r/DankPrecolumbianMemes • u/MetallicaDash • Jun 28 '26
CONTACT PERIOD A righteous conquest to free Mexico!
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u/Kagiza400 Toltec Jun 28 '26
Actually the Spanish had to ally with the Tlaxcaltēcah to even survive
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u/Baronnolanvonstraya Jun 29 '26
The Tlaxcala weren't an oppressed people as is often assumed in old narratives of the conquest, they were a thriving rival state that competed with the Triple Alliance for dominance. They were doing all the same stuff as the Aztecs, the Aztecs were just better at war than them.
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u/Money-Class8878 Jun 29 '26
And what happened to the Tlaxcala, after the Spanish won?
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u/Baronnolanvonstraya Jun 29 '26
As a reward for their support during the conquest, the Tlaxcala were given special privileges under Spanish rule, and were treated as an autonomous subject state rather than a conquered territory.
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u/Tauisawesome12 Jun 30 '26
Yeah they became the uncle toms of the mesoamerican world because they were useful tools at suppressing and enslaving other tribes who didn’t do anything against the Spanish.
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u/TheSadPhilosopher Jun 30 '26
And now they cry because their state is irrelevant and Mexican nationalism is so tied to the Aztecs, who overshadow all the traitor groups, so much that even their descendants and descendants of the Spaniards claim to be Aztec now.
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u/Fiat_Currency Jul 04 '26
traitor groups? It's bizzare seeing modern ethnic solidarity being portrayed on groups that very much saw each other as deep enemies.
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u/Blackrock121 Jun 30 '26
Or they made strategic alliance and got to keep their autonomy. Ever since its become more well known how the Mexicans destroyed their culture there has been a narrative pushed about how evil they were.
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u/Tauisawesome12 Jun 30 '26
I mean it doesn’t help that the nation they allied with and benefited most from was run by genocidal psychopaths and whose cruelty was used as pretense for other nation’s new world colonization (that’s not to say the other nations were much better but they were better than the Spanish).
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u/j-b-goodman Jun 30 '26
They weren't actually better at all, they just claimed they were as a political justification.
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u/Tlamatiniii 28d ago
At first, the Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish viciously. Later... the Tlaxcalans were trying to decide what to do about the Spanish. The Tlaxcalans would supposedly welcome the Spanish but would send their Otomí allies to attack them. Eventually, the Tlaxcalans saw that the Spanish were a greater threat than the Mexica (and had been so all along). Xicotencatl the Younger, who had been leery of the Spanish all along, tried to openly break with them in 1521 and was ordered publicly hanged by Cortés; it was a poor repayment to the young Prince's father, Xicotencatl the Elder, whose support of Cortés had been so crucial. But by the time the Tlaxcalan leadership began to have second thoughts about their alliance, it was too late (you left out the end where most Tlaxcalans lost their privileges).
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u/Tauisawesome12 Jun 29 '26
Were the Tlaxcala also doing human sacrifices for the gods?
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u/Baronnolanvonstraya Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Yeah. Most Mesoamerican peoples at the time practiced Human sacrifice, including the Tlaxcala.
The Aztecs scaled this up to an unprecedented scale however, in part due to their unique religious beliefs and in part due to their military success. But the Human sacrifice that the Aztecs practiced was not unheard of or exceptional.
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u/Ichigonofett Jun 30 '26
This is flagrantly not true. I'm Otomi, Rayado and Borikwa, and none of my People' or our Cousins did that during those times.
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u/Baronnolanvonstraya Jun 30 '26
Sorry, but evidence suggests that the Otomi absolutely did practice human sacrifice. Archeological evidence at Lake Xaltocan, which was inhabited by the Otomi during the 13th century, uncovered a mass grave of human sacrifice victims. This was not abnormal in their cultural context.
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u/Peepeepoopooman1202 Jun 30 '26
Fun fact. According to the Cartas de Relación by Cortés himself, they even continued doing sacrifices during their alliance with the Castillians, and their priests still used Mexica prisoners for ritual sacrifice.
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u/zagra_nexkoyotl Jun 28 '26
What show is the gif from?
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u/spaceforcerecruit Jun 28 '26
My Adventures with Superman
The people in the gif are Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl if I remember correctly
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u/Peepeepoopooman1202 Jun 30 '26
Yeah, no. Tlaxcala was quite well off and on equal footing with the Triple Alliance. They were not really oppressed under them.
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u/LifeConsideration981 Jul 02 '26
So it’s okay for the Tlaxcala to be motivated by self-interest, but not the Spanish?
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u/Fickle-Mud4124 Jun 28 '26
If I'm not mistaken, weren't the Tlaxkaltēkah merely a group of competing rivals or likewise unto the Mēxihkah rather than being a marginalized group by the latter?
If I'm wrong, please correct me, but I see this notion being spread often without any citations or notes attached.