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How Food Inspired Colonialism in the 15th Century

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By Raveen Singh

It’s amazing to think that the spices sitting quietly in our kitchens today were once rare treasures. Coriander, oregano, or even sea salt — things we take for granted — were, centuries ago, expensive luxuries. They were used as currency, to pay taxes, and even as dowries. They triggered piracy, battles, wars, and ultimately centuries of European colonialism and conquest — along with slavery, exploitation, and the destruction of entire societies.

Here’s how the craving for flavor reshaped the world.

Before the Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Before the 13th century, the world was broadly divided into East and West. The Far East — today’s India, Southeast Asia, and China — was separated from Europe by the Middle East. When the Roman Empire collapsed around 500 CE, Europe fragmented into feudal states, a period often called the Dark Ages.

Yet Rome had left behind one lasting habit: a taste for luxuries from the East. Silk, tea, and, above all, spices continued to flow westward along the Silk Road. Overland routes passed through Persia, Iraq, and Turkey before reaching Mediterranean traders. Arab merchants controlled the trade, selling Chinese silk, Indian spices, precious metals, and even horses at enormous markups.

Spices were so valuable they were treated like money. A pound of saffron could cost as much as a horse. In 1393, nutmeg was valued at seven fat oxen. Peppercorns were used to pay taxes and tolls; towns kept their accounts in pepper. Brides received pepper in their dowries. Charlemagne even ordered farmers to grow herbs like fennel, sage, thyme, and coriander.

The Silk Road carried more than goods — it spread religions, art, technology, and ideas. By the 13th century, explorers like Marco Polo described the spice-rich lands of Java, India’s Malabar Coast, and the South China Sea, fueling Europe’s hunger for direct access.

The Ottoman Roadblock

When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, everything changed. The empire imposed heavy tariffs on goods passing through its lands. Maritime choke points like the Eastern Mediterranean and the Suez were also under Ottoman control. For Christian Europe, spices became harder and costlier to obtain.The solution?

Find another route.

Portugal’s Push Around Africa

Portugal led the way. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, proving the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were connected. Vasco da Gama reached India a decade later, opening the door to a direct maritime spice route.

The Portuguese established forts and outposts along Africa and into Asia, powered by advances in navigation and shipbuilding. By the mid-1500s, Lisbon had become a hub for Asian spices, its empire stretching all the way to Nagasaki.

Spain’s New World Accident

Spain, emerging from the Reconquista in 1492, turned to exploration as well. That same year, Christopher Columbus — sailing west in search of Asia — stumbled instead on the Americas. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world between Spain and Portugal, with Spain claiming the western lands and Portugal much of the east.

Soon after, Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs, seizing gold and introducing Europe to new flavors like vanilla. Spanish conquests spread rapidly across the Americas, shifting focus from trade to colonization.

A Naval Race for Flavor

By the 16th century, five powers — Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, and the Netherlands — were racing to control trade routes. All relied on naval supremacy. For about 150 years, the Americas consumed much of their attention, but the spice trade remained the golden prize.

Portugal grew rich, but by the late 1500s, its overstretched empire came under attack from the Dutch, British, and French. Spain, flush with silver and gold from the New World, shifted its energy westward.

What tied them all together was the same obsession: the pursuit of flavor.

The Global Consequences

What began as a quest for pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg reshaped the globe. European empires carved up territories, enslaved millions, and wiped out entire societies in their hunger for spices, silk, tea, and gold.

Seen this way, the Age of Exploration wasn’t just about adventure or discovery. It was about dinner. The next time you grind pepper onto your steak, remember: wars were fought, empires rose and fell, and lives were lost for that tiny spice. The flavors we sprinkle casually today once carried the weight of empires — and their shadows still shape our world.

 

Huatulco

How Mexican Is Mexican Cuisine? Very, But …

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By Deborah Van Hoewyk

When, in 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés met Aztec emperor Moctezuma II, he also met a frothy drink reputed to be an aphrodisiac – xocolatl, or chocolate. Unknown elsewhere in the world, traces of cacao preparation and use go back to nearly 4000 BCE in Ecuador. At first, cacao produced a bitter drink used in various rituals. By the time Moctezuma was drinking xocolatl, it was flavored with spices and thought to have medicinal and spiritual properties. The Spanish, as they did with most “new” things they encountered in Mexico, took it back to Europe, where it met sugar – anyone for a Godiva?

The Columbian Exchange

Before the arrival of Old World explorers – in particular the Spanish conquistadores – the ancient (Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec) indigenous cuisines were basically vegetarian. The famous milpa system intercropped corn, beans, and squash; the beans climbed the corn stalks, and the squash leaves sheltered the roots of all three. The milpa system used crop rotation and fallowing (letting land lie unplanted), which promoted sustainable production and biodiversity, ensuring that the system was successful for the long term.

Pre-Columbian agriculture also produced chili peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and cacao; condiments included salt, honey, and edible flowers and insects. The history of tortillas goes back to nearly 10,000 BCE, when ancient corn was domesticated from a grain called teosinte. The grains, which over time became more like the corn kernels we know today, were soaked in an alkaline solution to break them down enough to create the dough (masa) for the tortillas (the process is called “nixtamalization”).

The indigenous diet was not totally vegetarian, though – the vegetable base was supplemented with domesticated turkeys and ducks, possibly dogs, and wild-caught game (deer, rabbits, wild birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and seafood).

Cooking techniques included open fires, pit fires where ingredients were wrapped in leaves to steam in their own juices, and the creation of “spice powders” by grinding dried ingredients into powders for flavoring. Stewed vegetable dishes and moles were cooked in cazuelas, shallow round earthenware cook pots positioned over a fire.

When Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492 – he landed in the Bahamas, renaming the island of Guanahani as San Salvador, then moved on to what are now called Cuba and Hispaniola (divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) – he started the “Columbian Exchange.” The term refers to the widespread exchange between the Americas and Europe, and once slavery became part of it, West Africa as well, of just about everything: people and their cultures, plants and animals, technology and ideas, and disease. The Exchange would shape agriculture, ecology, and society on both sides of the Atlantic, if not around the world; it also killed an estimated 45 to 100 million indigenous people through exposure to diseases not found in the Americas (smallpox, cholera, bubonic plague, typhoid fever, diphtheria, the flu, measles).

The Spanish Conquest of Mexico’s Foodways

For Mexico, conquered by the Spanish in 1521, the changes to foodways were profound. The Conquest brought new ingredients – saliently, larger meat animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats) and more poultry in addition to the native turkeys. The Spanish also brought wheat and rice (the latter arrived with Africans brought as slaves to work in the New World). Olive oil and wine, essential to Spanish cuisine, came over in large earthenware jars; new fruits (stone fruits like peaches, figs, and melons), and nuts and beans (chickpeas, or garbanzos, field peas, almonds).

The fact that Spain had lived under Arabic rule for several centuries – North African Arabs held sway in southern Spain (Al Andalus) from 711 to 1492 CE – also shaped the foods and cooking techniques that made their way west. The flavors of new herbs and spices – garlic, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon especially are all redolent of north African and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Perhaps the most popular, and widely available today, Arab dish is tacos al pastor (shepherd’s tacos), or Tacos Árabes, a variation of Middle Eastern shawarma. You can see it from afar, as restaurant staff slice marinated pork or mixed meats (originally they were made with lamb or goat) off a vertical roast on a spit, filling up flour tortillas, and topping the meat with onions and sauce. Arroz con leche (rice pudding) is also considered a Middle Eastern treat that arrived in Mexico via Spain.

Spanish cooking also brought new cooking methods, frying – made possible by the Spanish contributions of olive oil and lard (manteca) – and baking. With the Spanish introduction of wheat, baking the wide range of pan dulces (sweet breads – great for breakfast) got started. The Spanish brought their baking techniques with them and began incorporating Mexican ingredients along with their wheat.

French Influence:

In the wake of the War of Independence, when Mexico threw off Spanish rule, the French tried to replace the Spanish. The “French Intervention,” followed by the Second Mexican Empire, was short – 1862-67 – but it served to expand Mexico’s baking repertoire. Bolillos are considered the Mexican “French Bread.”

French crêpes were incorporated in Mexican dishes, the crêpes stuffed with fillings like huitlacoche (corn smut) or poblano peppers, the whole thing covered with sauce – the cream sauces are a French contribution.

The French also contributed water-bath cooking techniques (e.g., the bain-marie), which refined Mexican custards and flans.

Lebanese Influence

While many credit tacos al pastor to the Lebanese, they did not start immigrating in any great numbers until the 1880s, after one or another version of tacos el pastor had appeared. The Lebanese first arrived in the Yucatán peninsula as the Ottoman Empire reached its oppressive height. More Lebanese arrived during the Israel-Lebanon War of 1948, when Mexico made haste to admit them. The Lebanese also brought a dish called “kibbeh,” small fritters of ground beef, bulgur wheat, onion, and spices. Taquitos de parra (little tacos of grape leaves) are stuffed with ground meat, rice, garlic, and maybe some cinnamon; many Mexicans make them bigger than taquitos, and use cabbage leaves in place of grape leaves. If you buy jocoque, a thick yogurt used for sauces or dips, that’s a Lebanese creation as well.

Mexican Influences on Mexican Cuisine

Other culinary traditions have influenced Mexican cuisine; African, Caribbean, Chinese, Portuguese and Philipino dishes can all be found in Mexico, but the greatest influence on Mexican cuisine is the different regional variations in the flavors, ingredients, cultural practices, and special dishes across the country. (See Brooke O’Connor’s article, “Seven Regions of Mexican Flavors,” in the August 2023 issue of The Eye.)

Northern Mexico offers grilled meats – we’ve passed many a barbacoa establishment coming south through Monterrey and Querétaro; the closer you are to the border and “Tex-Mex” land, the more frequently you’ll eat flour tortillas. And here in Oaxaca, have you had chapulines drowning in cheese? Salt and crunch can’t beat it!

Huatulco

The Magic of Oaxaca Unveiled: Books to Start a Journey of Discovery

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By Carole Reedy

Oaxaca is ethnically and linguistically the most diverse state in Mexico; it’s also the home state of Mexico’s most popular and effective president, Benito Juárez. It’s here where July’s wildly colorful annual music and dance celebration Guelaguetza takes place. And to quench your thirst, Oaxaca is known for its smooth yet tangy liquor known as mezcal.

If that’s not enough, Oaxaca cheese and mole are incomparable.

I was fortunate to spend ten happy, serene years living on a Oaxacan beach. What follows is a selection from the written word in diverse styles, eras, and points of view of this highly original Mexican state.

The Ultimate Good Luck, by Richard Ford (1981)

We know Richard Ford as the author of The Sportswriter (1986) and its sequel Independence Day (1995), with Frank Bascombe as the protagonist; Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize – there are three more Bascombe novels. Irving can lay claim to being our present-day Faulkner or Updike.

One reader calls this novel a “narcocorrida.” It certainly take us to the dark side of Mexico with drugs and eroticism in Ford’s unique understated style. The New York Times Book Review describes it as having a “taut, cinematic quality that bathes his story with the same hot, mercilessly white light that scorches Mexico.”

Recollections of Things to Come, by Elena Garro (1969)

The universally admired poet and Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz calls this classic gem “a truly extraordinary work, one of the most perfect creations in contemporary Latin American literature.” These words and the recommendation from the venerated Paz are reason enough to open the pages of this unusual novel.

