@MajoraZ

2 years ago

Fantastic work, as usual, I just wish the scheduling had worked out for us to have worked together more then we did here! To to add onto and to correct a few things for viewers, it should be noted that many images used, such as at 9:02, 14:45, 26:57 to 28:23, 31:20, 32:17 to 33:20, 33:25 and 34:20 aren't depicting Purepecha versions of those things (most of the code images there are Aztec, for example). This isn't Ancient America's fault, though: It is VERY difficult to find images of Purepecha things, and sadly I wasn't able to get him better images to use on time, so it's on me! Also, as usual, it's worth keeping in mind the maps used only shows key places being disscussed, and there are thousands of villages, towns, and cities not shown: The Valley of Mexico alone had 300+ population centers! To get more into the granular specifics, while the video did stress that the Purepecha army's use of bows was important, to clarify why this is a big deal, it is because in contrast, many other Mesoamericans generally used Atlatl instead of bows, or at least more then bows: To the Mexica of the Aztec capital and some other Nahua groups (though not all, the Tlaxcalteca made major use of bows too), the Atlatl was seen as the more refined and cultured weapon, associated with the Toltec (a maybe historical, probably mythical civilization the Nahuas saw as the originators of high culture), while the bow was seen as more primitive, tied to the nomadic Chichimeca. Atlatl pack more power, but have less range relative to bows, and the Purepecha army exploited that. Secondly, it is my understanding (I did a cursory double check via Hassig's Aztec Warfare and I THINK right, but the wording is vague and I haven't slept in 30 hours and aren't triple checking) that technically speaking, the Aztec Empire did NOT have dominion over the Toluca valley at the time, when the Purepecha Empire expanded into it, but regardless that expansion still set off the war between the two empires. The nature of forts alongside the Purepecha-Aztec border following the conflict is something I really wish to dig into further: Firstly, many sources assert that it was not just the Purepecha who built forts and invited other ethnic groups to found cities alongside it in exchange for acting as lookouts, but the Aztec did so as well. On the flip side, I have seen a number of researchers sort of downplay the nature of these "forts": David Haskell, a Purepecha researcher, said this when I asked "They might not meet your expectations of what a "Garrison" is like,....Mostly, the border was reinforced just by towns with a Purepecha contingent to oversee defense. Might use landforms and some walls to aid defense". On the Aztec side, there's a wider debate about the nature of so called "garrison colonies", outside Purepecha border context, too, where some researchers reject the Aztec built garrisons/forts at all (while others assert they did). Interestingly, the one source Haskell suggested to me on border forts I have been able to access explicitly mentions AZTEC forts on the border, but not really Purepecha ones... but there's more sources I haven't checked yet he suggested. Again, if scheduling happened to line up better, this is something I wish I could have dove into deep for the script. Similarly, while I haven't dived deep into the issue yet, my understanding is while contact between West Mexico and South America is generally well supported by metallurgical evidence (that is, metallurgy seems to have spread between Ecuador and West Mexico due to near identical styles of goods as well as metalworking techniques) as well as perhaps textile and linguistic evidence, there's really not much evidence to suggest the Purepecha in particular were South American migrants, and that that theory has mostly fallen out of favor, even if trade links is still has academic support. The media reports I have seen regarding the LIDAR scans of Anagamuco report that the evidence suggests it had a population of 100,000 people, rather then 30,000 (100,000 is huge, but it is worth noting Anagamuco is also quite expansive, so that figure would be over a pretty wide area, more akin to Maya megalopoli like Tikal or Copan where they had 100,000+ over a extended sprawl). Even for Tzintzuntzan, where 30,000 is what I've seen most sources report, it's possible this may not be the full figure, as (i'm sure you're aware but viewers may not be) Mesoamerican cities had both an urban core and then surrounding radial suburbs, and population estimates often don't include both... but I haven't looked into the methodology of Tzintzuntzan's estimates so I'm not sure how much of the city that figure is meant to encompass. Yes, those Mexica stereotypes are always interesting to look at! The Florentine Codex includes them for a number of groups, ranging from the Purepecha here to the Chichimeca, Otomis, Huastecs and Totonacs, Zapotecs, etc. It's usually some variation of "Their language is unrefined and they dress scandalously, but their [food/textiles/wares] are pretty good. I think it's pretty telling how much such stereotypes centralize economic resources, consistent with the Mexica's interests in acquiring economic goods in expansionism. As a final quick blitz: I actually HAVE seen an image alleging to show some Purepecha "Day signs", but like you I've seen sources claim that the Purepecha didn't have a ritual calender of astrological day/year signs. Not sure if the image is merely erronous, or if it's a subject of active research. It's worth noting that whole the Purepecha Empire/West Mexico definitely had the largest centers of bronze production, that it was not limited to them: Indeed, bronze sewing needles have even been found at Cuexcomate (or Capilco, I forget which, Dr. Michael E. Smith excavated both, it's mentioned in "At Home in the Aztecs") a small village inside the Aztec empire, which wouldn't have been affluent; and that contrary to some pages online, the Purepecha still didn't really use bronze for weapons much (I have seen 1 source noting they may have used it on one occasion, but that's about it). As a nitpick, I have a little issue with saying that the Aztec Empire was "falling" during the Cortes expedition, since it was really Tenochtitlan, and the hundreds of other subject and vassal states only ceded to Spanish rule or were conquered later. Lastly, local rulers being left in charge wasn't actually that uncommon in the early Spanish colonial period, what caused an issue was the allegation that taxes were still be collected that the Spanish weren't getting a cut off. And yes, Guzman was so brutal that he actually was brought back to Spain in chains and tried for his abuses!

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