Ceramics and the Spanish Conquest

• Main Author: Hernández Sánchez, Gilda (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Leiden-Boston Brill 2012
• Series: Early Americas: History and Culture 2
• Subjects: Mexico; History; material culture; colonial ceramics; spanish conquest; ceramic technology; colonial mesoamerica; cultural continuity; ethnographic ceramics; colonialism; ceramics; Aztecs; Clay; Pottery; Pre-Columbian era; Race and ethnicity in the United States Census; Valley of Mexico
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

The Spanish colonization dramatically interrupted the autonomous development of ancient Mesoamerican culture. Nevertheless, indigenous societies learnt to live with the conquest. It was not only a time of crisis, but also an extraordinarily creative time period in which material culture reflected indigenous peoples' varied responses and adaptations to the changing circumstances. This work presents insights into the process of cultural continuity and change in the indigenous world by focusing on pottery technology in the Nahua (Aztec) region of Central Mexico. The late pre-colonial, early colonial and present-day characteristics of this industry are explored in order to come to a renewed understanding of its long-term development.