LATINO HISTORY 101

 Castillo San Felipe del Morro, commonly known as El Morro, is a fortification built in San Juan, dating back to the 16th century, when Puerto Rico was under Spanish rule. Now a Word Heritage site it is one of Puerto Rico’s most iconic structures. Facing the Atlantic Ocean and situated in what is now known as Old San Juan, the capital city’s historic district, El Morro bridges the past with the present. 

Built at the entrance of the Bay of San Juan, as the United States National Park service notes, made the fortification’s location crucial to protecting this premier Spanish colony- and protect Puerto Rico it did. El Morro came under attack multiple times by a variety of opponents, the most notable probably being renowned seaman Sir Francis Drake. When Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American war, El Morro continued to play an important role in protecting the area. Features like a bunker and observation post were added, and it was used as a military base by the United States during World War I and II. Once El Morro was no longer in use as a military structure, it was officially named a Historic Site. 

Since then the fortification and its lawn have been host to many events, especially concerts by various musical acts, including the Symphonic Orchestra of Puerto Rico and the Greek pianist and composer, Yanni.

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El Castillo San Felipe del Morro, comúnmente conocido como El Morro, es una fortificación construida en San Juan, que data del siglo XVI, cuando Puerto Rico estaba bajo el dominio español. Ahora un sitio de Word Heritage, es una de las estructuras más emblemáticas de Puerto Rico. Frente al Océano Atlántico y situado en lo que ahora se conoce como el Viejo San Juan, el distrito histórico de la ciudad capital, El Morro une el pasado con el presente. 

Construido a la entrada de la Bahía de San Juan, como señala el servicio de Parques Nacionales de los Estados Unidos, la ubicación de la fortificación fue crucial para proteger esta importante colonia española, y proteger a Puerto Rico. El Morro fue atacado varias veces por una variedad de oponentes, el más notable probablemente fue el renombrado marinero Sir Francis Drake. Cuando España cedió Puerto Rico a los Estados Unidos al final de la guerra hispanoamericana, El Morro siguió desempeñando un papel importante en la protección del área. Se agregaron características como un búnker y un puesto de observación, y los Estados Unidos lo utilizaron como base militar durante la Primera y Segunda Guerra Mundial. Una vez que El Morro dejó de estar en uso como estructura militar, fue nombrado oficialmente Sitio Histórico. 

Desde entonces, la fortificación y su césped han sido sede de muchos eventos, especialmente conciertos de varios actos musicales, incluida la Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico y el pianista y compositor griego Yanni. 

Up until now, we haven’t had the resources, or perhaps even a genuine desire, to seek out Aztec stories, as told by the indigenous people themselves. But thanks to new research, if we really try, we can still hear ancient Mexicans speak. 

The Aztecs had a pictorgraphic writing system of their own, and as a result, were fascinated when the Spanish friars first taught them the phonetic Roman alphabet. They saw the alphabet’s potential and immediately began to use it to write things down in their own language of Nahuatl (NA-wat), often without the Spanish friars even knowing what they were up to. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated and rarely consulted by scholars. 

Today, when we read their words, we learn that they had a sense of humor and also that they had long lived in fear. They had left their homes in the north because their situation was so bad. They had had to fight their way from today’s New Mexico down to Mexico City, and they had seen many of their children die. By the 1500s, they had not only survived, but managed to prevail, and they were taking no chances of being forced to go backwards. They used their brains and their brawn to defeat their neighbors — first the other ethnic groups in the central basic of Mexico, and then much farther afield. To make sure they remained on top, they used the threat of human sacrifice to keep others in line. If any group placed unwelcome demands on them, they were not averse to putting those people’s children in wooden cages, just to make a point. 

But on the whole, like most humans, they preferred to laugh and dance and do the decent thing. They knew that all peoples had something special to offer, and the markets of their great city were stocked with proof of this—the products of the widest possible reach, created by talented artisans from across the land. Later, in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, some of their descendants (now mixed with Spaniards) returned north and settled the area from California to Texas. This migration only stopped when the United States invaded their country in the 1840s and defeated them in war, suddenly claiming the region as their own.  

Much like the Mexican people who traveled south from what is now known as the American Southwest, many of today’s Mexicans—their literal and figurative descendants—are powerless and displaced. Likewise, the people of Central America, who once existed on the edges of the Aztec empire, find themselves facing poverty and violence and look to the north with hope. The Aztecs’ wit was legendary. If they were here today, they would probably see a certain irony in the situation. That instead of traveling south, Mesoamericans now journey north, reversing the steps taken by their ancestors so many years ago. And that even in the face of American hostility and outright violence, they still find hope, energy and resilience, much like their Aztec ancestors in the shadow of their Spanish colonizers.  

