WEBVTT 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:06.940 in a car sends me here for you. 00:00:11.230 --> 00:00:15.527 What 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:21.506 are the people, what of the indians of Mexico? Their state was conquered, 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:28.697 Their gods destroyed. What became of their society? Well you'll remember 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:34.037 that we said Hernan Cortes was a man with a dream. A dream of creating a 00:00:34.070 --> 00:00:40.387 new society and his spinal indian culture. One of his aims was to convert 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:46.006 the indians into Spaniards to impose the religion of Spain upon them. 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:51.006 These goals were to be achieved by missionaries and governors from Spain. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:57.207 Yeah, what actually happened was that the cultures of both indians and 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:02.817 Spaniards were modified by the conquest and a new Mexican culture did 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:08.566 indeed emerge. The culture which the Spaniards brought to Mexico was a 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:13.566 version of the culture of Spain modified by the experiences in the Canary 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:18.126 islands in the Caribbean. The spanish culture was further modified by 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:23.947 contact with the indians of Mexico at the same time the indian cultures 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:29.337 were influenced and modified through contact with the Spaniards. A few of 00:01:29.370 --> 00:01:34.997 the conquered retained their old culture almost intact and a few Spaniards 00:01:35.030 --> 00:01:40.507 were little influenced by the indians but most came to reflect a new 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:45.936 culture, a mexican folk culture, a combination of the spanish and the 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:51.247 indian, the negro and the oriental elements that gathered in Mexico. The 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.816 Spaniards. The conquerors provided the dominant element of this mexican 00:01:55.849 --> 00:01:58.107 folk culture. 00:01:58.140 --> 00:02:02.777 They forced their way of life on the indians. Their tool was a well 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:07.467 developed system of conquest and numerous repressive policies. The 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:11.976 organization of their cultural conquest was extraordinary and it's still 00:02:12.009 --> 00:02:18.196 evident in Mexico today? Most of the indians lived in Hamlets, small 00:02:18.229 --> 00:02:23.686 villages of a few families remember the cal poly and family were the basis 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:28.867 of society. As long as these institutions survived, the indians could 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:34.177 resist outside influences. The first action the conquerors took was to 00:02:34.210 --> 00:02:38.936 force the indians to live in towns. These towns were surrounded by their 00:02:38.969 --> 00:02:45.767 own fields, all within 560 yards of the church steeple. The Spaniards 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:49.807 reasoned that they could more easily subjugated indians living in towns 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.916 where family ties might be replaced by civic ties and in the towns, the 00:02:54.949 --> 00:03:00.927 indians had no choice but to observe and to adapt to spanish customs. What 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:04.876 the Spaniards didn't realize was that living in such close quarters 00:03:04.909 --> 00:03:09.596 increases the danger of epidemic, thousands more of the indians died of 00:03:09.629 --> 00:03:14.647 disease. In the early years of the conquest, the conquerors also 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:20.316 introduced new concepts of private land ownership. Remember the idea of 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:24.557 individually owned land was beginning to develop in Mexico before the 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:28.976 Spaniards arrived. But for the most part, the indians believed that land 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:33.906 was a gift from the gods to the cal poly, they had the right to work it 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:38.886 although they did not own it, but the spanish crown granted large tracts 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:43.267 of land to the conquerors and Aztec nobles were given ownership of 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:51.300 previously communal lands. 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:59.226 Now the Spaniards call their conquered land, new spain and the basis for 00:03:59.259 --> 00:04:02.827 building their empire in the new world was to be the labor of the native 00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:07.707 population. They needed labor to work their lands, labor to work the mines 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:15.277 , labor to build the towns and so they introduced the income Yanda, a sort 00:04:15.310 --> 00:04:19.767 of trusteeship whereby a spanish landowner received tribute payments and 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:25.457 labor from a specified number of indian villages. Former Conquistadors, 00:04:25.490 --> 00:04:29.996 leading colonists and other privileged Spaniards received the first in 00:04:30.029 --> 00:04:35.257 command is issued by the crown. Later every spanish soldier of the mexican 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:40.007 conquest demanded an income Yanda as his reward. 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.777 Under the income Yanda, the indian worked the land indian farmers became 00:04:44.810 --> 00:04:49.916 serfs. They were forced to work for spanish masters, much as serfs in 00:04:49.949 --> 00:04:54.467 europe had been forced to work for feudal lords during the middle ages. In 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:58.757 return for their labors, The spanish landholders were supposed to care for 00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:03.337 the needs of the indians and to assure their religious instruction. The n 00:05:03.370 --> 00:05:08.226 commend eros were powerful people so powerful that the spanish crown's 00:05:08.259 --> 00:05:13.906 began to fear them. Early laws limiting the income Yanda had been ignored. 