the spanish conuest

we all know that columbus first ¨discovered¨ the new world in 1492 but the ways that the story continues from there are extremely diverse and i just want to take a second here to talk about the spanish conquest of oaxaca and what it still means today.
in 1492 columbus landed on islands in the caribbean thinking that he had reached india, the destination he had set out for. for this reason this area is still broadly known as the east indies and inhabitants in all of the new world as indians. the spanish did not arrive in mexico though until 1519 when soldier hernan cortez landed on the gulf coast near modern veracruz. there he came into contact with peoples subjugated by the aztec empire and quickly he moved with his small force of spanish soldiers, less than 500 men, and a growing force of indigenous allies towards the aztec capital at tenochtitlan. when the spanish first arrived in tenochtitlan (modern day mexico city) they were completely dumbstruck. the city was at the time the largest in the world and it absolutely dwarfed paris, the largest city in europe at the time, by two or three times. the city was also much cleaner than any large urban space in europe at the time and it´s grand causways, aqueducts, and public architecture stunned cortes´men. unfortunately however, cortes, a second son and therefore of no inheritance back in spain, was after personal riches and glory. after being received as a guest he took montechuzoma, emperor of the aztecs, hostage inside his own palace. for weeks the spanish remained inside the palace levying ransom for montechuzoma while outside a smallpox epidemic ravaged the city. eventually cortes and his men left, but only returned later with a huge army of the aztecs former subjects, eager to rebel against their former lords. from tenochtitlan, cortes and future spanish soldiers and missionaries spread throughout the former aztec empire, reaching oaxaca but the early 1530´s. while oaxaca was of little military value, missionaries flooded into the area using it´s remote hillsides to build huge convents and monestaries, still the largest buildings in many rural areas to this day. interestingly, many of these churches and monestaries are also built right on top of old prehispanic mounds or monuments, as the spanish friars tried to utilize an existing religious power endowed in certain places to promote the new faith. many of these old churches also incorporate stones from prehispanic monuments, some of which can still be clearly seen in the surviving walls of these colonial buildings. the construction of these buildings came at a cost though. although designed by european architects they were built essentially with native slave labor and tens of thousands of mexico´s indigenous population died from over work and disease, many more than died in the conflict of actual conquest. many areas of modern oaxaca today, especially in the mixteca and other rural areas are still less populated than they were in prehispanic times, as the many archaeological sites that dot the landscape can attest.
the city of oaxaca however is a somewhat different story. under colonial rule it became the third largest city in mexico and became an important center for the production and export of cacao beans to be refined into chocolate. when first exported to europe chocolate was a complete rage and the comercial boon from this trade can still be seen in rich colonial architecture of oaxaca city. indeed, chocolate is still considered as essential part of spanish cusine even theough it is a new world import to europe. chocolate is still available here of course and is very, very, good. mixed with cinnamin and chili powder, it is served not only in bar form but more commonly in frothed milk and served warm in a sort of hot cocoa drink. in the decades since colonial times oaxaca has lost some of its size and influence, but it has retained a certain place in mexican political history, which you can read about in the very next post.