The Indigenous Peoples of

Mesoamerica and Central America

Their Societies Cultures and Histories
1st Edition Robert M. Carmack
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-indigenous-peoples-of-mesoamerica-and-central-
america-their-societies-cultures-and-histories-1st-edition-robert-m-carmack/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Transnational Enterprises Their Impact On Third World

Societies And Cultures 1st Edition Krishna Kumar
(Editor)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/transnational-enterprises-their-
impact-on-third-world-societies-and-cultures-1st-edition-krishna-
kumar-editor/

The Prior Consultation of Indigenous Peoples in Latin

America Inside the Implementation Gap 1st Edition
Claire Wright

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-prior-consultation-of-
indigenous-peoples-in-latin-america-inside-the-implementation-
gap-1st-edition-claire-wright/

Ceramics of the Indigenous Cultures of South America

Studies of Production and Exchange through
Compositional Analysis Michael D. Glascock (Editor)

https://ebookmeta.com/product/ceramics-of-the-indigenous-
cultures-of-south-america-studies-of-production-and-exchange-
through-compositional-analysis-michael-d-glascock-editor/

The Research Universities and Their Patrons Robert M.

Rosenzweig

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-research-universities-and-
their-patrons-robert-m-rosenzweig/
European Cosmopolitanism Colonial Histories and
Postcolonial Societies 1st Edition

https://ebookmeta.com/product/european-cosmopolitanism-colonial-
histories-and-postcolonial-societies-1st-edition/

Weaponizing Maps Indigenous Peoples and

Counterinsurgency in the Americas Joe Bryan

https://ebookmeta.com/product/weaponizing-maps-indigenous-
peoples-and-counterinsurgency-in-the-americas-joe-bryan/

Mark Twain among the Indians and Other Indigenous

Peoples 1st Edition Kerry Driscoll

https://ebookmeta.com/product/mark-twain-among-the-indians-and-
other-indigenous-peoples-1st-edition-kerry-driscoll/

Cultures of Sustainability and Wellbeing Theories

Histories and Policies 1st Edition Paola Spinozzi

https://ebookmeta.com/product/cultures-of-sustainability-and-
wellbeing-theories-histories-and-policies-1st-edition-paola-
spinozzi/

The indigenous peoples of Trinidad and Tobago from the

first settlers until today 1st Edition Arie Boomert

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-indigenous-peoples-of-trinidad-
and-tobago-from-the-first-settlers-until-today-1st-edition-arie-
boomert/
 The Indigenous
Peoples of Mesoamerica
and Central America
 The Indigenous
Peoples of Mesoamerica
and Central America
Their Societies, Cultures,
and Histories

Robert M. Carmack

LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Lexington Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com

Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB

Copyright © 2017 by Lexington Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Carmack, Robert M., 1934- author.

Title: The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and Central America : their
societies, cultures, and histories / Robert M. Carmack.
Description: Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017027400 (print) | LCCN 2017035156 (ebook) | ISBN
9781498558976 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781498558969 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781498558983 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Indians of Central America—History. | Central
America—Civilization.
Classification: LCC nc----- (ebook) | LCC F1434 .C37 2017 (print) | DDC
972.8/01—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017027400
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

 Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix

1 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 1

2 Native Peoples of the Three Major Pre-Hispanic
Central American Sociocultural Regions 17
3 Central American Native Peoples at the Time of
Spanish Contact 35
4 Mesoamerican Influence on and Ties with Central
America’s Native American Peoples 49
5 Case Study 1: The K’iche’-Mayan Peoples of Guatemala 65
6 Case Study 2: Masaya and the Indigenous Peoples
of Nicaragua 81
7 Case Study 3: Buenos Aires and the Native Peoples
of Costa Rica 97
8 The Lasting Legacy of the Central American Native Peoples 113

Bibliography 125
Index 135
About the Author 141

v
 Acknowledgments

This book is dedicated to the hundreds of Native peoples of the Mesoameri-

can and Central American regions who over the years willingly shared with
the author their experiences and knowledge of their diverse native cultures.
I also wish to acknowledge the support and inspiration of my colleagues at
SUNY Albany’s Department of Anthropology during the more than 32 years
I labored with them. Finally, I want to express my gratitude for the support
of my wife, Doctor Teresa Carranza, who is an accomplished scholar and
has been a faithful companion; and to Lynn Weber for her excellent editing
of my original text.

vii
 Introduction

In a recent book on world history, Anthropology and Global History

(Carmack 2015), I attempted to summarize historical developments around
the world by adopting a theoretical approach known as “world-systems”
made famous by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein (1974a, 1974b, 1979,
1991). My historical account in that book included brief summaries of the
“New World Frontier States” of Mesoamerica, Central America, and Andean
America (Carmack 2015:168–180), as well as references to diverse other
modern Latin American states and peoples (265–283). In part, the account
below represents my attempt to expand and more fully elaborate on the over-
arching history of the Central American native peoples, with references also
to Mesoamerican influence on them through time.
In the chapters to follow I have adopted a relatively flexible historical
perspective on the Central American peoples. I describe these little-known
native peoples in highly humanistic terms, and place considerable emphasis
on the nature of their indigenous societies, cultures, and countless internal
and external struggles over many centuries while residing within this impor-
tant Native American region. Although I employ only select features of the
world-systems approach in the accounts to follow—including references to
how strong peoples in the Central American regions have dominated weaker
peoples—nevertheless it will become clear that I employ only a limited
world-system perspective in my summary of the Native Americans of this
region. My overriding focus is on the historical and sociocultural features
that have characterized these indigenous peoples during their long and dif-
ficult histories.
Diverse scholars who in recent times have studied both the Central Ameri-
can native peoples—such as Christopher Chase-Dunn (1992, 1997), Peter
Peregrine and Gary Feinman (1996), Michael Smith and Francis Berdan

ix
x Introduction

(2003), and James Mackenzie (2016)—have tended to focus primarily on the

economic, political, and military factors that over time largely defined the
inhabitants of this Native American region. I focus especially on the Cen-
tral American peoples’ religious and sociocultural features, but much less
on their historical core/periphery relationships. I also examine the internal
social and political interactions that have characterized the region’s native
peoples through time. While in some cases I attempt to describe the stratified
relationships that existed between so-called core and peripheral peoples resid-
ing within the native Central American region, my primary goal has been to
reveal and understand the overall history and unique characteristics of their
individual and collective economies, politics, and cultures.
I consider it necessary to clarify from the outset that both northern Mexico
beyond the Casas Grandes area, and South America below the southern-most
region of Central America, were largely “extra-systemic” zones relative to
Central America. That is to say, northern Mexico largely fell outside the
Mexican world located to its south, while South American influence existed
but largely remained beyond lower Central America to its north. In contrast,
northern Mexico up to Casas Grandes and Central America as far south as
Panama will be considered peripheries within their respective Mexican and
Central American “worlds” (Lange 1986).
In an attempt to understand the diverse historical and sociocultural rela-
tionships that were developed by the Central American native peoples, I
include summaries of three distinct indigenous peoples: the Mayas of Guate-
mala, the Chorotegas of Nicaragua, and the Chibchans of Costa Rica. These
and other native peoples of Central America are described in three detailed
case studies that are designed—at least in part—to challenge arguments made
by some scholars that aboriginal Central America as a whole fell at least par-
tially outside the Mexican world located to its north. Indeed, even the native
peoples residing along the South Pacific Coast of Central America—from El
Salvador and Nicaragua to Costa Rica and Panama—are properly understood
as having long formed part of the dynamic and highly specialized middle and
southern regions of Central America. As a result, they fell under varying lev-
els of influence from the pre-Hispanic native peoples residing in both México
and the northern region of Central America.
I begin my account with a general description of the sophisticated native
peoples of Central America (chapters 1–3). Together, they contain summaries
of the sociocultural conditions and histories of the diverse Central American
natives. These accounts are based in large part on my own published works
in Spanish, previously published in an important book on the native peoples
of Central America (Carmack 1994a:15–59; 283–326). Chapter 4 provides
a detailed discussion of influence on Central America from the so-called
Mesoamerican world emanating from Mexico. In chapters 5–7 I summarize
 Introductionxi

the histories and sociocultural characteristics of the three indigenous Central

American case studies mentioned above (Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa
Rica). These three Central American native peoples resided in the northern,
middle, and southern regions of present-day Central America. Among other
issues discussed in the three case studies, I describe how their respective
native peoples came under significant influence from powerful Mexican
peoples located to the north, and later from Spanish invaders from Europe. In
chapter 8, I briefly summarize historical developments achieved through time
by the diverse Central American native peoples. I also attempt in this final
chapter to determine how the historical events and indigenous accomplish-
ments described in the previous seven chapters were interrelated, at least in
part, as the result of both external and internal sociocultural forces that pre-
vailed in the Central American regions during their pre-Hispanic, colonial,
and modern historical time periods.
Much of the information in the chapters to follow below was obtained as
a result of my own field research in Central America, and to a lesser extent
Mexico. However, considerable data in chapters 1–4 derive from research
carried out by other scholars and whose publications are appropriately cited
in the text. Furthermore, in summarizing and evaluating the information in
the account to follow, I have drawn freely from a previous book in Spanish
which deals exclusively with the Central American region: Historia General
de Centroamérica, Historia Antigua (Carmack 1994a). I edited that volume
and contributed two major chapters to it. All the chapters of that book are in
Spanish, and therefore when drawing upon that source for the first four chap-
ters mentioned above, I provide in English my own translations, summaries,
and comments. Although I do not attempt to cite all of the numerous Spanish
bibliographic references provided in that important book, interested readers
will find additional Spanish and English sources in its chapter bibliographies.
While I have drawn freely on my own research and publications in prepar-
ing the chapters to follow below, as noted I have also benefited greatly from
studies by numerous other scholars. In general, my overriding goal has been
to provide insightful summaries of the diverse Central American peoples who
have resided in this relatively unknown region from pre-Hispanic to modern
times. During the years between 1963 and 2015 I engaged in continuous
ethnographic, historical, linguistic, archaeological, and archival research in
the region. I especially have drawn on my own fieldwork in chapters 5–7,
which focus on the above-mentioned three highly diverse Central American
communities of Santa Cruz Quiche (Guatemala), Masaya (Nicaragua), and
Buenos Aires (Costa Rica). Relevant citations to my own publications—as
well as to other sources provided by anthropologists, archaeologists, histo-
rians, and select students of Mexico and Central America—are listed in the
bibliography.
xii Introduction

Finally, as is indicated in the table of contents, I begin with a general

historical overview of the native Central American peoples. I describe in
detail the historic and geographic contexts within which these diverse indig-
enous peoples originally resided and through the centuries were internally
influenced, as well as later by the invading European and North American
peoples. In my final chapter, I offer a brief summary of the Central American
native peoples’ legacy, including some of their contributions to world his-
tory. Throughout the eight chapters to follow, my primary goal has been to
describe the histories, societies, and cultures of the Central American native
peoples during their three major historical time periods: pre-Hispanic, colo-
nial, and modern.
I took a photo of the mural that is used on the cover located on a sign along
the highway near the capital of Panamá. I selected this image as it represents
an important event in the early history of Panamá.
 Chapter 1

The Spaniards Discover

Aboriginal Central America

At a time when Central American lands and peoples were first seen by
Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors, the aborigines residing there
already had experienced a long and complex history. This chapter contains
a brief summary of early aboriginal Central American history, along with an
attempt to determine the extent to which the native communities of the region
had created a unique Central American world (for sources on this and the
chapters to follow, see Carmack 1994:15–59, as well as other bibliographic
references cited in that book).
It will be useful to begin with descriptions of the Central Americans as
recorded by the Spaniards who first made contact with them. They provide
us with pristine images of the aboriginal peoples and societies as they existed
prior to being radically transformed by the subsequent European colonization
processes. We begin with Columbus’s fourth journey to the New World and
his encounters with Native Americans inhabiting the region now known as
“Central America.”

COLUMBUS ENCOUNTERS THE MESOAMERICAN

AND CENTRAL AMERICAN PEOPLES

The first known contacts between the Spanish Europeans and the native
peoples of what later was referred to as “Central America” took place in 1502
during Christopher Columbus’s fourth journey to the “New World.” Having
left the Canary Islands in May with four ships, Columbus reached the island
later known as “Española” and touched briefly on the border of what later
became known as the island of “Jamaica.” They then navigated southward,

1
2 Chapter 1

exploring unknown lands. The small Spanish flotilla soon reached the islands
of La Bahia, near what is today the Honduran coast of Central America.
From these islands Columbus navigated down the long eastern gulf coast
until reaching Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the border of the Caribbean coast of
what are now the nation-states of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Finally, they
landed at Cariay (Puerto Limón, of present-day Costa Rica). A few days
later Columbus continued his journey along the coast of an area that today is
known as Panama, stopping at Almirante Bay and Laguna Chiriquî. He then
headed toward the East, finally touching land at Nombre de Dios (of present-
day Panama). Columbus next returned northward along the Caribbean coasts
of present-day Panama and Costa Rica. Approximately nine months after first
touching land in Central America he navigated his three ships—one of the

Figure 1.1 Map of early Central American routes navigated by Columbus. Image by
Ryan Stone.
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 3

original four ships had been abandoned because of moth (polilla) damage—
and turned eastward heading toward Spain.
The Spaniards’ first impressions of the Central American indigenous peo-
ples provide us with unique views of these natives who were unknown to the
Europeans. It is clear, based on the descriptions left to us by the Spaniards,
that the native peoples living on the isle of the Bahia Guanaja were very dif-
ferent from those whom they had previously encountered in the Caribbean
Islands to the East. Columbus’s son, Hernando, narrated an incident that
occurred after they had docked at Bahia Island (Colon 1947:16; the English
translations to follow are by the author):

On that island, the Adelantado, desiring to know its secrets, had the good fortune
of seeing a canoe as long as a galley, 8 feet wide, made from a single trunk, and
similar in construction to the other native boats, and it was loaded with goods
from the western parts filled with merchandise headed toward New Spain. In
the middle was a canopy made of palm leaves, not very different from those that
were used by the “gandolas” of Venice, which protected them so well that not
even the rain nor the leaves could make anything inside wet. Under the canopy
were located the children, the women, and all the baggage and merchandise.