The fictional town of Ixtepec narrates the story, set in the post-Revolution time (late 1920s). You will meet all the town’s inhabitants, from those in high society to prostitutes on the street.

In an unusual episodic style, impressions move the plot of this novel, which is full of color, smells, and visual seasoning. Garro’s book is often considered one of the first magical realism novels. It is not a pretty picture of Mexico during this time of classism, racism, misogyny, and violence.

You may not be familiar with Garro, though she was at one point married to Octavio Paz. She has been ignored by Mexican intellectuals, who consider her a government informer on the 1968 student movement (known as the Tlatelolco massacre).

Garro spent many years in self-exile, living in the US, Spain, and France, but she returned to live in Cuernavaca, where she died at 81 near her beloved cats and daughter.

Lawrence in Oaxaca: A Quest for the Novelist in Mexico, by Ross Parmenta (1984)

The well-travelled British novelist D. H. Lawrence, famous yet controversial, spent just two years in the Lake Chapala and Oaxaca regions of Mexico.

After the Mexican Revolution, in 1923, he and his wife visited a Mexico that was recuperating from the dregs of war. It is here he finished his well-known Mexican novel The Plumed Serpent (1926). He also completed four of the essays that make up his popular Mornings in Mexico (1927), personal observations that capture the country’s spirit. Reading both these gems will be well worth your while.

Lawrence was not interested in the politics of the Mexican Revolution or the cultural and artistic aspects, such as Mexico’s famed muralists. Lawrence’s interest lay in the “mythical exaltation of the Indian,” which is at the core of The Plumed Serpent – an early draft of the novel was published as Quetzalcoatl (1998).

Lawrence and his wife fled to the US in 1922 after WWI, he having just escaped death from a bout of influenza. He did, however, die shortly thereafter, at age 44 in 1930, from complications of tuberculosis.

He once said “I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency … a place where one can live simply, apart from this civilization [with] a few other people who are also at peace and happy and live, and understand and be free.” Many would wish the same.

Lawrence in Mexico is a work of double affection both for the novelist and Oaxaca, the city in which he produced his memorable work.

Avenue of Mysteries: A Novel, by John Irving (2015)

John Irving, the modern popular American novelist influenced by Charles Dickens and Gunther Grass, likes to think of himself as a 19th-century storyteller. But Irving introduces additional elements and style that create an almost eccentric and modern atmosphere.

This, his fourteenth novel, is named after a street in Mexico City. It is a story divided into the two aspects of the life of Juan Diego Guerro. The first, where the heart of the novel lies, is reflections and memories of his young life in Oaxaca in the 1970s. The other is his present journey from Iowa to the Philippines to fulfill a promise.

Tayari Jones in The New York Times Book Review lauds this difference: “John Irving is his own thing, and so is his new novel. Avenue of Mysteries is thoroughly modern, accessibly brainy, hilariously eccentric, and beautifully human.”

Avenue of Mysteries is distinctly different from the more popular Irving novels that come to mind when you hear his name, such as The World According to Garp (1978), The Cider House Rules (1985), or A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989).

Oaxaca Journal, by Oliver Sacks (2002)

From Awakenings (1973) to A Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales (1985), Sacks is best known for case studies of his patients. This British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science and, of course, author wrote nineteen books, many of them bestsellers.

A nature lover, Sacks blessed us with the beautiful Oaxaca Journal after his 2001 visit to the popular state. The book is an adventure in itself, manifesting the marvels of Oaxaca through his expansive point of view.

From the science of astronomy to the flavors of a luscious cuisine, from the dream-evoking waterfalls to the bustling street markets filled with intricate textiles, Sacks bequeaths us his larger perspective via minute details.

Before his death, Saks philosophized, “Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

Dress Her in Indigo: A Travis McGee Novel, John D. McDonald (1969)

Travis McGee is a household word to faithful McDonald readers. Loyal fans devour each new novel. This one, set in the backlands of Oaxaca, was no exception.

What is the attraction? Fans cite the author’s philosophical and social commentary as their reason to return to each new novel in the series. Dress Her in Indigo centers on a dead woman in a hippie-type community on the outskirts of Oaxaca.

One reader expressed it precisely: “I may never make it to Mexico, but after reading this book set in Mexico – I may not have to.” Another says the story “carries the color and the weight of Mexico on almost every page.”

Oaxaca de Rius, by Eduardo Humberto del Rio García (but known to all in Mexico by his pen name Rius; 2013)

The book boasts 128 eight pages of illustrative delight that explore the traditions, art, and conflicts of Oaxaca. “Drawings, jokes, and notes referring to the state where I live, fleeting impressions,” is how the author himself describes his book.

The sketches offer a glimpse into the gods, customs, churches, Zapotec traditions, festivals, culinary delights, mezcal, and all the rest that makes this state matchless.

Who was Rius? The Mexican government, in the announcement of his death, wrote, “During his lifetime, Rius aimed to contribute to the education and politicization of Mexicans, combat alienation, and foster a critical spirit.”

With Naranjo, Soto, Magú, and other cartoonists, he created Insurgencia popular, the news outlet of the Mexican Workers’ Party (PMT).

Lost in Oaxaca, by Jessica Winters Mireles (2020)

Jessica Winters has done her homework. Most impressive in all the reviews is her understanding and ability to convey the customs and cult ure of this glorious state.

The novel’s plot centers around a schoolteacher in search of her student and a Zapotec man who helps her understand the culture and customs of a society so different from her own, as well as how to view the world in a different light. He helps her navigate the wonders of an unfamiliar culture that is “rugged as the terrain itself.”

On your first or next exploration journey into Oaxaca, heed the advice of a popular song from my youth and “Slow down, you move too fast; you got to make the morning last.”

