tres siglos de la dominación española en yucatán o sea historia de esta provincia. i &ii by fray...

8/9/2019 Tres Siglos de La Dominacin Espaola en Yucatn o Sea Historia de Esta Provincia. I &II by Fray Cogolludo REVIEW

1/4

Tres siglos de la dominacin espaola en Yucatn o sea historia de esta provincia. I &II by Fray

Diego Lopez de CogolludoReview by: Grant D. JonesAmerican Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 75, No. 6 (Dec., 1973), pp. 1806-1808Published by: Wileyon behalf of the American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/673626.

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2/4

1806

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

[75,1973]

nature

and

functioning

of

kinship.

The last

chapter,

translatable s Factors

which

influ-

ence

Tarahumara

social

organization,

is

unusual in that

it

discusses

not

only

the

structure

and functions

of

such core

Tara-

humarasocial featuresas the tesgiiinada,but

their

dysfunctions

and social

costs

as well.

This

has been

a

generally

unorthodox

pro-

cedure

in

anthropology,

ending

as

it

does

to

invite

charges

of

ethnocentrism.

Kennedy

demonstrates

(as

did

Jules

Henry nearly

a

decade

ago)

that it

can

be done at a

high

level of

analytical

competence.

The

study

is

particularly

appropriate,

focusing

as

it does

on the

second

largest

indigenous language

group

north of

Middle

America. Previously available major works

(Lumholtz

1902;

Bennett and

Zingg

1935;

Pennington

1963)

have

been

concerned

primarily

with

description,

in

contrast with

theoretical

analysis,

and

with

relatively

Christianized

Tarahumara.

Thus,

an

impor-

tant

gap

has been

filled.

Those who

have worked

in

the

Tara-

humaraarea

will

appreciate

the

frustrations

of

traveling

between

isolated

ranchos

and

even

more

the

problems

of

carrying

on

effective fieldworkamong people who must

be

among

the

world's

least

approachable

by

outsiders. The author's careful

analysis

of

the

dynamic

interrelationsbetween

environ-

ment and social

organization

sheds

much

light

on

several

mportant questions, among

them the often-remarked-on

ractice

where-

by

Tarahumara

individuals and

families

remain

n

isolation

for

more

or

less

extended

periods.

This

behavior has

given

rise

to

speculative

interpretation ranging

from

the

uninformed

to the

fantastic,

and

Kennedy

appropriately

shows that Tarahumaradis-

persal

derives

not

from

some

special

instinct

or from a

poetical preference

for

solitude,

but from realistic

decision

making

by

a

group

of

Homo

sapiens

who

know

their land

better than

anyone

else.

Possibly

the

most

important point

made

in

the book is that

we must continue to resist

simplistic

causal

explanations.

he

very

del-

icate,

complex,

inter-influencing

elationsbe-

tween the

Tarahumara

nd their

habitat and

theanalysismadeavailablenInapuchi emind

us not

only

that old-fashioned

rude

determin-

ism is

out but that

subsequent hedging

and

evasive

compromises

are

no

more

acceptable

today.

We

know

enough

to do better

andKen-

nedy

is

among

those who have.

Finally,

the

reviewer

applauds

the

fact

that

a book

representing

research

accom-

plished

in

Mexico

involving

a

target

popula-

tion who are citizens of that countryshould

have

been

published

in

Mexico's

rather

han

the

author'snational

anguage.

References

Cited

Bennett,

Wendell

C.,

and

Robert

M.

Zingg

1935 The Tarahumara:An Indian

Tribe

of Northern

Mexico.

Chicago:

Univer-

sity

of

Chicago

Press.

Henry,

Jules

1963 Culture

Against

Man.

New York:

Random

House.

Lumholtz,Carl

1902 Unknown

Mexico.

New

York.

Pennington,

Campbell

W.

1963

The Tarahumarof

Mexico. Salt

Lake

City: University

of Utah

Press.

Tres

siglos

de

la

dominaci6n

espaftola

en

Yucatan

o

sea historiade

esta

provincia.

I

&

II.

FRAY DIEGO

LOPEZ DE

COGOLLUDO.Foreword

by

Ferdinand

Anders. Preface

by

editor

of

1845

edi-

tion.

Graz,

Austria:AkademischeDruck-

u.

Verlagsanstalt,

1971.

viii

+

iv

+

717

pp.,

frontispiece,

illustrations,

4

appen-

dices,

index.

n.p.

(cloth).

[Original

edi-

tion, 1688,

Madrid.

This edition

facsimile

of

1845

edition

owned

by

Walter

Lehman

and

includes his

marginal

notes. In

2

volumes.]

