, had again come into power in Spain, and the administration of affairs in the Indies remained wholly with the audiencia of Santo Domingo, the heirs of Columbus continuing to agitate their claim throughout the century.
It was as the lieutenant of Diego Colon that Velazquez had been sent to conquer Cuba; but that easy work accomplished, he repudiated his former master, and reported directly to the crown.
Velazquez was an hidalgo, native of Cuéllar, who, after seventeen years of service in the wars of Spain, had come over with the old admiral in his second voyage, in 1493, and was now a man of age, experience, and wealth. With a commanding figure, spacious forehead, fair complexion, large clear eyes, well-chiselled nose and mouth, and a narrow full-bearded chin, the whole lighted by a pleasing intellectual expression, he presented, when elegantly attired as was his custom, as imposing a presence as any man in all the Indies. In history he also formed quite a figure. And yet there was nothing weighty in his character. He was remarkable rather for the absence of positive qualities; he could not lay claim even to conspicuous cruelty. He was not a bad man as times went; assuredly he was not a good man as times go. He could justly lay claim to all the current vices, but none of them were enormous enough to be interesting. In temper he was naturally mild and affable, yet suspicious and jealous, and withal easily influenced; so that when roused to anger, as was frequently the case, he was beside himself.
Chief assistant in his new pacification was Pánfilo de Narvaez, who brought from Jamaica thirty archers, and engaged in the customary butchering, while the governor, with three hundred men, quietly proceeded to found towns and settlements, such as Trinidad, Puerto del Príncipe, Matanzas, Santi Espíritu, San Salvador, Habana, and Santiago, making the seat of his government at the place last named, and appointing alcaldes in the several settlements. Other notable characters were likewise in attendance on this occasion, namely, Bartolomé de las Casas, Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva, and Hernan Cortés.
Discreet in his business, and burdened by no counteracting scruples, Velazquez and those who were with him prospered. Informed of this, above one hundred of the starving colonists at Darien obtained permission from Pedrarias in 1516 to pass over to Cuba, and were affably received by the governor. Most of them were well-born and possessed of means; for though provisions were scarce at Antigua, the South Sea expeditions of Vasco Nuñez, Badajoz, and Espinosa, had made gold plentiful there. Among this company was Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier of fortune, who had come from Spain to Tierra Firme in 1514, and who now engages in the several expeditions to Mexico, and becomes, some years later, one of the chief historians of the conquest.
Ready for any exploit, and having failed to receive certain repartimientos promised them, the band from Tierra Firme cast glances toward the unknown west. The lesser isles had been almost depopulated by the slave-catchers, and from the shores of the adjoining mainland the affrighted natives had fled to the interior. It was still a profitable employment, however, for the colonists must have laborers, being themselves entirely opposed to work. The governor of Cuba, particularly, was fond of the traffic, for it was safe and lucrative. Though a representative of royal authority in America, he was as ready as any irresponsible adventurer to break the royal command. During this same year of 1516, a vessel from Santiago had loaded with natives and provisions at the Guanaja Islands, and had returned to port. While the captain and crew were ashore for a carouse, the captives burst open the hatches, overpowered the nine men who had been left on guard, and sailed away midst the frantic gesticulations of the captain on shore. Reaching their islands in safety, they there encountered a brigantine with twenty-five Spaniards lying in wait for captives. Attacking them boldly, the savages drove them off toward Darien, and then burned the ship in which they themselves had made their enforced voyage to Cuba.
As a matter of course this atrocious conduct on the part of the savages demanded exemplary punishment. To this end two vessels were immediately despatched with soldiers who fell upon the inhabitants of Guanaja, put many to the sword, and carried away five hundred captives, beside securing gold to the value of twenty thousand pesos de oro.
Happy in the thought of engaging in an occupation so profitable, the chivalrous one hundred cheerfully adventured their Darien gold in a similar voyage, fitting out two vessels for the purpose, and choosing for their commander Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, now a wealthy planter of Santi Espíritu.[1] Velazquez added a third vessel, a small bark, in consideration of a share in the speculation.[2] After laying in a supply of cassava, a bread made from the yucca root, and some salt beef, bacon, and glass beads for barter, the expedition departed from Santiago de Cuba, and went round to the north side of the island. There were in all one hundred and ten[3] soldiers, with Antonio de Alaminos as chief pilot, Alonso Gonzalez priest, and Bernardino Iñiguez king's treasurer. Here the chief pilot said to the commander, "Down from Cuba Island, in this sea of the west, my heart tells me there must be rich lands; because, when I sailed as a boy with the old admiral, I remember he inclined this way." Suddenly the vision of Córdoba enlarged. Here might be something better, nobler, more profitable even than kidnapping the poor natives. Despatching a messenger to Velazquez, Córdoba asked, in case new discoveries were made while on the way to catch Indians, for permission to act as the governor's lieutenant in such lands. The desired authority was granted, and from the haciendas near by were brought on board sheep, pigs, and mares, so that stock-raising might begin if settlements were formed.