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Hasta ahora, no hemos tenido los recursos, o tal vez ni siquiera un deseo genuino, de buscar historias aztecas, contadas por los propios indígenas. Pero gracias a una nueva investigación, si realmente lo intentamos, todavía podemos escuchar hablar a los antiguos mexicanos.  Los aztecas tenían un sistema de escritura pictórico propio y, como resultado, quedaron fascinados cuando los frailes españoles les enseñaron por primera vez el alfabeto fonético romano. Vieron el potencial del alfabeto e inmediatamente comenzaron a usarlo para escribir cosas en su propio idioma, el náhuatl (NA-wat), a menudo sin que los frailes españoles supieran lo que estaban haciendo. Hasta hace poco, estas fuentes permanecieron oscuras, traducidas solo parcialmente y rara vez consultadas por los estudiosos.

Hoy, cuando leemos sus palabras, aprendemos que tenían sentido del humor y también que habían vivido mucho tiempo con miedo. Habían dejado sus hogares en el norte porque su situación era muy mala. Tuvieron que luchar para abrirse camino desde el actual Nuevo México hasta la Ciudad de México, y habían visto morir a muchos de sus hijos. Para el siglo XVI, no solo habían sobrevivido, sino que lograron prevalecer, y no corrían el riesgo de verse obligados a retroceder. Usaron sus cerebros y sus músculos para derrotar a sus vecinos, primero a los otros grupos étnicos en la base central de México, y luego mucho más lejos. Para asegurarse de permanecer en la cima, utilizaron la amenaza del sacrificio humano para mantener a los demás a raya. Si algún grupo les hacía demandas no deseadas, no eran reacios a poner a los hijos de esas personas en jaulas de madera, solo para demostrar un punto.  Pero en general, como la mayoría de los humanos, preferían reír, bailar y hacer las cosas decentes. Sabían que todos los pueblos tenían algo especial que ofrecer, y los mercados de su gran ciudad estaban repletos de prueba de ello: los productos del mayor alcance posible, creados por talentosos artesanos de todo el país. Más tarde, en los años 1600, 1700 y 1800, algunos de sus descendientes (ahora mezclados con españoles) regresaron al norte y se establecieron en el área desde California hasta Texas. Esta migración solo se detuvo cuando Estados Unidos invadió su país en la década de 1840 y los derrotó en la guerra, reclamando repentinamente la región como propia.

Al igual que los mexicanos que viajaron al sur desde lo que ahora se conoce como el suroeste de Estados Unidos, muchos de los mexicanos de hoy, sus descendientes literales y figurativos, están impotentes y desplazados. Asimismo, los pueblos de América Central, que una vez existieron en los bordes del imperio azteca, se encuentran enfrentando la pobreza y la violencia y miran hacia el norte con esperanza. El ingenio de los aztecas era legendario. Si estuvieran aquí hoy, probablemente verían cierta ironía en la situación. Que en lugar de viajar al sur, los mesoamericanos ahora viajan al norte, invirtiendo los pasos que dieron sus ancestros hace tantos años. Y que incluso frente a la hostilidad estadounidense y la violencia absoluta, todavía encuentran esperanza, energía y resiliencia, al igual que sus antepasados ​​aztecas a la sombra de sus colonizadores españoles.

The Maya civilization (/ˈmaɪə/) was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its logosyllabic script—the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. "Maya" is a modern term used to refer collectively to the various peoples that inhabited this area. They did not call themselves "Maya" and did not have a sense of common identity or political unity.[1] Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.

The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD) saw the establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, and the cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet, including maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers. The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC. Classic period is largely defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop many city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities of Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful.

Rule during the Classic period centred on the concept of the "divine king", who was thought to act as a mediator between mortals and the supernatural realm. Kingship was patrilineal, and power normally passed to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader as well as a ruler. Closed patronage systems were the dominant force in Maya politics, although how patronage affected the political makeup of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic period, the aristocracy had grown in size, reducing the previously exclusive power of the king. The Maya developed sophisticated art forms using both perishable and non-perishable materials, including wood, jade, obsidian, ceramics, sculpted stone monuments, stucco, and finely painted murals.

Maya cities tended to expand organically. The city centers comprised ceremonial and administrative complexes, surrounded by an irregularly shaped sprawl of residential districts. Different parts of a city were often linked by causeways. Architecturally, city buildings included palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, and structures specially aligned for astronomical observation. The Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing. Theirs was the most advanced writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, of which only three uncontested examples remain, the rest having been destroyed by the Spanish. In addition, a great many examples of Maya texts can be found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a highly complex series of interlocking ritual calendars, and employed mathematics that included one of the earliest known instances of the explicit zero in human history. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice.

