Reply to Spain must apologize for colonizing Mexico

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There has never been a formal, official, apology.

Spain:  the time has come.  Do the right thing.  Apologize.[/quote]

I actually agree with you OP though no idea if you are genuine or just stirring the pot. Although an apology would be mostly symbolic, it could be a way to open up better communications and respect for ingenious people’s through central and South America .

The devastation done to indigenous peoples of Central and South America during Spanish colonization is on the scale of the Holocaust. People who belong to the once proud cultures of Aztecs/ Maya and Incas (among others) continue to face great discrimination and hardships even today.

“It is estimated that during the initial Spanish conquest of the Americas up to eight million indigenous people died, primarily through the spread of Afro-Eurasian diseases, in a series of events that have been described as the first large-scale act of genocide of the modern era.”.

We could learn a lot from indigenous peoples - such as treating nature with more respect.[/quote]

As someone whose family is Native, I agree with much of the above.

However, also worth pointing out that the "Noble Savage" myth is also absurd.

Many indigenous groups engaged in regular conflict with each other, including wars of aggression and annihilation. Likely one of the causes of Mayan collapse, to cite just one example.[/quote]

PP to whom you responded.

Yes agree that no culture or society is perfect. Some of traditional indigenous practices were brutal - however they did manage to maintain coherent modes of social and economic organization without destroying their natural environment or on the same degree Western societies have.

The Mayan were hardly savages but created an advanced ancient civilization: For example, way before early Western civilizations, the Mayan invented the mathematical concept of zero, developed a written language of hieroglyphs  understood astronomy, created a complex and accurate calendar system.. They also implemented irrigation systems, and agricultural systems.

Mayans were forbidden from speaking their native language, partaking in their native religious rituals, and made to serve the Spanish through perpetual forced labor. In the 16th century bishop Diego de Landa burned perhaps thousands of books during the Spanish inquisition.

Spanish colonization and the Mexican regime that followed (1821-1846) led to  a period of unprecedented regional transformation marked by enslaving and displacing Indigenous Peoples and alteration of the natural ecosystems and habitat.

Indigenous people throughout central and South America face ongoing discrimination and also disrespect for their traditional cultures and languages .

I agree with the New Mexican president that an apology is in order. [/quote]
The Aztec destroyed most of the the Maya civilization.
The Maya destroyed the Olmec civilization. 
The history of humans has been war and conquest and slavery since the beginning we crawled out of the trees. [/quote]

PP to whom you responded

There are different theories for what caused the decline of ancient Mayan civilization. Scholars various potential reasons for the downfall of Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare, shifting trade routes and extended drought

Scholars don’t think that the Aztecs destroyed ancient Mayan civilizations. The Mayans were in decline as a civilization - their cities were much smaller, their overall influence was shrinking and their great capitals had almost all been abandoned before the Aztecs even started growing out of the Texcoco lake.

Even if modern Maya were not living in grand cities prior the Spanish they still had their own languages and cultures. Being enslaved and not allowed to speak their own languages or religious practices (apart from human sacrifice) is a great injustice. Literally millions of indigenous people died during Spanish colonization.

An apology and acknowledgement of the huge costs to indigenous Americans is the least Spain can do.  
[/quote]

All that is true.  Erasing an entire civilization's history, language and culture is Tier 1 colonial evil. But the Mexican government since independence generally hasn't been much better.

For what it's worth, the Aztec experience is a bit more complicated.  The Spanish defeated the Aztecs militarily in a relatively big war.  They did this by forming a military alliance with the other city-states.  Those city-states joined in because of how bad the Aztecs were oppressing them.  It wasn't quite the glorious white savior reverse Alamo that it was made out to be by the European history books.
[/quote]

That is super interesting.

Good point - Both Spain and Mexico should apologize to indigenous peoples of Mexico and celebrate their accomplishments and cultures prior to colonization.

Like the Maya, the ancient Aztecs boasted many achievements, including: 
 
Architecture
The Aztecs built fancy cities, palaces, and temple-pyramids, including Tenochtitlan, their capital city. Tenochtitlan was built on an island in Lake Texcoco and used the lake's water to create floating gardens, dams, and sluice gates. 
 
Agriculture
The Aztecs developed floating gardens, which were plots of land made from reeds and branches filled with mud. These gardens allowed them to grow corn, beans, and squash. 
 
Calendar
The Aztecs had a sacred calendar system similar to the Mayan. The calendar included a 260-day Tonalpohualli and a 365-day Xiuhpohualli. 
 
Education
The Aztecs developed a system of compulsory education for all children, one of the first systems of universal education. 
 
Number system
The Aztecs developed a vigesimal number system, using 20 as a base. They represented numbers with a series of dots and bars, a dot representing one, and a bar representing five. 
 
Bureaucracy
The Aztecs built up a large political, military, and religious bureaucracy that included governors, tax collectors, courts of justice, military garrisons, mail and messenger services, and other civil offices

They may not have been perfect but they had sophisticated society and languages .

The way they and other indigenous peoples of Mexico/ central and South America were treated as subhuman was deeply wrong.  
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