Indigenous Tlaxcala: The Allies of the Spaniards
The state of Tlaxcala is located in center-south Mexico. Its neighbors are the States of México (on the east), Hidalgo (on the north) and Puebla (on the north, west and south). The small state of Tlaxcala lies just north of Heroica Puebla and is surrounded by the State of Puebla on all sides, except the northwest. Tlaxcala is the smallest of Mexico’s 31 states, with an area of only 4,016 square kilometers, representing 0.2% of the national territory. Only the Federal District is smaller.
Politically, Tlaxcala is divided into sixty municipios and has 883,924 inhabitants, ranking it 28th with the other Mexican states and jurisdictions. The capital of the state is Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl. The name Tlaxcala is believed to have originated from the Náhuatl word meaning “Place of corn bread.” Tlaxcala became a state on February 5, 1857.
A Rich Archaeological Legacy
This highland state’s elevation is over 6,562 feet. Within the state’s border lies La Malinche, Mexico’s fifth-highest mountain at 14,637 feet. Although it is Mexico’s smallest state, Tlaxcala is rich with tradition, history, and colonial architecture. One of its main attractions is Cacaxtla, an important archaeological site believed to have been built at the zenith of the Olmec Xicalanca culture around AD 700.
Olmec-Xicallanca
At some point, the Olmec-Xicallanca founded a new home in Cacaxtla, the name of which means “place where the rain dies on earth.” The city reached its peak between 650 and 900 A.D. However, after 900, the Olmec Xicalanca culture fell into decline and was replaced by the Teo-Chichimecas (also known as Náhuatl Tlaxcalans). Sometime around A.D. 1350, the present-day inhabitants of the area, the Tlaxcalans, drove out the Chichimecas. Defeating the opposition, the Tlaxcalans moved into the Cholula region and set up an autonomous Tlaxcalan state. During the following decades, they made war with and subdued many of their neighbors.
The Emergence of the Aztec Empire
In time, the Tlaxcalans came up against the powerful Mexica Indians who inhabited the Valley of Mexico to the west. Starting in 1325, the Mexica — who spoke Náhuatl and inhabited the Valley of Mexico to the northwest of what is now Tlaxcala — had begun spreading out from their base of power in Tenochtitlán, located 76 miles northwest of the present City of Tlaxcala. The Mexica and their powerful Aztec Empire subdued neighboring city-states and compelled their new subjects to surrender part of their production as tribute. By 1440, the Mexica had spread their influence as far south as Guatemala.
As the Mexica spread out from their base of power in Tenochtitlán, the Tlaxcalans became their traditional enemies. The Tlaxcalans and Mexica shared a common origin, both of them speaking the Náhuatl language. As a matter of fact, both the Tlaxcalans and the Mexica belonged to the Aztec culture, looking back to the legendary Aztlán (Place of the Herons) as their ancestral homeland in the northwest.
In 1519, the Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. The Mexica capital of Tenochtitlán had become a city of about 300,000 citizens. And the Aztec Empire itself ruled over about 80,000 square miles of territory extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, and southward to Oaxaca and Chiapas. This empire contained some 15 million people, living in thirty-eight provinces. In all, the Emperor received the tribute of 489 communities.
Living in the Shadow of the Aztec Empire
For more than two hundred years, the Tlaxcalans represented a major thorn in the side of the Mexica and their nation evolved into an independent enclave deep in the heart of the Aztec Empire. Surrounded on all sides by groups who submitted to the Mexica and paid allegiance and tribute to their Aztecs overlords, the Tlaxcalan nation lived in the shadow of the Aztec Empire for two centuries. The Tlaxcalans were subjected to almost continuous warfare and human sacrifice for many decades.
Some historians believe that Tenochtitlán could have overwhelmed Tlaxcala without too much difficulty, and the reason it did not is probably that it wanted a nearby source of victims for the human sacrifices. The clashes between the Tlaxcalans and Mexica were called the “Flower Wars” (Xochiyaoyotl). The chief purpose of these “ceremonial battles” was to furnish captives to be used in their sacrificial rites. It is likely that both the Mexica and Tlaxcalan also saw war as a convenient way of testing and training young warriors for future wars. During this time, it was a common belief in Central Mexico that offering human sacrifice to their gods would ensure the continued movement of the sun and hence the other processes needed to maintain life.