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:21.027 Then in 1543, the new laws abolish the income Yanda. The colonists showed 00:05:21.060 --> 00:05:25.906 such signs of revolt that the crown was forced to repeal the new laws. 00:05:25.939 --> 00:05:30.397 Eventually however, the indians were declared to be vassals of the crown 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:34.697 and they paid their tribute directly to the king of Spain but the 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:40.236 colonists still needed the labor of the indians. So they devised a new 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:46.296 system to replace the income Yanda to assure themselves of indian labor. 00:05:46.329 --> 00:05:52.406 The system was called the repartee memento under the departamento, the 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:56.806 indians were forced to work for specified periods of time, at very low 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:02.106 wages on projects that the government of New Spain considered essential. 00:06:02.139 --> 00:06:06.986 Some of these projects were production of food, operation of the mind's 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:12.616 construction of public buildings and roads. The indians worked on these 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:17.017 projects for a week or two at a time, often at long distances from their 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:21.796 homes with little food and no place to sleep. Their party memento and the 00:06:21.829 --> 00:06:29.829 income Yanda before it disrupted the old way of life. 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:37.656 The Spaniards impose their culture on the people. In yet another way they 00:06:37.689 --> 00:06:41.976 insisted that the indians become christian that they accept the roman 00:06:42.009 --> 00:06:46.306 catholic faith of their conquerors. 00:06:46.339 --> 00:06:50.916 The Spaniards began by trying to convert the Aztec leaders, the tribal 00:06:50.949 --> 00:06:55.947 officials. The Spaniards spread the legend that the emperor cuauhtemoc was 00:06:55.980 --> 00:07:01.267 baptized and many of the people followed his example. For most, the 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:06.246 transition to the new religion was a relatively simple one. For one thing 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:11.877 , the Aztecs always had been willing to accept new gods. Their pantheon of 00:07:11.910 --> 00:07:15.967 gods included, many that had been worshiped by societies that preceded 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.187 them and many that they had adopted from the tribes they conquered but 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:25.837 these gods had failed. The Aztecs when they were needed most. The old 00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:31.406 religion needed to be replaced Christianity offered new hope for the 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:36.996 indian and it was on this hope that in years to come. He would rebuild his 00:07:37.029 --> 00:07:41.906 shattered way of life. Various similarities between the old and the new 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:47.416 religions made the conversion easier for the indians, both religions had 00:07:47.449 --> 00:07:53.277 priests and command. Both believed in an ordered supernatural world. There 00:07:53.310 --> 00:07:59.637 were similarities in ritual and the indians learn the new ritual quickly. 00:07:59.670 --> 00:08:04.217 Then to the indians could identify the christian trinity with the 00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:11.187 powerful Aztec gods and the saints with the lesser gods. Mm Even today, 00:08:11.220 --> 00:08:15.676 the Mexican folk culture retains elements of the old beliefs. Their 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:22.579 religion, like their entire culture is a combination of spanish and indian. 00:08:22.949 --> 00:08:24.949 The conversion of the indian masses to the new religion was undertaken by 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:33.797 friars First by the Franciscans who arrived in Tlaxcala in 1522, The 00:08:33.830 --> 00:08:38.717 Franciscan missionaries learned the languages of the people and at Texcoco 00:08:38.750 --> 00:08:43.317 they established the 1st Spanish primary school in Mexico. They taught 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:50.009 religion of course, but they also taught weaving, carpentry, agriculture. 00:08:50.389 --> 00:08:52.389 The Franciscans were followed into Mexico by Dominican monks and 00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:58.667 competition developed between the two orders. 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:02.657 Competition, which showed itself in the building of numerous churches and 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:08.177 monasteries. Indian labor built these churches just as indian labor built 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:16.210 the temples of pre Hispanic Mexico. 00:09:18.940 --> 00:09:23.717 All in all, many historians believe that the Spaniards made a colossal 00:09:23.750 --> 00:09:28.386 effort to destroy the indian civilization, but the indian culture was not 00:09:28.419 --> 00:09:34.146 destroyed in some ways. The friars help to keep it alive. The church and 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:38.606 the crown tried to protect the indians for economic reasons and some of 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:41.307 their efforts were successful. 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:45.797 One man who worked many years to save the indians and their culture was a 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:51.407 friar Bartolomei de las casas de las casas was a lawyer who came to the 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:56.596 new world as an adventurer. Later he became a priest and began a long 00:09:56.629 --> 00:10:01.106 fight for the well being of the indians of the Americas. 