The Tlaxcala-Spanish Alliance: A Case Study in Colonial Cooperation

Throughout the colonial period, Tlaxcala maintained unique status as an allied city rather than a conquered territory. The Tlaxcaltec aristocracy was recognized as equivalent to Spanish nobility, their lands remained indigenous property, and they were exempt from Spanish tribute. This status was secured through seven diplomatic missions to the Spanish king. The Tlaxcaltecs created their own version of conquest history through the Lienzo de Tlaxcala and other documents, presenting themselves as indigenous conquerors rather than defeated subjects. This indigenous narrative, created before Spanish accounts, is often more complete and accurate than Spanish versions.

The Lienzo de Tlaxcala is a monumental cloth painted by the Tlascalans around 1550, depicting their version of the conquest of Mexico. The Tlascalans, former enemies of the Aztecs, became key allies of the Spaniards. This document serves as the earliest and most comprehensive historical account of the conquest, including over 50 military campaigns across what became New Spain. Unlike Spanish sources, it presents Tlascalans as co-conquerors rather than conquered peoples. The Lienzo combines a conceptual map placing Tlaxcala at the cosmic center with a chronological narrative of conquests. It was designed for dual audiences: Spaniards saw vertical hierarchy confirming their supremacy, while Mesoamericans saw the center as most important, giving primacy to Tlaxcala.

This segment presents the book 'Indios conquistadores' as a significant shift in conquest historiography by systematically examining indigenous participation in Spanish campaigns. The approach involves removing the spotlight from Spanish protagonists to focus on secondary characters—indigenous allies, women, and Afro-descendants—who played crucial roles in conquest. The segment examines both Spanish sources (conquistador accounts, missionary writings, soldier relations) and indigenous sources (relations of merits, chronicles, codices, and liensos). The Lienzo de Tlaxcala, Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, and Lienzo de Analco are highlighted as significant indigenous visual sources. Modern digital reconstruction has enabled researchers to examine details that would otherwise be impossible to study.

The historian discusses the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, a Nahuatl document that depicts indigenous peoples fighting each other, with indigenous figures outnumbering Spanish figures. He explains that this document challenges the traditional narrative of Spanish conquest by showing indigenous agency and conflict. The historian argues that the state promotes narratives that fragment indigenous geography, which makes it difficult for the state to maintain cohesion. He notes that the document shows indigenous peoples with horses (borrowed from Spanish) attacking other indigenous peoples, which challenges the notion of Spanish technological superiority. The historian emphasizes that this document represents a different perspective on the conquest that is often ignored in traditional historical narratives.

The oldest indigenous testimonies date from 1523-1524, including songs by surviving poets later written down. Paintings with indigenous glyphs include the Lienzo de Tlaxcala (80 scenes of the Tlaxcalan alliance), Codex Azcatitlan, Codex Mexicanus, Codex Aubin, and Codex Ramírez. The Annals of the Mexican Nation (c. 1528) reveals indigenous people who mastered the Latin alphabet before the College of Santa Cruz. The Florentine Codex, compiled by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún with indigenous students, is the most extensive account, completed in Nahuatl around 1550 (original lost) and 1585 (corrected version). These sources cover the conquest from portents before Spanish arrival to Cortés's demands for gold and treasures.

The Huanca indigenous people of the Jauja province in Peru, who had been conquered by the Incas around 1460, actively allied with Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro upon hearing of Atahualpa's capture in 1532, providing crucial military support, supplies, and manpower throughout the conquest of the Inca Empire, including participation in the siege of Lima in 1536 and subsequent pacification campaigns against Manco Inca's forces.

The Spanish conquest of America was not a simple war of invaders against invaded peoples. In Mexico, Hernán Cortés allied with various indigenous groups against the Mexica (Aztec) Empire, including the Tlaxcaltecas and factions from Chalco and Texcoco. In Peru, Francisco Pizarro arrived during a civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa, and also exploited the discontent of recently conquered peoples by the Incas, such as the Huancas, Chancas, Chachapoyas, and Cañaris. Both empires fell within decades, leading to the founding of the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru.

The Spanish conquistadors recognized their fundamental vulnerability in the vast Andean territory despite military advantages. They understood that controlling such a vast region with only steel and horses was impossible. The Huanca people had experienced nearly a century of Inca domination that created deep-seated resentment. The Incas had imposed heavy tribute demands, confiscated lands, conscripted young men for warfare, and controlled every aspect of their lives. The Incas had destroyed entire pantheons of Huanca deities, replacing them with cold stone temples. When Spanish forces entered Huanca territory, they found not resistance but nervous smiles and extended hands. Indigenous leaders offered provisions, refuge, secret routes, messengers, and porters. The Huanca understood that the coming war would not be won with weapons alone but with information. They possessed intimate knowledge of every cave, shortcut, and ravine where Inca forces had set ambushes. This indigenous knowledge proved so valuable that some Spanish soldiers initially suspected deception. The alliance was sealed in silence without formal papers or ceremonies, relying only on firm looks, mutual agreements, and a shared enemy.

