The Indian Revolution is an educational resource for Amerindians and others who want to learn more about the great Ixachilan (Western Hemisphere) civilizations as well as our current situation. This site is dedicated to the preservation and resurrection of the native cultures from Alaska to Argentina, and around the world.
The Indian Revolution provides a non-Eurocentric view of indigenous cultures in hopes of counteracting the effects of the biased learning institutions, media, and governments throughout the "Americas" that teach our people self-loathing and promote an inferiority-complex amongst non-whites. Hopefully after viewing the information provided, many who consider themselves to be Mestizo & or white will come to understand that the racial scars we carry with us do not make us who we are. We are the original inhabitants of this land.
This site includes many resources to help you to learn how to defend yourself from our oppressors. The terrorist acts of the United States, US-supported terrorists in Central & South America, and European governments against oppressed people & people of color will be exposed. Do not succumb to the treachery of the establishment. If we do not unite, we will forever be slaves on our own land.
The Indian Revolution is dedicated to the innocent victims (of the real terror network) in North, Central & South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and across the globe. Revolution is the only solution. RIP to all of the fallen freedom fighters & innocent men, women & children who have been massacred in Iraq & Afghanistan.
ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeological discoveries in Ixachilan (Western Hemisphere) and the world..
BOARD: Discussion board.
COMBAT: Guide to hand-to-hand, weapons, war, espionage and more to prepare for the revolution.
HISTORY: Non-Eurocentric history of our native tribes/civilizations and the world. Includes the Arts, the Sciences, War, Social Structure, etc.
IDENTITY: Information on indigenous identity, race traitors, racist Latino & Hispanic labels of the people of Anahuac (Latin America), Christianity, and more...
LANGUAGES: Resource for indigenous American languages.
NEWS: Current events dealing with the "Indians" of Ixachilan.
REVOLUTION: Works of revolutionaries, revolutionary soldiers, goals of the revolution & the enemies of the revolution.
STORE: Coming soon...Pre-Colombian art, shirts & more.
THEOLOGY: A look at indigenous philosophies and religions as well as their relationship to Astrology & Cosmology.
"If the indigenous people of the North, and the indigenous people of Mexico, and all the indigenous people of the entire continent, know that we have our own place (being who we are and not pretending to have another skin color, another tongue, another culture), then the other colors who populate the entire world should know it too. And then, Power must know it. So that it learns the lesson well, so that it doesn't forget it, many more paths and bridges need to be walked."
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Letter to Leonard Peltier, Oct. 1999. Indian Revolution.