Soak it all in … and enjoy!

Huatulco

Calakmul: A Maya Metropolis Rediscovered

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By Randy Jackson

When thinking about visiting ancient Maya cities, locations like Palenque and Tikal often capture our imagination. Yet one of the largest and most powerful ancient Maya centers remains unfamiliar to many: Calakmul (Kah-lahk-mool), hidden deep within the dense jungles of Campeche near the Guatemalan border. This relatively obscure site dominated the Maya lowlands for centuries until its mysterious abandonment in the 8th and 9th centuries. Swallowed by the jungle for over a thousand years, Calakmul’s towering pyramids and carved monuments now draw the attention of tourists, historians, and anthropologists alike. Though many of its restored structures stand as a testament to a once-thriving civilization, Calakmul today faces new challenges, caught at the intersection of modern development pressures and environmental controversy.

A Short History of Calakmul

Calakmul began as a significant settlement about 300 BCE. It was built on low limestone hills in the lush jungle lowlands. It was surrounded by seasonal marshlands, which its inhabitants engineered into a sophisticated system of 13 water reservoirs. Among these was the largest reservoir in the Maya world, which still exists today.

At its peak, between the 6th and 9th centuries CE, Calakmul exerted considerable control and influence over much of the Maya region, forging alliances and dominating through conquest. For a time, this included control over its formidable rival, Tikal, in what is now Guatemala. Calakmul had over six thousand structures and covered an area of 70 square kilometres (27 square miles). It also had an extensive network of causeways, one of which extended 38 kilometres (24 miles). This network connected most of the cities and settlements of the central and lowlands of the Yucatán. Among its architectural wonders, Calakmul’s main pyramid stands 45 metres (148 feet) tall. Over centuries, Calakmul produced exquisite art, including jade carvings, pottery, and mural paintings, reflecting high craftsmanship and cultural sophistication.

After flourishing for centuries, Calakmul succumbed to the broader patterns of decline that swept through the Maya Civilization. Much has been written about the possible causes of the Maya collapse, which took place around the 8th to 9th centuries. Environmental conditions of prolonged drought and deforestation were a significant underlying cause. Despite its sophisticated network of reservoirs, Calakmul was not immune to more serious ecological degradation and other factors contributing to the overall collapse of the Maya Civilization.

Archaeologists and historians point to several factors that led to the Maya Collapse. Structural changes in society and warfare compounded environmental stresses. Archaeological evidence shows a shift from a society ruled by kings to one ruled by a wider, fractious group of elites in the different Maya centres. This resulted in wars becoming more pervasive and deadly, involving common people in warfare. Previously, warfare was more ritualistic and conducted by a warrior class. Consequently, wars and their effects took men away from other tasks that supported an agricultural-based society. Monuments were no longer being built or maintained, and fields were no longer tended as common people lost faith in a society increasingly disintegrating into chaos and violence. Although the collapse took over a century, one can imagine the poignant image of the last person or family turning one final time to look at Calakmul’s crumbling structures before walking away, leaving the jungle to reclaim it.

Rediscovery and Modern Challenges

Approximately one thousand years later, in 1931, Cyrus Lundell, an American botanist, stumbled on the ruins of Calakmul during a survey looking for stands of the chicozapote tree, which is used in the production of chewing gum. This significant finding began a new era for Calakmul and its surroundings, which had become rich in biodiversity.

The Mexican Revolution had earlier set the stage for land reform, which would one day impact Calakmul. The 1917 constitution, Article 27, introduced ejidos—communal lands that could not be sold but could be worked collectively or individually. Decades later, under Presidents Adolfo López Mateos (1958-1964) and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964-1970), land redistribution based on ejidos was revitalized as part of a broader development and modernization agenda. This land reform impacted Campeche, including the Calakmul area.

Although indigenous people have always lived in this area in smaller numbers, the promise of free land for agriculture attracted landless poor peasants from all over Mexico. Once again, trees were being felled, animals were hunted in larger numbers, and land was cleared for agriculture. The Calakmul environment, once depleted beyond its ability to support the Maya civilization, was then, and is now, again under threat.

In response to the challenges stemming from increasing population, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) proclaimed the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, stating that it was to protect the area’s unique biological diversity and numerous ancient Maya ruins. Since this proclamation and a later UNESCO designation, tensions have existed between local campesinos and governmental officials. The campesinos viewed the land as a place to carve out a livelihood, whereas conservationists and government authorities argued for preserving the land in a natural state. Roads and tourist development have exacerbated the issue. In 1991, the campesinos were given responsibility to care for the reserve, and although this has improved some sustainability practices, issues between development and conservation continue. Amid these modern conflicts, the spirits of Calakmul roam the ruins like the howler monkeys.

Visiting Calakmul

The most common route for those wishing to visit Calakmul is driving from Cancún, about 500 km (310 mi) away. Access is through the nearby town of Xpujil, Campeche, a center for numerous nearby ancient Maya ruins. To access Calakmul and the Calakmul Biosphere, there is a signed turnoff from highway 186 near Xpujil. Calakmul is 60 km (37 mi) from highway 186 on a mostly good, but narrow, forested roadway.

At Calakmul, the most significant and central structures have been partially restored, including some of the large pyramids and the acropolis. The site offers captivating Maya ruins that blend into the surrounding jungle, offering a unique experience of discovery and exploration amidst a backdrop of significant biodiversity—a setting befitting such a prominent city of the Maya world that mysteriously disappeared.

For contact and comments, email box95jackson@gmail.com.

