The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 6, December 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 6, December 1837
Various
Periodicals
Humboldt thinks that there existed other people in Mexico, previous
to the arrival of the Toultecs, the date of whose appearance in
Mexico he has put down at 648, of the Christian era. It matters not
by what name the people who first inhabited America are called; nor
does this writer name the people he supposes to have preceded the
Toultecs. We have called the primitive inhabitants _Tultecans_; and
we are justified by the best authorities, certainly by the most
numerous, in giving them this appellation. But we think Humboldt was
mistaken in the antiquity of the Tultiques. The date assigned by
him for their appearance may have been when they were driven by the
northern nations of Chicemecks, or perhaps by the Olmecas, from their
ancient city, and forced to mingle with the other nations that about
that time made their appearance in Mexico, from the north. It is
possible that the dates given by writers, and purporting to have been
derived from the hieroglyphic paintings of the ancient inhabitants,
may have some truth for their bases; but these, liable as they were
to misinterpretation, have induced writers to come to the conclusion,
that no certainty exists in the dates which have been given for the
population of Central America. Whether the inhabitants of Palenque,
the famous ruins of which we have noticed, are the _Toultecs_ known
at a subsequent period, or whether the name of that people is 'past
finding out,' our means do not allow us to determine at present. That
they had a different name, prior to the appearance of the Toultecs
in 596 of Clavigero, or 548 of Humboldt, may be admitted. Still,
it is not improbable that they may have left their country in 544,
as thought by some, arrived in the valley of Mexico in 648, and
founded the city of Tula in 670; but to suppose that this people
afterward reared the monuments we have before mentioned, is not at
all probable; on the contrary, the period of their origin supposed
by the 'hypothesis' already mentioned and some three thousand years
since, would be altogether more in accordance with their ruins. The
Tultiques were evidently the first people known in Mexican history;
but from whence they came, and the date of their first establishment
in Central America, is unknown. Humboldt himself says, 'We do not
know on what authority these dates are founded.' We shall speak
of the people here mentioned as the _Toultecs_, and as entirely
distinct from the ancient inhabitants of Palenque, though we have
designated the latter by a similar name, for the sake of preserving
cöincidence with others. All must be agreed, in accordance with our
statement, and with Humboldt, that a people existed in Anahuac long
previous to the appearance of these Toultecs we now speak of, though
this distinguished traveller had no knowledge of the great ruins of
Palenque.
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