The Inca Empire was a vast empire that flourished in the Andean region of South America from the early 15th century A.D. up until its conquest by the Spanish in the 1530s. Even after the conquest, Inca leaders continued to resist the Spaniards up until 1572, when its last city, Vilcabamba, was captured The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE, and their empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south. It is the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time.  Undaunted by the often harsh Andean environment, the Incas conquered people and exploited landscapes in such diverse settings as plains, mountains, deserts, and tropical jungle. Famed for their unique art and architecture, they constructed finely-built and imposing buildings wherever they conquered, and their spectacular adaptation of natural landscapes with terracing, highways, and mountaintop settlements continues to impress modern visitors at such world-famous sites as Machu Picchu.

As with other ancient Americas cultures, the historical origins of the Incas are difficult to disentangle from the founding myths they themselves created. According to legend, in the beginning, the creator god Viracocha came out of the Pacific Ocean, and when he arrived at Lake Titicaca, he created the sun and all ethnic groups. These first people were buried by the god and only later did they emerge from springs and rocks (sacred pacarinas) back into the world. The Incas, specifically, were brought into existence at Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) from the sun god Inti; hence, they regarded themselves as the chosen few, the 'Children of the Sun', and the Inca ruler was Inti's representative and embodiment on earth. In another version of the creation myth, the first Incas came from a sacred cave known as Tampu T'oqo or 'The House of Windows', which was located at Pacariqtambo, the 'Inn of Dawn', south of Cuzco. The first pair of humans were Manco Capac (or Manqo Qhapaq) and his sister (also his wife) Mama Oqllu (or Ocllo). Three more brother-sister siblings were born, and the group set off together to found their civilization. Defeating the Chanca people with the help of stone warriors (pururaucas), the first Incas finally settled in the Valley of Cuzco and Manco Capac, throwing a golden rod into the ground, established what would become the Inca capital, Cuzco.

Although the Incas imposed their religion and administration on conquered peoples, extracted tribute, and even moved loyal populations (mitmaqs) to better integrate new territories into the empire, Inca culture also brought certain benefits such as food redistribution in times of environmental disaster, better storage facilities for foodstuffs, work via state-sponsored projects, state-sponsored religious feasts, roads, irrigation systems, terrace farms, military assistance, and luxury goods, especially art objects enjoyed by the local elite.  MOST SPLENDID WERE THE TEMPLES BUILT IN HONOUR OF INTI & MAMA KILYA - THE FORMER WAS LINED WITH 700 2 KG SHEETS OF BEATEN GOLD. 

The Inca language Quechua lives on today and is still spoken by some eight million people. There are also a good number of buildings, artefacts, and written accounts which have survived the ravages of conquerors, looters, and time. These remains are proportionally few to the vast riches which have been lost, but they remain indisputable witnesses to the wealth, ingenuity, and high cultural achievements of this great but short-lived civilization.

The Olmec Civilization was one of the most influential ancient civilizations of the early Americas, and though its dominance of the region faded in the last centuries before the Common Era, the Olmec civilization is commonly thought to be the “mother culture” of many other cultures that appeared in the region in later 

The Olmec civilization presents something of a mystery, indeed, we do not even know what they called themselves, as Olmec was their Aztec name and meant 'rubber people'. Due to a lack of archaeological evidence their ethnic origins and the location and extent of many of their settlements are not known. The Olmecs did, however, codify and record their gods and religious practices using symbols. The precise significance of this record is much debated but, at the very least, its complexity does suggest some sort of organised religion involving a priesthood. The Olmec religious practices of sacrifice, cave rituals, pilgrimages, offerings, ball-courts, pyramids and a seeming awe of mirrors, was also passed on to all subsequent civilizations in Mesoamerica until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century CE.

Olmec prosperity was initially based on exploiting the fertile and well-watered coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico to grow such crops as corn and beans (often twice-yearly) which allowed for an agricultural surplus. They also, no doubt, gathered the plentiful local supply of plant food, palm nuts and sea-life, including turtles and clams. By c. 1200 BCE significant urban centres developed at San Lorenzo (the earliest), La Venta, Laguna de los Cerros, Tres Zapotes and Las Limas. San Lorenzo reached its peak of prosperity and influence between 1200 and 900 BCE when its strategic position safe from flooding allowed it to control local trade. Typical Olmec trade goods included obsidian, jade, serpentine, mica, rubber, pottery, feathers and polished mirrors of ilmenite

The Olmecs influenced the civilizations they came into contact with across Mesoamerica, particularly in sculpture in ceramic and jade and objects featuring Olmec imagery have been found at Teopantecuanitlan, 650 km distant from the Olmec heartland. In addition, many deities featured in Olmec art and religion such as the sky-dragon (a sort of caiman creature with flaming eyebrows) and the feathered-snake god, would reappear in similar form in later religions. The snake-god especially, would be transformed into the major gods Kukulcan for the Maya and Quetzalcoatl for the Aztecs. This artistic and religious influence, along with the features of precisely aligned ceremonial precincts, monumental pyramids, sacrificial rituals and ball-courts, meant that all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures would owe a great deal to their mysterious forerunners, the Olmecs.

Indigenous Tlaxcala: The Allies of the Spaniards