Reviewed

by

GRANT D. JONES

Hamilton

College

The

reappearance

of

Cogolludo'shistory

is

welcome

news

to

anthropologists

and

historians

currently

engaged

n

research

and

reanalysis

of

Maya-Spanish

elations

during

the

colonial

period

in

Yucatan. This work

has

long

been

a standard

secondary

source

for

historians of

Yucatan, largely

because

Cogolludo

made use

of

numerous

primary

sources

that

were

subsequently

lost. How-

ever, anthropologists

concerned with the

ethnographic

reconstruction

of

preconquest

Maya culture and society have tended to

ignore Cogolludo

for the more

properly

ethnographic

work

of his better known

Franciscan

predecessor, Bishop

Landa. The

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/4

ETHNOLOGY

1807

efforts of

Gibson

(1966),

Murra

1961),

and

Spalding

(1967)

to

reconstruct

processes

of

mutual

adaptation

between Indian and

Spanish

societies

in the

highlands

of

Mexico

and

Peru make us

increasingly

aware

that

this emphasis upon preconquestreconstruc-

tion

represents

but one

problem

for

signi-

ficant research.

We

may

thus

expect

that

the

work

of

Cogolludo

and other

colonial

historians

of

Yucatan

will assume

a more

central

role in

our efforts to

reanalyze

broader

processes

of

sociocultural

change.

As

the editor of

this

1845

edition

points

out, Cogolludo's

bias as a

Franciscan

apolo-

gist

deeply

colors

the

content

of his

work.

Like

most clerics

of

his

time,

Cogolludo

felt

compelled to justify the conquest in religi-

ous

terms.

He

devotes

seemingly

inordinate

space

to the

history

of

Franciscanmissions

in

Yucatan, praises

their

efforts

in

wiping

out

idolatry,

and

offers

little

consolation

to

those

Maya

who

stubbornly

refused to

succumb

to

external

political

and

religious

control.

Fortunately,

his hatred of Indian

idolatry

did

not

seriously

affect the

general

accuracy

of

his

work.

The

two volumes consist

of

twelve

major

libros. Libros

I-III

treat

the

periods

of

discovery and conquest, about 1502 to

1545.

It

is,

as Chamberlain's

history

has

shown

(1948:348),

an

incomplete picture,

failing

to utilize

fully

even the

widely

known

sources

of

the

time.

He

does,

however,

document

the

overwhelming

and

continued

resistance

of the

eastern

Maya

provinces,

citing

their

stubborn

aggression

as

partial

justification

for

the

extreme

subjugation

measures used

by

the

Spanish.

His focus

upon Maya

warfare

provides

one

framework

for the analysis of the dynamics of the

indigenous

political-military

ystem

of

semi-

independent

states

that both

aided and

hindered

the

conquest.

Libro

IV

cites

both

previously published

as

well

as some new

evidence

for

Maya religion, including

a

section on

indigenous

crosses. Libro

V

contains a brief

description

of

the

well

known

Cupul

revolt of

1546-47,

docu-

menting

its

extension

into

the southern

Bacalar

region

and

detailing

subsequent

abortive

attempts

by

missionaries o

convert

and pacify the rebellious Uaymil province.

Following

several case studies

of

conversion

efforts in the

north,

he

quotes

in full

Lopez

Medel's 1552 ordinances

for

governing

the

native

population.

Libro

VI

deals with

detailsof late sixteenth

century

ecclesiastical

history,

including

the

miraculous

origins

of

the

Virgin

of

Izamal;

but

Cogolludo

studi-

ously

avoids

the

details

of

Landa's

dolatry

investigations held in 1562 during the

administration f

Diego Quijada.

Libros

VII-VIII

document

changing

official

policies

toward

governance

of

the

Indian

population,

utilization of

Indian

labor,

and

completion

of the

job

of

con-

version

between about

1570 and

1610. Of

particular

interest

is

evidence for the

con-

tinued

existence of

unconverted

Maya

refuge

zones in the

seventeenth

century

along

the

east

coast

of

Yucatan

(Libro VIII, Chapter

8). Libro IX documents the Fuensilada-

Orbita

visit of

1618

to the

Itza

capital

on

Lake

Peten,

including

details

of

Maya

settle-

ments

in

the

southern

Uaymil

and

Chetumal

provinces.

Libro

X

provides

similardetail on

Fray Delgado's

1621-24

Itzai

entrada under

Mirones,

which

ended in

the

death of

Delgado

and his

companions

and a

wide-

spread

and

protracted

revolt

of the

Maya

of

southern

Yucatan.

Nearly

hidden

by

ec-

clesiastical

detail,

in Libro

XI there is

further

evidence of widespreadseventeenthcentury

rebellion in the Bacalar

region

(Chapters

12-17).

Again

among

details of the lives

of

Franciscans

and

accounts

of

miracles,

Libro

XII

(Chapters

3-7)

describes

a

1646

entrada

to

Nohaa,

the

capital

of an

independent

Chol

Maya

territory

on the

Rio Usumacinta.

The

value of

this work to

anthropologists

lies, then,

in

Cogolludo's

preoccupation

with

the

slow

and

continuous

process

of

political

and

religious

conquest

that

characterized

colonial Yucatan. The constant state of

organized

rebellion

and

resistance,

not

only

of

the

Itza,

but of the entire

southern and

eastern

Maya

sections of

Yucatan,

becomes

pointedly

clear. All such

evidence, including

the vast

primary

sources

gathered

during

he

years

of

Carnegie

supported

archival re-

search,

needs

extensive

reanalysis.

