THE MEXICAN HERITAGE OF AZTLAN (1962) AND THE MEXICAN APPROACH TO UNITED STATES HISTORY (1965) by. JACK D. FORBES NATIVE AMERICAN MOVEMENT, Northridge and Simi Valley (1962) and UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO (1965) All Rights Reserved by the Author"The Mexican Heritage of Aztlan (The Southwest), to 1821" was distributed in 1962-3 in mimeographed form all over the Southwest by the Native American Movement (Movimiento Nativo-americano), a pan- indigenous organization headquartered in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County. "The Mexican Approach to United States History" was enlarged from the above and was to be a chapter in a book edited by Jack Forbes on Mexican- Americans. Although prepared in the 1965 period, this book was not published until 1973 when Aztecas del Norte: the Chicanos of Aztlan appeared. Many publishers turned the book down until Fawcett finally published it. In the meantime, part of "The Mexican Approach" was published in Frakes and Solberg, eds., Minorities in California History (Random House, 1971 pp. 155-156). It was also issued as a pre-print monograph by D-Q University in March 1972 Aztecas del Norte was copyrighted in 1973 by Fawcett but the ownership is now held by Jack D. ForbesTHE MEXICAN HERITAGE OP a2TLalt (THE SOU” ty Jack D. Forbes, Ph.D. The Southwest's Mexican heritage is very great indéed--and it begins long before Columbus reached the West Indies. In order to understand that heritage we mst first understand what is meant by the term "Mexican." Prior to 1821 the word "Mexican" referred to persons who were Ndhautl-speaking (that is, to those, such as the Aztecs, who spoke el] idioma mexicano o' néhuat1), or who were of Nahua ancestry. In the sixteenth century and for many decades thereafter onehad to be Néhuatl-speaking to be a Mexican, and, to be more pre cise, one had to be Aztec or Aztec-related (technically speaking, Aztec and Mexican were synonymous terms). Thus when we refer to the Mexican heritage before 1821 we are referring primarily to the Nehue (or Aatec-Toltec) heritege, although the word can aled be expanded to’ include mon-Nahua peoples who have since 1621 become part of the Republic of Mexico (Tarascans, Mayas, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Yaquis, et cetera). In 1574 Léfez de Velasco wrote: Hay gran diversided de lenguas entre todos los indics de estas provincies {de Nueva Espefis/, como son: Tarascos en Michoacan, Otomis, Matalcingos, y chichinecos, y otzos muchos que, demaé de sus ‘lenguas particulares, hablen le Mexicana, que es le generel y corre por todas estas" provin~ cias hasta 1a de Guatemala. For at leest 4,000 years the Valley of Mexico (anémec or lend of the Nahuas) has been a center of civilization. Therefore it ie understandabie that influences spread northwards to regions now in the United States where the Native Americans were lese advanced in matorial things. : Perhaps as early as 2,000 B.C. the growing of maize (corn) spread into the Southwest from Mexico, slong with other forms of agriculture. The domerti~ vation of maize was one of the Mexican people's greatest accomplishnents, as any Iowa fermer can testify today! When we eat corn on the cob, cracker Boks, hominy, tortillas de maiz, corn bread or popcorn we are eating foods ultimately of Wexicen origin. Corn, beang, squash, and other Mexican crops spread northucrds as fer ag Nel En@lind and North'Dakita. After the 1520!e corn’ spread to Europe, Africa, ghd Asia, ‘arid it te, gow one of thé world's foremost staple crops. * Other Mexican’ influences also reached thé Southwest long before 1492: pottery-naking, cotton clothing, ball courts, copper ornament manufacturing, and jewelry-making all were cither derived from Mexico or under great Mexican influence. The construction of large buildings, many styles of personal orna- nentation, irrigation techniques, and religious beliefs also were of Mexican derivation or Mexicen+influenced (The Plumed ‘Serpent was, for example, pre- sent among the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest). Some Native Americans actual- ly appear to have migrated from what is now Mexico into the Southwest at var- ious times. For example, the Hohokem people of Arizona seem to have introduced * Aztle&n is the Aztec (Mexican) name for their original homelend far to the north of the Valley of Mexico. It is used to refer not only to the South- west United States, tut also to Northwest Mexico, both of which are part of a common geogrephical-cultural-historical unit.