The men who manned the canoe, even though they numbered 25, lacked
the will to defend themselves against the small vessels following them. …
Then the Admiral demanded that they take [goods] from the canoe which
seemed to be the best-looking and most expensive, including mantles and
shirts without sleeves made of cotton, woven and painted with diverse colors
and workmanship. Some of the cloths with which they covered their hidden
parts (verguenzas), were of the same colors and workmanship with which
the female Indians in the canoe covered their verguenzas, just as the Moors
of Granada do; and they had swords made of long wood, with a channel on
each side of the blades to which they were tied with thread, and pitch knifes
of stone which among nude peoples they cut as if they were made of iron;
and hatchets to cut wood, similar to those of stone that other Indians use, but
which were made of good copper; and also of that metal they had bells and
crucibles to melt them; and for food they carried roots and grains which the
Spaniards eat, and a certain wine made of maize similar to English beer; and
many of those kernels served as moneys for the peoples of New Spain.
By accident, Columbus had made contact with peoples (most likely Mayas)
of an advanced culture from the northern region of Central America. These
native Mesoamericans were dressed in cotton clothing, had metal tools and
ornaments, carried many kinds of grains, and navigated the oceans in large
boats. The natives that were in this particular boat clearly were “merchants”
on their way to the lowlands of southeastern Central America. The cacao
4 Chapter 1

grains mentioned in the account served as one of the most important forms of
money employed by the peoples of northern Central America in conjunction
with their elaborate commercial systems, such as by the Mayan merchants of
Yucatan.
Columbus apparently failed to understand the significance of meeting these
sophisticated peoples who were highly “civilized” and had relationships with
native Mexican (Mesoamerican) peoples to the north. As he continued his
voyage southward, beyond the Rio Negro, his expedition began to encounter
other native peoples who were very different from the Mayas to the north. He
described them as follows (Colon 1947:28):

the peoples toward the East down to the Cabo de Gracias a Dios, are almost
black, and ugly, and almost do not wear any clothing, and are in all ways wild.
And, according to an Indian taken prisoner, they eat human flesh and crude fish
just as they are caught; and they have ears with holes so wide that a hen’s egg
easily could fit in them. For this reason, the Almirante referred to these lands as
the “Costa de Oreja” (Ear Coast).

Even though we should reject the many terms strongly charged with preju-
dice with which these Central American native peoples were described by
the Spaniards, it is clear that culturally they were different from the complex
Mayan native inhabitants residing along the eastern coast of Yucatan. Colum-
bus was informed that the peoples who inhabited toward the south were
known as Tayas, a name that some scholars suggest referred to the native
Central American Payas who have resided there in modern times. Not only
was the language spoken by these people different from that of the natives to
the north, but their clothes and ornaments were also different: they inserted
large ear plugs, had unique eating habits, and were organized into diverse
social units. The contrasts between the sophisticated Mayan peoples to the
northeast and the likely “tribal” Payas to the southeast must have convinced
Columbus and his crew that there were many different types of aboriginal
peoples residing along the eastern shorelines that they were exploring.
Columbus and his men finally reached a point of land located further to
the east (Cabo Gracias a Dios), from where they headed again southward.
They were relieved to encounter native peoples more advanced upon arriving
at Cariay located along the eastern coast below, near what is today the city
of Limón (Costa Rica). To the relief and joy of the Spaniards, some of the
leaders of these peoples had ornaments of gold. They covered their intimate
parts with clothes made of cotton and the bark of trees. Hernando wrote the
following account of them (Colon 1947:280–281):

The men wear their hair with curls and the women wear them cut like we do.
Seeing that we are a peaceful people, they showed a great desire to obtain our
goods in exchange for theirs, such as weapons, cotton cloths, shirts made of the
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 5

same material, and jewelry of low-quality gold, which they wear hanging from
the neck as we wear the Agnus Dei or some other relic … they seemed to us
to be great wizards, and with reason, for upon coming close to the Christians
they spread a certain powder into the air, and with fumigaters they directed the
powder toward the Christians. … The most notable thing [the Spaniards] saw
was that within a great palace made of wood, covered with cane, there were
graves, in one of which was a dead body, dry and embalmed; and in two others,
but without any bad odor, and covered with cotton cloths. On top of the burials
was a tablet on which were sculpted animal figures, and in others one could see
the figures of buried persons, adorned with many jewels of the things they most
esteemed.

Columbus and his Spanish companions apparently were establishing con-

tacts with one of the many chiefdoms that flourished along the Caribbean
coast in what are today Costa Rica and Panama. The village visited by the
Spaniards was elliptical in form and probably was surrounded by a log fence.
An elaborate cemetery was located within the village, evidence of a burial
cult similar to those that previously had been observed by the Spaniards in
South America. The Spaniards were pleased to discover that the natives of
Cariay were greatly interested in commerce. Although the Spaniards could
not directly communicate with these native peoples, a native guide taken
from among them was able to understand the languages of the diverse peoples
residing to the south with whom they would later make contact.

NATIVE PEOPLES OF VERAGUA

Columbus navigated the length of the Caribbean coast that today is Pana-
manian territory, down to the area of San Blas, stopping at many sites along
the way. The most attractive site for the Spaniards was Veragua, where the
people were highly productive and seemed to have much gold. From San
Blas the Spaniards returned to Veragua, establishing a town at that site (Santa
María de Belén) and exploring its surroundings. They soon understood that
the native peoples of Veragua were governed by a chief (quibio) who rep-
resented his people in the neighboring towns during periods of peace, as
well as of war. The natives of Veragua extracted gold from inland “mines
and rivers,” they fished for fish species of every kind, and they planted large
cornfields. Hernando described some of their alimentary patterns (Colon
1947:297–199):

The customs of these Indians are in general similar to those of the Spaniards and
also of peoples in neighboring islands; but those of Veragua and surrounding
islands when they speak to one another do so back to back; and when they eat
they chew a weed, which we believe causes them to have teeth that are worn
6 Chapter 1

down and rotted. … Their food is fish which they catch in nets and with a bone
hook made of tortoise shells. … For food they also eat much corn, a certain kind
of grain which they make with millet in the form of an ear or “panocha,” from
which they make white wine and also ink, similar to how they make beer in
England; and they mix in plants they like because of their good flavors, similar
to the sour wine in England. They make another wine from what appears to be
palm trees; and I believe the trees are of that species, although they are smooth
and like other trees they have trunks with many spines as large as those of the
Porcupine. … They also make wine from other kinds of fruits.

Thus, in Veragua, Columbus and his people had made contact with some of
the important chiefdoms of lower Central America who engaged in mining,
extracted gold and tumbaga (pinchbeck). The Spaniards noted that the solid
subsistence on which the natives based their complex native societies was
composed of rich marine life and large cornfields. A great part of the nutri-
tious diet of the natives came from fermented drinks produced from maize,
pejibaye (a palm tree with a spiny trunk), mamey, and other fruits. The herb
chewed by the natives of Veragua, without doubt was coka, a South Ameri-
can plant found only in the southern region of Central America.
Columbus saw only a small sector of what is now known as Central Amer-
ica, and certainly he did not understand much about who the native peoples
were or what their relevance might be for world history. Nevertheless, it is
clear from the accounts that Columbus and his men have left us that they were
able to calculate roughly the density of the population in the region and their
main sources of foods. Columbus’s first encounter with the aboriginal Central
Americans raised crucial questions for the Spaniards: Who were these people?
Where did they come from? What were they like in social and cultural terms?
And how did they develop their diverse forms of social-political organization?
Central America, of course, was not “discovered” by Columbus, and its
history does not begin with him. In truth, the relevance and importance of
the aboriginal history of Central America does not depend on the Spaniards
alone, nor on any other single people. It is the history of once autonomous
diverse groups of peoples, highly creative and successful in many ways. As
such, they deserve their own place in history alongside the important ancient
civilizations and peoples in Spain and other regions of the world.

CENTRAL AMERICAN GEOGRAPHIC,

ECOLOGICAL, AND NATURAL FEATURES

Few places in the world of equivalent size vary as much geographically as the
Central American region, especially with respect to land forms, climate, plants
and animals, soils, and vegetation. The natural areas into which the region
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 7

can be sub-divided indicate the challenges of adaptation through time faced

by the native Central Americans. Their responses to these conditions help us
to understand the complicated social history. Adaptations to the general char-
acteristics of Central American geography provide an ecological context for
the widely diverse societies that have characterized the native peoples of this
central region from those of North and South America (see Carmack 1994a
for information and bibliographic references relative to the account to follow).

Major Ecological Features of the Region

The most general features of the Central American environment are well
known: a tropical climate, narrow stretches of land, vegetation and animal
life transitional between North American and South American species, a long
volcanic chain that generates seismic faults, a central mountain chain that
diminishes in altitude from north to south, contrasting lowlands between the
Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, depressions from west to east, and large cracks
of the earth in select areas.
Other important but less-known natural features have influenced the social
life of Central American native peoples. Among others, these features include
(1) the existence of relatively small and moderately fertile valleys in the high-
lands, which differ from the large Mexican valleys to the north and those of
the Andes to the south; (2) an abundance of exotic natural resources, includ-
ing gold, obsidian, jade, cacao, precious feathers and skins, a form of ink
for painting and writing, and pearls; (3) direct access and nearness to highly
diverse resources, resulting in part from a series of depressions and faults that
affect human passage between the two coasts; (4) a relatively large proportion
of the region consisting of the Caribbean lowlands, where exploitation of the
environment tends to be extensive rather than intensive.
The major ecological contrast in Central America, without doubt, is that
between two distinct zones often referred to as “temperate” and “hot.” These
two ecological spheres also can be divided into more diverse subzones,
depending on their altitudes relative to sea level and the amount of rainfall
they receive (Carmack 1994a:22):
Temperate (1,000–2,000 meters elevation)
Arid (less than 500 mm of rainfall each year)
Subhumid (500–1,000 mm)
Humid (over 1,000 mm)
Hotlands (0–1,000 meters elevation)
Arid (less than 800–1,200 mm)
Subhumid (800–2,200 mm)
Humid (over 1,200 mm)
8 Chapter 1

The diverse ecological zones create conditions that strongly affected the
exploitation of the major animals and plants by the Central American native
peoples, and this played an important role in the history of the region. For
example, the way that maize was cultivated varied considerably, depending
on the zone in which it was planted. Thus, in arid regions growth of maize
required irrigation. Cacao does not grow well in temperate zones, and it
requires irrigation in subhumid or dry hotland areas. Cotton grows only in
arid and subhumid hot lands.
In the context of diverse ecological zones, four principal natural areas
of Central America have been of singled out as being especially important:
(1) highlands, (2) northern lowlands, (3) Pacific lowlands, and (4) southern
isthmus. In reality, the geographic characteristics of these and other areas are
markedly diverse, and as a result the aboriginal peoples of Central America
were required to adapt to them in highly diverse ways. These ecological set-
tings, it can be argued, have provided an important basis for some of the simi-
larities and differences between the native peoples who inhabited the Central
American region during their long history (Carmack 1994a:21ff).

Highland Regional Features

The complex highland areas of Central America are demarcated by two long
mountain chains, the northern one being the most ancient and the southern
one the youngest in geological terms. The northern chain begins in the high-
lands of what is today Chiapas (Mexico) and continues as the Cuchumatans,
ending with the mountains of Alta Verapaz in present-day Guatemala. The
flat plains and mesas adjacent to this northern chain—such as in San Cris-
tóbal, Huehuetenango, Sacapulas, Polochic—are few in number and small in
area (Carmack 1994a:23ff).
The southern mountain chain is of volcanic origin, and it begins with the
Sierra Madre in present-day Chiapas, Mexico. It continues southward into the
highlands of Guatemala and the mountains of eastern Honduras and northern
Nicaragua. This mountain chain provides the context for numerous river
basins, valleys, and mesas, as found in Guatemala: Quetzaltenngo, Totoni-
capán, Atitlán, Quiché, Chimaltenango, and Guatemala City; and the basins
in Honduras: Sensenti, Otoro, Comayagua, and Catacamas. In present-day El
Salvador and Nicaragua, the main volcanic chain is located in a transeismic
depression. The basins and valleys there are low, as in such places as Chalch-
uapa, Zapotitlán, Ilopango, and San Salvador. Some depressions are occupied
by freshwater lakes, such as the Managua lake in present-day Nicaragua.
The El Salvador-Nicaragua zone is more properly part of the Pacific lowland
natural area.
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 9

Figure 1.2 Major natural areas of the Central American region. Image by Ryan Stone.

The major components of the highlands in the west are found in temper-
ate zones, although there is a small area of “cold lands” in Chiapas and
eastern Guatemala. In general, the highlands are subhumid zones with
margins of wet depressions and a few arid river valleys, such as in Gri-
jalva, Motagua, and Catacamas. In the western section of the highlands, a
dry season exists from December to April, while in the eastern section it
tends to rain during the entire year. The natural vegetation of the highlands
10 Chapter 1

consists largely of mountain forests, typically of Pines and Oaks. South

American neo-tropical animals have invaded these highlands, including
small numbers of mammals that include peccares, tapirs, spider monkeys,
jaguars, ant eaters, and armadillos. “Trogan” birds with brilliant feathers
also are found in the highlands, and they include the Quetzal bird. The few
North American mammals that have inhabited the Central American high-
lands include the white-tail deer, rabbits, squirrels, jaguars and cougars.
Deer and Peccaries might have been the only animals hunted and eaten in
large numbers during aboriginal times by the native peoples of the Central
American highlands.
Diverse but scarce minerals and other important natural resources sought
by the native Central Americans are found mainly in the western highlands.
Among these resources were metals (gold, silver, copper) in the mountains
of Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, and northern Nicaragua; obsidian, in the
mountains of central and eastern Guatemala; jade and serpentine, in the
northern mountain chain of eastern Guatemala; amber, in the highlands of
Chiapas; and volcanic rock, used for grinding tools found throughout the
volcanic chain to the south. Salt, a necessary element in the diet of all Central
American peoples, came mainly from hotlands, although there were a few
drainage systems from which salt could be extracted in the northern mountain
chain of Guatemala (as at Sacapulas).
The most fertile soils of Central America are found in the western high-
lands, especially in the interiors of great depressions, valleys, and mesas. Soil
fertility depended primarily on southern volcanic activity, where periodic
eruptions carried ash and volcanic material into the valleys and lowlands
below. Volcanic deposits varied in their capacity to improve soil fertility,
although generally their effects have been most beneficial in the southern
lowland zones of Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua (less so in
northern highland zones, such as Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, and in Honduras).
Even with the benefit of volcanic deposits, the fertility of soil deposits has
tended to be limited and subject to infiltration from time to time.
The main agricultural subsistence products obtained during the major peri-
ods of aboriginal Central American history were maize, beans, squash, chili,
and perhaps avocados. Maize was the most important of the cultivated crops
in the highlands, and could be planted for many consecutive years without
having to rest the soils (at least in fertile valleys and lowlands). However, for
the most part only a single annual harvest of maize was possible in such areas.
The predominantly subhumid conditions of the highlands did not require irri-
gation for the cultivation of maize, but irrigation was employed in a few arid
river valleys. Outside the lowlands, maize and other related cultigens were
cultivated by employing the method of “cut and burn” (roza).
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 11

Figure 1.3 Mountain highlands of Northern Central America (Totonicapán, Guatemala).