Sailing from the Habana, or San Cristóbal, the 8th of February, 1517, they came to Cape San Antonio, whence, on the 12th, they struck westward, and after certain days,[4] during two of which they were severely tempest-tossed, they discovered land;[5] first the point of an island, where were some fine salt-fields, and cultivated ground. The people who appeared on the shore were not naked as on the Islands, but well dressed in white and colored cotton, some with ornaments of gold, silver, and feathers. The men were bold and brave, and the women well-formed and modest, with head and breast covered. Most wonderful of all, however, were some great towers, built of stone and lime, with steps leading to the top; and chapels covered with wood and straw, within which were found arranged, in artistic order, many idols apparently representing women, and that led the Spaniards to name the place De Las Mugeres.[6] Proceeding northward, they came to a larger point, of island or mainland; and presently they descried, two leagues from the shore, a large town, which was called El Gran Cairo.
While looking for an anchorage, on the morning of the 4th of March, five canoes approached the commander's vessel, and thirty men stepped fearlessly on board. The canoes were large, some of them capable of holding fifty persons; the men were intelligent, and wore a sleeveless cloak and apron of cotton.[7] The Spaniards gave them bacon and bread to eat, and to each a necklace of green glass beads. After closely scrutinizing the ship and its belongings, the natives put off for the shore. Early next day appeared the cacique with many men in twelve canoes, making signs of friendship, and crying, Conex cotoch! that is to say, Come to our houses; whence the place was called Punta de Catoche,[8] which name it bears to-day.
Thus invited, Córdoba, with several of his officers, and twenty-five soldiers armed with cross-bows and firelocks, accompanied the natives to the shore, where the cacique with earnest invitations to visit his town managed to lead them into ambush. The natives fought with flint-edged wooden swords, lances, bows, and slings, and were protected by armors of quilted cotton and shields, their faces being painted and their heads plumed. They charged the enemy bravely, amidst shouts and noise of instruments; several of the Spaniards were wounded, two fatally. At length the natives gave way before the sharp and sulphurous enginery of their exceedingly strange visitants, leaving fifteen of their number dead upon the ground. Two youths were taken prisoners, who were afterward baptized and named Julian and Melchor, and profitably employed by the Spaniards as interpreters. Near the battle-ground stood three more of those curious stone temples, one of which was entered by Father Gonzalez during the fight, and the earthen and wooden idols and ornaments and plates of inferior gold found there were carried away to the ship.
Embarking, and proceeding westward, the Spaniards arrived a fortnight later at Campeche,[9] where their amazement was increased on beholding the number and beauty of the edifices, while the blood and other evidences of human sacrifice discovered about the altars of the temples filled their souls with horror. And as they were viewing these monuments of a superior culture, the troops of armed natives increased, and the priests of the temples, producing a bundle of reeds, set fire to it, signifying to the visitors that unless they took their departure before the reeds were consumed every one of them would be killed. Remembering their wounds at Catoche, the Spaniards took the hint and departed.
They were soon caught in a storm and severely shaken; after which they began to look about for water, which had by this time become as precious to them as the Tyrian mures tincture, of which each shell-fish gave but a single drop. They accordingly came to anchor near a village called Potonchan, but owing to a sanguinary battle in which they were driven back, Córdoba named the place Bahía de Mala Pelea.[10] In this engagement the natives did not shrink from fighting hand to hand with the foe. Fifty-seven Spaniards were killed on the spot, two were carried off alive, and five died subsequently on shipboard. Those whom the natives could not kill they followed to the shore, in their disappointed rage, wading out into the sea after them, like the bloodthirsty Cyclops who pursued the Trojan Æneas and his crew. But one man escaped unharmed, and he of all the rest was selected for slaughter by the natives of Florida. Córdoba received twelve wounds; Bernal Diaz three. The survivors underwent much suffering before reaching Cuba, for the continued hostilities of the natives prevented their obtaining the needful supply of water.
