History was not always as they told it to us in the classrooms. Hence we can ask questions of time, confront the past and reconcile the historical gaps that precede us.
As an example of this, members of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala together with members of the Academy of Geography and History and of Archaeological and Anthropological Research Center will open the debate on the history of Spanish colonization and the way, both official and speculative, in which this has been reported in a day of three conversations titled 500 years following the Spanish conquest.
The event will take place this Saturday February 17 in the facilities of Dr. Carlos Manuel Paiz Andrade Auditorium of the Universidad del Valle (UVG) and on the Facebook of Archeology at UVG, from the 09:00 until 14:00 hours. The event will feature the participation of several academics from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States.
The presentations that seek to open the space for free to those interested and curious regarding the history of Guatemala, will be held on a specific date that resonates with February 1524; moment in which the Spanish are supposed to have arrived on the coasts of the now country.
There are many records that establish this date as the most true, however, there are competing opinions that deny or question the veracity of the year.
“Some say that the Spaniards had entered since December of the previous year. That is why we tried to hold the event on a date that was close to the possible entrance and to February 20, which is when the battle in which Tecún Uman died supposedly occurred“explains Tomás Barrientos, doctor in Archeology and Director of the Department of Archeology and Center for Archaeological and Anthropological Research (CIAA).
According to Barrientos, the motivations for exploring this era respond to a lack of records of the time when the invasions occurred: “Most records are later and do not have much detail.. “The main source that narrates this are the letters that Pedro de Alvarado writes to Hernán Cortés, which are very brief and do not give a luxury of detail.”
Although indigenous records are considered to narrate this part of the history of the territory we know today as Guatemala, it is important to open the conversation.
“As there are several versions and none of them were in person, this has become a legend and much of what has been disclosed does not have a very strong historical basis. Instead of recognizing that There are several versions of the conquest, sometimes only one version is taken, which is that of the victors, and it is made official.“adds Tomás Barrientos.
With a willingness to delve into the facts, the gaps and the historical discrepancies around these colonizing events, the conversation 500 years following the Spanish conquest will add different investigative perspectives that imply the History and Archeology. Among the different aspects addressed, themes stand out religious, social, economic and military.
The event will be divided in three blocks of conversations which at the same time will be integrated from different presentations. It will be distributed as follows:
- “Indigenous narratives regarding the process of conquest“: It will address chronicles, philology, organization and forms of resistance and transculturation of native groups.
- “The conquest campaign“: Topics such as the impact of horses and mares in Mesoamerica, military campaigns and insights into the conquest in Guatemala, Honduras and Yucatán will be presented in this block.
- “The immediate effects of the conquest”: The last moment of the conversation will discuss several wars that occurred in the Mayan Highlands, the encomienda in Chiapas, the currency before and following the conquest and the ethnographic and archaeological sources in the process colonizer from Cuscatlán to San Salvador.
According to Tomás Barrientos, the intention of bringing these themes together lies in the need to create a broader vision of history. According to the professor, The topic of conquest is usually taught in the country in a “simplistic” way.
The conversation 500 years following the Spanish conquest It seeks to help change the deficiencies of teaching at the school level in an honest way, emphasizes the archaeologist interviewed.
“We are trying to break down history teaching that is outdated, biased and most importantly, uncritical. Teaching children that the indigenous people thought that the soldiers and the horse were the same person is something without foundation; telling the battles of mythological form and even romantic it takes away the seriousness of the topic“, he shares.
Pursuing this space implies reflecting for its organizers on a better understanding of identity in Guatemala. According to Tomás Barrientos, it is necessary to focus on these conversations since, beyond the rupture that the transition from preconquest to conquestwe were losing a way of recognizing ourselves.
“We stopped being native peoples but we became Spanish. By commemorating the conquest We have to remember that the course of our history changed. The territory was transformed and a new way of living was imposed on us.“comments the researcher who emphasizes the importance of revaluing history.
The academic insists on taking into account that the transformation of American societies -like the one in Guatemala- It was inevitable.
“It would have been the English or the Dutch years later. The general context is an irreversible fact. The more we understand this we can seek a more solid identity than in superficial narratives. Our true roots as Guatemalans lie in understanding these events. Understanding the past teaches us to understand the present and plan for the future,” concludes Barrientos.
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