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:05.646 Unlike many of the Spaniards de las casas realized that the indians of the 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:10.157 Americas were in danger of extermination. His efforts to save them from 00:10:10.190 --> 00:10:15.197 this fate resulted in his being named protector of the indians. De las 00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:18.266 casas failed to get the colonists to see what they were doing to the 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:23.476 indians Discouraged. He retired to a monastery for a period of 10 years 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:29.246 and during that time he wrote his history of the Indies. The protector of 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:35.179 the indians suggested various means of saving the peoples of the new world. 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:37.250 And because of his efforts, many laws were passed by the Council of the 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:44.526 Indies, which controls Spain's possessions in the new world. The crown, 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:49.037 anxious to ensure close relations between the indians and the Spaniards 00:10:49.070 --> 00:10:53.937 encouraged colonists to marry daughters of indian nobles and some indian 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:59.266 chiefs were given titles of nobility. In fact, out of the 190 coats of 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:07.299 arms given by the King of Spain, 20 were granted to Indians. 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:17.776 Life was little changed in some ways farming continued as the basis of 00:11:17.809 --> 00:11:23.256 life. The Spaniards introduced livestock and some new plants such as wheat 00:11:23.289 --> 00:11:28.037 and fruit trees. They otherwise added little to the high level of farming 00:11:28.070 --> 00:11:34.407 skills of the Aztecs, pottery making was the greatest pre hispanic craft. 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:38.447 The Spaniards introduced the potter's wheel and thus began the great 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:43.307 development of pottery based on indian motifs. 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:48.087 Although elements of indian culture remained alive and became an important 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:52.577 part of the developing Mexican folk culture. Within a few years after the 00:11:52.610 --> 00:11:57.766 military conquest, the indians were made an inferior majority. Most of 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:03.096 them had no land. They worked as serfs on the great haciendas or in the 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:09.067 minds, some peoples, like those of Xochimilco and chalco were allowed to 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:13.596 live in their swampy areas, much as they had before the conquest. The 00:12:13.629 --> 00:12:19.787 Spaniards had no use for this land. Others fled from the Spaniards, just 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:24.057 as they had fled from the Aztecs. They settled in primitive villages in 00:12:24.090 --> 00:12:28.567 the remote mountain areas. Many of their descendants still live in these 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:34.636 villages scarcely aware of the spanish catholic influence, But for most 00:12:34.669 --> 00:12:39.797 the effects of the 1st 100 years of spanish rule were very great. The 00:12:39.830 --> 00:12:44.726 indians subordinated by european society and by the bureaucracy of the 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:49.106 Spaniards were made to feel inferior 00:12:49.139 --> 00:12:52.976 around them. They saw the Spaniards and those who were predominantly 00:12:53.009 --> 00:12:58.846 spanish as the masters, the elite of the new society. The work of Mexico 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:05.259 was done by the indians, not for themselves, but for the spanish masters. 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:07.379 Some adapted themselves to the european way of life. And many of them 00:13:10.090 --> 00:13:16.557 inter married with Spaniards to create a new citizen, the Mestizo as time 00:13:16.590 --> 00:13:21.486 passed and the indians of Mexico met with other Europeans, particularly 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:25.817 the north americans of the United States. They found that the belief that 00:13:25.850 --> 00:13:30.096 the indian was an inferior human being was not limited to the spanish 00:13:30.129 --> 00:13:36.047 conquerors. To a large extent the conquest of Mexico by only a few 100 men 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:41.366 created a myth of indian inferiority and the great achievements of indian 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:44.407 society were obscured. 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:47.837 Even the adoption of Christianity contributed to this feeling of 00:13:47.870 --> 00:13:53.116 alienation. The religion of most people's is their history when they are 00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:57.116 conquered and adopt the religion of the conquerors. They lose their 00:13:57.149 --> 00:14:02.896 history, their sense of continuity, their sense of pride. 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:08.106 Some indians did fight their way out of this feeling. Men like Benito 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:13.136 juarez, the Liberator and Lazaro Cardenas who led the revolutions that 00:14:13.169 --> 00:14:17.976 freed Mexico from foreign domination. Men who have made it possible for 00:14:18.009 --> 00:14:22.276 the Indians to participate in the active life of the country as they did 00:14:22.309 --> 00:14:25.797 400 years before. 00:14:25.830 --> 00:14:31.486 In only one area did the indian win over his conquerors in the crafts of 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:37.037 Mexico. Indian craftsmen have handed down the old traditions of form and 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:43.596 pattern. The brilliance of Aztec decoration is the basis of almost all of 00:14:43.629 --> 00:14:48.327 the arts and crafts in Mexico today. And these arts and crafts were 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:53.116 carried out of Central Mexico in the years following the conquest for the 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:58.026 Spaniards once they had conquered the Aztecs began the expansion of their 00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:04.307 empire wherever they went. The Mexican folk culture accompanied them you, 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:09.736 a folk culture, which is the basis of life in Mexico and later in the 00:15:09.769 --> 00:15:13.059 southwestern United States.