The

orthography

of

this

excellent fac-

simile edition

is

modernized,

but the text

lacks

the

marginal

topical

notes of

the

original

1688

edition

(reprinted

n

Mexico

in

1957 as the fifth edition). Lehman'smar-

ginal

notes are

scanty,

but his

extraction

of

dates from the text

is useful to

readers.

Following

most libros in Volume I there are



4/4

1808

AMERICAN

ANTHROPOLOGIST

[75,1973]

notes

by

the

originaleditor,

including

several

reprints

of

articles

on

various

Maya

subjects

from

nineteenth

century

Yucatecan and

Mexican

journals.

These

appendices

alone

justify

the claim

of

a

history

of

three

centuries n the title of this edition.

References

Cited

Chamberlain,

Robert S.

1948 The

Conquest

and

Colonization

of

Yucatan,

1517-1550.

Carnegie

nstitu-

tion

of

Washington,

Publication

582.

Gibson,

Charles

1966 The

Aztecs

Under

Spanish

Rule: A

History

of the

Indians

of the

Valley

of

Mexico,

1519-1810.

Stanford,

CA:

Stanford

University

Press.

Murra, ohn V.

1961 Social Structural

and

Economic

Themes

in

Andean

Ethnohistory.

Anthropological

Quarterly

34:48-55.

Spalding,

Karen

1967 Indian Rural

Society

in

Colonial

Peru: The

Examples

of the

Huarochiri.

Unpublished

Ph.D.

dissertation,

Uni-

versity

of

California,

Berkeley.

Geograffa EconRmica de Mdxico (Siglo

XVI).

ALEJANDRA MORENO

TOS-

CANO. Mexico: Centro de

Estudios

Hist6ricos,

El

Colegio

de

Mexico,

1968.

177

pp.,

illustrations,

ables,

appendices,

bibliography.

Ps35.00

(paper).

[First

published

n

Paris,1967.]

Reviewed

by

EDWARDB. KURJACK

Western llinois

University

This

work

is an economic

analysis

of

the

Relaciones Geograificasof 1577-86 from

Mexico. The

Relaciones are

reports

describ-

ing

several hundred

communities

in

Latin

America and the

Philippines.

Written

by

Spanish

colonists

and

officials

in

response

to

a

long

questionnaire,

he

reports

treat almost

every

phase

of

life in

Spain's

former

posses-

sions. Moreno

searches

the

reports

for

mention

of

ninety

characteristics such

as

cultivation

of

various

crops,

manufacture

of

handicrafts,

and

the

presence

of

natural

resources.

Fifty-three maps

illustrate the

distribution of these traits. The

study

is

divided

into

two

parts:

(1)

a

spatial analysis

of

characteristics

throughout

sixteenth

century

Mexico,

and

(2)

a detailed examina-

tion of

characteristics rom

a

smaller

area,

Yucatan. The

importance

of the

data

in

the

Relaciones is underscored

by

the

recently

published

Handbook

of

Middle

American

Indians,

Volume

12: Guide to

Ethnohistori-

cal Sources, Part One, which is largely

concerned

with these

reports.

Moreno's

study supplements

the

handbook

volume;

as

a

geographical

atalog

of the

subject

matter

in

the

Relaciones,

it is a

very

useful

reference

on

Colonial Mesoamerica-

especially

Yucatan.

The

analysis proceeds by arranging

one

hundred

typical

communities

in

a

typologi-

cal series based

on

shared

characteristics.

Moreno

divides the

communities

into two

categories: (1) those native communities

where

change

due to

culture

contact

was

prominent,

and

(2)

those new

Spanish

settlements

or

marginal

ndian

communities

where

such acculturationwas at a

minimum.

The first

category

is

further

subdivided

by

ecological

zones defined

by

altitude. The

second includes

both

towns created

by

the

Spaniards

for

mining

or other

special

purposes

and Indian communities isolated

from

frequent

Spanish

contact. Most

Indian

settlements

in

Yucatan,

situated

away

from

the towns of the few Spanishcolonists in the

area,

are

part

of

this last

grouping.

The

Relaciones

from

Yucatanare unusual

because

they

were

compiled

by

encom-

enderos

instead of

crown

officials. The

encomenderos

were

conquerors

who had

been

given

temporary

rights

to

collect

tribute from

certain Indian

communities.

Through

the sixteenth

century,

the en-

comenderos

lobbied to

protect

their

hold-

ings

from

the

encroachment

of

missionaries,

who viewed the encomienda system as

unjust,

and to transform

their

temporary

grants

into

permanent

feudal

fiefs. The

Relaciones

of

the Yucatecan

encomenderos

heavily

reflect their

political

motivations.

Without

warning

the

reader of

these

biases,

Moreno

repeats

an

argument

ad-

vanced as a

political

attack

on

the

militant

friars:

according

to the

reports

of

the

encomenderos,

the

Crown

policy

of

re-

settling

Indians

in

large

communities to

facilitate their

religious

conversion

was the

principal

causeof a heavy populationdecline

during

the

sixteenth

century.

This

argument

has been too

readily accepted by

modern

scholars as evidencefor the

adaptive

value

of


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