Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin
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Chimalpain or Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin (1579, Amecameca, Chalco—1660, Mexico City) was an Aztec noble and historian. His formal name was Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñoz Chimalpain. His Nahuatl names, pronounced [tʃiːmaɬˈpaː.in kʷaːwtɬeːwaˈnitsin], mean "Runs Swiftly with a Shield" and "Rising Eagle", respectively.
Of pure Indigenous ancestry, he was a descendant of the lords of Tenango-Amecameca-Chalco. At the age of 15 he entered the boarding school at the Franciscan College of Santiago Tlatelolco in Mexico City, where he received the name San Antón together with a Spanish education. He was well educated there, particularly in the history and geography of his native land.
He wrote on the history of Mexico and other neighboring nations in the Nahuatl and Spanish languages, but unfortunately the majority of his works have not survived. The most important of his surviving works is the Relaciones or Anales. This Nahuatl work was compiled in the early seventeenth century, and is based on testimony from Indigenous persons. It covers the years 1589 through 1615. It also deals with events before the Conquest and supplies lists of Indigenous kings and lords and Spanish viceroys, archbishops of Mexico and inquisitors. Chimalpain recorded the 1610 and 1614 visits of Japanese delegations to Mexico (led by Tanaka Shosuke and Hasekura Tsunenaga, respectively).
He also wrote Diferentes historias originales (also known as Relaciones originales). This work is a compilation of claims and proofs of nobility asserted by Indigenous leaders of Chalco-Amequemecan. It was written to serve as a judicial guide for the viceregal authorities for the granting of privileges and offices to members of the Indigenous nobility. There are eight of these relaciones. All contain ethnographic, social and chronologic information of great value to historians.
His manuscripts came into the possession of Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora. For an account of what happened to these documents after the death of Sigüenza, see Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci.
[edit] References
- (Spanish) "Chimalpain, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñoz," Enciclopedia de México, v. 4. Mexico City, 1988.
- (Spanish) León-Portilla, Miguel, "Chimalpahin y los orígenes del hombre americano," in Homenaje a Pablo Martínez del Río en el vigésimo aniversario de la primera edición de Orígenes Americanos. 1961.
- (Spanish) Carrera, Stampa, Manuel, "Historiadores indígenas y mestizos novohispanos. Siglos XVI y XVII," in Revista Española de Antropología Americana. Madrid, 1971.
[edit] Bibliography
- Historia mejicana antigua, que comprende los sucesos y sucesión de reyes hasta el año 1526
- Crónica de Méjico desde el año 1068 hasta el de 1597 de la era vulgar
- Apuntamientos de sucesos desde 1064 hasta 1521
- Relaciones originales de los reinos de Aculhuacan, Mejico y otras provincias desde muy remotos tiempos
- Relación de la conquista de Méjico por los espanoles.
- Annals of His Time: Don Domingo De San Anton Munon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-5454-3