Photo by Robert Carmack.

Lowland Regional Features

The eastern coastal lowlands form part of the plains that extend from Vera-
cruz in Mexico all the way to South America (Carmack 1994a:26ff). A wide
northern zone includes the Tabasco and Petén lowlands, the Yucatan penin-
sula, the narrow coasts of the Gulf of Honduras in eastern Guatemala and in
a northern Honduras zone. This region is generally covered by dense tropical
forest, and is always green. Nevertheless, it is interrupted in certain places by
sand-based vegetation (as in eastern Tabasco, northern Yucatan, and southern
Petén). In many areas these coastal flatlands have been cut through by rivers
that flow down from the highlands, forming deltas and dikes. The rivers run
more slowly close to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, especially
in places such as Tabasco, Belize, and the coast of Honduras and Guatemala
along the Gulf of Honduras. The Petén zone is characterized by mountainous
formations of calcium rock, and by numerous lakes and swamps (akalches).
The Yucatan area has a flat surface of calcium deposits, under which inter-
nal currents create small lakes (cenotes) and caverns. Large extensions of
the northern coastal line contain “sand bars” that enclose lakes and swamps
formed by ocean waves, along with sand dunes and coastal reefs (the latter
are found especially to the west of Yucatan and the Belize coast).
The northern lowlands consist largely of hot lands. Temperatures remain
high during the entire year, and rains tend to be heavy. Most of this area is
12 Chapter 1

humid, and it rains during the entire year. Some areas, such as the Petén, have
a dry period, even though it may remain humid during two or three months of
the year. Northern Yucatan has a subhumid zone toward the east, and another
arid zone to the west.
The natural vegetation of the majority of the Central American lowlands
consists mainly of tropical forests. A dense coverage is formed by gigantic
caoba, ceibo, wild fig, and below them other smaller trees, including palms,
ramóns, rubber trees, and zapotes. The savannah areas are covered with grass
and pines. Fauna in these areas are largely neo-tropical, and the majority of
the resident mammals inhabit trees, including monkeys, sloths, zarigueyas,
squirrels, coatis, and kinkajou. Nevertheless, additional numerous land mam-
mals inhabit these areas, including tapirs, peccaris, deer, agutis, pacas, and
rabbits. The main predator animals are jaguars, ocelots, margays, and jagua-
rundis. Also inhabiting these areas are a great diversity of birds—some 500
species—many of which have brilliant feathers, such as the guacamayas, par-
rots, tucans, and quetzals. Also present are hunter birds, including tinamús,
cassarows, and chachalacas, as well as numerous migratory aquatic species.
Many varieties of poisonous snakes inhabit this tropical area, and other rep-
tiles such as iguanas and marine turtles (five species) found there have pro-
vided important sources of food for the native inhabitants. The coastal waters
of the northern lowlands—especially along the coasts of Tabasco, Yucatan,
and Belize—are rich in fish, such as mújols, mojarras, and soles, as well as
crabs, shrimps, oysters, and manatees.
The most exotic resources found by the native peoples in the northern low-
lands included incenses, narcotic plants, colored feathers, skins, hardwoods,
marine shells (Spondylus, Oliva, Marginella, Murex, Cardium), and corrals.
Scattered traces of gold have been found in the rivers and dikes along the Gulf
Coast of Honduras, while in the Petén and Yucatan are found solid chalk for-
mations that were easily cut into rectangular pieces and used for construction
as well as for the production of cement and stucco (used in constructing the
walls of buildings). Streaks of calcium and stone occur naturally in Yucatan
and were used to make tools. In addition, the Mayan mountains of Belize con-
tain volcanic stone from which grinding tools were made by the indigenous
inhabitants. Salt, it is important to note, was formed in many places all along
the eastern coastline in shallow lagoons, produced by both natural evapora-
tion and physical extraction from select sands.
The fertility of the soils varied greatly in the lowlands to the north. The
chalky soils of Yucatan, for example, were generally thin and relatively infer-
tile, while along the entire coastline the soils tended to be intensely eroded
and subject to infiltration. The most fertile soils are composed of alluvial
deposits formed by rivers that run from high volcanic lands, especially in
Tabasco, Belize, and the gulf coast of Guatemala and Honduras. Although
the Petén soils are relatively fertile, they have been subject to major erosion.
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 13

Maize, of course, has traditionally been the primary food product of the
lowlands in the northern part of Central America, while tubers and fruits of
many types were also basic components of that area’s subsistence resources.
The typical milpa of maize, beans, squash and chile was converted into a
complex garden through the cultivation of tubers such as yuccas, camotes,
jícamas, along with fruit trees yielding zapotes, mameys, papayas, anonas,
guanánabas, cocoyols, ramóns, and cacaos.
A slash-and-burn form of horticulture was widely employed in the entire
region during a major part of Central American history, and it typically ren-
dered two annual harvests. In the mountainous zones of Central America,
native peoples constructed terraces to prevent erosion, and along river deltas
they dug channels and elevated their cultivation fields. In contrast, in the
northern part of Yucatan, small fields were closed off by stone walls and were
apparently cultivated intensively during the final phase of the pre-Columbian
period. Also, large cacao fields flourished in the humid plains of present-day
Tabasco (Mexico) as well as along the gulf coast of Guatemala and Honduras.

Unique Isthmus Regional Features

The narrow southern territory—which is today part of Costa Rica and
Panama—formed a bridge that connects the northern part of Central America
with South America (Carmack 1994a:29ff). There are good reasons to con-
sider the isthmus region as a unique natural area. It has a zone of mountains
formed by the continuation of the volcanic wing in Central America, flanked
by Pacific and Atlantic lowlands that are structurally part of lowland areas
to the north and to the west. The natural feature most characteristic of the
isthmus area, of course, is its narrowness: it is less than 100–200 kilometers
wide in the widest part. Its highland zone consists of a narrow land strip
that represents a relatively small component of the isthmus. Except for the
Meseta Central of present-day Costa Rica, the basins within these highlands
are relatively small and low in elevation. Furthermore, the highlands are bro-
ken in many places, making possible relatively easy communication between
the two coasts (this explains why the Panama Canal was constructed in the
isthmus area). The coastal lowlands on both sides of the isthmus are more
mountainous than those just to the north, and in many places cliffs descend
directly into the sea. Coastal lines are highly irregular in this area, and they
include numerous peninsulas, gulfs, lagoons, falls, islands, and cliffs.
An additional distinctive natural feature of the isthmus region is its
predominantly humid hotlands, both in the mountainous areas and in the
lowlands along both coasts. Areas of the lowland zones on both the Carib-
bean and the Pacific sides are among the most humid in Central America. It
rains during the entire year in the central part of the isthmus, although in the
Meseta Central, Guanacaste, and the eastern Pacific coast of Azuero there
14 Chapter 1

is a dry period associated with subhumid conditions. Natural vegetation is

found throughout the isthmus, and it includes tropical forests. The relatively
few elevated zones in the area constitute the most important exception to
the dominant tropical forests. Two important savannah zones of the area are
Guanacaste in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, and an interior zone in
Panama that extends to the west of the modern Canal Zone and to the north
of the Azuero peninsula.
The isthmus area contains important natural and exotic resources that
through time have been of considerable interest to the Central American and
even Mesamerican and other surrounding peoples. Perhaps the most valued
of these resources in the past has been gold, which existed in substantive
deposits in the mountains of Guanacaste, Osa, and Chiriqui. The native peo-
ples of Costa Rica and Panama also extracted gold from the many rivers that
flow from the central mountains toward both coasts. Other isthmus resources
typical of these lowland areas include hardwoods, tropical skins, plumages,
and marine shells (including the Murex shell from which in pre-Hispanic
times a purple dye was extracted). Other important resources of the isthmus
have included salt, cacao, cotton, medicinal plants, and certain narcotic plants
(including a cacao species).
Overall, soils of the isthmus tend to be relatively infertile, and they are heav-
ily eroded and subject to infiltration. The most productive soils are located
in areas where volcanic activity has enriched them, as in the Meseta Central,
Valle del General, and Interior Depression of the region. Belts of more fertile
alluvial lands can also found along both the Pacific and Caribbean lowlands.

Figure 1.4 Western entrance to the Panama Canal, with its hills and mountains to the
East. Photo by Robert Carmack.
 The Spaniards Discover Aboriginal Central America 15

Isthmus fauna is more neo-tropical than the more northwestern regions, and
they include animals of South American origin (such as marmosets) that are
not found in more northern Central American regions. Marine fauna of all
types inhabit the shore lines along both coasts, and they include important
food sources such as lobsters, turtles, and shrimps.
Maize and beans, along with calabash and chile, were the primary subsis-
tence foods of the isthmus during its final phases of aboriginal history. Nev-
ertheless, tubercles (yucca, camote, batata) and fruits (pineapples, zapotes,
papayas) have been important fruits of the highly varied cultivation practiced
by both the aboriginal and modern peoples residing in the isthmus area.
Pejibaye was an additional essential food grown in the area, which—as with
many of the other cultigens—was eaten and also prepared as a fermented
drink. The method of burning crop lands (roza) was employed universally in
this southernmost Central American area, especially along the eastern coastal
lowlands from the Caribe de Matina down to Veragua. Fishing and hunting
have been important subsistence activities carried out by both ancient and
modern peoples there.
 Chapter 2

Native Peoples of the Three

Major Pre-Hispanic Central
American Sociocultural Regions

In order to expand on the account of Central American geography and

resources, it will be useful to view Central America as having long been
divided into three major sociocultural zones or regions: northern, central, and
southern (see Carmack 1994:284ff, along with additional bibliographic refer-
ences in that book). One of the goals here is to determine to what extent the
aboriginal peoples of these three proposed subregions shared historical pat-
terns, the types and degrees of regional interactions that took place between
them at the time of Spanish contact, and the extent to which Central America
as a whole would later be transformed into a coherent, sociopolitical world.
I have been especially interested in determining the extent to which these
regional interaction spheres influenced (1) social developments during the
pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern periods; (2) the historical legacies cre-
ated by the indigenous peoples who had long resided in these three regions;
and (3) the long-term implications of this legacy for the present-day native
peoples, based on the fact that they have long been a New World people in
crisis (Carmack 1994a:283).

THE NORTHERN REGION

It was in the Mexican-influenced northern region of Central America that

native “states,” especially Mayan, first emerged, and this led to increased
settlement pattern complexity, larger central places, and major concentra-
tions of more powerful political and economic indigenous societies. These
developments were influenced by the transfer to the region of such Meso-
american features as monumental public architecture, elite artistic expres-
sions, powerful rulers, and general regional sociocultural complexity. Most of

17
18 Chapter 2

these features were manifested mainly in the Mayan states located in Central
America’s northern region, especially during the Classic period in the high-
lands of Guatemala and the northern lowland area of Yucatan. In both areas
of this northern Central American region, Mayan architecture was massive,
art highly politicized, and hieroglyphic texts widely produced and distributed.
Of the many subsistence patterns created in Central America, the most inten-
sive ones were in its northern region, and they included hydraulic agriculture
associated with water drainage, terracing, and other advanced agricultural
systems. These intensive developments played key roles in the emergence of
complex states in the northern region of Central America, although not all the
states there engaged equally in such highly advanced practices. In addition to
powerful influence from Mexico, agricultural advances were also directly tied
to environmental conditions and major population increases. The historic role
of interregional Mexican communication networks was a further important
factor that influenced Mayan advances in northern Central America, espe-
cially when compared with other regional areas of Central America where
such Mexican or Mesoamerican influence was much weaker.
Diverse spheres of cultural interaction took place in the Mesoamerican-
influenced northern region of Central America, although there also existed
lesser spheres of cultural interaction within the middle and southern regions.
Nevertheless, the level of cultural integration achieved in these two less-
developed regions was not comparable to that of the complex Mayas resid-
ing in the northern Central American region. Clearly, the lower central and
southern regions of Central America received less Mexican influence, as
revealed by their relatively small community centers, reduced socioeconomic
complexity, political decentralization, weak interchanges between subareas,
and general regional variability. It is noteworthy that the peoples residing in
the central region suffered a period of cultural disintegration at the same time
that many of the complex Mayan societies in the northern region had col-
lapsed. Meanwhile, in middle and lower regions, new political arrangements,
cultural emphases, and population movements were taking place during that
same period.
In contrast with the expanded developmental trajectory of the northern
region—and to a lesser extent of the central region as well—developments in
the southernmost Central American region appear to have involved distinct
forms of sociocultural process, most notably related to the creation of chief-
doms rather than state societies. A contrast emerged between the external
relations that existed between the northern and the southern regions; that is
to say, the indigenous people to the north remained strongly affiliated with
greater Mesoamerica in Mexico, while to the south the native peoples may
have increased their ties with other peoples of not only Central America but
also South America.
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 19

