Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala sˈkala] (help·info); /tlɑːsˈkɑːlə/; from Nahuatl: Tlaxcallān Nahuatl pronunciation: [tɬaʃˈkalːaːn]), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 31 states which along with the Federal District make up the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and its capital city is Tlaxcala.

It is located in East-Central Mexico, in the altiplano region, with the eastern portion dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is bordered by the states of Puebla to the north, east and south, México to the west and Hidalgo to the northwest. It is the smallest state of the republic, accounting for only 0.2% of the country’s territory.

The state is named after its capital, Tlaxcala, which was also the name of the pre-Hispanic city and culture. The Tlaxcalans allied themselves with the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs, with concessions from the Spanish that allowed the territory to remain mostly intact throughout 300 years of colonial period. After Mexican Independence, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, until 1857 when it was admitted as a state of the federation.

Most of the state’s economy is based on agriculture, light industry and tourism. The tourist industry is rooted in Tlaxcala’s long history with major attractions being archeological sites such as Cacaxtla and colonial constructions in and around Tlaxcala city.

Name

The name “Tlaxcala” pre-dates the state by centuries; it derives from the name of the capital city, which was also used to denote the territory controlled by this city in pre-Hispanic times. According to some historians, the name comes from an ancient word “texcalli”, which meant crag; however, an alternative etymology stems from the Nahuatl word “Tlaxcallan” which means "place of corn tortillas." The Aztec glyph that referred to this place has both elements, two green hills and two hands holding a corn tortilla.

Coat-of-arms

The state’s coat of arms is based on the coat of arms that was granted to the city in 1535. Its different elements have the following meanings: the red background represents courage; the castle symbolizes defensive power; the eagle with its open wings, represents the spirit of vigilance; the border symbolizes protection and compensation; the green palms stand for victory, and the crowns are the symbol of royal authority.

The letter I refers to Joanna of Castile, the mother of Carlos V; the letter K represents the name of the king himself; and the letter F belongs to Felipe, the son of Carlos V. The human skulls and cross-bones represent those who died during the Conquest.

Geography

Natural geography and climate

Tlaxcala is a land-locked state situated on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The average altitude for the state is 2,230 meters above sea level, making it a bit higher than the Valley of Mexico just to the southwest. The western part of the state lies on the central plateau of Mexico while the east is dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental, home of the 4,461 meter La Malinche volcano. Most of the state is rugged terrain dominated by ridges and deep valleys, along with protruding igneous rock formations. This ruggedness, along with large-scale weather phenomena such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, gives the state a complex climate. Overall rain patterns for the state are about 400mm in the summer rainy season and 30mm in the winter. Locally, however, this varies dramatically between the drier plateaus and valleys and the wetter mountains. Variations in altitude produce sub-climates between semi-tropical to temperate, with frosts likely in the higher elevations during the winter. Temperate forests of pine, fir (abies religiosa), evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) and junipers (Juniperus communis) dominate the mountain highlands while the flatlands, with their drier climate, are characterized by agaves and prickly pear cactus (opunita).

The state has no major lakes or extremely large rivers. The principal water sources are the Atoyac-Zahuapan basin and the reservoir of the Atlangatepec dam.

History

The area known as Tlaxcala has officially been a number of different entities, from an indigenous kingdom during the Pre-Columbian era, a district of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain, a territory of the Republic of Mexico, and finally a “free and sovereign" state in Mexico. Tlaxcalans consider their fight to remain a distinct entity a hallmark of their history, resisting in turn the Aztecs, the Spanish colonial government, the various monarchies and republics of an independent Mexico, and even the claims on its territory by its neighboring state of Puebla.

Pre-Columbian

Evidence of human occupation in what is now the state of Tlaxcala extends back to 12,000 BCE, with the earliest identified cultures being Tzompantepec (1700–1200 BCE), Tlatempa (1200–800 BCE), and Texoloc (800–400 BCE). The Toltecs also had a presence, but the first major native culture here was the Olmec Xicalanca. This civilization fell into decline after 900 CE and was replaced by a sub-group of the Chichimecas. In the 14th century, the Chichimecas were driven out by the Tlaxcalans, a Nahua people and the indigenous ethnicity that still dominates the state. The Tlaxcalans founded the city of Tlaxcala and then began to subdue the surrounding peoples. Eventually, the Tlaxcalan nation would evolve into a confederation of four sub-states called Tepectipac, Ocotelulco, Tizatlán and Quiahuixtlán.

The pre-Columbian Tlaxcalan state developed roughly at the same time as another Nahua people, the Mexica, were building the vast Aztec Empire with its capital at Tenochtitlan. From the 14th century, these two nations were in near constant state of war. However, even though the Aztecs managed to build the largest empire in Mesoamerica, they never did conquer Tlaxcala. By the time, the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, Tlaxcala was an independent enclave nearly completely surrounded by the Aztec Empire. This left Tlaxcala economically isolated, leaving it without goods such as cotton and salt. This and the constant warfare with the Mexica would give the Tlaxcalans reasons to ally with the Spanish.

Spanish era

Conquest

"It is more inhabited than other provinces; and its inhabitants, who are the least oppressed of any in New Spain, owe this favour to the alliance that their republican ancestors made with the disciplined robbers whom Cortés commanded, and who subdued the Mexican empire. They are the most intelligent of all the Americans subject to Spain."

