History of European Contact.
The great area with which we are concerned has been in touch with Europe since the beginning of the sixteenth century. Columbus, on his last voyage in 1502, landed on the northern coast of Honduras and rounded the stormy cape called Gracias à Dios. Later he skirted the shore of Costa Rica and Panama and entered the body of water which was named in his honor Bahia del Almirante—Bay of the Admiral. He brought back sensational news of the gold in possession of the natives, which they had told him came from a district called Veragua. After a few years of stormy warfare the Spaniards established themselves firmly in this golden land. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who emerged from the bickering mob as the strongest leader, was the first white man to cross the Isthmus. This he did in 1513, grandiloquently laying claim to the Pacific Ocean and all the shores that it touched in the name of Spain. The crown appointed the greedy and black-hearted Pedrarias Davila governor of Darien and in 1517 he succeeded in having Balboa beheaded on a flimsy charge. Colonization and exploration went forward rapidly. In 1519 the old city of Panama, now in ruins, was founded. The rich region around the Nicaraguan lakes was discovered by Gil Gonzalez Davila and the city of Granada was founded in 1524. The exploration from the southern base came in contact with that from the north in Salvador shortly after this event.
Fig. 5. Spanish Ship in the Aubin Codex.
[Plate II.]
(a) Site of Pueblo Viejo, the First Capital of Guatemala.
(b) A Spanish Church at the Village of Camotan on the Road to Copan.
Let us now direct our attention to the conquest of Mexico. Perhaps the Portuguese were the first to sight the mainland of Yucatan in 1493. There is little to prove this except one or two charts or maps made in the first decade of the sixteenth century that show the peninsula in its proper location. In 1511 or 1512 a ship from Darien was wrecked and some of the sailors were cast upon the coast of Yucatan. Most of them were killed and sacrificed, but two survived. One of these survivors was Geronimo de Aguilar, who later was rescued by Cortez and became his guide and interpreter.
The first accredited voyage of discovery to Mexico was one under the command of Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, which sailed from Cuba in February, 1517. He coasted the northern and eastern shores of Yucatan. When he attempted to obtain water he was worsted in a serious battle with the Maya Indians. His expedition finally returned to Cuba in a sad plight. The next year Juan de Grijalva set out to continue the exploration of the new land with the stone-built cities. He landed at Cozumel Island and took possession. He explored the eastern coast of Yucatan as well as the northern and western ones, discovered the mouth of the large river that bears his name, and proceeded as far as the Island of Sacrifices in the harbor of Vera Cruz.
The next year Hernando Cortez was sent out by Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, to conquer the new land. He landed at Cozumel Island and rescued Geronimo de Aguilar. Then he followed the coast to the mouth of the Grijalva River where he disembarked and fought the important battle of Cintla, the first engagement in the New World in which cavalry was used. After a signal victory Cortez continued his way to Vera Cruz. Here delay and dissension seemed about to break the luck of the invaders.
Although the Mexicans were somewhat inclined to regard the Spaniards as supernatural visitants and to associate their coming with the fabled return of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, still Moctezuma refused to grant an interview to Cortez. The Totonacan city of Cempoalan opened its gates and became allies of the invaders. Finally, at the instigation of their stout-hearted captain, the Spaniards destroyed their ships on the shore in order to steel their resolution through the impossibility of retreat. Then the little band of 450 white men with their retinue of natives marched towards the highlands. The route led past Jalapa and over the mountains to the fortified city of Tlaxcala. This city, after a skirmish, likewise enlisted in the Spanish cause, a course that came easy because Tlaxcala was a traditional enemy of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexico City, and had withstood the attacks of the Aztecs for many years. From here Cortez passed to the sacred city of Cholula where, suspecting treachery, he caused many of the inhabitants to be massacred.
Fig. 6. Cortez arrives with Sword and Cross and Moctezuma brings him Gold. Codex Vaticanus 3738.