A Perpetual State of War
In effect, the Aztecs maintained an almost perpetual state of war with Tlaxcala, but never actually conquered it. Because of their economic isolation, the Tlaxcalans had no cotton with which to make their clothes. Neither did they have any salt. The salt lakes of Alchichica, not far from Tlaxcala, lay close by but they could not benefit from this. No feathers or precious stones made their way into Tlaxcala. This state of unrelenting warfare had become very hateful to the Tlaxcalans and by the time that Cortés arrived in Tlaxcala, they represented fertile grounds for an anti-Mexica alliance.
The map on the following page shows Tlaxcala as one of three independent enclaves that were surrounded by the Aztec Empire in 1519 and also illustrates how close Tlaxcala was to its Aztec rival, Tenochtitlán. The map also shows the location of the Aztec Empire’s three major cities (The Triple Alliance: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan) [Source: Comandante, Wikipedia U. E. “Aztec Empire.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Online: https://www.ancient.eu/image/2321/ (Last modified February 26, 2014)].
Although they were blockaded by the Aztecs, the Tlaxcalan Republic never yielded to the superior power. By 1519, the Tlaxcalan Nation was a small, densely populated province with a population of about 150,000 within some 200 settlements and had evolved into a “confederation of four republics,” each with its own ruling lord, judges and other officials. The Tlaxcalans built defensive walls along the outskirts of their territory and collected taxes and tribute from their subject peoples.
Cortés Arrives in Mexico (1519)
On April 22, 1519, a fleet of eleven Spanish galleons, which had been sailing northward along the eastern Gulf Coast of Mexico, dropped anchor just off the wind-swept beach on the island of San Juan de Ulúa. Under the command of the Spanish-born Captain-General Hernán Cortés, these vessels bore 450 soldiers, 100 sailors, and 16 horses. The first indigenous peoples that Cortés met with were the Totonac Indians who inhabited the coastal area near the city-state of Cempoala. Although this town of 14,000 was subject to the Aztec Empire, Cacique (Chief) Tlacochcalcatl and his people offered a warm welcome to Cortés, expressing the hope that the Spaniards may help them to gain independence from their Mexica overlords.
The chief of the Totonacs complained that the Mexica tribute collectors had picked the country clean and that hundreds of young Totonac children were brought to the altars of Tenochtitlán for sacrifice. The Cempoalans, impressed by the superior firepower of the Spaniards and the hope of overthrowing Aztec rule, helped Cortés and his men establish a base on the shore. On June 28, 1519, Cortés formally gave this town the name La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (The Rich Town of the True Cross). At this point, Cortés decided to lead his troops westward into the interior of the continent to find and meet with the Mexica monarch, Moctezuma.
The Expedition to the West
Cacique Tlacochcalcatl warned Cortés that, on his journey inland, he would pass through the territory of the Tlaxcalans, who held a deep and uncompromising hatred toward the Mexica. It was his belief that the Tlaxcalans might be willing to ally themselves with the Spaniards. With the help of Totonac guides, Cortés planned his march to Tenochtitlán through territories that might represent fertile ground for more alliances. Finally, on August 16, 1519, Cortés assembled a formidable expedition to move inland from Cempoala. His army now consisted of 400 Spanish soldiers, 15 horses, 1,300 Indian warriors, seven pieces of artillery, and a thousand tamanes (porters), who helped transport baggage and guns across the land. About 150 of the porters were Cuban Indian servants who were brought along from Cuba. The force brought along many dogs that had been well-trained to fight. The distance from Cempoala to Tenochtitlán is 250 miles, as the crow flies.
Entering Tlaxcalan Territory
On August 31, at a point ten miles into Tlaxcalan territory, Cortés’ army encountered a hostile force of at least 30,000 Tlaxcalans. Despite the tremendous size of the army, the Spaniards managed to fend them off. Unlike other Indians, the Tlaxcalans seemed to have no fear of the horses and killed two of the animals. That night, the Spaniards, exhausted from their battle, rested in the open, some twenty miles from the capital city of Tlaxcala. The Tlaxcalan council then decided on a night attack against the Spaniards and their allies, but they found to their surprise that Cortés’s troops were ready for them and reversed the ambush.
In the next battle, Cortés claimed that he faced a Tlaxcalan army of well over 100,000 warriors. In this battle, some sixty Spaniards and several horses were wounded by the enemy. But, on the following day, Cortés led a punitive expedition, burning some ten Tlaxcalan towns (with a total population of over 3,000). Many Indians were killed in this campaign. After a third day of battles, the Spaniards had lost 45 men who died in battle, died of wounds or succumbed to disease.
