History of Mexico (Bancroft)

Front matter

Volume 1 (1516-1521) | Volume | 9 | History of the Pacific States

Volume 2 (1521-1600) | " | |10 | "

Volume 3 (1601-1810) | " | |11 | "

Volume 1

THE WORKS

OF

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT

VOLUME IX.

HISTORY OF MEXICO.

Vol. I. 1516-1521.

SAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY PUBLISHERS 1883

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Chapter 1

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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. Velazquez added a third vessel, a small bark, in consideration of a share in the speculation. 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 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, during two of which they were severely tempest-tossed, they discovered land; 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. 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. 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, 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, 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. 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, 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."

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. 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.

Preface

PREFACE.

As the third greatest of the world's republics, wherein society and civilization are displayed under somewhat abnormal aspects, under aspects at least widely different from those present in other than Spanish-speaking communities, configurations and climates, races and race intermixtures, civil and religious polities, and the whole range of mental and physical environment being in so many respects exceptional and individual, Mexico presents a study one of the most interesting and profitable of any among the nations of to-day.

A brilliant though unjust and merciless conquest was followed by the enforcement of Spain's institutions upon the survivors, who were themselves so far advanced in arts, industries, and intellectual culture as to render such metamorphosis most disastrous. After the awful success of Cortés, Spain neither exterminated the natives, like the United States, nor left them in their aboriginal independence, like the fur-magnates of British America. Aiming at the utmost kindness, the Spanish government fastened on body and soul the iron fetters of tyranny and superstition; aiming at liberty and humanity, slavery and wrong were permitted. With grants of land, grants of men and women were made. The church fought valiantly against the evils of the encomienda system, and against the cruelty and injustice imposed by the colonists upon the natives. There was here little of that wholesome indifference to the welfare of her colonies later manifested by England with regard to her settlements in America. Spain's American possessions belonged not to the Spanish people but to the Spanish sovereign; the lands and the people were the king's, to be held or disposed of as he should direct. Hence among the people were encouraged dividing castes; commerce was placed under the severest restrictions, and in many ways it became clear that provinces were held and governed almost exclusively for the benefit of the crown. And so they remained, Europeans and Americans intermingling their loves and hates for three hundred years, which was indeed Mexico's dark age, two civilizations being well nigh crushed therein. Light at last breaking in upon the people, the three centuries of viceregal rule were brought to a close by their taking a stand for independence, such as their Anglo-American neighbor had so recently achieved. And now during these latter days of swift progression Mexico is happily aroused from her lethargy, and is taking her proper place among the enlightened nations of the earth, to the heart-felt joy of all.

The first of the five great periods of Mexican history, embracing the aboriginal annals of Anáhuac, has been exhaustively treated in the fifth volume of my Native Races. The second is that of the conquest by Cortés; the third covers nearly three centuries of viceregal rule in New Spain; the fourth comprises the struggle for independence and the founding of the republic; and the fifth extends thence to the present time, including as salient features a series of internal revolutions, the war with the United States, the imperial experiment of Maximilian, and the peaceful development of national industries and power in recent years. It is my purpose to present on a national scale, and in a space symmetrically proportioned to the importance of each, the record of the four successive periods.

The conquest of Mexico, filling the present and part of another volume, has been treated by many writers, and in a masterly manner. In the three periods of Mexican history following the conquest there is no comprehensive work extant in English; nor is there any such work in Spanish that if translated would prove entirely satisfactory to English readers. Of the few Spanish and Mexican writers whose researches have extended over the whole field, or large portions of it, none have been conspicuously successful in freeing themselves from the quicksands of race prejudice, of religious feeling, of patriotic impulse, of political partisanship; none have had a satisfactory command of existing authorities; none in the matter of space have made a symmetrical division of the periods, or have appreciated the relative importance of different topics as they appear to any but Spanish eyes. Yet there has been no lack among these writers of careful investigation or brilliant diction. Indeed there is hardly an epoch that has not been ably treated from various partisan standpoints.

The list of authorities prefixed to this volume shows approximately my resources for writing a History of Mexico. I may add that no part of my collection is more satisfactorily complete than that pertaining to Mexico. I have all the standard histories and printed chronicles of the earliest times, together with all the works of writers who have extended their investigations to the events and developments of later years. On the shelves of my Library are found the various Colecciones de Documentos, filled with precious historical papers from the Spanish and Mexican archives, all that were consulted in manuscript by Robertson, Prescott, and other able writers, with thousands equally important that were unknown to them. My store of manuscript material is rich both in originals and copies, including the treasures secured during a long experience by such collectors as José María Andrade and José Fernando Ramirez; a copy of the famous Archivo General de Mexico, in thirty-two volumes; the autograph originals of Cárlos María Bustamante's historical writings, in about fifty volumes, containing much not found in his printed works; the original records of the earliest Mexican councils of the church, with many ecclesiastical and missionary chronicles not extant in print; and finally a large amount of copied material on special topics drawn from different archives expressly for my work.

Documents printed by the Mexican government; including the regular memorias and other reports of different departments and officials, constitute a most valuable source of information. Partisan writings and political pamphlets are a noticeable feature of Mexican historical literature, indispensable to the historian who would study both sides of every question. Prominent Mexicans have formed collections of such works, a dozen of which I have united in one, making two hundred and eighteen volumes of Papeles Varios, some five thousand pamphlets, besides nearly as many more collected by my own efforts. The newspapers of a country cannot be disregarded, and my collection is not deficient in this class of data, being particularly rich in official periodicals.

The conquest of Mexico, which begins this history, has the peculiar attractions of forming the grandest episode in early American annals from a military point of view, and in opening to the world the richest, most populous, and most civilized country on the northern continent, and of gradually incorporating it in the sisterhood of nations as the foremost representative of Latin-American states. On the other hand, an episode which presents but a continuation of the bloody path which marked the advance of the conquerors in America, and which involved the destruction not only of thousands of unoffending peoples but of a most fair and hopeful culture, is not in its results the most pleasing of pictures. But neither in this pit of Acheron nor in that garden of Hesperides may we expect to discover the full significance of omnipotent intention. From the perpetual snow-cap springs the imperceptibly moving glacier. A grain of sand gives no conception of the earth, nor a drop of water of the sea, nor the soft breathing of an infant of a hurricane; yet worlds are made of atoms, and seas of drops of water, and storms of angry air-breaths. Though modern Mexico can boast a century more of history than the northern nations of America, as compared with the illimitable future her past is but a point of time.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

1516-1517.