There being no one else to curse except themselves, they cursed the pilot, Alaminos, for his discovery, and for still persisting in calling the country an island. Then they left Mala Pelea Bay and returned along the coast, north-eastwardly, for three days, when they entered an opening in the shore to which they gave the name of Estero de los Lagartos,[11] from the multitude of caimans found there. After burning one of the ships which had become unseaworthy, Córdoba crossed from this point to Florida, and thence proceeded to Cuba, where he died from his wounds, ten days after reaching his home at Santi Espíritu.
Diego Velazquez was much interested in the details of this discovery. He closely questioned the two captives about their country, its gold, its great buildings, and the plants which grew there. When shown the yucca root they assured the governor that they were familiar with it, and that it was called by them tale, though in Cuba the ground in which the yucca grew bore that name. From these two words, according to Bernal Diaz, comes the name Yucatan; for while the governor was speaking to the Indians of yucca and tale, some Spaniards standing by exclaimed, "You see, sir, they call their country Yucatan."[12]
The people of this coast seemed to have heard of the Spaniards, for at several places they shouted 'Castilians!' and asked the strangers by signs if they did not come from toward the rising sun. Yet, neither the glimpse caught of Yucatan by Pinzon and Solis in 1506 while in search of a strait north of Guanaja Island where Columbus had been, nor the piratical expedition of Córdoba, in 1517, can properly be called the discovery of Mexico.[13] Meanwhile Mexico can well afford to wait, being in no haste for European civilization, and the attendant boons which Europe seems so desirous of conferring.
- ↑ In the memorial of Antonio Velazquez, successor of the adelantado, Diego Velazquez, Memorial del negocio de D. Antonio Velazquez de Bazan, in Mendoza, Col. Doc. Inéd., x. 80-6, taken from the archives of the Indies, the credit of this expedition is claimed wholly for the governor. Indeed, Velazquez himself repeatedly asserts, as well as others, that the expedition was made at his cost. But knowing the man as we do, and considering the claims of others, it is safe enough to say that the governor did not invest much money in it. The burden doubtless fell on Córdoba, who was aided, as some think, by his associates, Cristóbal Morante and Lope Ochoa de Caicedo, in making up what the men of Darien lacked, Torquemada, i. 349, notwithstanding the claims for his fraternity of Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., i. Ogilby, Hist. Am., 76, says the three associates were all Cuban planters; that they equipped three ships, Velazquez adding one. This Hernandez de Córdoba was not he who served as lieutenant under Pedrarias, though of the same name.
- ↑ Opinion has been divided as to the original purpose of the expedition. As it turned out, it was thought best on all sides to say nothing of the inhuman and unlawful intention of capturing Indians for slaves. Hence, in the public documents, particularly in the petitions for recompense which invariably followed discoveries, pains is taken to state that it was a voyage of discovery, and prompted by the governor of Cuba. As in the Décadas Abreviadas de los Descubrimientos, Mendoza, Col. Doc. Inéd., viii. 5-54, we find that 'El adelantado Diego Velazquez de Cuéllar es autor del descubrimiento de la Nueva España,' so, in effect, it is recorded everywhere. Indeed, Bernal Diaz solemnly asserts that Velazquez at first stipulated that he should have three cargoes of slaves from the Guanaja Islands, and that the virtuous one hundred indignantly refused so to disobey God and the king as to turn free people into slaves. 'Y desque vimos los soldados, que aquello que pedia el Diego Velazquez no era justo, le respondimos, que lo que dezia, no to mandana Dios, ni el Rey; que hiziessemos á los libres esclavos.' Hist. Verdad., i. On the strength of which fiction, Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 224, launches into laudation of the Spanish character. The honest soldier, however, finds difficulty in making the world believe his statement. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 348, does not hesitate to say very plainly that the expedition was sent out to capture Indians, 'ir é enviar á saltear indios para traer á ella,' for which purpose there were always men with money ready; and that on this occasion Córdoba, Morante, and Caicedo subscribed 1,500 or 2,000 castellanos each, to go and catch Indians, either at the Lucayas Islands or elsewhere. Torquemada, i. 349, writes more mildly, yet plainly enough; 'para ir à buscar Indios, à las Islas Convecinas, y hacer Rescates, como hasta entonces lo acostumbraban.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 1-6, follows Bernal Diaz almost literally. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60, is non-committal, stating first 'para descubrir y rescatar,' and afterward, 'Otros dizen que para traer esclauos delas yslas Guanaxos a sus minas y granjerias.' Oviedo and Herrera pass by the question. Landa, Rel. de Yucatan, 16, 'a rescatar esclavos para las minas, que ya en Cuba se yva la gente apocando y que otros dizen que salio a descubrir tierra.' Says the unknown author of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 338, 'In has igitur insulas ad grassandum et prædandum, ut ita dicam, ire hi de quibus suprà dictum est, constituerant; non in Iucatanam.' It is clear to my mind that slaves were the first object, and that discovery was secondary, and an after-thought.