Forging a New Alliance
Watching the Spaniards prove themselves in battle, the Tlaxcalan King Xicotenga was very impressed and decided to allow Cortés’ army to pass through the confederation. As the Spaniards entered the Tlaxcalan capital on September 18, they were welcomed into the town as if they were heroes. For twenty days, Cortés and his army stayed in Tlaxcala. As his men recovered from their wounds, Cortés forged a relationship with Xicotenga and other Tlaxcalan leaders. Xicotenga agreed to provide necessary provisions and manpower to the Spaniards. This change from hostility to alliance was brought on by Cortés’s claims that he was opposed only to the Aztec empire and that there would be a place for Tlaxcala in a Spanish-dominated Mexico.
Xicotenga saw in Cortés a powerful ally who could help the Tlaxcalans destroy the Mexica and undermine the power of the Aztec Empire. The alliance between the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans is one of the most important events in Mexican history. This alliance of the Europeans with the Totonac and Tlaxcalan Indians gave birth to a formidable coalition which would eventually lead to the downfall and destruction of the entire Aztec Empire. The allegiance of the Tlaxcalans with the Spaniards would become an enduring partnership, lasting several centuries.
On November 1, 1519, Cortés and his army of European mercenaries and indigenous warriors left the Tlaxcalan capital. As many as 6,000 Tlaxcalan warriors had been added to the ranks of Cortés’ force, but most of his Totonac allies had to return to their homes on the Gulf Coast. While Indian laborers carried the cannon and baggage in the center of the formation, Tlaxcalan warriors and Spanish horsemen marched along the flanks and with the rear guard.
Developing New Alliances
As Cortés traveled westward through mountain towns and villages, many of the Indians living along this path told him of their cruel treatment at the hands of the Mexica overlords. Through these meetings, Cortés began to understand the depth of this hatred and fear. He also recognized that many of these people would be potential allies in a showdown with the Mexica.
From the mountain passes overlooking the great Valley of Mexico, the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans witnessed for the first time the great splendor of Tenochtitlán as it spread out along the valley floor. Before long, the mountain pass, with the Valley in full view, descended to lower altitudes, eventually bringing Cortés and his forces to an altitude of 7,400 feet above sea level on the valley floor. As they made their way through the valley towards Tenochtitlán, the Spaniards arrived in one town, where the King of Texcoco welcomed them. The Texcocans provided their alien guests with gifts, food, and assistance. Soon after hearing about the Christian religion, many Texcocans, including the king, decided to convert to Catholicism. Before continuing on to the capital, the Spaniards performed several religious services, baptizing the king and other Texcocan nobles.
The Meeting with Emperor Moctezuma II
On November 8, 1519, the coalition army reached Xoloco, just outside of Tenochtitlán, where they were greeted by hundreds of emissaries of Emperor Moctezuma, the ruler of Tenochtitlán and the Emperor of the mighty Aztec Empire. As they were brought into the city, the Spaniards stared in awe at the architectural precision of the city. Filing across the southern causeway of the capital, Cortés and his men were greeted with much ceremony by a retinue of lords and nobles headed by Moctezuma himself. The Tlaxcalans, marching alongside their European allies, were equally impressed by the splendor of their hereditary enemies.
Greeted by Moctezuma, the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans were offered housing and provisions by the Mexica. Moctezuma showed his Spanish guests around the city and entertained them with splendid banquets. By this time, Moctezuma and the other Mexica lords had already heard about the devastation that Cortés and his allies had inflicted upon several of the Aztec villages on his journey westward. Moctezuma also recognized the potential danger of a Tlaxcalan-Spanish alliance.
After several days of negotiations and touring, Cortés and his officers suddenly took Moctezuma as a hostage. Bringing the monarch to his barracks in the great city, Cortés persuaded him to dispatch messengers to the surrounding communities to collect gold and silver. Moctezuma’s imprisonment within his own capital continued for eight months.
