History of Mexico, Volume 1, 1516-1521Bancroft, Hubert Howe
History
History of Mexico, Volume 1, 1516-1521
Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Mexico -- History
[29] Not ‘Culba, Culba, Mexico, Mexico,’ as Bernal Diaz has
it. The natives pronounced the word Culhua only; but this
author, finding that Culhua referred to Mexico, puts the
word Mexico into the mouth of Tabasco and his followers.
Long before the Aztecs, a Toltec tribe called the Acolhuas,
or Culhuas, had settled in the valley of Mexico. The
name is more ancient than that of Toltec, and the Mexican
civilization might perhaps as appropriately be called Culhua
as Nahua. The name is interpreted ‘crooked’ from coloa, bend;
also ‘grandfather’ from _colli_. Colhuacan might therefore
signify Land of our Ancestors. Under Toltec dominion a
tripartite confederacy had existed in the valley of Anáhuac,
and when the Aztecs became the ruling nation, this alliance
was reëstablished. It was composed of the Acolhua, Aztec,
and Tepanec kingdoms, the Aztec king assuming the title
Culhua Tecuhtli, chief of the Culhuas. It is evident that
the Culhuas had become known throughout this region by
their conquests, and by their culture, superior as it was
to that of neighboring tribes. The upstart Aztecs were only
too proud to identify themselves with so renowned a people.
The name Culhua was retained among the surrounding tribes,
and applied before Grijalva to the Mexican country, where
gold was indeed abundant.
[30] ‘Das grosse Fest des heiligen Antonius von Padua fällt
auf den 13 Juni, und dies giebt uns also eine Gelegenheit
eines der Daten der Reise des Grijalva, deren uns die
Berichterstatter, wie immer, nur wenige geben, genau
festzusetzen.’ _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 105. Cortés,
in his chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, calls it _Santo
Anton_; Fernando Colon, 1527, _R. de la Balsa_, with the
name _G. de s. anton_ to the gulf; Ribero, 1529, _r: de
Sãton_; Globe of Orontius, 1531, _C. S. ãto_; Vaz Dourado,
1571, _rio de S. ana_; Hood, 1592, _R. de S. Antonio_, etc.
For _Santa Ana_ Dampier in 1699 lays down _St. Anns_, and
Jefferys in 1776, _B. St. Ann_.
[31] Cortés calls it _Rio de totuqualquo_; Colon, _R. de
gasacalcos_; Ribero, _R. de guasacalco_; Orontius, _R.
de qualqº_; Vaz Dourado, _R.º de de guaqaqa_; Hood, _R.
de Guaca_; Mercator, _Quacaqualco_; De Laet, Ogilby, _R.
de Guazacoalco_; Jefferys, _R. Guazacalo_; Dampier, _R.
Guazacoalco_ or _Guashigwalp_.
[32] Colon gives it, _Sierras de San mrtí_; Vaz Dourado,
_seras de S. martin_; Hood, _Sierras de Sᵗ. min_; Ogilby,
_Sierras de S. Martin_; Dampier, _St. Martin’s High Land_,
and _St. Martin’s Point_. This soldier, San Martin, was a
native of Habana.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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