THE MIDDLE REGION

The nature of the indigenous social institutions and material cultures in the
middle region was undeniably affected by developments in the Mexican-
influenced societies to their north, beginning around 1000 BCE (Carmack
1994a:286ff). In fact, the geographic extension of the middle region was
essentially a manifestation of recognizable Mexican (“Mesoamerican”) influ-
ence. Nevertheless, the principal events and tendencies of the native peoples
in the central region diverged significantly from those to the north, and even
more so from those further south. Occasionally, relationships of considerable
intensity emerged between the inhabitants of the central region and the native
peoples of Mexico and the northern Central American region. Apparently,
this was the result of southward migrations by native Mexican peoples—
such as speakers of Nahua, Pipil, and Chorotega languages—into the middle
region.
One result of the early changing relationships between the middle and
northern regions was a flowering of Mayan peoples in such sites as Kami-
naljuyu in eastern Guatemala, and Copan in eastern Yucatan. Contemporary
developments in the middle region were characterized by the proliferation
of small but well-organized political centers with dense populations that
oscillated between 5,000 and 15,000 residents. Some of these increasingly
complex societies of the middle region may have achieved incipient state-
hood based on sociopolitical models from Mexico and the Mayas of northern
Central America.
Regional contacts have also been seen as a key factor in the emergence of
the middle region’s increasingly complex societies. In effect, interregional
dependence appears to have been so important that the later collapse of the
Classic lowland Mayan societies of Yucatan apparently precipitated major
changes in middle Central American societies where native peoples there had
maintained contacts with the Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico and Central
America’s northern region.
Later, from around the year 800 CE onward, Mexican influence in the
middle region was closely associated with migratory movements from the
north that usually followed well-known ancient routes of communication
between Mexico and Central America. For example, migrants from the north
penetrated what is now western Honduras, as well as present-day El Salvador
and the Pacific coast of modern Nicaragua down to the Nicoya peninsula
(Nicoya is now a northeastern territory of Costa Rica). Other late population
displacements occurred along the eastern Caribbean Coast—including the
humid tropical forests of Honduras—areas previously occupied by societies
with strong ties to the Central American middle region and even to South
American peoples farther to the south.
20 Chapter 2

At the dawn of the sixteenth century, both the northern and middle regions
of Central America were populated by diverse Mesoamerican-oriented
peoples who maintained a delicate balance with their respective neighbors
to the north and south. This process occurred despite the fact that many
of the Mexican-influenced peoples were also at war with each other from
time to time. Because most middle regional peoples were concentrated near
productive agricultural lands, eventually they would be strongly affected by
subsequent Spanish invasions. It is likely that the middle regional peoples
most affected by the unexpected Spanish invaders were located in somewhat
isolated valleys along the Atlantic coast of present-day Honduras, and later
along the Pacific coast of present-day Nicaragua. Their post-conquest recu-
peration everywhere would be slow, and as a result indigenous life in the
middle region experienced profound changes.

THE LOWER REGION

The indigenous peoples of the southernmost Central American region were

largely affected by endogenous forces that included influence by peoples
from both Central America to the north and lower South America (Carmack
1994a:289ff). The frontier between Central America’s southernmost region and
South America’s northernmost zone marked the beginning of ethnic groups
manifesting characteristics significantly different from those of Central Amer-
ica’s Mexican-influenced northern and middle regional peoples. Nevertheless,
we should not ignore the important interactions that took place between the
diverse Mexican and Central American peoples from north to south throughout
their ancient history. These relationships can be understood as resulting from (1)
continuous—if indirect participation—in spheres of interaction with Mexico,
as indicated by certain “northern” features found even at archaeological sites
in the southern region of Central America (especially during the first centuries
CE); and (2) the migrations and intrusions on a fairly large scale of peoples into
the southern region, most notably by small groups of northern Mexican peoples
during the final centuries of Central America’s indigenous history.
The major interactions between the peoples of Mexico and northern
Central American with peoples in the middle and later southern Central
American regions, largely took place at a time when these three regions had
become developmentally differentiated. For example, Central America’s
southern region also retained ties with northern South America; relationships
between Central America’s southern regional peoples and northern regional
Central Americans were largely forced, and as a result were characterized by
migrations and usurpations initiated largely from the northeast. As the com-
plex social and cultural features of the Mexican-influenced northern region
increased, the peoples of both the middle and southern regions attempted
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 21

to develop and consolidate their territories, and thus became more clearly
defined as regions composed of diverse sociocultural entities. Neverthe-
less, the southernmost peoples retained many South American sociocultural
characteristics, and this continued to differentiate them from their Mexican-
influenced Central American neighbors to the north.
Agriculture in the southern region of Central America must have been
intensified through time, and its peoples—including the Chibchans—retained
characteristics that differed from the more Mexican-influenced native peoples
of the middle and especially the northern regions. Nevertheless, economic
developments throughout Central America depended on products derived
from the diverse regions—including from the north—as well as on the
gradual adaptation of new plants (above all maize) to the distinct climatic
conditions of the diverse Central American regions.
A few peoples in the southern region developed more “complex societies,”
although generally they remained significantly less complex and powerful
than the diverse chiefdoms and states to their north. These developmental dif-
ferences can be understood as largely the result of endogenous South Ameri-
can influence that included a series of ancestral features that helped mold the
southern region’s unique ethnic and diverse sociocultural characteristics. The
emergence of chiefdoms in the southern region of Central America should
be understood not only in terms of their economic, political, and technologi-
cal complexity—or differences with respect to state versus nonstate political
organizations—but first and foremost as responses to historical circumstances
derived from the diverse social and natural conditions that existed in both the
northern and southern regions of Central America.
Finally, it must be emphasized that the Mexican and other Central Ameri-
can indigenous peoples at the time of Spanish contact formed of a mosaic
of ethnic groups engaged in complex social exchanges and relationships. In
some highly Mexican-influenced areas, their peoples formed “state” societ-
ies, whereas most lower Central American native peoples were organized as
“chiefdoms” or even “tribes.” Geographic closeness permitted considerable
interaction and exchange between the diverse peoples of the three Central
American regions, and despite the sociocultural differences between the
peoples occupying these regions, their interactions never completely altered
the above-mentioned processes of internal sociocultural development.

HISTORICAL SUMMARIES OF THE THREE

CENTRAL AMERICAN REGIONS

Many native Central Americans possessed elements of a true Mexican

“Mesoamerican historical conscience,” as well as knowledge about calendric
and graphic writing systems. For such peoples, their traditional histories
22 Chapter 2

extended deep into the past, and despite the tendency to focus on local issues
they manifested a surprising knowledge of peoples and places in the expan-
sive Mesoamerican world to the north in what are now Mexico and northern
Central America, as well as those in the middle and southern regions of
aboriginal Central America (for more details on the account to follow, see
Carmack 1994a:32ff, 341ff).

Pre-Hispanic Peoples
The Mexican (“Mesoamerican”)-influenced Mayas of the northern Central
American region were largely concentrated in Yucatan and Guatemala. In
Yucatan, fragments of their historical traditions have been preserved in the
form of hieroglyphic texts written on stone, wood, ceramics, and animal
skins. Modern progress in the translation of the Mayan glyphs—which are
predominantly “logographic,” along with important phonetic elements—have
made it possible to translate certain Mayan histories from Yucatan recorded
as early as 900 BCE. Much of ancient Yucatecan Mayan history is concerned
with political issues: dynastic successions, wars between rival kingdoms,
matrimonial alliances, etc. Their histories were lineal, organized according
to absolute dates, and employed historical contexts that were both local and
regional. Such accounts often were designed to legitimize the authority of
particular governments. However, the Yucatecan Mayas also created cyclical
histories designed to correspond with the cosmic order. Furthermore, lineal
Mayan history was always subject to the demands of a calendrical view of
time.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, the Mayas of Yucatan were no longer
engraving their histories in stone, but instead were painting them in codexes
(made of bark, cotton cloth, and deer skins). Of the likely hundreds and per-
haps thousands of Mayan codexes produced, apparently only a handful sur-
vived into modern times. A few codexes and oral traditions were transcribed
into the Yucatecan Mayan language, employing Latin characters taught to
the Mayas by Spanish missionaries (Vail and Cabezas Carcache 2013). The
histories transcribed in these sources reveal a preoccupation with political
matters, with references to events that occurred in regional contexts (such as
long-distance commerce throughout the length of the Caribbean coast). The
chronology associated with such histories took the form of cyclical units of
ca. 256 years each (i.e., the Mayan “Katun”). The time spans of these histo-
ries were relatively short, usually of around 200 years, although some histori-
cal traditions extended back in time to the founding of Chichen Itza by Toltec
warriors some 500 years or more in the past.
The early Mesoamerican Mayas of the Guatemalan (and Chiapas) high-
lands left few glyphic writings, and as a result we know relatively little
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 23

about their earliest historical traditions. Nevertheless, at the time of Span-

ish contact, Mayan peoples such as the Tzotziles, Tzendales, K’iche’s, and
Kaqchikeles of present-day Guatemala possessed Mesoamerican codexes
that contained relatively long histories. Unfortunately, none of these original
documents have survived, even though some of them were seen by the first
Spanish missionaries. Nevertheless, under Spanish tutors Mayan scribes
reproduced a few Guatemalan native chronicles, transcribing their historical
traditions employing Latin characters.
The Popol Wuj chronicle, recorded in the K’iche’ language, was translated
into Spanish by an eighteenth-century Spanish priest, Francisco Ximénez
(Jiménez) residing in Santo Tomás Chuilá (Chichicastenango). It is the best
known example among more than fifty documents of this general type that
have been preserved in what is today Guatemala (Robert Carmack, Teresa
Carranza, and James Mondloch have translated and commented on a new
version of the original Popol Wuj document, to be published by the Uni-
versidad Mesoamericana in Guatemala). Diverse Mayan documents reveal
well-developed Mesoamerican-type histories, replete with creation myths,
legendary connections with the Mexican Toltecs, dynastic struggles, and
military conquests (see the case study of K’iche’-Mayan history and culture
summarized in chapter 5). Chronologies in diverse Mayan documents tend to
be brief, and the earliest historical events apparently referred to the forma-
tion of dynastic lines by Mexican-influenced lords around the time of the
Toltec empire’s collapse in central Mexico (thirteenth century). The Mayas of
Yucatan also recorded numerous early hieroglyphic chronicles that contained
cyclic versions of history. In general, Guatemalan Mayan historical traditions
were more lineal and less ritualized than their Yucatecan counterparts.
To the south of the K’iche’-Mayas were located other peoples of Mexican
origin. For example, they included the Pipils who resided in what is today
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. The Pipils also produced written
histories, which were mentioned later by the Spanish invaders, and at least
four of them survived into the seventeenth century. The Pipil writing system
was largely pictographic, and a Mesoamerican-type chronology apparently
recorded cycles of fifty-two years each. The contents of the Pipil histories
were focused even more on politics than those of the Mayas to their north,
the most important events being the founding of kingdoms, the conquest of
rival peoples, and the imposition of tribute payments.
The Pipil historical traditions encountered in what is today Nicaragua
included (1) a detailed account of their having been subjected to severe treat-
ment imposed on them by the Olmecs (ancient Mesoamerican peoples who
later became rivals of the Toltecs in central and southeastern Mexico); (2)
references to subsequent Pipil migrations southward into present-day Nicara-
gua; and (3) military struggles that allowed the Pipils to subjugate the local
24 Chapter 2

native peoples of the area. Contrary to what some scholars have suggested,
the Pipil migrations to Central America, as well as migrations by the Choro-
tegans and even the Aztecs—along with other related Mesoamerican political
events—probably covered a span of some 300 to 400 years.
It is likely that additional Mesoamerican-influenced Central American
peoples also possessed recorded histories that have been lost. This was surely
the case for the Chorotegas who resided in the Central American region that
later became known as Nicaragua (see the discussion of the Nicaraguans in
chapter 6). According to the Spaniards, these Mesoamerican peoples also
possessed codices. Other Mayan and Aztec Mesoamerican colonies were
established along the entire Caribbean coastline from Yucatan to Panama.
It is likely that they possessed writing in their own scriptural forms that
recorded political histories and commercial matters. The Lenca peoples who
resided in what is now Honduras employed a calendrical system similar to
that of the Mayas and other Mesoamerican peoples, although we lack direct
evidence that they inscribed or registered their own histories.
We have relatively little information on the historical traditions of other
Central American native peoples, especially those in the southernmost region,
no doubt due to the absence among them of writing systems. The Spaniards
who first visited the native peoples in this southern region—especially in
present-day Costa Rica and Panama—specifically indicated that the native
peoples there did not possess any form of writing. In fact, these natives were
so unfamiliar with writing that they associated the Spanish script with danger
and magical power. The genealogies of the governing families in the area
were preserved by drying the bodies of former chiefs and placing them in
a file of niches next to their predecessors, all of them located alongside the
residences of the governing families. The histories of former chiefs—whose
bodies were lost for having died far from their community centers—were
memorialized by their sons, thereby maintaining accurate political gene-
alogies. The chief’s relatives and their major accomplishments were also
recorded in songs promoted by religious leaders, which were sung in great
reunions of people who swayed forward and backward in the form of a dance.
References to the history of chiefdoms residing to the south of the Mayas
largely came from oral traditions. Belief in a mythical past was a major part
of these traditions, which were basically of a political nature. That is to say,
their histories consisted primarily of genealogies associated with the govern-
ing lineages. This form of history must have been narrow and highly focused
on specific chiefdoms and would have covered only brief time periods. How-
ever, as the Spaniards were to learn at the time of contact with these Central
American native peoples, their local traditions made references to numerous
political events, including wars against neighboring peoples. The most dra-
matic events of the recent past were remembered, for example, by the natives
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 25

of the Azuero peninsula, in what is today Panama. They described to the

Spaniards how their territory had been invaded two years earlier by powerful
militants from the central Nicaraguan region who had arrived by sea. The
invaders became ill, were easily defeated, and then were massacred by the
native peoples of the local communities.
Most of the aboriginal tribal peoples lacked powerful chiefs, and their
historical traditions must have been narrowly focused on issues such as the
establishment of lineage and other kinship relationships. Indeed, the Span-
iards were able to record very little information from tribal peoples relative
to their present and past histories. Modern studies on the descendants of such
native peoples suggest that their historical traditions primarily consisted of
myths that explained their relationships with sacred forces such as the sun,
moon, and lightning.
In summary, the majority of the Central American peoples maintained
traditions that explained the origin and development of their sociopolitical
systems in both magical and more secular terms. Such traditions were clearly
designed to establish the legitimacy of elite rulers. Mexican-influenced
peoples such as the Mayas, Pipils, and select Chibchans, developed systems
of writing, thus tracing the beginnings of their political systems—in some
cases back to centuries in the past—largely as the result of influence from
the Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayas, and other powerful Mesoamerican peoples in
what are today Mexico as well as northern and middle Central America. As
noted above, the more complex Mesoamerican-influenced peoples of Cen-
tral America possessed writing systems and were able to develop expanded
regional perspectives. They registered not only the origins of each political
system, but also the changes in relationships between the diverse peoples of
each region. The concept of a unified “Central American” identity, however,
was not an element of their diverse historical traditions (Table 2.1).