On April 19, 1520, more Spanish ships appeared along the eastern coast. As Cortés suspected, the Governor of Cuba – his personal enemy – had sent soldiers under Panfilo de Narvaez to arrest Cortés for insubordination. Leaving his friend, Captain Pedro de Alvarado, in charge of his troops in Tenochtitlán, Cortés quickly departed from Tenochtitlán with 266 Spanish soldiers to confront the newly arrived Spanish force on the Gulf Coast. Although Narvaez’s troops numbered three times greater, Cortés and his small army defeated Narvaez in a battle near Veracruz. After this battle, Cortés — a master of manipulation — persuaded most of Narvaez’s troops to join him, after promising them a share of the spoils when Tenochtitlán was brought under Spanish control.
However, when Cortés and his men returned to Tenochtitlán, he found out that Pedro de Alvarado had provoked an open revolt by massacring 600 Aztec nobles during the Feast of Huitzilopochtli. Fighting had broken out, and soon the Spaniards and their Tlaxcalan allies found themselves under siege within the palace of the great city. An attempt to get the Mexica monarch to calm his subjects failed when Moctezuma was killed by a hail of stones.
La Noche Triste (The Night of Sadness)
Moctezuma was succeeded as Emperor by Cuitlahuac, who immediately set out to organize a determined resistance to the Spanish forces. As the month of June approached its end, Cortés realized that he would have to exit the city or face annihilation by a numerically superior force. On July 1, 1520, 1,250 Spaniards and 5,000 Tlaxcalans attempted to flee the city. This night – often referred to as La Noche Triste, the Night of Sadness – was a disaster for both the Spaniards and Tlaxcalan forces. As they fled the city, the Mexica forces fell upon them, killing 450 Spanish soldiers, 4,000 Tlaxcalans and 46 horses.
Plagued by hunger, disease, and the pursuing Aztecs, Cortés’ army fled eastward in an attempt to reach Tlaxcalan territory, where they would try to organize reinforcements. However, on July 8, the retreating army came upon a legion of nearly 200,000 Aztecs sent by Cuitlahuac. There, at the battle of Otumba, Cortés forces’ managed a smashing victory that dissuaded the Aztecs from pursuing the Spaniards and their allies any farther.
Cortés and the Tlaxcalans Regroup
Four hundred and twenty Spaniards and a mere 17 horses limped into Tlaxcalan territory. All the survivors, including Cortés, were wounded, and very few firearms or ammunition were left. As the battered army made its way into Tlaxcala, they were greeted by their Indian allies and given refuge. It goes without saying that the Spaniards would not have survived their ordeal without the help of their Tlaxcalan allies.
The Tlaxcalan chiefs called on Cortés during this dismal time and laid out their conditions for further assistance. The author Richard Lee Marks writes that the Tlaxcalans requested “perpetual exemption from tribute of any sort, a share of the spoils, and control of two provinces that bordered their land.” Cortés agreed to these conditions and, as Mr. Marks observed, “Spain substantially kept its promise” to the Tlaxcalans “and exempted them from tribute for the entire period of the Spanish rule in Mexico, nearly three hundred years.”
The Tlaxcalan chiefs called on Cortés during this dismal time and laid out their conditions for further assistance. The author Richard Lee Marks writes that the Tlaxcalans requested “perpetual exemption from tribute of any sort, a share of the spoils, and control of two provinces that bordered their land.” Cortés agreed to these conditions and, as Mr. Marks observed, “Spain substantially kept its promise” to the Tlaxcalans “and exempted them from tribute for the entire period of the Spanish rule in Mexico, nearly three hundred years.”
The Spaniards, however, also received more important support from another, unexpected ally. “While the Spaniards rested and recuperated” in Tlaxcala, wrote Mr. Marks, “it occurred to Cortés and his men to wonder why the great armies from Tenochtitlán were not pursuing them.” The Aztecs had not attacked or laid siege to Tlaxcala, giving the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans precious time to heal and recover from their catastrophic defeat. Later, Cortés would learn that an epidemic of smallpox had devastated Tenochtitlán.
Brought to the shores of Mexico by an African sailor, “the disease had spread with amazing rapidity through the coastal tribes and up into the highland.” The disease spread quickly among the Indians, according to Mr. Marks, because they “were in the habit of bathing to alleviate almost any ailment that afflicted them. These baths were either communal or the same bathing water was used consecutively by many. But after someone with an open smallpox sore entered the bath, the disease was transmitted to everyone who followed.” The Spaniards, however, never bathed. Although they occasionally washed off the dirt and blood when they had to, “they believed that bathing per se was weakening.” And the Tlaxcalans, “always in a state of semi-siege,” were not yet exposed to the smallpox.