Huatulco

Encomienda and the Caste System in Mexico

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By Julie Etra

Encomendar = Entrust

Spanish Origin
This legal system of forced labor originated in medieval Spain after the Reconquista in 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella wrested control over Andalus (also known as Andalucia, a region of southern Spain). The system was established to extract tribute from the defeated Moors (originally from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco), many of whom were expelled to North Africa—an estimated three million people. Some returned and converted to Catholicism, becoming known as Moriscos. The system rewarded soldiers and financiers who had contributed to Spain’s conquests, including those of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

Exportation to the New World and the Philippines
The encomienda system was first introduced to the newly conquered Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1502 and later to Mexico and the Philippines, where it took on slight regional variations. In is 2009 study The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521-1555, Robert Himmerich y Valencia, Associate Professor of History at the University of New Mexico provides an excellent description of the encomienda: “a grant of “a grant of the Indians of a prescribed indigenous polity, who were to provide the grantee (the encomendero) tribute in the form of commodities and service in return for protection and religious instruction.”

New Spain needed free labor for its silver mines and religious conversion efforts. Officially approved by the Spanish Crown in 1503, the system expanded southward to Spanish colonies in Central and South America and throughout the Caribbean. Initially, the right to encomienda was granted to an adelantado or encomendero, a conquistador awarded the opportunity to conquer new territories on behalf of the Spanish Crown. This system was later extended to adventurers, colonizers, and even municipalities. It was essentially slavery under a different name—a legal arrangement that did not allocate land or other physical resources, such as mines or haciendas, which came later. The only distinction from outright slavery was that the indigenous workers could not be sold or inherited. The adelantado retained 80% of acquired wealth, while the Crown received the remaining 20%.

Structure
There were 506 encomienda grants in Mexico. Though granted for life, they were not inheritable, and most reverted to the Crown upon the encomendero’s death, with small provisions made for surviving family members. The size of the population tied to a particular encomienda varied, averaging around 2,000 family units, though these units could differ in composition. Some encomiendas were much larger—for example, Hernán Cortés’s encomienda included over 23,000 family units.

Smaller encomiendas were adequate for property improvements and cultivation. They also allowed a settler to build a home, feed his family, and maintain a small entourage of salaried personal followers (paniaguados) to protect his holdings from rebellious native groups and marauding Europeans. Additionally, encomenderos were responsible for paying the parish priest.

Decline
The system was short-lived, with major reforms attempted in 1573. It was perceived as abusive and counterproductive, especially as the population of New Spain had declined drastically—from approximately 22 million in 1500 to just 3 million by 1550 due to disease and forced labor fatalities. Additionally, there were not enough licenses available to meet demand, and there were too few indigenous workers left to sustain the system. As a result, the Spanish Crown decided to place control of the conquered population directly under royal authority instead of under the powerful encomenderos. The system was officially abolished on September 17, 1721, when the issuance of new encomiendas in all of Spain’s colonies was prohibited. However, remnants of the system persisted in parts of Mexico until the early 18th century and lingered in the Yucatán Peninsula until the 1780s.

Repartimiento
The repartimiento system replaced encomienda, shifting labor control from private individuals to the Spanish colonial government. Under this system, Spanish colonists and municipalities were granted the right to extract forced but low-paid labor from local communities in conquered territories. Designed to replace the inefficient encomienda system, repartimiento was eventually limited to crucial industries such as food and textile production and precious metal mining.

For further reading, see Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken’s article on slavery in Mexico on page 8.

Huatulco

A Brief Overview of Slavery in Mexico

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By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken

Slavery is one of the oldest human institutions. Archeological evidence points to slavery being practiced in Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. Each year, our family (along with Jews all over the world) gathers to retell the story of our people, the Israelites, gaining freedom from slavery in Egypt in 1513 BCE.

Slavery has been practiced in every corner of the world on every continent except perhaps Antarctica. Mexico was no exception. Long before the Spanish arrived in Mexico, the indigenous tribes enslaved captives taken in ongoing battles. Forced labor was commonplace for producing necessities of human life – food, clothing and shelter. And once Europeans began to colonize the “new world,” indigenous populations here became a source of slaves for building towns and cities and plantations, and for mass cultivation of agricultural products such as sugar cane for world trade. The encomienda system (see Julie Etra’s article on page 26) legitimized this practice. However, the introduction of viral and bacterial diseases to which the natives in “New Spain” had never been exposed and against which they had no natural immunity, resulted in massive numbers of slaves dying or being left without the physical ability to carry out heavy labor.

From Africa to Mexico

Relatively small numbers of slaves from west and central Africa were then brought to the Americas from Europe by the conquistadores in the early 1500s. In addition, free Africans were members of the crews serving the Spaniards and Portuguese who claimed lands in North and South America for their royal sponsors. Soon, however, the transatlantic slave trade became a major commercial operation, capturing Africans and selling them as slaves in the Americas. It began in earnest in the 16th century, peaked in the 18th century, and continued into the 19th century. New Spain was the major territory in which these slaves were first sold. Between the early 1500s and the mid-1600s, approximately 120,000 slaves were shipped from Africa to Mexico to work in the mines, on sheep and cattle ranches, and on plantations – primarily sugar cane plantations. Four areas were particularly populated by slaves: the Veracruz ports and plantations, the mining and ranching areas northwest of Mexico City, the stretch of land south of Puebla to the Pacific Coast, and the Valle de Mexico.

Although the predominant “Gone with the Wind” myth of slavery north of the border portrayed slaves as well-cared for, singing as they picked cotton in the fields, in colonial Mexico the resistance to enslavement was graphically made known by relatively high rates of suicide and infanticide among the slaves. Mothers would prefer that their babies die rather than suffer the life of the slave. The first threat of a major uprising of slaves in Mexico occurred in 1537 in and around Mexico City.

