Indigenous response to colonialism refers to the actions, strategies, and efforts taken by Indigenous peoples to evade, oppose, challenge, and survive the impacts of colonial domination, dispossession
Aztec warriors led by an eagle knight, each holding a macuahuitl club. Florentine Codex, book IX, F, 5v. Manuscript written by Bernardino de Sahagún.
Malinche translating for Hernán Cortés
Cuitláhuac, Aztec Tlatoani who led to victory in battle
Francisco Tenamaztle, Indigenous leader in the Mixtón War, statue on the main square of Nochistlán de Mejía, Zacatecas
Encomienda
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The encomienda was a 16th-century Spanish labour system that rewarded Spain's conquistadors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors would provide the labourers wi
Francisco Hernández Girón was a Spanish encomendero in the Viceroyalty of Peru who protested the New Laws in 1553. These laws, passed in 1542 but repealed in 1545, gave certain rights to Indigenous peoples and protected them against abuses. Drawing by Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala.
Hernán Cortés, conqueror of the Aztecs and premier encomendero of New Spain
The Codex Kingsborough: also known as the Codex Tepetlaoztoc, is a 16th-century Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript which was part of a lawsuit against the Spanish encomenderos for mistreatment