“Reviewing their narrow escape,” writes the author Michael C. Meyer, “many of the Spanish veterans wanted nothing more to do with the Aztecs. It required all of Cortés’s force of personality and subtle blandishments to prevent mass defections and rebellion among his men. Cortés, who seems never to have wavered in his determination to retake Tenochtitlán, began to lay plans for the return.” In Tlaxcala, Cortés gained great power over the council and began to form a huge new army to attack Tenochtitlán once again. Reinforcements arrived from Vera Cruz to assist in the campaign, while more Tlaxcalans prepared to join Cortés’ army. The Captain-General’s army left Tlaxcala in late December of 1520 on its march to the Aztec capital.
With an army of 600 Spanish soldiers and more than 110,000 Indian warriors, Cortés intended to occupy the city of Texcoco and blockade Tenochtitlán from there. In the spring of 1521, the refreshed army systematically conquered most of the Aztec-inhabited towns around Tenochtitlán, all the while receiving more reinforcements. The Spanish and Tlaxcalan force was bolstered by the addition of some 50,000 Texcocans. In addition, another 200 Spanish soldiers had arrived from the coast to help in the offensive.
The Siege and Surrender of Tenochtitlán (1521)
In May 1521, Captain-General Hernán Cortés, with 900 Spaniards, 118 crossbows and harquebuses, fifteen bronze cannons and three heavy guns, thirteen brigantines, and as many as 150,000 Indian warriors, approached the entrance to Tenochtitlán. The siege of Tenochtitlán lasted from May 26 to August 13, 1521. The Mexica put up a fierce resistance until their people were reduced to eating worms and bark from trees. Towards the end of the siege, recognizing that the Mexica were nearly incapacitated by hunger and dehydration, the Captain-General ordered a full-scale assault on Tenochtitlán.
On August 13, 1521, after a 75-day siege, Tenochtitlán finally fell. In later years, Aztec historians would state that 240,000 Aztecs died in the siege. While many of the warriors died in battle, others, including most of the women and children, died from dehydration, starvation and disease. Of the 150,000 Amerindian allies fighting alongside the Spaniards, more than 30,000 are believed to have perished.
The Value of the Spanish Allies
The anthropologist Eric R. Wolf stressed the great contribution of Cortés’ Indian allies in the capture of Tenochtitlán. Wolf writes that “Spanish firepower and cavalry would have been impotent against the Mexica armies without” the support of the Tlaxcalans and the Texcocans. The allies “furnished the bulk of the infantry and manned the canoes that covered the advance of the brigantines across the lagoon of Tenochtitlán.” In addition, “they provided, transported, and prepared the food supplies needed to sustain an army in the field. They maintained lines of communication between the coast and highland, and they policed occupied and pacified areas.”
Finally, writes Mr. Wolf, the Indian allies also “supplied the raw materials and muscular energy for the construction of the ships that decided the siege of the Mexican capital.” In conclusion, he states that while “Spanish military equipment and tactics carried the day,” the “Indian assistance determined the outcome of the war.”
The Tlaxcalans in the Early Colonial Period
The author Charles Gibson, in his work Tlaxcala in the Sixteenth Century, has explored the intricacies of the Tlaxcalan alliance with the Spaniards in great detail. He notes that even after the surrender of the Mexica capital, the Tlaxcalans continued to offer support to the Spaniards. They accompanied Cortés to Pánuco in 1522, and joined Pedro de Alvarado’s expedition to Guatemala in 1524. In 1530, several thousand Tlaxcalans accompanied Nuño de Guzmán in his bloody campaign into northwestern Mexico.
During Nuño de Guzmán’s reign of terror as the President of the First Audiencia of New Spain, the Tlaxcalans remained comparatively immune from the oppression and harassment, which reached its peak during in the early 1530s. Because they were directly subject to the Crown, royal officials preferred not to tamper with the privileges which the Crown had granted to the former republic as a reward for its loyalty in the war.
In 1524, twelve Franciscan friars arrived in Tlaxcala to carry on the spiritual conquest of the Tlaxcalans. They built convents and chapels and in 1525 founded Tlaxcala de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción on the site of the present-day capital city. The conversion of the Tlaxcalans to Christianity proceeded and reached its peak in the late 1520s. By 1535, the city of Tlaxcala had been granted a coat of arms and was made the seat of the first archbishopric of Nueva España (New Spain).