In the Spanish histories one hears much concerning the omens, the prophecies, and the vain appeals to the gods that became more and more frequent and frantic as the invaders approached the capital. Arriving at Ixtapalapan they entered upon the great causeway leading out to the Venice-like city in the lake. Accepting the inevitable, Moctezuma and his nobles met the Spaniards and conducted them to the Palace of Axayacatl, which was prepared for their habitation. This took place in November, 1519. The fears of Moctezuma were soon fulfilled, for he was taken prisoner and held as a hostage of safety in his own capital.
Fig. 7. Aztecan Canoe. Lienzo de Tlaxcala.
Meanwhile Velasquez, convinced of the unfaithfulness of Cortez, dispatched Narvaez to capture the rebellious agent. But Narvaez was himself captured and his soldiers went to augment the army of the victor.
Alvarado had been left in command of the garrison at Tenochtitlan during the absence of Cortez. The time approached for the great feast of Tezcatlipoca and the Spaniards, fearing the results of this appeal to the principal Aztecan god, resolved to be the first to strike. The multitude assembled in the temple enclosure was massacred and after this deed the soldiers fought their way back to the stronghold in which they were quartered. The Aztecs were thoroughly aroused by this unwarranted cruelty as well as by the cupidity of the Spaniards. Cortez hastened back to take personal charge; but in spite of victories in the storming of the pyramids and in other hand-to-hand contests, the invaders were so weakened that their condition was truly alarming. Moctezuma died in captivity and the last restraint of the natives was removed.
The night of June 30, 1520, is famous as La Noche Triste—The Sad Night—for on this night the Spaniards attempted to steal out of the city that had become untenable. The natives were warned by a woman’s shriek and a desperate encounter took place on the narrow causeway loading to Tlacopan. The bridges were torn down and the Spanish soldiers in armor were hemmed in between the deep canals. At last, however, the firm land was reached. Here, instead of following up the victory, the natives permitted the Spaniards to re-form their ranks. A few days later Cortez was able to restore something of his lost prestige by the decisive victory at Otumba, after which he continued his retreat to the friendly Tlaxcala.
A year was spent in recuperation, in building boats for an attack from the lake, and in putting down the Aztecan outposts. In the meantime the natives were suffering from a dreadful visitation of smallpox, introduced by the Spaniards, and Cuitlahuac, the successor of Moctezuma, had died of this disease after a rule of eighty days. Finally Tenochtitlan was besieged again. The buildings were leveled to the ground as the Spaniards advanced.
[Plate III.]
(a) View of the Island Town of Flores in Lake Peten where the Last Capital of the Itzas was located.
(b) The Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza into which Human Beings were thrown as Sacrifices, along with Objects of Jade and Gold.
The brave defense of Cuauhtemoc availed for naught against cannon and steel armor. On the 13th of August, 1521, the conquest of Tenochtitlan was achieved and the spirit of a warlike people forever broken.
The Valley of Mexico having been taken, numerous expeditions were sent out to subdue the more distant provinces and to establish colonies. Alvarado invaded the south and by 1524 he had captured Utatlan and other native strongholds on the highlands of Guatemala and had invaded Salvador. Cortez himself undertook a wonderful march from Vera Cruz to the Gulf of Honduras to punish an unruly subordinate. His course lay through the swamps and jungles of the Usumacinta Basin, thence across the savannahs of southern Yucatan to Lake Peten, and, finally, over the mountains to Lake Izabal and the Motagua River. Even today much of his route would be called impassable for an army. Puerto Cortez, on the northern coast of Honduras, was founded at the conclusion of this expedition. The exploitation of Yucatan and Tabasco was granted to Francisco Montejo, who began the conquest of this low-lying territory in 1527. The first campaigns were disastrous and heartbreaking. Several short-lived Salamancas were founded, one of them at Chichen Itza. But the odds were too great and by 1535 all the Spaniards had been killed or expelled. The son of Montejo renewed the struggle. In 1540 Campeche was founded and early in 1542 the city of Mérida was established upon the site of an earlier Mayan town.