COLONIAL PEOPLES

The Spaniards who conquered and colonized the native peoples of Central
America, beginning in the fifteenth century, manifested a strong interest in
the natives’ histories (Carmack 1994a:36ff; see other relevant bibliographic
references in this valuable source). In part, their historical interests were
driven by Renaissance concepts circulating in Europe during that time
period. The Europeans were demanding a methodical study of all things of
the universe, from the history and customs of exotic peoples, to the plants,
animals, and resources found in the diverse continents. Nevertheless, to a
great extent their interest in native histories was based on practical matters,
such as understanding the native peoples’ languages in order to subdue them
26 Chapter 2

Table 2.1 Pre-Hispanic Historical Developments in the Three Central American

Regions
Northern Region
ca. 5,000 BCE First indication of plant domestication
ca. 1000–500 BCE Sedentary villages become large population centers
ca. 250 BCE Rise and growth of complex societies and political centers
ca. 500 CE Rise of the first Mayan states
ca.1000 CE Collapse of Mayan states in the southern lowlands
ca. 1200 CE Fall of Chichen Itza and rise of a new social order
Central or Middle Region
ca. 500 BCE Rise and development of complex agricultural societies
ca. 0 BCE/CE Extensive regional interchanges
ca. 500 CE Proliferation of small but well-organized political units
ca. 1200 CE Large migrations and intrusions from the northwest beginning
with the Chorotegas after 800
Southern Region
ca. 12,000–8,000 First evidence of human activity in Central America; hunting
BCE and gathering humans of the late glacial period in Central
America
ca. 1000 BCE Agricultural societies; introduction of cultigens from outside the
region
ca. 250 CE Beginning of chiefly societies; continuation of social and
economic integration with the northern and central peoples
of Central America; balkanization of the societies
ca. 600 CE Consolidation of chiefdom societies; appearance of metallurgy
(Costa Rica, Panama, and north of Columbia)
1550 CE Apogee of the chiefdom societies, formation and then
breakdown of lordships; maintenance of metallurgical
technology
Source: Carmack 1994:285.

and thereby administer over and exploit them more effectively. As a result,
colonial accounts of the Mesoamerican and Central American peoples tend to
be more political than truly historical.
While the Spaniards attempted to record aboriginal histories of the
Mexican-influenced and diverse other Central Americans peoples, they did
so largely by adopting a complex combination of enlightened curiosity and
colonial goals. Such goals influenced their interpretations of native history,
which they linked to the more universal histories of the Old World. For the
majority of Spaniards this meant diminishing the importance of indigenous
developments, thereby emphasizing the imperfections of the native peoples
and consequently their inferiority relative to Spanish sociocultural develop-
ments. Some Spaniards—especially the priestly missionaries—manifested
greater flexibility in reconstructing Native American history, with the belief
that it might correspond to some degree with religious traditions similar to
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 27

those of “universal Christianity.” The latter point of view, humanistic in

form, resulted in colonial histories that were relatively complete and even
profound with respect to the Mexican-influenced Central American native
peoples.
Spanish chroniclers such as Pedro Martir de Anglería, Gonzalo Fernán-
dez de Oviedo y Valdés, Francisco López de Gómara, Antonio de Herrera
y Tordesillas (for references to these sources, see the bibliography) wrote
about native history from the point of view of colonizers, and therefore
they assumed the clear superiority of Spanish history and culture over the
indigenous equivalents. Thus, for most Spaniards, Mesoamerican and Cen-
tral American history began with the conquest, a form of domination that
was generally justified because of the natives’ “barbarian” customs (such as
human sacrifice).
The major contributions by early Spanish chroniclers to the history of the
Central American native peoples largely consisted of ethnographic accounts
on the diverse communities in the region. Gonzalo Oviedo (1959), who for
many years resided in the southern zone of Central America, was exceptional
in this regard. Despite considering the native peoples there to be inferior
to the Spaniards, and their pre-Hispanic history to lack transcendentalism,
Oviedo made many useful observations on the native peoples he encountered.
He assiduously recorded information provided by diverse native peoples
throughout Mexico, Central America, and even South America. His descrip-
tion of the Nicaraguan communities, for example, was based in part on ques-
tions asked of the local natives by a Spanish Mercedarian priest (Francisco de
Bobadilla). He also obtained information from native Panamanians, and his
accounts are of special importance for the light they shed on Central Ameri-
can native and later colonial life.
The Spanish missionaries, in their desire to demonstrate the universal reli-
gious nature of the Mexican and Central American native peoples, in some
cases produced historical works worthy of mention. The most important of
these religious men, perhaps, was the Dominican Fray Bartolomé de Las
Casas (1909). This “defender of the Indians” resided for more than forty
years in the New World and traveled the entire length of Central America.
He was interested in every aspect of native life, inspired by his belief that
these peoples were rational beings and therefore worthy of freely receiving
the Gospel even in their “natural” state.
Las Casas correctly traced the origin of the K’iche’-Mayan kingdom
back to Mexico and argued that this group’s descriptions of the creation and
great flood paralleled events in the Old World. Accordingly, he believed
that ultimately they must have derived at least some of their beliefs from
Biblical traditions. He described the customs of native peoples in Mexico,
Guatemala, Yucatan, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, as well as diverse
28 Chapter 2

peoples in South America. Las Casas argued that from Guatemala to Nica-
ragua the native peoples shared customs with those of Mexico, and that this
distinguished them from the native peoples of adjacent areas. He further
maintained that their customs were highly developed—for example, they had
monarchies, books, laws, commerce—and were comparable to Old World
peoples such as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Las Casas also
paid special attention to the customs of non-Mesoamerican communities to
the south of Nicaragua, especially those in Panama where he claimed the
towns did not differ much one from another. Las Casas was not able to recon-
struct a historical line that would link the Central American communities into
a common cultural unity, but he detected regional cultural ties within the area
that had been almost completely ignored by other colonial historians.
Fray Franciscano Diego de Landa (1959) also contributed in a significant
way to the understanding of the native Mayas of northern Central America.
He lived among the Yucatecan Mayas for thirty years, and in 1572 was
ordained bishop of the region. Unlike Las Casas, de Landa believed that,
if necessary, the natives should be forced to adopt Christianity, and he was
responsible for torturing and finally causing the death of those Mayas who
dared to reject the designated Christian pathway. Despite de Landa’s cruel
treatment of the Yucatecan Mayas, he described their customs with unusual
brilliance and detail.
Based on de Landa’s observations, and the information that the Yucatecan
Mayas shared with him, he was able to produce a highly original and compre-
hensive account of the Mayas’ economics, politics, religion, and kinship ties.
In an important ethnographic account, he also described Mayan numerical,
calendrical, and writing systems. Furthermore, he wrote about the origins of
the diverse Yucatecan Mayan communities, defining a historical dimension
among them that was more comprehensive than any of his contemporaries.
His accounts based on native codices, as well as information derived directly
from native Mayan peoples—including their oral traditions—allowed de
Landa to reconstruct the founding and later the destruction by the Nahua-
Mexican peoples of Chichen Itza and later of Mayapan. He also described
major political events in Yucatan and surrounding areas during the final cen-
tury prior to the Spanish conquest.
De Landa was also profoundly interested in the abundant archaeological
remains found throughout Yucatan. He described in greater detail than any
other Spaniard of the sixteenth century archaeological sites in the region, and
he understood that some of the Mayan sites had not been inhabited for many
years. Furthermore, he accompanied his descriptions of the Chichen Itza and
Mayapan sites with drawings of their principal structures.
Spanish interest in the native history of Mexico and especially of Cen-
tral America, declined as the Guatemalan colonial state became firmly
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 29

established, and as a result most of the “Indians” fell under more strict Span-
ish control. Yet the Spanish chroniclers continued to record information on
the natives of Mexico and Central America, and some of them—such as
Torquemada, Remesal, Vazquez, and Sotomayor—added new information on
aboriginal native history, especially with respect to the Mayas of Guatemala
and Yucatan (i.e., the northern region). Later, renewed interest in native his-
tory by creole Spaniards began to perceive such history as a potential means
for promoting their own ecclesiastical and political objectives in both Mexico
and Central America. Examples of such creole historians include Diego Sán-
chez de Aguilar and especially Fray Francisco Ximénez (Jimenez). Jimenez
rediscovered the Popol Wuj manuscript in Guatemala, and he recorded
numerous ancient K’iche’-Mayan customs that had persisted among the
native Mayan peoples under Spanish rule into the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.
The most important creole historian on the Mesoamerican Mayas of Gua-
temala was, perhaps, Francisco Antonio Fuentes y Guzmán (1932, 1933),
the great-grandson of the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo.
Fuentes y Guzmán served as alcalde mayor in Guatemala and El Salvador,
and sought to be appointed cronista of the Guatemalan colony. He was pro-
foundly interested in the region’s native history, especially that of the Mayas
in the highlands and the Pipils in the Pacific coastal lowlands. Apparently, he
was motivated, at least in part, by his desire to glorify his Guatemalan patria.
While preparing extensive accounts on the Mesoamerican Mayan native
peoples, he drew upon early Spanish histories, as well as on a series of native
K’iche’ chronicles, along with the above-mentioned four Pipil documents
that have since disappeared. Despite the fact that he employed an imperfect
form of analysis of these sources, his three volumes have added valuable
information on the history of the diverse Mesoamerican Mayas and Pipils of
Guatemala.
Fuentes y Guzmán also manifested a marked interest in the archaeological
remains within the highlands of Guatemala. He visited sites such as Utatlán,
Iximché, Zaculew, and described events that had taken place in these centers
during pre-Hispanic times. He also included drawings of these and other sites,
some of which were solicited by interested colonial authorities. His draw-
ings have proven to be more accurate than might be expected from a creole
chronicler of the seventeenth century.
In summary, colonial histories of the Central American native peoples
were, in general, highly political and designed either to demonstrate the
greatness of the Spanish conquest (those by the chroniclers) or the connec-
tions between the Mayas and Biblical history (those by the missionaries).
Very little attention was given to the traditions of less-developed peoples
residing in the central and southern Central American regions, no doubt
30 Chapter 2

because they were quickly disappearing and also because they had become
too rebellious to be subjected to Spanish control. Nevertheless, progress was
being achieved by men like Fuentes y Guzmán to save native documents and
reconstruct the dynastic histories and customs of the Mesoamerican Mayan
native peoples.
Nevertheless, the study of the archaeological remains was relatively
limited and unsystematic. Furthermore, Spanish historians demonstrated little
comprehension of the diverse native cultural patterns, with the notable excep-
tion of Las Casas and de Landa. Already at mid-sixteenth century, Las Casas
had recognized the common identity of the native Mexican peoples in what
today are the states of Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras,
and Nicaragua, as well as the cultural similarities between the diverse native
peoples of Costa Rica and Panama in the southern region.

MODERN CENTRAL AMERICAN PEOPLES

The nineteenth century brought dramatic changes in the ways that scholars
approached the history of modern aboriginal Central America. In particular,
religious concerns were being replaced by scientific inquiry. Positivist per-
spectives gradually overtook the highly political and religious interpretations
made by most colonial writers. For the first time it became possible to see the
origins and development of the Central American peoples separately from
ancient Biblical traditions. Nevertheless, such changes in orientation came
slowly, and in the beginning they took the form of applying more secular and
systematic approaches to the indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of the
Mexican and Central American areas. The predecessors to the authors who
would produce truly modern histories of the Mexican and Central American
indigenes were men such as John Lloyd Stephens, Francisco de Paula García
Peláez, Charles Etiene Brasseur de Bourbourg, and Ephraim George Squier,
among many others.
The North American lawyer John Stephens (1941) is of special importance
among these modern predecessors. He traveled throughout Central America
between 1839 and 1841, and his artist colleague, Frederick Catherwood, pro-
duced systematic drawings and maps of the majority of the most important
archaeological sites in the Mayan region of Central America. They were able
to provide information on architectural styles, settlement patterns, religious
symbols, calendars, and systems of hieroglyphic writing. Stephens errone-
ously concluded that most of the ruins dated from the period of Spanish
contact, which motivated him to observe and transcribe many of the tradi-
tional customs still found in the native communities (such as offering rituals
inside caves).
 Three Major Pre-Hispanic Central American Sociocultural Regions 31

Perhaps the most controversial of the modern precursor scholars was the
priest and studious Frenchman Brasseur de Bourbourg (1857), who obtained
copies of many important Mayan documents in Guatemala. He was extremely
erudite, and probably had access to more documents and archaeological sites
relevant to aboriginal Mayan history in Guatemala than any other person at
that time. Unfortunately, his interpretations of aboriginal Mesoamerican and
Central American history tended to be inexact, and in some cases highly fan-
tasized. It would not be until the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
century that historians of aboriginal Mexican and Central American history
finally would achieve an orientation that was truly modern.
An important harbinger of modern students who studied the Mesoameri-
can and Central American peoples was the Mexican scholar Paul Kirchoff
(1943). He offered an influential cultural history of pre-Hispanic natives in
Mexico and Central America. Kirchoff placed the Mayan peoples within the
cultural area known as Mesoamerica, along with defining other areas where
were located such native peoples as the Lencas, Pipils, Subtiabas, Nicaraos,
Chibchans, and Chorotegans of Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa
Rica. He referred to the cultural area in northern Central America not only
in terms of the languages spoken there, but also the presence of a long list of
complex sociocultural features: garden lakes (chinampas), cacao, bark paper,
swords with obsidian edges, stepped pyramids, writing, solar calendars,
rituals of human sacrifice, and long-distance commerce. The native peoples
located southeast of a line that extends from the Gulf of Honduras to the Gulf
of Nicoya were assigned to a special “Chibchan” culture area, because they
spoke similar languages and exhibited shared cultural characteristics. Nev-
ertheless, Kirchoff noted that there had been considerable contact between
the diverse cultural areas of the region, and therefore sociocultural traits had
flowed freely from one area to another, including from Mexico down to the
Central American Chibchan area.
Two major collections of modern histories on aboriginal South and Cen-
tral America were published in the important Handbook of South American
Indians (1948) and later the Handbook of Middle American Indians (1964).
In the South American volume, Central America is defined as a cultural
area that extended toward the south from the Lempa and Ulúa rivers to the
northeast limit of Colombia, South America. It is argued that the general
features of the Central American cultural area were established primarily in
South America, from where they extended northward alongside the migrat-
ing Chibchan-speaking peoples. In contrast, the Chorotegan, Maribian, and
speakers of the Nahua language who resided in the middle Central American
region were said to have migrated southward late in history from the Mexican
cultural area to the north. The primary groups that constituted the non-Mex-
ican cultural areas of Central America were said to include (1) the Chocoes,
32 Chapter 2