-Thomas Kitchin, The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe, 1778

When Hernán Cortés and the Spanish landed on the Veracruz coast, they were greeted by the Totonacas, who were a subject people of the Aztecs and saw the Spanish as a way to free themselves of rule from Tenochtitlan. They allied with the Spanish, and when Cortés decided to go inland to Tenochtitlan, the Totonacas guided them to other subject peoples who would be willing to ally with them, including and especially the Tlaxcalans. However, after entering Tlaxcalan territory, the Spanish were met by a hostile Tlaxcalan force of 30,000. The Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish and their Indian allies in a number of battles, with the Spanish inflicting heavy casualties on the Tlaxcalans despite their superior numbers. The Spaniards’ prowess in battle impressed the Tlaxcalan King Xīcohtēncatl Āxāyacatzin, who then not only allowed the Spanish to pass through his territory, but also invited them into the capital city of Tlaxcala.

Cortés stayed in the city of Tlaxcala for 20 days and forged an alliance with the Tlaxcalans to bring down Tenochtitlan. Cortes added 6,000 Tlaxcala warriors to this ranks and arrived to Tenochtitlan in November 1519. They were received by Emperor Moctezuma II, who understood the potential danger of a Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance. Despite initial friendliness, intrigue and siege of the capital followed, with the Aztec backlash sending Cortes’ very wounded army limping back to Tlaxcalan territory. The Tlaxcalan king gave the Spanish refuge but promised further assistance in the conquest of Tenochtitlan only under certain conditions including perpetual exemption from tribute of any sort, part of the spoils of war, and control of two provinces that bordered Tlaxcala. Cortés agreed. Cortes and the Tlaxcalans returned to Tenochtitlan in December of 1520. After many battles, including street-by-street fighting in Tenochtitlan itself, the Aztec Empire fell in August 1521.

Colonial period

Historian Charles Gibson published (1952) a path breaking study of Tlaxcala, from the indigenous viewpoint. He particularly focused on ways that the Tlaxcalans shaped the polity's history for its own advantage, and how the four-part organization of the polity was maintained during the early colonial era. A particularly important source for the early colonial history of Tlaxcala is a set of records in the indigenous language of Nahuatl, now published as The Tlaxcalan Actas. These town council records are a type of indigenous language source used by scholars in the field known as the New Philology. James Lockhart drew on these materials in his study The Nahuas After the Conquest For the most part, the Spanish kept their promise to the Tlaxcalans. Unlike Tenochtitlan and other cities, Tlaxcala was not destroyed after the Conquest. They also allowed many Tlaxcalans to retain their indigenous names. The Tlaxcalans were mostly able to keep their traditional form of government. For 300 years of colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain rule, the Spanish mostly held true to the Tlaxcalans' conditions of 1520.

One of the major cultural interventions, however, was the evangelization of the region. Franciscan friars arrived in 1524. They built monasteries and churches and renamed the city of Tlaxcala “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.” The first archbishopric of New Spain was established here. Most of the conversion work was done by 1530 and in 1535, the city of Tlaxcala received its coat-of-arms from the Spanish king. Unlike the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala was under the direct protection of the Spanish crown, part of its reward for its support in the Conquest. This shielded the Tlaxcalans from the worst of the oppression of the native peoples, which reached its peak in the 1530s. In fact, Tlaxcalan allegiance to the Spaniards became an enduring partnership. Tlaxcalan forces joined Spanish forces to put down revolts such as the Mixtón Rebellion and accompanied them to conquer places such as Guatemala and northwest Mexico.

In the late 16th century, Christianized and sedentary Tlaxcalans were recruited to settle and pacify the Chichimecas in what is now northeast Mexico. Tlaxcalans were used not only to fight but also to establish towns in villages in this nomadic people’s territory, to be a kind of example to them. Over 400 Tlaxcalan families would move north, but not until they negotiated and won special concessions from the Spanish. They included orders called “mandamientos de amparo” to ensure that these families’ heirs would not lose the lands that were being granted to them. They also included freedom from tributes, taxes and personal service in perpetuity. These settlers were instrumental in pacifying this part of Mexico, and although these families eventually intermarried with the Chichimeca, they never completely lost their Tlaxcalan identity.

During the colonial period, the Tlaxcalans were successful in keeping the concessions granted to them by the Spanish crown. In 1585, when the territory of Tlaxcala was formally established, it roughly had the same borders as the old kingdom of Tlaxcala. While the neighboring territory of Puebla had some authority over this territory, the city of Tlaxcala remained independently governed until Mexican Independence in 1821.

However, the indigenous population who had been living in Tlaxcala were somehow reduced to a small minority. According to Catholic Encyclopedia, in 1625 the city of Tlaxcala had only 700 people, compared to the 300,000 population of a century ago, due to epidemics, emigrations, and the construction of a canal which serves for the Mexican Valley.

Post-independence era

After victory in the Mexican War of Independence and the end of the First Mexican Empire with the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, on November 24, 1824, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, Tlaxcala Territory. Tlaxcala was finally admitted as a state of the federation on December 9, 1856. The state was subdivided into five provinces, but had roughly the same dimensions, but somewhat less than before. Later, the state was able to recover some of that lost territory when the region known as Calpulapan was reunited in the 1860s. An interesting note is that the state was governed from 1885 to 1911 by Próspero Cahuantzi, one of the few Mexicans of indigenous origin to be a state governor.

Gastronomy

The cuisine of the state is similar to that of neighboring Hidalgo, Puebla and Federal District of Mexico City, featuring dishes such as barbacoa, mixiote, tamales, tacos, quesadillas and more. The state is known for the use of a number of ingredients in these dishes. One of these is the use of a number of edible insects, many of which are considered delicacies such as escamoles (ant eggs) and maguey larvae as well as others locally known as “padrecitos,” “mecapales,” “toritos” and “tenanas”. Vegetable items include a wide variety of mushrooms, often harvested from the wild, squash flowers, chilacayote, xoconostle (a kind of cactus fruit), nopal and epazote. Like neighboring Puebla, moles are an important element, especially for dishes made for special occasions. Two local versions include “mole prieto” and “mole de ladrillo.”