Progress was also rapid in the north. Nuño de Guzman departed in 1529 on a mission to conquer Michoacan and the great northern province known as New Galicia. His rule was marred by many acts of cruelty. In 1538 Coronado, the successor of Guzman, led his army northward to the land of the Pueblo Indians and then out into the Great Plains. Before the first English settlement was made in North America the power of Spain was firmly established, not only throughout Central America and Mexico, but also in the southwestern part of the United States.
The spiritual conquest was no less remarkable than the territorial. The priests accompanied and even preceded the armies with the doctrine of the cross. The rough and ready characters that enliven the wonderful drama of this period had the vices of greed and cruelty, but nearly all were imbued with a pride of religion, if not with the true flame. The firmness and bigotry on the one hand and the open sympathy on the other with which the Catholic fathers met the practical problems before them resulted in vast achievements. Either by accident or design certain patron saints and efficacious shrines of special interest to the natives were not long in becoming known. The Virgin of Guadeloupe and the Black Christ of Esquipulas brought many converts to the foreign faith. Church building was carried on apace. The various religious orders became rich and powerful and exerted a strong influence upon civil administration.
The later history of this great region can be passed over briefly. Cortez was the first governor general of Mexico but he was soon shorn of his power as dictator at large. The First Audiencia was appointed in 1528 and is noteworthy simply by reason of its misrule. The Second Audiencia, beginning two years later, put through some excellent reform laws. The first Viceroy, the great and good Mendoza, arrived in 1535 and for fifteen years the land prospered under his rule, which was benign without being weak. He was succeeded by Luis de Velasco, who emancipated many of the enslaved Indians. The long line of viceroys continued until 1821, when Spain was forced to relinquish her provinces in America. Among the greatest of the viceroys was Bucareli, the forty-sixth in line, who ruled Mexico from 1771-1779 while the United States of America were just beginning to feel the pulse of life.
During the viceregal period in Mexico the region to the south was ruled by the captain general of Guatemala. The dominion was subdivided into five departments corresponding to the modern republics of Guatemala (which then included the Mexican state of Chiapas), Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Panama was ruled from the South American province of New Granada.
Weakened by Napoleonic wars and rent by internal dissensions, Spain found herself in the first two decades of the nineteenth century unable to maintain her waning power in America. Bolivar and his brother patriots raised the standard of revolt in South America in 1810 and in the same year war for independence broke out in the north. Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, rang the liberty bell of Mexican freedom on the 16th of September, 1810. This beloved patriot was captured the year following, and shot, but the revolution, once begun, was continued under Morelos and other leaders. After 1815 the cause seemed hopeless, but in 1820 there was a new uprising and General Iturbide, who was sent to put it down, turned his army against the government and established himself as emperor. Central America was also included in this Mexican empire. The rule of Iturbide soon became unpopular and in 1823 he abdicated his throne. The Mexican republic that was then instituted continued until the French intervention in 1861. During this time the most noteworthy events were the war with the United States in 1846-47 and the passing of the reform laws under Benito Juarez that freed Mexico from the oppressions of the church.
As a result of the French intervention Maximilian of Austria was made emperor. This unfortunate ruler, who did much to beautify Mexico City, was dethroned and shot in 1867. The republic was then re-established.
The other republics of Central America formed a federal union at the time the first Mexican empire came to an end in 1823. This union was preserved till 1839 and several later attempts were made to restore it. The five republics have had such tempestuous careers as a result of warfare, usurpation, and political brigandage that their material and social development has been stunted. Several are now, however, on the high road to stability.
Panama was until 1903 a part of Colombia. British Honduras had its origin in the concessions given to English logwood gatherers and to the fact that pirates found refuge behind the coral reefs that line the shores. The English claim to the Mosquito Coast rested upon a similar flimsy basis, and was finally abandoned.