Cunas, and Guaymies of Panama; (2) the Talamancas, Huetares, Votos, and
Suerres of Costa Rica; (3) the Matagalpas and Lencas of highland Nicaragua
and Honduras; and (4) the Ramas, Miskitos, Sumus, Payas, and Jicaques of
eastern Nicaragua and Honduras.
Archaeological research in Central America, as summarized in the South
American Handbook, generally confirmed the limited information available
on the different areas based largely on ethno-geographic and historical infor-
mation. It was determined that a series of archaeological features—ceramic
types, stone statues, etc.—had originated along the Caribbean coast, while the
highlands of Honduras and Nicaragua were said to represent a basic Central
American culture dated to a period still undefined but prior to the Spanish
conquest. Many of the same traits were found to the north of South America,
and this supported the claim of a South American origin for at least some of
the native peoples and cultures of southern Central America. Still lacking in
the history of Central America as a whole was clear evidence of a prehistoric
occupation of the region, with the exception of human and bison footprints
located in volcanic zones of Nicaragua.
Important changes in the interpretation of Central American history are
evident in the later tome, Handbook of Middle American Indians, published
more than twenty years after the South American volume. In this new volume
the northern Mesoamerican culture area of Central America is divided into
three subregions: highland Mayan, lowland Mayan, and southern periphery.
Basic cultural themes are defined in order to describe the larger cultural area
of Mesoamerica and its Central American subregions. The themes include
(1) a fatalistic cosmology involving deities such as the Feathered Serpent and
Xipe Totec; (2) hieroglyphic writing and complex calendrical systems; (3)
human sacrifice, rubber-ball games and the Volador (“Flying”) ceremony;
and (4) complex markers and unique artistic styles, such as those created by
the Olmecs, Mayas, and other peoples.
Advances in archaeology have now made it possible to delineate the major
historical events in the Mexican and Central American subregions during
three defined periods (Carmack 1994a:44). Authors of the new Handbook
recognized that the southeastern periphery of Mexico’s Mesoamerica con-
stituted a subregion of Central America in which there was considerable
cultural exchange with native peoples in the other Central American regions.
Such exchanges occurred during defined Mesoamerican historical periods:
Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic. The cultural areas to the south of the
Mexican-influenced Mayas have been referred to as middle and lower (or
southern) Central America. Although these areas received influence from
South America, many of their cultural features were considered to be locally
based and of independent origins. Some cultural patterns in lower Central
America—especially certain ceramics and metals—were deemed to be the
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 LE NOZZE AL CASTELLO
SCENE FEUDALI

PARTE PRIMA.

Sei giorni se n’andò mattina e sera

Per balze e per pendici orride e strane.
Dove non via, dove sentier non era,
Dove nè segno di vestigia umane.
Ariosto.