After the conquest of the Mexica, the Tlaxcalans were given special concessions, and to some extent, they were able to maintain their old form of government. The special relationship of the Tlaxcalans with the Spaniards continued well into the Sixteenth Century. They accompanied the Spaniards into battle in the Mixtón Rebellion (1540-41) and the Chichimeca War (1550-1590) in Nueva Galicia.
In the 1580s, several viceroys had recommended settlement of peaceful, agricultural Indian tribes in the north as part of the pacification of the nomadic groups (Chichimecas). Dr. Philip Wayne Powell, in his book Mexico’s Miguel Caldera: The Taming of America’s First Frontier (1548-1597), observed that many small groups of southern Christianized Indians – Cholulans, Mexica, Tarascans, Huejotzingas, Tlaxcalans and Otomíes – went “forth to the wilderness, serving as examples for the savages” during the four decades of the Chichimeca War. These sedentary, Christianized Indian allies of the Spaniards – including the Tlaxcalans – consisted of “thousands of individual Indians and families
had moved to the frontier in trade, as employees, as merchants, as organized military forces, or simply as adventurers, following the northward-pulling magnets of mining discoveries, town-founding, work and landholding opportunities, or for the attractions of warfare.”
The Tlaxcalans Receive Special Concessions
On February 6, 1585, the Spanish authorities in the mining town of San Martín had petitioned the King of Spain to send between 2,000 and 4,000 married Indians from Tlaxcala and other southern communities. Dr. Powell points out that the two objectives of this action were to “bolster resistance to Chichimeca warfare, and provide labor for the mines.”
Dr. Powell, in Soldiers, Indians and Silver: North America’s First Frontier War, tells us that by December 1590, Viceroy Luis de Velasco “had begun to negotiate with the Indian leaders of Tlaxcala, traditional friends and allies of Spanish conquest in the land, to send four hundred families northward to establish eight settlements (fifty families in each) with church and religious house.”
“This defensive, or pacifying, type of colonization,” wrote Dr. Powell, “was… designed to teach the recently nomadic Chichimecas the ways of work, cultivation of the soil, provide a Christian example, and generally guide them into the ways of the sedentary life.” However, the Tlaxcalans argued and received special privileges for themselves and their descendants in exchange for moving to the northern frontier.
On March 14, 1591, Viceroy Velasco took steps to safeguard their interests by various orders for protection (mandamientos de amparo) to make sure that their possessions would not be taken from their heirs at some future date. These special privileges (capitulaciones) included the following:
“The Tlaxcalan settlers in the Chichimeca country and their descendants shall be hidalgos [noble] in perpetuity, free from tributes, taxes (pecho and alcabala), and personal service for all time.
“They are not to be compelled to settle with Spaniards, but will be allowed to settle apart from them and have their own distinct districts [barrios].
“The Tlaxcalans are to be at all times settled apart from the Chichimecas, and this distinction is to apply to all of their lots, pastures, wooded lands, rivers, salt beds, mills, and fishing rights….
“The lands and estancias granted the individual Tlaxcalans and the community as a whole are never to be alienated because of nonoccupation.
“The markets in the new settlements shall be free, exempt from sales tax (alcabala), from excise taxes (sisa), and from any other form of taxation.
“The Tlaxcalan colonists and their descendants, besides being hidalgos and free from all tribute, shall henceforth enjoy all exemptions and privileges already granted, or to be granted in the future, to the province and city of Tlaxcala.
“The principales of Tlaxcala who go to the new settlements, and their descendants, shall be permitted to carry arms and ride saddled horses without penalty.”
The Journey to New Lands
Eventually, 932 Tlaxcalan settlers headed north, occupying lands in Coahuila, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas. One of the most important settlements was San Miguel Mexquitic (now in San Luis Potosí), which Dr. Powell referred to as “a center of the most bellicose of the Chichimecas nearest the Mexico-Zacatecas road.” Dr. Powell concluded that the “the Tlaxcalan settlement in the Gran Chichimeca was a basic factor in cementing the frontier peace, for, in almost all respects, the enterprise fulfilled or exceeded the hopes of its planners. With one temporary exception, the Tlaxcalan presence did encourage Chichimeca imitation of their peaceful and more civilized ways. This program was so effective that the original six Tlaxcalan settlements were soon contributing offshoot colonies to other parts of the frontier, for the same purpose.”