- ↑ Bernal Diaz holds persistently to 110. It was 110 who came from Tierra Firme, and after divers recruits and additions the number was still 110.
- ↑ Authorities vary, from four days given by Las Casas, and six by Oviedo, to 21 by Bernal Diaz and Herrera. The date of departure is also disputed, but the differences are unimportant. Compare Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. vi.; Dufey, Résumé Hist. Am., i. 93; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 3; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 348-63; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 3-8; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60-1; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 1-2; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 22-4; Vida de Cortés, or De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 331-41; March y Labores, Marina Española, i. 463-8; Robertson's Hist. Am., i. 237-40; Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., 5-8.
- ↑ Though remarkably fair and judicious in the main, Mr Prescott's partiality for a certain class of his material is evident. To the copies from the Spanish archives, most of which have been since published with hundreds of others equally or more valuable, he seemed to attach an importance proportionate to their cost. Thus, throughout his entire work, these papers are paraded to the exclusion of the more reliable, but more accessible, standard authorities. In the attempt, at this point, to follow at once his document and the plainly current facts, he falls into an error of which he appears unconscious. He states, Conq. Mex., i. 222, that Córdoba 'sailed with three vessels on an expedition to one of the neighboring Bahama Islands, in quest of Indian slaves. He encountered a succession of heavy gales which drove him far out of his course.' The Bahama Islands are eastward from Habana, while Cape San Antonio is toward the west. All the authorities agree that the expedition sailed directly westward, and that the storm did not occur until after Cape San Antonio had been passed, which leaves Mr Prescott among other errors in that of driving a fleet to the westward, in a storm, when it has already sailed thither by the will of its commander, in fair weather.
- ↑ Following Gomara and Torquemada, Galvano mentions the name of no other place in this voyage than that of Punta de las Dueñas, which he places in latitude 20°. He further remarks, Descobrimentos, 131, 'He gēte milhor atauiada que ha em neuhūa outra terra, & cruzes em q' os Indios adorauam, & os punham sobre seus defuntos quando faleciam, donde parecia que em algum tēpo se sentio aly a fe de Christo.' The anonymous author of De Rebus Gestis and all the best authorities recognize this as the first discovery. 'Sicque non ad Guanaxos, quos petebant, appulerunt, sed ad Mulierum promontorium.' Fernando Colon places on his map, 1527, y: de mujeres; Diego de Ribero, 1529, d' mugeres, the next name north being amazonas. Vaz Dourado, 1571, lays down three islands which he calls p:. de magreles; Hood, 1592, Y. de mueres; Laet, 1633, Yᵃˢ de mucheres; Ogilby, 1671, yᵃˢ desconocida; Dampier, 1699, I. mugeras; Jefferys, 1776, Iᵃ de Mujeres, or Woman's I. It was this name that led certain of the chroniclers to speak of islands off the coast of Yucatan inhabited by Amazons. 'Sirvió de asilo en nuestros dias al célebre pirata Lafitte.' Boletin de la Sociedad Mex. de Geog., iii. 224.
- ↑ For a description of these people see Bancroft's Native Races, i. 645-747.
- ↑ See Landa, Rel. de Yuc., 6. Domum Cotoche sonat: indicabant enim domus et oppidum haud longè abesse.' De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 339. 'Conez cotoche, q̄ quiere dezir, Andad aca a mis casas.' Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. x'ii. 'Cotohe, cotohe,' that is to say, 'a house.' Fancourt's Hist. Yuc., 6. 'Cotoche, q̄ quiere dezir casa.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 61. Con escotoch, con escotoch, y quiere dezir, andad acá á mis casas.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 2. This, the north-eastern point of Yucatan, is on Fernando Colon's map, 1527, gotoche; on the map of Diego de Ribero, 1529, p: d'cotoche; Vaz Dourado, 1571, C:. de quoteche; Pilestrina, c:. de sampalq. Hood places a little west of the cape a bay, B. de conil; the next name west is Atalaia. Goldschmidt's Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS. , i. 358. Kohl, Beiden ältesten karten, 103, brings the expedition here the 1st of March. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 350, confounds Córdoba's and Grijalva's voyages in this respect, that brings the former at once to Cozumel, when, as a matter of fact, Córdoba never saw that island.