This threat led not only to brutal public murder of the Africans who were identified as leaders, but also resulted in the use of extremely repressive measures to control slaves. Official proclamations issued in the late 1500s penalized slaves who were runaways to hundreds of lashes, castration or death. Throughout the first half of the 1600s, small groups of former slaves, who literally overthrew their shackles and often joined with equally outraged indigenous people, terrorized cities and ranches around the colony.

The Emergence of AfroMexicanos

Over the following decades the number of slaves brought from Africa to Mexico began to decline. Perhaps because of the insatiable desire for slave labor on cotton and other plantations north of the border, sales of African slaves in Mexico were reduced in favor of sales in the southern British colonies. By the mid-1700s the population of Mexicans who had African ancestry – free or slave – had primarily been born in Mexico. Mandated by the Catholic Church, marriage of slaves was encouraged. And given the disproportionate number of men among the enslaved people of African ancestry, marriages commonly involved male slaves marrying indigenous women. Their children were called, in the caste system of Mexico, zambos, and they were either enslaved or at the lowest rank of the social-legal hierarchy. Woman slaves were commonly violated by Spanish colonists without the benefit of marriage and their children, called mulattos, were also typically slaves or essentially the same low rank as zambos. Children of mulatto and Spanish parents were called Moriscos and were somewhat higher rank than zambos or mulattos; children of Moriscos and Spanish parents were designated Tresalvos and were the highest rank among those with African ancestry. Although the caste system was very rigid and patently based on skin color and ancestry, there is documentary evidence that even though they were still legally slaves, mulattos and their children with Spanish parentage often received instruction in reading and basic information about their legal rights. One right was to redeem themselves from slavery for a set price or to be set free when their owner died.

The End of Slavery

The 1800s saw a major development in the institution of Mexican slavery. The revolutionary leader and priest Hidalgo, often called the father of Mexican independence, declared slavery abolished in 1810. Slave trade was legally forbidden in Mexico in 1824 after the successful revolution and the formation of a new government. The institution of slavery itself was declared illegal in 1839; in practice, however, slavery was far from abolished for several decades. Yet, given the existence of communities in Mexico where slavery was prohibited, many slaves in the U.S. and adjacent territories fled to Mexico to live in freedom. Although New Spain set the invidious example of colonial development dependent on enslaving Africans and selling them for profit, once Mexico threw off the shackles of Spain, the government set the example of striking the chains of slavery from their citizens.

In the United States, slavery was officially ended by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, but the period that followed also saw a lengthy adjustment. Even today, the residual effects of the slave trade can be easily noted in demographic data about the locations of black residents in Mexico and the US. In the US, the Census Bureau has for decades tabulated and mapped the percentage of black residents in states, counties, and down to census districts. The maps show that communities having substantial black populations (as high as 80%) are still located primarily in Southern states with boundaries along the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico (where the trade ships made port).

Measuring AfroMexicano History

INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía), Mexico’s statistical agency, traditionally accepted the reality that the population was a complex mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and so did not attempt to collect data on individuals’ self-reported race. In the 2015 survey, however, INEGI asked whether people considered themselves black, that is to say, “afromexicana o afrodescendiente,” for the first time. The results revealed the residual influence of a centuries-old pattern of slave trade – this one in the Pacific. In addition to areas around Veracruz and Mexico City mentioned above, concentrations of AfroMexicanos were found in rural areas near Acapulco and elsewhere in the state of Guerrero, as well as in the state of Oaxaca. Although the number of AfroMexicanos is nowhere very high (averaging 2.4% in the entire country), these Pacific coastal areas revealed some of the highest concentrations: 9.6% of the population of Guerrero (9.5% in 2023) and 4.9% in Oaxaca (3.6% in 2023). Most of Oaxaca’s AfroMexicanos live near Puerto Escondido and Huatulco.

The origin of these populations with African ancestry along the Pacific coast was not the transatlantic slave trade, but the 17h-century slave trade known as the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade route. (The galleons were large, multi-story Spanish sailing ships that had previously served in warfare.) At that time, the Philippines were a territory of Spain, facilitating trade from Europe and Africa through there. Slaves from various sources, including Africa, were sold in Manila, and some of them were further transported to the Pacific coast of Mexico. Their descendants are the AfroMexicanos now living near the Pacific coast.

Huatulco

Mexican Films Streaming on your TV

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By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken

Those of us who love Mexican cinema but spend months away from Mexico have an excellent source for fulfilling our yen for Mexican film – namely, Netflix. The films available for streaming on Netflix come and go, and differ from country to country, but there are always ample choices. For primarily English speakers the subtitles available on Netflix offer an easier experience than seeing the movie in Mexico.

Some of the best known films that have won worldwide acclaim are 100% Mexican, including geographical location, direction, casting, Spanish language, and especially creative imagination. An excellent relatively recent example is the 2018 dramatic film Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Winning many international awards, Roma accurately depicts a well-known neighborhood of Mexico City in the 1970s.

Other Netflix films that we consider Mexican have Mexican directors who are internationally acclaimed but take place only partially in Mexico. One such film is the 2006 psychological thriller Babel, directed by Alejandro Gonzáles Iñarritu. In addition to Spanish, Babel includes seven other spoken languages, plus Japanese sign language. Two top-notch films, Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017), can only be considered Mexican by virtue of their director, Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro’s films are literally fantastic, compelling, and so rooted in an imagination shaped by his childhood in Guadalajara that we would call them Mexican even though some might argue with that classification. On the other hand, the film Gravity (2013), although also directed by Alfonso Cuarón, seems more American than Mexican.

But enough about the blockbusters. The films that we have been most enjoying on Netflix are little, low-budget glimpses into solidly Mexican characters in recognizably Mexican locations. We both liked the 2023 film Familia, directed by Rodrigo García. Filmed in the Valle de Guadalupe in Ensenada, the action takes place in a single day in the home and olive grove of the patriarch of a three-generation dispersed family. We learn that the family gets together once a month for comida, but at this gathering everyone’s life is so suddenly changing that difficult decisions must be made. The characters are complex and charming, even when they become irritated with each other. Gradually, by listening to their conversations around the table, you realize the depth and substance of each family member and their relationships. By the end of the film, as most characters leave, you know you’re going to miss them.

