Last week in a revealing discussion with several normally easy-going Mexican friends, the awareness by some U.S. citizens concerning Jalisco’s early development came under rough assessment.
True, the discussion dealt with a slice of this state’s development when probed by Spanish explorers, or occupied by other early Europeans – as revealed by a cloud of early Jalisco history. Evidence of somewhat distant “gringo” interests was offered, establishing dim examination by U.S. responses to examination by Mexican residents.
My Mexican questioners were friendly veterans of living several years – while rearing families – in the southern United States before retuning here. And for those of us who have lived for robust stretches in Mexico, such conversations can be eye-opening.
In this recent conversation, I hoped to emphasize long-standing and sharply interested “history-inclined North American probings.” This exploration of early Guadalajara – and farther westward – historically recognized that a western “Spanish outpost” was here even earlier than the much identified 1600 date.
That “even-earlier” recognition of the western area by some – often just a few – North Americans included the brutal rule of Nuño Beltron de Guzman.
Guzman set out December 21, 1529 to penetrate the area west of Mexico City, conquering lands and peoples who until then had resisted Spanish conquest. This expedition has been described as a “genocidal enterprise.” Typically, the conquistadors would attack an Indian village, steal the maiz and other food, raze and burn the dwellings, and torture the native leaders to gather information on what riches could be easily stolen from nearby populations. For the most part, these riches did not exist.
For instance, the Spanish were received peaceably in Tzintzuntzan by Tangáxuan II, the cazonci of the Tarascan state, which largely coincides with today’s state of Michoacán (Jalisco’s neighbor). Tangáxuan gave Guzmán presents of gold and silver and supplied him with soldiers and provisions. Nevertheless, Guzmán had him arrested and tortured, to force him to reveal the location of hidden stores of gold. It seems there was no more gold, for Tangáxuan did not reveal any under torture. Guzmán had him dragged by a horse and then burned him alive on February 14, 1530. When he came to this area, Guzman continued the violent suppression of the peoples of the present-day states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Nayarit and Sinaloa.
I never mentioned anything about the possible hole in my friends’ robust historical recall. Ignored the fact that the bright young daughter of a friend several months back thought a stern editor’s rewrite – repair of past information regarding Jalisco might be more than simply interesting.
When things did become a bit more peaceful, and post-Guzman, Guadalajara for instance was being called an “unbecoming place of low adobe buildings.” Thus wrote one foreign visitor to western Mexico, circa the 1600s. Guadalajara had just 124 Spanish householders, and “about” 400 mulattoes and slaves, with some 1,200 Indian families living in nearby villages. Yet by 1700, its population had doubled, and by 1800 had increased to nearly 30,000.
These population figures also suffered surges – and losses – during that time. The biggest, and most persistent problem was feeding this new far-western settlement. During the early decades, Guadalajara inhabitants were fed primarily by the surrounding Indian population – though the heavy-handed treatment by the Spaniards of their indigenous neighbors, along with the diseases such Europeans brought, decimated tribes that tried to be friendly. Even the name of the chief city of Jalisco is ironic – honoring the foul killer Nuño Beltron de Guzman’s home in Spain: Guadalajara.
Despite the Spaniards’ destructive “imperial” policy toward them, many Indian communities fared relatively well because they were the providers of the basic food supply for Guadalajara.
My friends’ conviction in the list of gringo “handicaps” was grander, it was eventually decided, than either party imagined. The surprised tangle touched both sides.