- ↑ So called by the natives, but by the Spaniards named San Lázaro, because 'it was a Domingo de Lazaro' when they landed. Yet Ribero writes chāpa, while Vaz Dourado employs llazaro, and Hood, Campechy; Laet gives the name correctly; Ogilby and Jefferys call the place S. Frᶜᵒ de Campeche, 'Los Indios le deziõ Quimpech.' Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.
- ↑ Now Champoton, applied to river and town. Ribero writes camrõ; Hood, Champoto; Mercator, Chapãton, and town next north, Maranga. Potonchan, in the aboriginal tongue, signifies, 'Stinking Place.' Mercator has also the town of Potochan, west of Tabasco River. West-Indische Spieghel, Patõcham. Laet, Ogilby, and Jefferys follow with Champoton in the usual variations. 'Y llegaron á otra provincia,' says Oviedo, i. 498, 'que los indios llaman Aguanil, y el principal pueblo della se dice Moscoba, y el rey ó cacique de aquel señorio se llama Chiapoton;' and thus the author of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, 'Nec diu navigaverant, cum Mochocobocum perveniunt.' Icazbalceta, Col, Doc, i. 340.
- ↑ Pinzon and Solis must have found alligators in their northward cruise, otherwise Peter Martyr could not honestly lay down on his map of India heyond the Ganges, in 1510, the baya d' lagartos north of guanase. Mariners must have given the coast a bad name, for directly north of the R. de la of Colon, the R:. de lag r tos of Ribero, the R:. de lagarts of Vaz Dourado, and the R. de Lagartos of Hood, are placed some reefs by all these chart-makers, and to which they give the name Alacranes, Scorpions. The next name west of Lagartos on Map No. x., Munich Atlas, is costanisa, and on No. xiii. Ostanca. Again next west, on both, is Medanos. On No. x., next to costa nisa, and on No. xiii., west of Punta de las Arenas, is the name Ancones. Ogilby gives here B. de Conil, and in the interior south, a town Conil; east of R. de Lagartos is also the town Quyo, and in large letters the name Chuaca.
- ↑ 'Dezian los Españoles q'estavan hablādo con el Diego Velazquez, y con los Indios: Señor estos Indios dizen, que su tierra se llama Yucatā, y assi se, quedò cō este nóbre, que en propria lengua no se dize assi.' Hist. Verdad., 5. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 60, states that after naming Catoche, a little farther on the Spaniards met some natives, of whom they asked the name of the town near by. Tecteta, was the reply, which means, 'I do not understand.' The Spaniards, accepting this as the answer to their question, called the country Yectetan, and soon Yucatan. Waldeck, Voy. Pittoresque, 25, derives the name from the native word ouyouckutan, 'listen to what they say.' The native name was Maya. See Bancroft's Native Races, v. 614-34. There are various other theories and renderings, among them the following: In answer to Córdoba's inquiry as to the name of their country, the natives exclaimed, 'uy u tun, esto es: oyes como habla?' Zamacois, Hist. Mej., ii. 228. 'Que preguntundo a estos Indios. si auia en su tierra aquellas rayzes que se llama Yuca. . . . Respondian Ilatli, por la tierra en que se plantan, y que de Yuca juntado con Ilatli, se dixo Yucatta, y de alli Yucatan.' Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xviii. Whencesoever the origin, it was clearly a mistake, as there never was an aboriginal designation for the whole country, nor, like the Japanese, have they names for their straits or bays. For some time Yucatan was supposed to be an island. Grijalva called the country Isla de Santa María de Remedios, though that term was employed by few. In early documents the two names are united; instance the instructions of Velazquez to Cortés, where the country is called la Ysla de Yucatan Sta María de Remedios. On Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, it is called Yucatan, and represented as an island. Colon, 1527, and Ribero, 1529, who write Ivcatan; Ptolemy, in Munster, 1530, Iucatana; Orontius, on his globe, 1531, Iucatans; Munich Atlas, no. iv., 1532-40, cucatan; Baptista Agnese, 1540-50, iucatan; Mercator, 1569, Ivcatan; Michael Lok, 1582, Incoton; Hondius, 1595, Laet, Ogilby, etc., Yucatan, which now assumes peninsular proportions.