The Spanish conquest of America was primarily achieved through the alliance of Spanish conquistadors with indigenous peoples who were enemies of the dominant civilizations. For example, in the conquest of the Aztec Empire, approximately 500 Spanish soldiers were joined by thousands of indigenous allies from rival groups such as the Tlaxcalans, Huichols, and others. This pattern of indigenous alliance was consistent across different conquests, including those of the Incas and other civilizations.

When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Mantaro valley in 1533, the Hanca did not see invaders but allies. Three generations had passed since Hatun Shausa's fall, but memory remained in grandmother's songs, hidden drawings under thatched roofs, and the silence with which elders named Cuzco. When Pizarro asked who hated the Inca most, the Hanca did not hesitate: 'We, we hated the Inca before you were born.' They guided Spanish forces through secret Mantaro paths, avoiding ambushes and showing safe water sources. They supplied thousands of porters who carried armor, arquebuses, and supplies through the highest Andean passes. Manco Inca Yupanki, legitimate Sapa Inca by blood and anointed by the Sun himself, had seen his empire burn under the fire of the bearded invaders. He had been ally, then prisoner, then rebel, and finally sovereign of an esoteric territory carved between abysses and impenetrable jungles. In 1539, a group of different men arrived at his gates - Spanish, but defeated, hungry, and spiritually disarmed. They were supporters of Diego de Almagro, Pizarro's old partner, now dead and executed for treason.

This segment introduces the central historical question: whether the Tlaxcaltecas betrayed Mexico in 1519. The video argues this question is fundamentally flawed because 'Mexico' as a unified nation did not exist—it was merely the Mexica people and their capital Tenochtitlan. The documentary explores how the same historical event can be interpreted as treason in Mexico City but as survival in Tlaxcala state, revealing how historical memory is shaped by perspective and political context. The segment explains that Mesoamerica was not a unified nation but a complex mosaic of sovereign city-states called altepetles, each with its own rulers, languages, and political alliances. The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan was the most powerful entity, having built an extensive territorial system through military conquest, diplomacy, and tribute extraction. For some peoples this was tolerable, but for others like the Tlaxcaltecas it was asphyxiating. Tlaxcala faced economic blockade, denied access to salt, cotton, and tropical products. This systematic deprivation formed part of the memory of generations and represented the price of independence.

The Tlaxcaltecas were not merely companions of Hernán Cortés but active conquistadors who participated in the conquest of Mexico from the beginning, providing crucial military support, provisions, and strategic alliances that enabled the Spanish to conquer the Aztec Empire; their role has been historically mischaracterized as 'treason' due to modern nationalist narratives, but they were independent nations pursuing their own political and territorial interests while receiving significant benefits including land grants and privileges in exchange for their alliance.

Following the conquest, indigenous peoples began a long process of resistance. The Maya of the Yucatán never fully submitted and rebelled in 1848 and 1948; the Yaqui and Apache continued resistance. Unlike much of Mexico where nationalistic narratives imposed unified historical memory, Tlaxcala maintains collective memory of its own historical narrative, preserved in the Palacio de Gobierno. This combines indigenous heritage with colonial and post-colonial history. The video emphasizes that Tlaxcalans share a common consciousness of their past as inhabitants of this specific territory, demonstrating how indigenous communities preserve distinct historical identities despite broader national narratives.

The traditional narrative of the conquest derived from Cortés's letters and Bernal Díaz del Castillo's 'True History' represents a constructed version by the victors that is partial and biased. The vision of the conquered peoples does not appear clearly in these sources. New interpretations are emerging that view the conquest as a complex process where many Mesoamerican señoríos allied with the Spanish to end Aztec domination. The figure of Cuauhtémoc has been displaced by Cuitláhuac, who governed for 80 years and was a victim of the first epidemic. The role of women, particularly Malintzin (Malinche), has been revalued beyond the traditional portrayal as traitor. The Tlaxcalans and other allied peoples have been revalued beyond the traditional portrayal as traitors, as they acted for understandable reasons of seeking better living conditions and political opportunity.

The Tlaxcaltecas were not merely allies or vassals of the Spanish conquistadors but active participants who shaped their own historical narrative through indigenous codices and testimonies, documenting their role in the conquest and advocating for the privileges promised to them, which were only officially recognized by the Spanish crown in 1592 after 70 years of diplomatic efforts.