Tribes Native to Ixachilan: A'ane (Aane, A'ananin), Abenaki (Abanaki, Abinaki, Abenaqui), Abnaki-Penobscot, Acatec (Acateco), Achi, Achomawi (Achumawi), Achuar, Acolapissa, Ahahnelin, Ahe, Ahtna (Ahtena), Akainawa, Alabama-Coushatta, Aleut, Algonquians (Algonkians), Algonquin (Algonkin), Alkansea, Alnobak, Alsea, Alutiiq, Amalecite, Amuesha-Yanesha, Amuzgo, Anishinaabe (Anishinabe, Anishinabemowin, Anishinabeg, Anishinabek, Anishnabay), Aniyunwiya, Apache, Apsaaloke, Arapaho (Arapahoe, Arrapaho, Arrapahoe), Araucano, Arawak (Arawakan), Arikara (Arikari), Arkansas, Asakiwaki, Ashaninca (Ashaninka), Assiniboine (Assiniboin), Atakapa, Atikamekw (Atikamek, Attikamek, Attimewk), Atsina, Atsugewi, Ayapanec, Ayisiyiniwok, Aymara, Aztec, Batzi Kop, Beaver, Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Beothuks (Beothuck, Betoukuag), Biloxi, Black Carib, Blackfoot (Blackfeet), Blood Indians, Bode'wadmi, Bororo, Caddo (Caddoe), Cahto, Cahuilla, Cakchiquel, Carib (Caribe), Carolina Algonquian, Carrier, Caska, Catawba, Cayuga, Chahta, Chalaque, Chamula, Chatino, Chehalis, Chemehuevi, Chenalo, Cheraw, Cherokee, Chetco, Cheyenne (Cheyanne), Chibcha, Chickamaugan, Chickasaw (Chikasha), Chilcotin, Chilula-Whilkut, Chimakuan, Chinanteco, Chinook, Chinook Jargon, Chipewyan (Chipewyin, Chippewyin), Chippewa, Chitimacha (Chitamacha), Chochoteco, Choctaw, Ch'ol, Chol, Chontal of Oaxaca, Chontal of Tabasco, Chumash, Clallam, Cmique, Coahuiltecan, Coastal Cree, Cochimi, Cocomaricopa, Cocopah, Coeur d'Alene, Columbia-Wenachi, Comanche, Comox, Coos, Coquille, Cora, Corapan, Coushatta, Cowlitz, Cree, Creek, Croatan (Croatoan), Crow, Cuicateco, Cupeno, Dakota, Dawson, Degexit'an, Delaware, Dena'ina, Dene, Dene Tha, De Xitan, Didjazaa, Diegueno, Dine (Dineh), Dogrib, Eastern Inland Cree, Eenou (Eeyou), Eskimo (Esquimaux), Etchemin (Etchimin), Eyak, Flathead-Kalispel, Fox, French Cree, Gaigwu, Galibi, Garifuna, Gitxsan, Gros Ventre, Guahibo, Guarani, Guarijio, Gulf, Gwich'in (Gwichin), Haida, Haisla, Halkomelem (Hakomelem), Han, Hanis, Hare, Hatteras, Haudenosaunee, Havasupai, Hawaiian, Hawaiian Creole, Heiltsuk, Hidatsa (Hinatsa), Hinonoeino, Hnahnu, Hocak (Ho-Chunk, Hochunk), Holikachuk, Hoopa, Hopi, Hualapai, Huamelua, Huarijio, Huasteco, Huave (Huavean), Huichol, Huixteco, Hupa, Huron, Illini (Illiniwek, Illinois), Inca, Ingalik, Innu, Inuktitut (Inuit, Inupiat, Inupiaq, Inupiatun), Inuna-Ina, Iowa-Oto (Ioway), Iroquois Confederacy, Isleta, Iviatim, Ixil, Iynu, Jacalteco, James Bay Cree, Jemez, Jicarillo, Juaneno, Kadohidacho, Kainai (Kainaiwa), Kakchiquel, Kalapuya (Kalapuyan), Kalihna, Kalispel, Kanien'kehaka (Kanienkehaka), Kanjobal, Kansa (Kanze), Karok (Karuk), Kashaya, Kaska, Kaskaskia, Kato, Kaw, Kawaiisu, Kaweskar (Kawesqar), Kekchi, Kechan, Keres (Keresan), Kichai, K'iche', Kickapoo (Kikapoo, Kikapu), Kiliwa (Kiliwi), Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Kiowa Tanoan, Kitsai, Klallam, Klamath-Modoc, Klickitat, Koasati, Konkow, Kootenai, Koyukon, Kumeyaay (Kumiai), Kuskokwim, Kutchin, Kutenai, Kwakiutl (Kwakwala), Kweedishchaaht (Kweneecheeaht), Kwikipa, Lakhota (Lakota), Lassik, Lenape (Lenni Lenape), Lillooet, Lipan Apache, Listiguj (Listuguj), Lnuk (L'nuk, L'nu'k, Lnu), Loup, Lower Tanana, Luiseno, Lumbee, Lummi, Lushootseed, Mahican, Maidu, Makah, Maliseet (Malecite, Malécite, Maliceet, Malisit, Malisset), Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, Mam, Mamaceqtaw, Mandan, Mapuche (Mapudungun), Maricopa, Massachusett (Massachusetts), Massasoit (Massassoit, Mashpee), Matlatzinca, Matagalpa, Mattole, Maumee, Mayan, Mayangna, Mayo, Mazahua, Mazateco, Menominee (Menomini), Me'phaa (Mephaa), Mescalero-Chiricahua, Meskwaki (Mesquaki-Sauk, Mesquakie), Metis Creole, Mewuk, Miami-Illinois, Miccosukee, Michif, Micmac (Micmaq, Mickmack, Mi'gmaq), Mikasuki, Mi'kmaq (Mikmaq, Mikmak, Mikmaw, Mi'kmaw, Mi'kmawi'simk, Mikmawisimk, Míkmaq, Míkmaw, Míkmawísimk), Mingo, Minsi, Mishikhwutmetunee, Miskito (Miskitu), Misumalpan, Mitchif, Miwok (Miwoc, Miwokan), Mixe, Mixteco, Modoc, Mohave, Mohawk, Mohegan, Mohican, Mojave, Molalla, Monache, Mono, Montagnais, Montauk, Moosehide, Munsee (Munsie, Muncey, Muncie), Muskogee (Muscogee, Mvskoke), Nabesna, Nahane, Nahuatl, Nakoda (Nakota), Nanticoke, Nantucket, Narragansett, Naskapi, Natchez, Natick, Natinook-wa, Navajo (Navaho), Nayhiyuwayin, Nde, Nee-me-poo, New Blackfoot, Nez Perce, Niantic, Nimipu, Nipmuc, Nisenan, Nisga'a, Nisgaa, Niska-Gitksian, Nomlaki, Nongatl, Nooksack (Nootsack), Nootka (Nutka), Northern Cheyenne, Ntlakapmuk, Nuu Savi, Nuxalk, Odawa, Ojibwa (Ojibway, Ojibwe, Ojibwemowin), Okanagan (Okanogan), Old Blackfoot, Omaha-Ponca, Oneida, Onondaga, O'odham, Oro Win (Orowin), Osage, Otchipwe, Otoe, Otomi, Ottawa, Paipai, Paiute, Palaihnihan, Pame, Pamlico, Panamahka, Panoan, Papago-Pima, Pascua Yaqui, Passamaquoddy, Paviotso, Pawnee, Peigan, Penobscot (Penobscott, Pentagoet), Peoria, Pequot, Peskotomuhkati, Piegan (Piikani, Pikani, Pikanii, Pikuni), Pima Bajo, Pipil, Piraha, Pit River Indians, Plains Indian Sign Language, Pocomchi, Pokom, Pokomam, Pomo, Ponca, Popoloca, Popoluca, Porcupine Indians, Potawatomi (Potowatomi, Pottawatomie, Potawatomie), Powhatan (Powhattan), Pueblo, Puget Sound Salish, Purepecha (Purhepecha), Q'anjobal (Qanjobal), Q'eqchi, Quapaw, Quechan, Quechua, Quiche Maya, Quileute, Quiligua, Quinault, Raramuri (Ralamuli), Red Indians, Restigouche, Saanich, Sac, Sahaptin, Salish, Sandia, Sanish (Sahnish), Sastean, Savannah, Sarcee (Sarsee, Sarsi), Sauk, Sechelt, Sekani, Selkirk, Seminoles, Seneca, Seri, Serrano, Shasta, Shawano, Shawnee, Shinnecock, Shoshone (Shoshoni), Shuswap, Siksika (Siksikawa), Sinkyone, Sioux, Siuslaw, Skagit, Skicin, S'Klallam, Skokomish, Skraeling, Slave (Slavey, Slavi), Sliammon, Sm'algyax, Smith River, Snohomish, Soke, Souriquois (Sourquois), Southern Paiute, Southwestern Pomo, Spokane, Squamish, Stockbridge, Stoney, Straits Salish, Sumu, Swampy Cree, Swinomish, Tachi, Tagish, Tahltan, Taino, Tanacross, Tanana, Tanaina, Taos, Tarahumara, Tarascan, Tenino, Tepecano, Tepehua, Tepehuano, Tequistlatec, Tete-de-Boule (Tetes-de-Boules), Tewa, Thompson, Tila, Tillamook, Tinde, Tipai-Ipai, Tiwa, Tjekan, Tlapaneco, Tlingit (Tlinkit), Tohono O'odham, Tojolabal, Tolowa, Tonkawa, Totonaca (Totonacan, Totonaco), Towa, Trique (Triqui), Tsalagi (Tsa-la-gi), Tsetsehestahese, Tsimshian (Tsimpshian), Tsitsistas, Tsuu Tina, Tubatulabal, Tulalip, Tumbala, Tupi, Tuscarora, Tutchone, Tutunacu, Tututni, Twana, Twatwa (Twightwee), Tza Tinne, Tzotzil, Ulwa, Umatilla, Unangan, Upper Kuskokwim, Upper Piman, Upper Salish, Upper Tanana, Ute, U'Wa (Uwa), Varihio, Virginian Algonkin, Wabanaki Confederacy, Wailaki, Walapai, Walla Walla, Wampanoag, Wappinger, Wappo, Warihio, Warm Springs, Wasco-Wishram, Washo (Washoe), Wenachi (Wenatchi, Wenatchee), Wendat, Weott, White Clay People, Wichita (Witchita), Winnebago, Wintu (Wintun), Wiyot (Wi'yot), Wobanaki, Wolastoqewi (Wolastoqiyik), Wyandot (Wyandotte), Yakama, Yakima, Yanesha, Yanomami, Yanomamo, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yocha Dehe, Yokuts, Yucatec Maya (Yucateco, Yucatan), Yuki, Yuit, Yuma (Yuman), Yup'ik (Yupik), Yurok (Yu'rok), Zapoteco, Zimshian, Zoque, Zuni Indian Revolution