La campana del solitario villaggio di Arola dava i primi segni

dell’Avemaria, ed il rimbombo di quei tocchi radi e prolungati
spandevasi come una patetica voce per la ristretta valle a cui quel
villaggio dà nome. Il cielo che da un lato erasi fatto d’azzurro bruno
mostravasi verso occidente del colore dell’oro; su tutte le cime
d’intorno e pei rialzi dei valloncelli vedevasi il fogliame imporporato,
e l’ultima luce trapassando pel varco de’ monti scendeva ben anco al
fondo della valle ove faceva apparire d’argento quei tratti di corrente
del limpido Plino che le rupi e le piante non celavano sotto la
nereggiante loro ombra.
Scendevano dal ripido sentiero che dall’erta metteva ai casolari le
contadinelle, mandando innanzi chi le capre, chi un branco di
pecore. Calavano drappelli di donne portando altre le gerla ed altre
elevati fardelli sul capo; veniva di quando in quando un vecchio
montanaro spingendo il somiero che mutava a fatica i passi sotto il
pesante carico delle legna o del fieno. Alcuni di questi entravano
negli abituri di Arola, varj passavan oltre, e procedendo verso
inferiori disperse capanne valicavano il torrente sopra un ponticello
là dove parte dell’acqua, artatamente divertita in altro canale,
correva poco lungi a far girare le ruote d’un mulino.
Era già deserta interamente quella via e null’altro rumore udivasi,
fuorchè quello che ad intervalli faceva la brezza vespertina tra le
frondi, quando alla sommità del sentiero apparve un Pellegrino. Lo
indicavano per tale il cappello a larghe falde circolari, la veste oscura
che tutto l’avvolgeva colla sovrapposta dalmatica sparsa di
conchiglie e il lungo bordone che portava. Camminava spedito, ma
al vedere il gruppo di casolari e l’acuto campanile colla chiesuola
formanti il paesetto d’Arola, di subito s’arrestò e poscia
abbandonando il viottolo calò lungo la balza e si condusse al
ponticello, lo passò, indi fermossi di nuovo ad esaminare il luogo
onde prendere più certa direzione.
Cominciava già più vasta a regnare l’oscurità, chè avanzavasi la
sera e meno rade scintillavano le stelle. Volgendo il Pellegrino gli
sguardi per entro la selva di cui toccava il limitare, scorse fra mezzo
ai tronchi degli alberi splendere un lume che sembrava trapellare da
finestra o porta di non lontana abitazione. Si mise pel bosco, il quale
constando di grossi castani poco stipati, offriva non disagevole
passaggio e s’avviò verso la casa d’onde partiva quel chiarore. Era
dessa il mulino. Dal lato della selva questo rustico edificio andava
cinto da un muricciuolo di pietre che sorgeva a trenta passi di
distanza dal caseggiato e inchiudeva un picciol orto, al quale faceva
parete verso il canale una siepe di bianco-spino. Al centro del
muricciuolo eravi praticato l’ingresso chiuso allora da rozzo cancello
di legno. Là pervenuto il Pellegrino accostossi al cancello e prima di
bussare, udendo dentro la casa parlare con voce molto alta, si
trattenne un momento in ascolto.
Abbenchè la ruota fosse arrestata, lo scroscio che faceva l’acqua,
cadendo per gli ordigni del mulino, non lasciava luogo ad udire
distintamente le parole. S’accorse però che chi parlava era un uomo
il quale doveva trovarsi seduto avanti ad un gran fuoco, poichè
scorgevasi l’ombra della metà superiore della sua figura disegnata
sull’impannata della finestra di prospetto e vedevansi le sue braccia
alzarsi e distendersi con energici e rapidi moti. Al lembo della stessa
impannata stava l’ombra d’un’altra mezza figura, ma questa
rappresentava un bel profilo femminile che si sarebbe giudicato
essere quello d’una statua, tanto era regolare ed immobile.
Dopo alcuni istanti il Pellegrino s’avvedendo essergli impossibile
comprendere sillaba di quanto veniva profferito, percosse col suo
bordone ripetutamente il cancello; nè sembrandogli d’essere stato
inteso pronunciò sonoramente — Date ricovero ad un povero
pellegrino! —
A quella voce cangiarono d’un tratto gli atteggiamenti delle due
figure projette in ombra sull’impannata; quella di profilo si fece ovale
e l’altra si mostrò di profilo inchinando il capo e alzando un dito. II
Pellegrino ripetè la sua inchiesta e allora spalancatasi la porta uscì
un uomo d’avanzata età, che dal casaccone infarinato indicavasi pel
mulinaro, tenendo la lanterna in una mano e un pezzo di
mazzafrusto nell’altra. S’appressò al cancello, sporse in avanti il
lume onde farlo riflettere sul viso dello sconosciuto e guardatolo ben
bene tutta raggrinzando la pelle intorno agli occhi ed alla bocca, con
che dava alla propria fisonomia una singolare espressione di
sospetto e di stizza. — Chi siete voi? — gli chiese in modo iroso.
«Vedete: sono un povero viandante che contava giungere prima di
sera giù alle sponde del lago per recarmi all’Isola di San Giulio e fui
sorpreso dalla notte in questa valle.
«Perchè non vi siete fermato là su ad Arola da mastro Seghezzo
l’ostiere?
«Perdonatemi, non ho pratica di questi luoghi ed avrò oltrepassata la
terra che m’indicate senza essermene accorto, poichè è già qualche
tempo che cammino alla cieca a causa dell’oscurità che mi ha fatto
perdere la traccia. Datemi di grazia ricovero per questa sola notte!
Un giorno sarete ricompensato largamente della vostra ospitalità.
Il mugnajo che gli aveva sempre tenuta la lanterna appuntata al
volto, l’abbassò; e mormorando fra sè alcune parole trasse
dall’imposta la spranghetta di ferro onde il cancello si aprì; entrato
l’estraneo, rifisse la bandella e lo precedette verso l’uscio ch’era
rimasto spalancato.
Nel mezzo d’una camera modicamente spaziosa, fornita di
contadinesche masserizie miste a tramoggie, stacci e sacchi, eravi
un rotondo focolare sul quale ardeva molta legna la cui fiamma
lambiva i margini d’ampio pajuolo; la catena che sostenevalo
scendeva dalle travi coperte di nera gromma e tappezzate qua e là
da qualche tela di ragno imbiancata dallo spolvero della macina. A
poca distanza del focolare stava seduto un villico alto, destro,
nerboruto, di ventott’anni all’apparenza e presso a lui una giovane
montanina di forme assai belle e appariscenti.
«Gli ho dovuto aprire, o Gaudenzo, perchè è un povero Pellegrino
che va a San Giulio ed ha smarrita la strada (così spegnendo la
lanterna disse il mugnajo al villico che balzando in piedi alla venuta
di quell’incognito gli fissò addosso gli occhi con sorpresa e
diffidenza). Nel bujo poteva capitare in un mal passo o precipitare da
qualche burrone. Mi ha chiesto per carità gli dessi alloggio questa
notte, e Bernardo non rifiutò mai di ricettare nel suo mulino un
viandante anche a rischio di vedere sotto il cappello da pellegrino la
testa d’un eretico o d’un bandito.
Lo Straniero a tali detti fece un moto sdegnoso, ma il Mugnaio nel
quale l’amaro di quelle espressioni non era suggerito dall’indole sua
naturalmente umana e fidata ma da un giro momentaneo di acri
idee, di cui il lettore conoscerà fra poco l’origine, quasi pentito
d’avere offeso quell’ospite nell’atto stesso che lo accoglieva,
soggiunse con viso accaparante in tuono gajo: — «Venite qui, qui
presso al fuoco, buon galantuomo, sedete. L’aria della sera è
frescolina ed umida, il calore vi ristorerà.
Il Pellegrino senza profferir parola appoggiò alla parete il suo
bordone e avanzata una panchetta di legno si sedette in prossimità
del focolare. Gaudenzo stando in piedi continuava ad esaminarlo
attentamente. Ma l’incognito non alzando mai lo sguardo egli alfine
gli domandò:
«Da qual parte venite o Pellegrino?
«Da Val d’Antrona.
«Sempre per le montagne?
«Sempre.
«La strada che avete scelta è la più lunga e disastrosa: venendo pel
piano dell’Ossola ad Omegna sul lago l’accorciavate della metà.
«Il piano e mal sicuro poichè vi sono a campo le masnade dei
Ponteschi [8], e d’altronde dovetti risalir l’Anza per toccare Calasca.
«Vi recate a San Giulio per isciogliere un voto o per ottenere favori
dalla Corte del Vescovo?
«Per un voto» — rispose esitando, ma con qualche asprezza lo
Straniero.
«Non foste a Varallo?
«No.
«E dalle parti della Sesia?
«No» — ripetè il Pellegrino con manifesto dispetto, indicando quanto
già fosse infastidito da quell’insistente interrogare.
Gaudenzo tornò a misurarlo coll’occhio da capo a piedi, poi mirando
in volto Bernardo e la sua figlia fece un atto come di chi dicesse:
costui non dev’essere quel che pare. Si riassise quindi sullo sgabello
che occupava da prima e voltosi di nuovo alla figlia del Mugnajo, il
quale s’era posto intanto a versar la farina nell’acqua del pajuolo che
bolliva. — «Torna a sederti qui o Maria (disse battendo col palmo
della mano la seggiola ove essa si pose mesta e taciturna), e dimmi
tu se quelle che ti ho raccontate non le sono cose da far uscire dai
gangheri qualsiasi cristiano? Quel... quasi sarei per dirlo... quel
nostro conte Jago da Biandrate vuol ora introdurre nel paese anche
di queste belle usanze! Non s’accontenta il signor feudatario di farci
pagare doppia gabella pel sale, d’avere imposto il balzello d’un soldo
d’argento per ogni ruota di carro e d’obbligare noi poveri vassalli a
lavorare per lui un giorno ogni settimana, quando la buona memoria
del conte Bonifacio suo padre non c’imponeva altro carico che quello
della decima del mosto e delle legna, egli vorrebbe adesso che tutti
quelli che contraggono matrimonio si sottoponessero a questa nuova
qualità di tributo.
Maria mandò un profondo sospiro e abbassò gli occhi al suolo;
Bernardo, che inginocchiatosi sulla pietra del focolare, andava col
matterello tramestando la polenta: — «Ah il conte Bonifazio,
esclamò, non avrebbe mai fatte azioni di questa sorta! Gran
brav’uomo ch’egli era! veniva soventi a cacciare in questa valle e
qualche volta ho prestato ajuto io stesso al suo scudiero a condurre
a mano i cavalli nei passi più scabrosi.
«Sapete poi (proseguì Gaudenzo) chi mi ha significato il comando
del Conte?... fu Tibaldo il suo falconiero, quella faccia da giudeo col
naso più adunco che il becco degli uccellacci con cui preda le
allodole e le pernici. M’incontrai seco lui a Quarona nell’atto ch’esso
usciva dalla bottega di Zancone il fabbro, ove va soventi a far
acconciare le lasse de’ suoi grifagni. Ne portava uno infatti sul
braccio a cui andava lisciando le penne. Oh perchè non gli è saltato
agli occhi e non glieli ha cavati entrambi nell’istante che s’avvide di
me!
«Ebbene che ti disse il Falconiero?» — chiese con impazienza
Bernardo.
«Gaudenzo di Civiasco, mi gridò egli subito che mi scôrse, appunto
con te ho bisogno di parlare — E avvicinatosi a me con un sorriso
infernale sul ceffo disse: — Corre voce pel paese che tu ti sposi e
prendi in donna la mulinara di Val d’Arola, la figlia di Bernardo, è ciò
vero? — Verissimo, risposi io; mia madre invecchia e voglio darle la
consolazione prima che chiuda gli occhi di tenere un mio bambolo
sulle ginocchia — Ottimamente, soggiunse il ribaldo. Il Conte nostro
padrone m’ha imposto d’avvertirti che vuole che le nozze siano
celebrate a Monrigone nel suo castello. — Perchè nel suo castello?
(dissi io stupito) non ho forse una chiesa nella mia terra? — Non vi
sono repliche: esclamò Tibaldo. Così vuole il conte Jago e tu devi
ubbidire. Se tu ignori i suoi diritti li sa ben esso. Altri feudatarj già da
molti anni gli esercitano e se egli ne ha trascurato l’uso sin’ora
intende adesso di farli pienamente valere, nè spetta a te, vassallo
mascalzone, lo scrutinare i diritti del tuo signore. — Che diritti può
mai vantare il Conte sopra di me (l’interruppi io con rabbia) oltre
quelli di togliermi come fa, quasi tutta la roba e costringermi a
lavorare per lui quasi fosse un suo bue od un cavallo? — Che
diritti?... Che diritti? — ripetè furibondo, l’iniquo Falconiero, e
pronunciò certe parole da stregone che spiegò poi nel modo che vi
ho già narrato. All’udire una tale scelleraggine mi si drizzarono i
capelli sulla testa, mi si oscurò la vista e sono stato filo filo di
passarlo col mio spuntone da una parte all’altra egli e il suo farsetto
di cammuccà crimisino.
«Era senza il giaco e ti parlava così? Oh anch’essi, grazie al cielo,
non possono star sempre vestiti di ferro! (pronunciò fra i denti il
Mugnajo).
«Ah Signore Iddio (disse Maria con timidità ed angoscia), chi sa che
disgrazia sarebbe accaduta se gli mettevate le mani addosso; forse
io non v’avrei veduto mai più!
«Gran fortuna (continuò il giovine), che il mio santo Protettore mi
trattenne in quel momento la mano e m’inspirò il salutare pensiero di
vendere la mia casuccia ed i miei terreni e venire ad abitare con mia
madre in qualche luogo di questa Riviera d’Orta sotto il dominio del
vostro Vescovo, dove Maria non avrà a temere le zanne di quella
bestia feroce del Conte.
«Che anime perverse! (esclamò Bernardo alzandosi in piedi). Ecco
cosa hanno fruttato le massime di Fra Dolcino e de’ suoi iniqui
gazzari, vera peste di questi paesi! Coi grani dell’eresia non si può
macinare altra farina.
«Il conte Jago (profferì Gaudenzo con fuoco) è un gazzaro [9] se ve
n’è mai stato un altro al mondo. Dirlo a me? non ho io stesso veduto
Fra Dolcino e la sua Monaca Margherita entrare più volte nella
Rocca del Conte a Monrigone? [10] e quando l’Eretico stava colle sue
turbe nel piano di Parete-Calva sulla cima di Valnera chi è che
mandava colassù le biade e il vino affinchè quei maladetti lupi non
morissero arrabbiati di fame? È chiaro adunque come il sole che il
Conte era tinto della loro pece sino ai capelli. Ma pure, che volete? I
Valsesiani che strinsero anni sono la lega contro i Biandrati ed ora la
fecero contro gli eretici, obbligandoli a snidare dalle loro montagne,
rispettano il conte Jago. Anche a Zebello egli mandò i suoi arcieri a
soccorrere Fra Dolcino, e se il Vescovo di Vercelli non fosse venuto
a capo quest’inverno di serrarlo con quasi tutti i suoi nella rete,
metterei una mano nel fuoco che esso stesso il Conte andava quivi
in persona a combattere per lui.
«Così San Giulio l’avesse concesso che tu, o Gaudenzo, non saresti
costretto per unirti alla mia Maria d’abbandonare la tua casa ed i tuoi
campi, giacchè egli avrebbe fatta la fine che farà tra poco l’Eretico,
cominciando a provare nelle fiamme di questo mondo come
abbrucino quelle dell’inferno in cui vorrei soffiare io stesso per farlo
ardere eternamente in pena de’ suoi enormi peccati.
A tale fiera imprecazione pronunciata con tutto accanimento da
Bernardo in odio al Conte fecero eco col cuore e le parole i due
promessi. E questa smisurata e violente brama di vendetta, di che
s’accesero simultaneamente, non era indizio in essi d’animo
selvaggio e crudele, ma bensì intimo sfogo d’un oppresso
sentimento di giustizia sancito in certo modo dalle circostanze e
dalle idee religiose dei tempi. Si consideri infatti lo stato delle
persone del popolo e specialmente di quelle che abitavano aperte
campagne, in quei secoli nei quali ad ogni pazzo e criminoso
capriccio di chi comandava, si dava il nome di diritto cui era
necessità sottostare. Non gli averi, non la libertà, non l’onore erano
sacri. Dalla turrita rocca il Feudatario faceva bandire a suon di
tromba i suoi voleri e guai a chi avesse osato resistere! erano strazii
e morte. La forza prepotente, brutale imperava nel mondo pressochè
da assoluta signora. Innanzi ad uomini coperti di ferro e vigorosi
adopratori di spade, mazze e lancie la plebe inerme star non poteva
che pavida e inoffensiva lasciandosi miseramente conculcare. In
tanta abbiezione ritraevano gli infelici valido conforto dalla speranza
che i loro patimenti venivano tenuti a calcolo in una vita migliore e
che terribili castighi attendevano gli oppressori inumani, pei quali
l’Eterno Giudice impugnava più severo e tremendo il vindice flagello.
Il Pellegrino appoggiato il capo ad una mano e tutto raccolto in se
stesso, sembrava non prestare punto d’attenzione ai parlari di quella
gente; ma quando il Mulinaro profferì gli ultimi veementi suoi detti si
scosse, s’agitò e il pallore che coprivagli le guancie si fece più
intenso. Nello stesso mentre Bernardo che esalata la bile,
riprendeva placidamente le sue faccende, volse gli occhi a lui e
disse: — «Pur troppo, eh Pellegrino! vi sono degli uomini cattivi i
quali pare proprio che ci godano nel tormentare gli altri. Di questi tali
non ne mancherà certo anche dalle vostre parti non è vero?
Fortunati noi che per misericordia del cielo qui comanda un Vescovo
sotto di cui certe birbonate non si fanno, e chi prende moglie può
condursela a casa... senza che prima... ma lasciamola lì. Pensiamo
ora a mangiare in pace questa poca grazia di Dio... Galantuomo
(proseguì dopo aver guardato più attentamente lo Straniero) v’è
forse saltata addosso la febbre o avete fatto penitenza tutto il
giorno? siete smorto come uno a cui abbiano data la corda. Bisogna
che non prolunghiate il digiuno, altrimenti perderete le forze di
proseguire il viaggio. Venite qui, sedete a questo tavolo e rinvigorite
lo stomaco dividendo con noi il poco frutto delle nostre fatiche.
Così parlando aveva Bernardo staccato a due mani il pajuolo dalla
catena e lo aveva capovolto sul tagliere stato coperto da Maria di un
ruvido ma pulito tovagliuolo.
Rialzato il recipiente vi rimase una soda e fumante polenta che ne
conservava intera la forma. Il Pellegrino che provava più cocenti
stimoli che quelli della fame, si mostrò sulle prime restìo, ma vinto
poi dalle cordiali ripetute tute offerte, appressò e s’assise a quel
desco frugale.
«Domani se vi risvegliate gagliardo e riposato (disse il Mugnajo
ponendogli innanzi ampia porzione) in un’ora di cammino arrivate
vate giù a Pella dove troverete delle barche quante volete per farvi
mettere all’Isola. Non dimenticatevi di pregare San Giulio per il
povero Bernardo, per sua figlia e per il bravo Gaudenzo ed
invocatelo che tenga da noi lontane nuove tribolazioni.
«Sì buona gente (rispose il Pellegrino con voce che forzavasi a
render dolce), pregherò per voi non solo a San Giulio, ma anche in
Santuarii più lontani e miracolosi, e pregherò di tutto cuore ancorchè
i presenti vostri mali siano lieve ombra a fronte di quelli... (e si
corresse) che opprimono un gran numero de’ vostri pari.
Mentre andavano consumando la villeresca cena, Bernardo e
Gaudenzo continuarono a parlare delle faccende che stavano ad
entrambi tanto a petto, proponendo alternativamente varii progetti
sul modo in cui meglio conveniva impiegare il ricavo che il giovine
contadino avrebbe fatto de’ suoi pochi tenimenti di Civiasco, affine di
prendere stabile dimora nelle terre soggette alla giurisdizione
vescovile, sottraendosi al dominio del prepotente Biandrate.
Dirigevano nel calore del discorso alcuna volta la parola anche allo
Straniero, ma questi, sempre assorto ne’ proprii pensieri, non
rispondeva che motti tronchi ed insignificanti. Dopo molti
ragionamenti protratti in lungo sinchè Maria ebbe sparecchiato,
Gaudenzo sorse in piedi dicendo: — «La notte s’innoltra e mia
madre che sta aspettandomi potrebbe essere agitata da sinistri
presentimenti se non mi mettessi subito in cammino. A passare la
Colma ci vuole il suo tempo; e va e va non si è mai giunti là in cima.
Una volta però che vi sia arrivato balzo giù dalla punta della Croce ai
pascoli e in quattro salti sono a casa.
«Giacchè hai risoluto di partire mio figliuolo (disse Bernardo
alzandosi anch’esso) sì, è meglio che non ritardi di più. L’ascesa è
lunga, e mi ricordo che io pure quando aveva le gambe buone come
le tue a pervenire colassù non faceva mai tanto presto quanto
desiderava... Ora tu, o Maria, che hai versato l’olio nella lanterna,
accendila e dagliela che egli se ne possa andare con San Giuliano
che l’accompagni.
«No, no: non voglio lume (soggiunse Gaudenzo trattenendo il
braccio della fanciulla in atto d’accenderlo). Un Romito con una gran
barba bianca ch’è venuto da poco ad abitare vicino al nostro paese,
ha detto che di notte le anime dannate se veggono un chiaro andare
in volta gli corrono dietro ed i diavoli saltano giù dagli alberi a
graffiare chi lo porta.
«E volete passare in mezzo ai boschi e vicino al campo dei morti
solo ed all’oscuro? (esclamò Maria con amorosa temenza).
«Ho gran pratica di questi luoghi e tu lo sai, Maria; nè poi è tanto
bruno di fuori (in così dire spalancò la porta). Guarda come
risplendono le stelle: se spuntasse la luna non potrebbe il cielo
essere più lucente, si distingue il sentiero a meraviglia — Addio,
addio, state sani, doman l’altro si rivedremo ed ogni fastidio, spero,
sarà finito.
Si pose quindi a spalle la scure, diede la buona notte al Pellegrino
che gli augurò felice il viaggio, e prese la via. Bernardo e la figlia lo
seguirono sino al cancello che fu aperto fra nuovi saluti, e un
momento dopo non si udirono che le sue pedate per il bosco, il
rumore delle quali fu ben presto coperto da quello dell’incessante
caduta del vicino torrente.
 PARTE SECONDA

Dopo il bacio di Giuda il primo è questo

De’ tradimenli umani, ma la fama
Sdegnò pietosa numerar le arcane
Orrende fila onde fu ordito un tanto
Delitto e il tacque alla futura istoria.
Romanzi-Poetici.