- ↑ The term Mexico has widely different meanings under different conditions. At first it signified only the capital of the Nahua nation, and it was five hundred years before it overspread the territory now known by that name. Mexico City was founded in 1325, and was called Mexico Tenochitlan. The latter appellation has been connected with Tenuch, the Aztec leader at this time, and with the sign of a nopal on a stone, called in Aztec, respectively nochtli and tetl, the final syllable representing locality, and the first, te, divinity or superiority. The word Mexico, however, was then rarely used, Tenochtitlan being the common term employed; and this was retained by the Spaniards for some time after the conquest, even in imperial decrees, and in the official records of the city, though in the corrupt forms of Temixtitan, Tenustitan, etc. See Libro de Cabildo, 1524-9, M.S. Torquemada, i. 293, states distinctly that even in his time the natives never employed any other designation for the ancient city than Tenochtitlan, which was also the name of the chief and fashionable ward. Solis, Conq. Mex., i. 390, is of opinion that Mexico was the name of the ward, Tenochtitlan being applied to the whole city, in which case Mexico Tenochtitlan would signify the ward Mexico of the city Tenochtitlan. Gradually the Spanish records began to add Mexico to Tenochtitlan, and in those of the first provincial council, held in 1555, we find written Tenuxtitlan Mexico. Concilios Prov., i. and ii., MS. In the course of time the older and more intricate name disappeared, though the city arms always retained the symbolio nopal and stone. Clavigero, Storia Mess., i. 168; iv. 205-70; Soc. Mex. Geog.
Arms or the Republic of Mexico.Boletin, vii. 408-15; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Méj., ii. 157-9; Humholdt, Essai Pol., i. 146-7; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 2; Carbajal Espinoza, Hist. Max., i. 92-3. See also Molina, Vocabulario. A number of derivations have been given to the word Mexico, as mexitli, navel of the maguey; metl-ico, place amidst the maguey; meixco, on the maguey border; mecitli, hare; metztli, moon; amexica, or mexica, you of the anointed ones. The signification spring, or fountain, has also been applied. But most writers have contented themselves by assuming it to be identical
Ancient Arms of the City of Mexico from a rare print. with the mexi, mexitl, or mecitl, appellation of the war god, Huitzilopochtli, to which has been added the co, an affix implying locality; hence Mexico would imply the place or settlement of Mexica, or Mexicans. This war god, Huitzilopochtli, as is well known, was the mythic leader and chief deity of the Aztecs, the dominant tribe of the Nahua nation. It was by this august personage, who was also called Mexitl, that, according to tradition, the name was given them in the twelfth century, and in these words: 'Inaxcan aocmoamotoca ynamaz te ca ye am mexica,' Henceforth bear ye not the name Azteca, but Mexica. With this command they received the distinguishing mark of a patch of gum and leathers to wear upon their forehead and ears. Bancroft's Native races, ii. 559; iii. 295-6; V. 324-5 et passim. I can offer no stronger proof as to the way in which the name was regarded at the time of the conquest, and afterwards, than by placing side by side the maps of the sixteenth century and instituting a comparison. In Apiano, Cosmographica, 1575, is a map, supposed to be a copy of one drawn by Apianus in 1520, on w Inch Themisteton is given apparently to a large lake in the middle of Mexico; Fernando Colon, in 1527, and Diego de Ribero, 1529, both give the word Mexico in small letters, inland, as if applied to a town, although no town is designated; Ptolemy, in Munster, 1530, gives Temistitan; Munich Atlas, no. vi., supposed to have been drawn between 1532 and 1540, Timitistan vel Mesicho; Baptista Agnese, 1540-50, Timitistan vel Mesico; Ramusio, 1565, Mexico; Mercator's Atlas, 1569, Mexico, as a city, and Tenuchitlan; Michael Lok, 1582, Mexico, in Hondius, about 1595, in Drake's World Encompassed, the city is Mexico, and the gulf Baia di Mexico; Hondius, in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, Laet, Ogilby, Dampier, West-Indische Spieghel, Jacob Colom, and other seventeenth-century authorities, give uniformly to the city, or to the city and province, but not to the country at large, the name as at present written