When the Spanish arrived in the "New World," they were treated kindly by the indigenous people. Christopher Colombus was greeted by the Taino tribe, who soon after presented him with gifts and food for him and his men. What persisted for the next 500 years became the largest case of genocide in the history of mankind.
Over 95% of the original inhabitants of North, Central & South America were wiped out, mostly from the intentional unleashing of smallpox as a weapon of mass destruction. In Mexico, opproximately 1.5 million out of 30-50 million survived. In the United States, only 200,000 of the original 13-30 million lived. Despite the grand scale of this genocide, it is never taught in schools below the university level, and rarely mentioned in the media.
In the United States and Canada, the Native American culture has been kept alive by the millions who now reside on reservations. In Mexico, Central & South America, however, this is not the case. There are still many who have been true to their roots. But, the majority of Amerindians are now mixed and have become members of the oppressive European societies. They brainwash us by giving us the labels of our oppressors; Latino, Hispanic, Spanish, Latin. We are none of these.
These racist terms were presented by pre-Castro Miami Cuban Refugees who now run much of the American (Spanish) media and who have no indigenous blood, and the Latin whites in Mexico City who control the Mexican media. They only hire white or white-appearing people, many times with blond hair and colored eyes, to appear on television. They teach us that white is beautiful, and dark skin is something to be ashamed of.
They want us to believe that whites are intelligent, and the indigenous are inferior, so we will willingly give them control of our nations, which explains the situation today. Throughout the “Americas” we are taught in school that Europeans saved our ancestors from their primitive lifestyle, and forged a new culture, one that incorporates both groups equally. This of course is with the exception of Canada, the United States, Cuba, Argentina & Uruguay; all countries whose indigenous populations were practically exterminated.
There is no such thing as the “mixing” of cultures in “Latin America” or the United States. They used terms like Mestizaje to create the illusion that we became one mixed race. We have taken their language, their names, their religion, their form of government, their economic system, their greed, and their labels, and now the majority (indigenous) has no remembrance of their real culture. Many claim to take pride in heroes like the Mexica (Aztec) ruler Cuauhtemoc, or the revolutionary war hero Emiliano Zapata, but do not really know what they stood for. (see revolutionary soldiers )
Dia de la Raza is celebrated throughout Anahuac (Latin America) by these brainwashed people who believe the day Christopher Colombus arrived on our land is now a day to celebrate. Why would you want to celebrate the mass genocide of your race? Christopher Colombus murdered millions in the Caribbean Islands before the Spaniards even reached the mainland. "La Raza" is a European term for people of Spanish heritage. They want us to believe we are really raza. They want us to believe that we are all equal. However, when it comes to politics, economics, and land distribution it becomes brutally honest that they still consider us, the full-blooded and mixed Amerindians, to be peons.
