Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico
Author(s)
Townsend, Camilla
Abstract
Camilla Townsend argues that our received understanding of the conquest of Mexico is seriously flawed. Thus we need a way of interpreting that significant event. For example, Townsend maintains that there is no real evidence that the indigenous people ever believed that Hernando Cortes was Quetzalcoatl returning from the east, and very little evidence that they ever seriously considered the Spanish to be gods at all. Instead, she explains, this construct emerged in imaginary accounts written in the second half of the sixteenth century. And it thrived because it was so gratifying to the cultural heirs of the conquerors, and offered a much-needed explanation to the heirs of the defeated Aztecs. Even modern scholars, who might have been expected to deconstruct this rather dehumanizing notion, have failed to do so – apparently because taking such a step has the potential to leave open the unsettling question as to why the conquest was possible.
Townsend suggests that a recent contribution of science frees us from this old burden: dating the microscopic remains of plant seeds has proven that 10,000 years ago agriculture was viable as a full-time way of life only in certain places. Only where a constellation of protein-rich crops was available did people proceed in that direction. Scholars have long known that agriculture and a sedentary lifestyle led to the division of labor and the growth of technology. And technology in all its forms – including not merely cannons and guns but also steel lances and armor, horses and ships, books and navigation equipment – clearly explains the conquest when we look at the events themselves without prejudice. Significantly, Townsend explains, when we discard our preconception that the Indians were interpreting the foreigners as gods, and listen to what they had to say about what was occurring, it becomes evident that they themselves recognized very early on that they were defeated not by gods but by Spanish technology. Townsend’s article is thus a forceful example of how new insights can compel us to reexamine inherited arguments about past events.
