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Utopia and History in Mexico: The First Chronicles of Mexican Civilization, 1520-1569. By Georges Baudot. Translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano. (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1995. xix + 566 pp., preface, introduction, illustrations, maps, conclusions, chronological tables, bibliography, index. $49.95 cloth.)
This English translation of the Spanish edition (I983) of the original French Utopie et historie au Mexique (I976) is long overdue. Intended to furnish background and purpose for the first ethnographies about indigenous peoples in New Spain, it is as well a treasure trove of information about political and religious machinations in the newly formed colony.
Arriving in I5z4, just three years after the conquest, the Franciscans considered themselves the chosen agents to evangelize millions of Indians. Many of the first apostolic twelve and those who followed were Joachinists from the Province of San Gabriel in Extremadura, Spain. Convinced that Native Americans were the medium for their eschatological mission, they promptly set about proselytizing their charges, on occasion baptizing several thousand at a time. But indigenous Christianity was too often imperfect, and it was necessary to learn more about the natives' cultures in order to realize their complete conversion. Forthwith, native-language vocabularies, grammars, histories, and ethnographies were compiled by the friars, and these texts are, in part, the subject of...