According to demographics, only 9% of Mexico's population is full-blooded white. When taking into consideration ignorant Mexican aspirations of whiteness, this number is probably inflated by those who are ashamed of their indigenous ancestry. The number would be more like 5% or less.
The African community is the prime example of the mindset we should have when addressing our true roots. The majority of Africans in the United States (The term African-American will not be used on the grounds that it is racist & demeaning to blacks. Why are Whites simply "Americans," but blacks are referred to as African-Americans, when aside from the indigenous they are the only non-immigrants in the country?) now have white genes in them, provided by the slave-owners who raped or had sex with black women.
The people from Anahuac also have a small proportion of white blood in their veins. However, most blacks accept their heritage, which is why they are called African. Mixed Indigenous peoples from Anahuac are labeled Hispanic and Latino, the label of their European oppressors. Blacks do not refer to themselves as Britannics or Mulatto. Therefore, we are NOT Hispanics.
Any Mexican, Caribbean Islander, or Central/South American who speaks of themselves or their ancestors being "light/white, colored eyed, with light hair, and tall" is the perfect example of these race traitors. Some will claim that “My (her/his) mother isn’t dark. She is tanned from the sun.” And for some reasons that are unknown at the time, these vendidos link white skin with height. This is not the case. Spaniards & other Iberians (Latins) are known not for being tall, but for being short.
On the other hand, the Plains Indians, which consisted of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Blackfeet and Comanche, were the tallest group in the world during the late 19th century, according to Ohio State University & Science Blog Magazine. (see News) Despite this fact, height is of absolutely no consequence. Being tall or short does not define your character. However, these misconceptions are important when analyzing the systematic brainwashing of our race.
As a full-blooded or mixed indigenous person, light hair, colored eyes, and white skin are not traits to be proud of. Why would one be proud of appearing as their oppressors? This would be worse than if a Jew was bragging about how his family resembles Adolf Hitler. For someone of the white race, it is acceptable behavior to want to appear as their own. However, it is not acceptable when millions of indigenous & mixed indigenous people are aspiring to look like something they are not.
There is a twisted belief evident throughout "Latin America" that white is beautiful and brown is not. If this is true then why did so many Spaniards come to our lands to marry indigenous women? In the book The Maya, Diego de Landa's Account of the Affairs of Yucatan, Landa, a Spanish invader writes, "The Indian woman of Yucatan are generally better-looking that the Spanish woman, and bigger and well built, but not so large thighed as negressess." He also goes on to say that the men are "very strong."
This same concept of "whiteness" pertains to marriage also. Those who marry into a white family to give themselves a feeling of heightened superiority are race traitors. Those who will deny their heritage and glorify another’s are race traitors.
We are not Latino or Hispanic, nor do we want to be. We have a glorious history that began thousands of years before the invasion of our lands.
When the English/Americans invaded California, they quickly slaughtered or drove out all of the "Indian" and "Mestizo" Mexicans. They allowed the Spanish (Latinos/Hispanics) to remain on the land.
We are indigenous. We are not Latin. Many of us were born with the blood of our oppressors inside of us. This does not make us who we are. Over the past 500 years, we have been denied our true identity. It’s time to reclaim it...The Indian Revolution.
THE SUPERIORITY OF AMERINDIAN CIVILIZATIONS
FOOD AND PLANTS
Botanical Gardens
When the Spaniards first visited the City of Tenochtitlan, they could not believe their own eyes. The extraordinary botanical gardens of the Mexica influenced Europeans to create their own botanical gardens in the 1520's.
Chewing Gum
Quick! What was the first commercially available chewing gum in the U.S.? If you guessed Wrigley's Doublemint, guess again. The first over-the-counter gum was spruce sap, introduced to New England colonists by Native Americans. But even Wrigley's fortune traces its roots to Indian innovation, in the form of the key ingredient chicle. The Aztecs chewed this latex, found in the sapodilla tree.