The Tlaxcalan colonists settled in several locations along the Rio Grande, including El Paso (where they had fled after the Pueblo Indian Rebellion of 1680 in New Mexico). Some settlers also located in the missions near San Juan Bautista, not far from the present-day port of entry in Eagle Pass, Texas. When José de Escandón established his new colony of Nueva Santander in the region of present-day Tamaulipas and Texas, he invited Tlaxcalans to accompany him too. As a result, descendants of these Tlaxcalan settlers still live along the Rio Grande, both in Texas and Tamaulipas.
The Tlaxcalans lived peacefully under the protection of the Spanish authorities and Franciscan padres and any Spaniards who tried to interfere with their way of life, land, or privileges were punished. Eventually intermarriage between the Tlaxcalans and the Chichimeca Indians took place, although “the Tlaxcalan identity never entirely disappeared, living on through succeeding centuries.”
The Political Evolution of Tlaxcala (1824-1857)
In 1824, Tlaxcala became a federal territory within the new and independent Republic of Mexico. Between 1836 and 1847, the states were transformed into departments and the territory of Tlaxcala was included within the Department of Mexico; but in May of 1847, Tlaxcala regained its status as Federal Territory. Finally, on December 9, 1856, the Constituent Congress of the Republic approved the proposal that Tlaxcala leave the condition of territory and assume the status of free and sovereign state. The following year, on June 1, 1857, the government of Tlaxcala was installed.
The Náhuatl Language in 1895
In the modern era, while most Tlaxcalans had become very mexicanized in their culture, the Náhuatl culture and language managed to maintain itself in the state. The Mexican Census of 1895 provides us with our first window into the usage of the Náhuatl language in the entire Mexican Republic. As revealed in the following graphic, only 5.4% of Náhuatl speakers in the entire country lived in the State of Tlascala. However, nine in ten (91.7%) of the indigenous speakers in Tlaxcala were Náhuatl speakers.
It is noteworthy that Tlaxcala’s nearby states (Puebla, Hidalgo and Mexico) also had significant numbers of Náhuatl speakers.
The 1921 Census In the aftermath of the Mexican revolution, Mexico’s Departamento de la Estadística Nacional administered a census that would be unique among Mexico’s census counts administered between 1895 and 2005. In this new census, the Mexican Government decided to ask Mexicans about their perception of their own racial heritage. In the 1921 census, residents of the Mexican Republic were asked if they fell into one of the following categories:
As noted in the preceding table, more than half (54.7%) of the inhabitants of Tlaxcala classified themselves as being of indigenous origin and culture, while 42.4% had mixed origins. However, only one in ten residents of Tlaxcala spoke an indigenous language and the vast majority of them were Náhuatl speakers.
Indigenous Languages Spoken in Tlaxcala in 2010
In the 2010 census, 27,959 individuals 3 years of age and older spoke an indigenous language out of a total population of 1,097,069, thus representing only 2.5% of the population. Of Tlaxcala’s forty municipios, only three had populations of indigenous speakers that exceeded 10%:
Contla de Juan Cuamatzi (5,124 speakers, 15.5% of the municipio population)
San Pablo del Monte ( 9,984 speakers, 15.4% of the municipio population)
San Francisco Tetlanohcan (1,316 speakers, 14.1% of the municipio population)
Nearly half of the 2,493 indigenous speakers 3 years and older in Tlaxcala in the 2010 census did not specify which language they spoke, as noted in the following table:
By far, Náhuatl is the most spoken indigenous language in the State of Tlaxcala and nearly 92% of the state’s inhabitants spoke three languages: Náhuatl, Totonaco and Otomí.
Modern Tlaxcala
The modern-day state of Tlaxcala occupies a slightly larger area than the Indian principality of Tlaxcala (of the Sixteenth Century). The colonial heritage of Tlaxcala and its spas have attracted tourists to the state. Boasting a strategic geographic location, 1,145 miles of roads and 191 miles of railroads traverse the state, linking Tlaxcala, the state capital, to Mexico City in the west and to Puebla on the south. Tlaxcala’s railroads also link it to the seaport of Veracruz, an important outlet for Tlaxcalan exports.
Today, Tlaxcala is the site of the oldest Christian church in the Americas, founded in 1521 by Hernán Cortés. The Tlaxcalans have played a very important and unique role in Mexican history. And tourists visiting the state become very aware of this role during their visit.
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