Non iscorse che un giorno e fu commesso un fatto esecrando. La

misera Maria sorpresa all’improvviso presso il suo casolare venne
portata a Monrigone e rinchiusa nelle mura del castello del Conte.
Quivi vano è ogni suo grido, vano ogni pianto, poichè quelli che la
circondano non hanno orecchio pei lamenti femminili.
Ma chi è mai colui che nella gotica antica galleria tutta guernita
intorno di ampj oscuri quadri frammisti a corazze rugginose, ad elmi,
ad azze, a daghe passeggia a lenti passi colle braccia incrocicchiate
e gli occhi rivolti al suolo?... Oh tradimento!... Egli è il Pellegrino
accolto sì ospitalmente nel mulino di Arola... lo stesso conte Jago
Biandrate! [11].
Mostra all’aspetto più di trent’anni: è alto, magro, con muscolatura
risentita e nervosa. Ha spaziosa fronte, pallide le guancie che
alquanto sceme rendono oblungo il suo viso. Nerissimi sono i suoi
occhi e nera del paro la capellatura, una ciocca della quale gli sta
ritta sulla fronte essendo nei rimanente fitta ma breve. Una striscia di
barba ricciuta e bruna ma non lucida come i capelli gli contorna il
volto passando sotto il mento bipartito. Nudo, slanciato, tendinoso gli
si scorge il collo chiuso al confine dall’orlo trapunto del giustacuore
color verde-bruno, spoglio in tutto d’ornamenti e che s’informa
strettamente alla persona come i calzoni rossi che riveste, i quali gli
scendono ristretti sino alla nocca del piede. L’unico oggetto che
s’abbia sulla persona, il quale non consuona colla simplicità del
vestimento è un cordone d’oro che lo cinge ai lombi nel quale porta
infisso un pugnale col manico cesellato di argento in vagina d’avorio.
Benchè i suoi lineamenti rimangono quasi immoti, un certo fremito
che gli erra sulle labbra, un leggiero corrugarsi della fronte ad
intervalli, un tener fiso lo sguardo ora in un punto ed ora in un altro,
mostra ad evidenza che la sua mente sta appuntata in immagini vive
che lo scuotono dalle intime fibre.
Ad un tratto fermasi presso una finestra che guarda nel cortile
rinserrato fra le alte merlate mura, al di sopra delle quali s’alza la
torre del Castello. Guarda verso di questa, porge l’orecchio, ed
udendo come il suono d’un gemito soffocato, che parte da quella
torre, si ritrae dal davanzale con moto di dispetto.
Passava in quel mentre in fondo alla galleria il falconiero Tibaldo,
confidente e Consigliero suo prediletto; ei gli fece segno colla mano
d’entrare in sala, rimanendo immobile in prossimità della finestra.
Quando gli fu vicino accennò col guardo la torre e disse:
«Che fa là dentro?
«Piange» — rispose con tutta indifferenza il Falconiero.
«Quel suo miagolare continuo mi annoja.
«Fateci mettere un bavaglio alla bocca e non la sentirete più.
«No. — Benchè sia una villana non voglio usarle violenza... se
venisse a deformarsi colle contorsioni, il suo promesso potrebbe non
volerla più, ed io non ho intenzione di rompere il loro matrimonio.
«Ah!... ah!... v’è da scommettere una moneta d’oro contro un soldo
che al matrimonio non v’è più un’anima che vi pensi (disse Tibaldo
con riso beffardo).
«Oh! perchè credi che non si celebreranno le nozze? lo sposo è mio
vassallo, ed alla fine del conto troverà convenirgli assai meglio
venire a fare gli sponsali nel mio castello, vedersi qui festeggiato e
godere poscia egli ed i suoi figli della mia protezione, che condursi
ad abitare sotto altro dominio vendendo i suoi averi ad ogni vil
prezzo.
«Sì, mettete la pecora nella tana del lupo e poi sperate che si consoli
il pastore coll’offrirgliene i resti.
«Come? non fosti tu stesso che mi dicesti che per introdurre l’uso di
quel diritto già da tanti altri feudatarj praticato, era necessario
adoperare per le prime volte la forza, e che poi i vassalli vi si
sarebbero a poco a poco abituati, piegandovisi senza difficoltà? Tu
m’hai narrato del mio contadino Gaudenzo che sposare doveva la
mulinara di Arola; tu me l’hai dipinta quale bellissima fanciulla, gli
imponesti tu di venire a far le nozze al castello ed allorchè giungesti
a scoprire ch’egli meditava di sfuggire al mio potere, fosti tu quello
che consigliasti il modo d’impedirlo. Ora che la fanciulla è qui in mia
mano, e che il nostro scopo non può essere raggiunto se non viene
lo sposo a ricercarla ed ottenerla da me, tu sembri dubitare della
riuscita di quest’impresa!... M’avresti tu posto a repentaglio di
sostenere una guerra col Vescovo Signore d’Orta e dell’Isola per
avere rapita una donna del suo dominio, senza poter venire a capo
di stabilire quanto ci eravamo proposto?...
«Che mai v’importa ancorchè il primo colpo andasse fallito?... ma
che dico: andare fallito?... non è anzi riuscito ottimamente?
Senz’ombra di pericolo, senza che a voi nè ad alcuno dei vostri
alabardieri sia stata pure scalfita la pelle colla scure o colle mazze
dei villani, vi siete impadronito della più bella fanciulla di tutto il
dominio della Riviera e vorreste far lamento se il miserabile a cui era
destinata non viene a riprendersela?... Vi ricordate quanto costò
l’ultimo fatto consimile, quando faceste qui trasportare la nipote del
Priore di Serravalle? dodici arcieri rimasero sul terreno, tre furono
presi ed appiccati, io ebbi da un graffio scorticata una mano ed a voi
uccisero il cavallo.
«Per ciò appunto aveva determinato di non mettermi mai più in
cimento a causa di donne: esse alla fin fine non recano che
svantaggio, non sono che di peso. Almeno si potesse ottenere
alcuna buona somma pel loro riscatto; tutti fanno grande
apparecchio e rumore per non lasciarsele portar via, ma una volta
che siano state qua dentro non darebbero una lira per riaverle. Lo
sai ch’io non voleva pensarci più: se non venivi in campo colle tue
maladette parole, io non usciva certamente a questa caccia... e nel
momento in cui siamo!
Rimase pensieroso alcun istante, poi riprese a bassa voce: — «Due
delle mie bande più valorose sono perdute; erano cento uomini, i
migliori che portassero elmo e giaco in tutte le terre che bagna la
Sesia... Ma poteva io far di meno per sostenere Fra Dolcino,
quell’uomo santo e incantatore che mi aveva legato a lui con tante
promesse!... Se non erano le genti d’armi di Novara alla battaglia di
Zebello il Vescovo Vercellese non cantava vittoria di certo! nel
momento che si menano le spade ci vuol altro che gli scongiuri e le
invocazioni del piviale e della mitra, abbisognano buone loriche e
braccia di ferro... Or bene, i castellani Novaresi che diedero ajuto a
quel di Vercelli non potrebbero impegnarsi a sostenere il Vescovo
loro, se questi mi chiedesse ragione della violazione del suo
dominio? Ora che mancano gli uomini e che i miei vassalli hanno
ardito di manifestare qualche segno di malcontento.....
«Da quali pensieri mai vi lasciate dominare? Vivete pure nella
massima tranquillità, poichè il Vescovo di Novara signore della
Riviera ha troppo gravi impegni in questi momenti per volersi
impacciare in simili faccende. Che mai gli deve importare d’una
villana ignorata da tutto il mondo, per torsi la briga poi di sfidare un
signore potente e temuto come siete voi e di cui sono sì celebri le
imprese. Oh! via scacciate ogni temenza, nè abbiate alcun sospetto
sopra i vassalli, che se lo desiderate vi faccio vedere a ridurli in
pochi giorni umili e timorosi più che un branco di pecore. Un pajo
solo di que’ mascalzoni che si prendono, e si.....
«Sono stanco ti dico di vedere i miei soldati a fare da carnefici; nè
voglio più che i cameroni del mio castello siano luoghi da tormenti
come le sale nel convento degli Inquisitori. Fra Dolcino insegnavami
che egli è opera meritoria il dare soccorso agli infermi, e non
accrescerne il numero; che il demonio si fa compagno di chi sparge
inutilmente il sangue umano.
«Gran pazzo briccone ch’era Fra Dolcino! Ed egli crede alle
massime di quell’eretico impostore che a forza di ciarle lo spogliò di
danaro e di soldati (così pronunciava tra sè Tibaldo mentre il conte
Jago s’era posto a passeggiare di nuovo per la galleria come assorto
in un grave pensiero).
«Orsù voglio che questa faccenda finisca lietamente per tutti, e nel
termine di pochi giorni (esclamò il Conte arrestandosi d’un tratto
presso il Falconiero). Farai che Maria sia levata tosto dalla torre e
condotta nelle stanze che erano di mia madre; mi recherò io poi colà
a consolarla; le regalerò dei giojelli per il giorno delle sue nozze, e mi
proverò a parlarle da galante cavaliero: essa non possiede il
candore del latte, nè sa agire e proverbiare secondo i precetti della
corte d’amore come le dame dei nostri castelli, ma ha un non so che
di deciso nella sua fisonomia che mi va sommamente a genio.
Quando poi sarà sposa la colmerò di nuovi doni e allora tutte le altre
la invidieranno e ambiranno di godere nello stesso grado il mio
favore e la mia protezione.
«Oh quanto mai vi siete cangiato! (disse Tibaldo facendo un gesto di
stupore). Usare di queste dolcezze verso i vassalli egli è un volerli
far diventare orgogliosi, caparbi ed intrattabili.
«Ho determinato di far così e tanto basta (pronunciò il Conte
imperiosamente). Tu andrai in cerca di Gaudenzo, gli dirai che la sua
Maria non gli fu tolta che per punirlo dell’aver tentato di sottrarsi a’
miei comandi ed al mio dominio, e lo persuaderai a venire fra due
giorni al castello dove gli sarà resa la sposa e si celebreranno
pomposamente le sue nozze.
«Io andare in cerca di Gaudenzo, di quel villano impertinente, di
quel...
«Oseresti tu rifiutare d’obbedirmi? (disse il Conte prendendolo con
forza per un braccio). Se fra due giorni non conduci Gaudenzo
placato al castello ti faccio seppellire vivo in fondo al sotterraneo.
«Non ho mai ardito, nè ardirei esitare un istante ad eseguire la
volontà vostra (rispose timidamente il vile Falconiero). Non era che
per serbare più completamente il grado e il decoro... che io
osservava... ma se altrimenti vi piace faccio subito porre l’arcione al
mio ronzino falbo e non gli leverò il freno di bocca se non ho ritrovato
e ridotto Gaudenzo al vostro volere.
Così dicendo levò il berretto salutandolo rispettosamente,
s’incamminò verso la porta della galleria ove il Conte lo seguì e
nell’atrio gli ripetè il comando di far condurre la fanciulla di Arola
dalle rozze ed anguste stanze della torre ove gemeva, nelle camere
più addobbate del castello ch’erano quelle in cui aveva dimorato la
defunta contessa Isabella sua madre.
La notte che susseguì al rapimento di Maria, Bernardo il mugnajo
solo e desolato passò la Colma e discese a Civiasco, narrando il
crudele evento a Gaudenzo. Un furore indescrivibile invase alla
prima l’animo di questi; ma poi si raffrenò; stette alcun tempo
silenzioso, indi rivolto a Bernardo disse con voce di disperata
risoluzione: — «Le lagrime, i lamenti, le imprecazioni sono inutili: fa
d’uopo vendicarsi o morire. Datemi la mano, o padre di Maria, e
promettete di accompagnarmi nell’impresa che sono per tentare.
«Oh noi miseri! (esclamò Bernardo). Che mai possiamo
intraprendere contro un signore chiuso in un forte castello, e
circondato da tanti uomini d’armi? Ohimè noi poniamo a sicuro
pericolo la nostra vita, e forse rendiamo più crudele la sorte della mia
misera figliuola!
«Non temete: vi sono molti e molti che odiano mortalmente il
Biandrate. Gli uomini d’Ara, quei di Vintebio, a cui esso tolse più
volte i buoi e le messi, non attendono che il momento opportuno di
concorrere a sterminare il feroce loro aggressore: anche i montanari
della Val grande covano contro di lui un astio mortale per le sue
crudeltà, e per avere con ogni possa favorita l’eresia di Fra Dolcino.
«Ma a che mai può questo giovarci? Abbiamo noi mezzo di parlare
con quelle genti, di adunarle secretamente onde il Conte non ci
sorprenda e ci assalga coi suoi prima di essere in grado di opporgli
resistenza? Potremo noi persuaderli a versare il loro sangue per
nostra cagione? O figliuol mio, non lasciarti trascinare dalla smania
di una impossibile vendetta.
«No, ripeto, non è impossibile. Io sono disposto a tutto, e gli ostacoli
che voi calcolaste non sono insuperabili. Noi avremo il soccorso d’un
potente ausiliario.
«Di chi?
«Di Padre Anastasio l’Eremita.
«Oh che mai dici? L’Eremita di Civiasco coopererebbe alla
depressione del Conte? darebbe egli mano ad unire le genti dei
dintorni per liberarle dal loro oppressore?... Ma come lo sai tu?
«Gli ho parlato più volte, e quando gli riferii la prepotente esigenza
del Biandrate che io facessi le nozze con Maria al suo castello, come
mi significò lo scellerato Tibaldo, quel sant’uomo, il quale benchè
vecchio conserva tutta l’ardenza e il vigore della giovinezza, si
scagliò contro di esso colle parole più violenti e disse che un giorno
o l’altro la mano del cielo lo avrebbe colpito in un modo esemplare e
tremendo.
«Se l’Eremita è con noi egli ci assolve da ogni colpa: andiamo;
andiamo da lui ed io eseguirò ciecamente quanto egli saprà
consigliarmi.
Arrivarono di notte al romitaggio, ch’era una casupola presso una
cappelletta posta verso la metà del monte; entrarono colà mentre il
vecchio solitario appoggiato a rozza tavola stava meditando sopra
un ampio volume al chiarore d’una lucerna che rischiarava un
teschio umano. Si gettarono i due villici a’ suoi piedi, poichè
quell’uomo era per l’austera sua vita venerato qual santo, e rialzati
poi da lui cortesemente, fecero il racconto delle loro sventure, e
Gaudenzo annunziò energicamente i suoi arditi progetti.
Nessuno sapeva di qual patria fosse quel vecchio Eremita di nome
Anastasio e tutti parimente ignoravano da qual paese egli
provenisse. Comparve in quella terra e si stabilì sul monte presso
Civiasco allorchè Fra Dolcino l’eresiarca aveva posta la sua sede in
quelle vicinanze, favorito e sostenuto apertamente dal Biandrate.
Vedevasi di quando in quando alcun monaco straniero recarsi a
visitarlo nel suo eremo, lo che accresceva la di lui riputazione, ma
nulla però traspirava intorno alla vita antecedente di lui, a’ suoi
rapporti ed al suo stato. Egli s’adoperava con tutta possa a far
sparire dagli spiriti le tracce lasciate dalle dottrine ereticali seminate
da Dolcino e da’ suoi seguaci e a ritornare in forza i sentimenti di
sommissione e d’obbedienza verso il Pontefice, i Vescovi ed i
Sacerdoti che gli eretici avevano tentato di distruggere. La severità
de’ suoi costumi, la vita di penitenza ch’egli menava, corroborando i
suoi detti, davangli sommo vantaggio sopra i suoi avversarii, la
rilasciatezza ed immoralità dei quali favoriva le perverse inclinazioni
dei potenti, ma era oggetto di scandalo alla maggior parte del
popolo. Non tralasciava pure nei caldi sermoni che teneva alle
bande villerecce ora nei prati, ora ne’ boschi ove soleva adunarle, di
parlare con veemenza contro i ricchi, di minacciare ad essi la
maledizione del Signore in pena dei loro gravi peccati, e soventi
volte dipingendo un reprobo incallito nella colpa, si serviva di tali
immagini che tutti facilmente vi riconoscevano ritratto il conte Jago.
L’Eremita udì la narrazione di Gaudenzo e di Bernardo senza punto
lasciare apparire sentimento di piacere o di dolore: appena appena
la sua calva e rugosa fronte si raggrinzò per un lieve moto di sdegno
quando ascoltò il modo in cui era stato condotto il nero tradimento.
Allorchè essi ebbero cessato di parlare, egli rimase alcun tempo
meditabondo, appoggiata una mano alla gran barba, sostenendo il
capo: poscia disse ai due contadini che riedessero agli abituri senza
palesare i loro progetti a persona, e ritornassero da lui il giorno