Chocolate
Two thousand years ago the Maya cooked up Earth's first chocolate from cacao beans. The chocolate of the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec Indians generally took the form of a bitter drink. Sugar was added later to suit European palates.
Fertilizer
When Spanish invaders landed in what is now the nation of Mexico, the Aztecs were already making use of fertilizer, which was unknown to the rest of the world at that time.
Freeze-Drying
The Inca of South America froze potatoes atop high mountains, which evaporated the moisture inside the tubers. Freeze-drying preserved the potatoes for years and helped Spanish colonists to ship "fresh" potatoes all the way back to Europe by boat.
Popcorn
Having developed varieties of corn that exploded into a taste sensation, some Native Americans developed equally intriguing methods of cooking the snack. Some Indians shoved a stick through a dried cob and held it over the fire, weenie-roast style. And in South America the Moche made popcorn poppers out of pottery.
Potatoes, Peanuts, and Corn
(Three fifths of) the world's leading food crops can be traced to plants first domesticated by Indians. Native farmers introduced Europeans to a cornucopia of nutritious plants, including potatoes, peanuts, manioc, beans, tomatoes, sunflowers, and yams. Maize, or corn, was by far the most significant contribution, now grown on every continent except Antarctica.
Vanilla
Indians in what is now Mexico were the first to figure out how to turn the pods of the vanilla orchid into the flavor that launched a thousand soft-serve cones. In fact, Indians were so attached to the taste that they kept the recipe under wraps for hundreds of years after the Spanish arrived.
SCIENCE, MATH & TIME
Calendars
The Olmecs and Mayans created the most accurate systems of telling time in the world. The Aztecs used a 365 day calendar over 100 years before Europeans.
The Concept of Zero
The Mayans understood the concept of the number 0 and were using it in math for thousands of years before the Europeans were introduced to it. They were the first in the world to use the number zero.
Astronomy and Astrology
The Natives of the Western hemisphere were the greatest astronomers in the world prior to the invasion. They knew of all the planets before any Europeans did, and built large buildings solely for stargazing.
Round Earth
The Mayans and Olmecs knew that the Earth was round somewhere between 1500 BCE and 3000 BCE, or approximately 3,000 to 4,500 years before it was accepted in Europe.
OTHER
Sign Language
The Plains Indians used sign language for intertribal communication. Instead of having to learn many different languages, the various tribes decided to use sign language to communicate with one another.
OUTDOOR GEAR
Parkas
Today's ski jackets owe their origins in part to hooded coats Inuit [Eskimo] women fashioned from layers of skins that trapped air for greater insulation. Many parkas were made from caribou, a fur favored for its heat-holding properties.
Snow Goggles
Some 2,000 years before goggles became an Alpine fashion must, the Inuit [Eskimos] created their own versions. Some examples are carved from walrus tusks, with narrow slits that helped thwart glare from snow and the sea.
Duck Decoys
Constructed of feathers and reeds, 2,000-year-old duck decoys were found in Nevada in 1924. Archaeologists believe that early native hunters used them to lure waterfowl much as hunters use plastic decoys today.
Moccasins
Moccasin styles were once so distinctive that they could reveal a person's tribe. (Fringe may have helped erase footprints.) Now native-inspired shoe designs can be found worldwide, from lightweight cowhide moccasins to toasty mukluks, named for the original sealskin or reindeer-skin boots worn by Eskimos.
Camouflage
Throughout the Americas, Indians mastered the art of blending in as a tactic for both hunting and warfare. Many hunters would paint their faces and/or wear the skins of the animals they were stalking. And like many bird hunters today, some Native Americans concealed themselves behind blinds.
HEALTH AND EXERCISE
Surgery
Native Americans were the first people in the world to perform surgery on a human being.
Mummification
The world's oldest mummy was found in "the Americas." This is proof that indigenous American mummification preceded Egyptian mummification by many years.
Syringes
We're not sure how they said, "This won't hurt a bit." But we do know that some ancient North American native healers injected medicine beneath the skin. Making the most of the materials at hand, they fashioned hypodermic needles out of hollow bird bones and small animal bladders.
