Last updated 09/07/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
The most interesting problem faced by the Spanish conquerors in the early years of Mexico was the cultural assimilation of the native population. Although from the very first the Spanish policy was to bring the Indian into the new social order, his status in this society was undoubtedly contingent on the amount of his assimilation. Thus the Indian stood as one of the most controversial puzzles. What were his mental capacities? Would he be able to absorb the new culture? These questions and many others about the natives arose as one of the greatest challenges in the colonization of Mexico.
1. For further details on the work of the different religious orders see Ricard, R., La Conquěte Spirituelle du Mexique (Paris, 1933), passim.Google Scholar
2. Garcia Icazbalceta, J., editor, Collección de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, Vol. I (Mexico, 1858), 501. Hereafter cited as Collección de Documentos.Google Scholar
3. Cuevas, M., comp., Documentos Ineditos del Siglo XVI para la Historia de Mexico (Mexico, 1914), 3.Google Scholar
4. See this Imperial Order in de Puga, V., comp., Provisiones, Cedulas, Instrucciones de su Majestad … (Mexico, 1563), 21.Google Scholar
5. Letter from Ramirez de Fuenleal to Charles V, August 8, 1533. Archivo General de Indias. 58-5-3. Quoted by Cuevas, M., Historia de la Iglesia en Mexico, Vol. I. (Tlalpan D. F., 1921), 386.Google Scholar
6. For further details on the inauguration of the college see Mendieta, Fray G., Historia Eclesiastica Indiana, edited by Garcia Icazbalceta, J. (Mexico, 1870), 414–415. Also Motolinia, Fray T., Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espana (Barcelona, 1914), Book I, Chap. 13.Google Scholar
7. Fray, J. de Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana 3d. ed., Vol. I (Mexico D. F., 1943), 607.Google Scholar
8. Garcia Icazbalceta, J., Biografia de D. Fray Juan de Zumarraga, Primer Obispo y Arzobispo de Mexico (Madrid, 1929), 266.Google Scholar
9. See letter from Gerónimo López to the Emporor, Mexico, October 20, 1541, Collección de Documentos, Vol. II (Mexico, 1866), 150.Google Scholar
10. “Relación, Apuntamientos y Avisos de Don Antonio de Mendoza,” Instrucciones que los Virreyes de la Nueva España dejaron a sus Sucesores. (Mexico, 1867), 229.Google Scholar
11. See for instance Borgia Steck, F., El Primer Colegio de America: Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco (Mexico, 1944), 25.Google Scholar
12. Codice Franciscano: Siglo XVI, in Nueva Collección de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ed. Garcia Icazbalceta, J., Vol. II (Mexico, 1889), 110. Hereafter cited as Codice Franciscano.Google Scholar
13. “Relación, Apuntamientos y Avisos de Don Antonio de Mendoza,” 929.Google Scholar
14. Ricard, R., 268.Google Scholar
15. Mendez Plancarte, G., editor, Humanismo Mexicano del Siglo XVI (Mexico, 1946), 151.Google Scholar
16. Basalenque, Fray D., Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Michoacan del Orden de N. P. S. Agustin (Mexico, 1886), 130–131.Google Scholar
17. This opinion of the Dominicans should not be taken as any ill feeling toward the Indians. The Dominicans had schools for Indians in their monasteries and defended them against exploitation. For further details on the Dominicans' work see Fray, A. Davila Padilla, Historia de la Fundacion y Discurso de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico … (Madrid, 1596), especially Bk. 1, 34.Google Scholar
18. See Fray, B. de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España (Mexico D. F., 1938), Vol. III, 88–89.Google Scholar
19. See Codice Franciscano, 70.Google Scholar
20. For further details see Proceso Inquisitorial del Cacique de Texcoco, ed., Gomez de la Fuente, E., Publicaciones de la Comision Reorganizadora del Archivo General y Publico de la Nacion, Vol. I (Mexico, 1910).Google Scholar
21. It is incomprehensible that the Franciscans who could have said whether he attended or not and could have proved that he became a heretic, not because of the teaching of the college, but because he did not have such instruction, never said anything to shed light on the matter.Google Scholar
22. Letter from Jerónimo López to the Emperor Charles V, October 20, 1541, Collección de Documentos, Vol. II, 148–150. (My own translation).Google Scholar
23. Quoted by Monroe, P., Founding of the American Public System, Vol. I (New York, 1940), 16.Google Scholar
24. See de La Fuente, V., Historia de las Universidades, Colegios y demas Establecimientos de Enseñanza en España, Vol. I (Madrid, 1844), 33.Google Scholar
25. See “Relación, Apuntamientos y Avisos de Don Antonio de Mendoza,” 299.Google Scholar
26. de Sahagún, B., Vol. III, 90.Google Scholar
27. “Codice Tlatelolco,” Nueva Collección de Documentos, Vol. V (Mexico), 266.Google Scholar
28. Mendieta, Fray G., 148.Google Scholar
29. Borgia Steck, F., 84–85.Google Scholar
30. See the Royal Order of the foundation of the Real y Pontificia Universidad de Mexico, dated September 21, 1551, in the city of Toro (Spain) quoted by de la Plaza y Jaen, C. B., Cronica de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de Mexico (Mexico, 1931), Vol. II, 357.Google Scholar
31. The Jesuits arrived in Mexico on September 28, 1572. For further details on their work and foundations in that epoch see Jacobsen, V., Educational Foundations of the Jesuits in Sixteenth Century New Spain. (Berkeley, 1938), passim.Google Scholar
32. There is an interesting contrast between the excellent academic results obtained by the mendicant friars with the Indians in Mexico and the poor success achieved by similar attempts in the English colonies of North America. For further details in some of the English attempts see S. E. Morison, The Tercentennial History of Harvard College and University, 1636–1936 (Cambridge, 1936) Vol. I, 341, Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636–1936 (Cambridge, 1942), 381. Also see The History of the College of William and Mary: From Its Foundation 1660 to 1874 (Richmond, 1874), 42–43.Google Scholar
33. The first Indian Priest was ordained in 1572. He was Don Pablo Caltzontzin, son of the last king of Michoacan. See Cuevas, M., Historia, Vol. II (Tlalpan D. F., 1922), 77.Google Scholar