Marcia liked Where the Tracks End (El Ultimo Vagon, 2023, directed by Ernesto Contreras), while Jan thought it was a snooze. The film predominantly takes place in an abandoned railroad car, fitted out as a schoolhouse. It is slow-moving but charmingly develops the relationship between a child of an itinerant railroad track layer and a teacher whose whole life is dedicated to educating some of the most impoverished children in Mexico. There are both tragic and comic moments, and the film unabashedly pulls at your heart strings. The ending provides a satisfying twist.

The film Tell Me When (Dime Cuando Tú, 2020, directed by Gerardo Gatica González) is a light, feel-good movie about a young man living in Los Angeles. His grandfather leaves him a list of experiences that the grandson is urged to complete in Mexico City. Most of the film takes place in iconic areas in CDMX and focuses on his determination to complete the list, including the last item (spoiler alert!) falling in love. But don’t expect a Hollywood ending: it’s a Mexican film after all.

There are plenty of Mexican films on Netflix to keep us happily watching for many years, but confining ourselves to Netflix would mean missing other Mexican treasures that are available on other streaming apps. Most notable are two films directed by John Huston. We first saw one of them in a cultural center in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas– The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, starring Humphrey Bogart). The second is The Night of the Iguana (1964, starring Richard Burton and Eva Gardner) which in Tennessee Williams’ version takes place in Acapulco but was actually filmed in Mismaloya near Puerto Vallarta (less well known at the time). But also definitely not to be missed is an early Cuarón international blockbuster Y Tu Mamá Tambien (2001). Y Tu is superficially about a road trip from Mexico City to coastal Oaxaca but also is a turn-of-this-century exploration of the concept that gender is not binary.

If you enjoy films as we do and enjoy a bit of Mexico when you’re away, just stream one of the movies we mentioned. Happy watching.

 

Huatulco

Chapulín Tournament

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By Jane Bauer

For the second year in a row, Jose Luis Bohorquez and his family hosted a Chapulín Tournament. The festivities started at 7 am on September, 22 at his ranch just south of Copalita where he has fields planted to attract chapulínes. It was a busy event. Participants had three hours to collect as many jumping creatures as they could. Many families wandered through the fields with bags for collecting the bugs.

Under a magnificent tree, there was food on the grill and sopes on the comal. Horse rides were available and live music played. In the evening the festivities moved to the cancha in Copalita with a calenda and more delicious offerings from local cooks.

Still not sure what I’m talking about? Chapulínes, or grasshoppers, are a popular snack in many regions of Mexico, especially Oaxaca. These edible insects have been enjoyed for centuries, valued for their rich source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Typically, they are toasted with lime juice, garlic, and salt, and often seasoned with chile powder for a flavorful kick. Chapulínes are commonly eaten as a street food or as a crunchy topping for tacos, salsas, and guacamole. Their earthy, slightly tangy taste makes them a beloved delicacy, connecting Mexico’s culinary traditions with sustainability and the use of native ingredients in modern dishes.

The practice of harvesting chapulínes dates back to pre-Hispanic times in Mexico, where indigenous groups like the Zapotec and Mixtec considered these insects an essential part of their diet. Chapulínes were abundant in the fields during the rainy season, making them a reliable, sustainable protein source. Traditionally, they were collected by hand, often early in the morning when the grasshoppers were less active. After harvesting, they were toasted on clay comals and seasoned with local spices. This ancient tradition continues today, passed down through generations, reflecting the deep connection between the region’s agricultural practices and its culinary heritage.

As more and more people shop corporate it is encouraging that the Bohorquez family is highlighting the beauty of this tradition. Another great reason to be here in September!

 

Huatulco

The Venice of the New World

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By Raveen Singh

The year is 1325. According to a myth, a nomadic tribe moved into an area previously occupied by several other tribes, with the intent to settle. As such, a King of the existing tribe offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to the incoming nomads.

The Nomads, the Sacrifice, and the Lake

The nomadic tribe receives the young woman and prepares her for marriage in accordance with their customs. Then five men lead her to the top of a stone cairn, where a slab of rock awaits. They lay her down and hold her, one man per limb. The fifth man lifts a piece of obsidian over his head and plunges it into her heart, reaching in and ripping it out with his bare hands. Later that night, at a presentation for the King, they wore her glistening skin as they performed a ceremonial dance.

Once the King realized what had been done, he was clearly angered. Legend has it that he ordered the nomads to be destroyed, a chase ensued, and the nomads plunged themselves to safety in Lake Tenochtitlan. On an island in that lake, the nomads saw a vision: an eagle perched on a cactus eating a snake. This was a sign to the nomadic tribe to settle there; they called themselves the Mexica.

The Nomads Settle Down and Build

The Mexica, later called the Aztecs, were forced to adapt to their new inherited island in the middle of a large saline lake surrounded by four other freshwater lakes. To settle this area, found by chance but validated by their deity, would require feats of engineering far ahead of the times.

The lake beds comprise extremely soft soils, incapable of supporting heavy structures such as houses, roads, buildings, bridges, or most importantly, temples. The Aztecs somehow figured out how to drive piles into the muck, which contained fill to provide support for building a temple. Now known as the Templo Mayor, it was the central focal point of the new settlement.

Causeways. Initially, the only access to the area was via water and canoes. The Aztecs then required access to the mainland, so they placed fill into the soft lake beds. The fill would settle out of sight into the soft substrate, the Aztecs drove an array wood piles into the fill, and created the basis for building roads. Because all the construction materials were placed by human hands, as the Aztecs had no animals to help with the tasks, they made every effort to reduce the materials requiring transport. Eventually, using the fill-and-piling method, they constructed five causeways to link the mainland to the Templo Mayor.

The settlement, called Tenochtitlan, was centralized around the Templo Mayor, and the Aztecs realized that the obstacle that they had to surmount was also the very thing that provided them security – the lake itself.

Chinampas. As the settlement grew, they realized that their food supply required security against hostile invading tribes and the Aztecs eventually perfected the use of chinampas (floating gardens) as a means of ensuring a stable large-scale cultivated food supply. The chinampas were made of interwoven reeds with stakes beneath the surface of the water, creating underwater fences. Atop these mats, they added lake sediment mixed with aquatic vegetation until the top layer was above the surface. This type of construction would ensure that the crops would always have a water supply, requiring minimal maintenance.

Drainage, Dikes, and Canals. The Mexica also developed a multipurpose drainage system, which comprised a ditch for the flow of water and sediment (which likely included human waste) that would in turn be used in the development of new chinampas. Because of the biological diversity of the introduced sediment and the use of lake-bed sediments, the bacterial community was diverse, thus supporting virtually every type of crop. With these raised, well-watered beds, the crop yields were very high, permitting up to seven harvests per year. In 2018, the United Nations designated the chinampa system of agriculture a Globally Important Heritage System; it should be noted that it is still in use today.

Construction in a low-lying land such as a lake bed also required advanced techniques to control flooding. An area with impermeable soils and no drainage required a method of ensuring that water levels in the area of habitation were maintained. Dikes, canals and causeways were built as a means of flood control, including a 16-km long dike that held back a portion of Lake Texcoco to prevent seasonal flooding. The Aztecs also built a series of canals through the city to drain the swamplands, and earthen causeways that also served as pedestrian walkways. A series of locks, gates, and sluiceways were built into the system a means of controlling water levels, an engineering feat far ahead of its time.

Aqueducts. Water, the sustenance of life, was also initially a challenge to the Aztec. The waters of the lake at the location were saline and not sustainable for long-term use for humans. The Aztecs found a series of springs on the mainland, and developed an aqueduct to transmit this water to the island city. Initially, water was brought in by canoe, which would have sharply limited the growth of the society.

An Expanding Empire. The aqueduct required negotiations with the adjacent tribe, who required that the Aztecs cede themselves to rule by the mainland tribe. As the Aztec society grew due to prosperous food supply and engineering, they conquered the governing tribe; the governed became the government. It is at this time that the Aztecs underwent a rapid expansion, conquering other tribes such as the Olmecs and Toltecs, and taking their people as workers, slaves, and sacrificial victims. These conquests allowed the Aztecs to preserve their society and expand their empire as far away as Guatemala and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

Other systems developed by the Aztecs long before being colonized include the military draft (conscription), and a legal system with judges and trials. Using the cocoa bean as currency, their busiest days in the markets of Tenochtitlan drew some 50,000 people.

The Demise of the Aztecs

In 1521, Hernán Cortés arrived on the Yucatán peninsula and found his way to Veracruz. The indigenous population joined him on his march to the head state of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish were in awe of the progress that the Aztec society had made, which paralleled some of the advanced systems in Europe at the time. The floating gardens and the prominence of the Templo Mayor must have been a sight to the Spanish conquistadors.

Of course, the story of the Spanish and their rapid conquest is full of sadness; the destruction of Aztec society by the Spanish was accomplished through the introduction of disease, advanced weaponry comprising steel, and the use of horses for the height and mobility advantages. Those who are interested are encouraged to read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond (1999), for a better accounting of how colonizing European armies could so easily conquer the societies they met through exploration.

In a final death blow to the Aztecs empire, all the structures of Tenochtitlan were destroyed and the building materials were dumped into the lake to form the foundation for the new Spanish settlement, called Mexico. The causeways were converted into roadways (still in use today); the aqueducts were destroyed. The Templo Mayor was razed to the ground, and in an act of conquest, the new Spanish cathedral was built atop the old Templo Mayor. This was only discovered in 1978, as a dig for a utility in the area encountered remnants of the old structure. Today, the area is preserved as a tourist attraction in the zócalo in Mexico City, where it is possible to pass under the church and view the Templo Mayor. In less than 200 years, the advancement of the society of the Aztecs can only be described as profound and its demise as tragic.

Montezuma’s Revenge

There are many tales in folklore regarding Montezuma’s revenge; however, this is an obscure one that the old civilization has left behind.

Like many modern cities that are built on marine environments (think Jakarta, Venice, Amsterdam, New Orleans, Bangkok, Kolkata, Tokyo, and even Washington DC), Mexico City underwent an astounding period of growth in the early 20th century, building on its legacy as a capital founded by the Aztecs.

However, the construction on the lake bed has had a lasting impact on modern day Mexico City. The increased weight of the colonial settlement over time has resulted in compression of the soils, and the pumping of water from the subsurface has drawn down the water table. This in turn has reduced pore pressures in the underlying soils, thus increasing the rates of settlement.

It is said that there are places in Mexico City that are settling up to 500 cm per year. This has resulted in buckling of roads, bursting of utilities, and damaged buildings as walls topple and fail. Compounded with earthquakes, the destruction is multiplied; in 1985 the earthquake that struck Mexico City caused widespread devastation, associated in part with soil-structure interaction and poor building foundations. As of the writing of this article, there is no known solution to this long-term problem. The lake, or its remnants, continue to be dewatered as development continues, exacerbating the condition. It is said that in the last century, Mexico City has subsided some 33 feet.

Perhaps Montezuma’s revenge is more profound than modern society ever thought it could be.