Dental Care
North American Indians scrubbed their teeth with the ragged ends of sticks, while the Aztec Indians applied salt and charcoal to their choppers.
Ball Games
Were the Maya and Aztec sports fanatics? Having found ancient rubber balls, ceremonial courts, and depictions of ballplayers in Mesoamerica—the parts of the Americas inhabited by advanced peoples before the arrival of Columbus—archaeologists think both cultures revered certain ball games.
Basketball
The Aztecs invented a game called ollamalitzli hundreds of years before "American" basketball was created. The game originated in the 1500s. After the invasion of the Spaniards they began to play the game on horseback. The Aztecs were playing basketball (and polo) centuries before it was introduced in the United States.
Hockey
The Mapuches of South America played hockey long before it was supposedly invented by Canadians.
ARCHITECTURE
Pyramids
The most massive pyramid in the world was built in modern-day Mexico by Native Americans. Modern architecture barely surpassed their expertise in the last several decades.
The great Olmec civilization emerged in South Central Mexico somewhere between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago. Radiocarbon dating places them before 1500 BCE, but many historians believe their society reached as far back as 3000 BCE. They supposedly called themselves the Xi, but little is known about their oral communication because the civilization dates so far back. The definition of Olmec is either “mouth of the jaguar” or “the rubber people,” the latter which was earned because of their discovery of natural rubber over 3,000 years ago.
Olmec Rubber Ball
(1500 BCE)
The first European contact with rubber came when Christopher Columbus got lost in the Pacific and invaded modern-day Haiti. The indigenous tribes used rubber to play a ball game, as the Olmecs did thousands of years earlier. Europeans did not learn how to use rubber properly until the 18th century. But historians do not believe that discoveries of this magnitude are proof of an advanced civilization, unless of course they come from Europeans. European gunpowder, steel, guns, canons, crossbows, and other weapons are considered to be more indicative of sophistication than rubber, even though every one of those “European” inventions were discovered by the Chinese. (see Chinese Inventions)
The Olmecs were the supreme power from 1200 BCE to 800 BCE in the areas of the tropical coastal plains of modern-day Veracruz and Tabasco, but their influence reached Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Rica. Their realm extended from the Tuxtla Mountains in the west to the Chontalpa Lowlands in the east. Archaeologists suggest that their civilization was probably around 350,000 strong. There exist over 170 Olmec monuments in the various region of their empire: 38% at La Venta, Tabasco, 30% in San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlan, Veracruz, and 12% at Laguna de Los Cerros, Veracruz.
Olmec Axe
The Olmec leaders situated the power centers of the empire from east to west in order to maintain order and exploit the natural resources produced in the distinct ecosystems of their dominion. In La Venta there was cacao, rubber & salt. In San Lorenzo there were floodplains & a river line trade route to make traveling and trading more efficient. In Laguna de Los Cerros, which was bordering the Tuxtla Mountains, there was a reserve of basalt. The natural resources of the diverse environments provided materials and goods used for architecture, art, weapons, and trade.
The Olmecs were the first of the North American civilizations to construct permanent cities, and were consequently labeled the Mother Culture of all civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. It is not likely that their influence was as profound on South America as was previously believed, since a recent discovery places a highly advanced civilization (Caral) in Brazil prior to 3,000 BCE, around the same time as the advent of the Egyptian civilization and prior to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.
Olmec Prince?
Olmec society was based on kinship. Their cities were densely populated (for that time) with an average of 50 people per square mile. The urban centers of the Olmecs housed artisans, religious men, and to a lesser extent, peasants. Although La Venta is only two square miles it was a major area for living and worshipping. The pyramid at La Venta was once thought to be a normal Mexican pyramid with a quadrangular base and a flat top, but once all the vegetation was removed, it was found to have a cone top. It is rather small in comparison to other Mexican pyramids. Heizer, a researcher, believed that Los Tuxtlas may have been a previous settlement of the Olmec people, and that the pyramid was created with a cone top to resemble the volcano they once lived by. In the center of La Venta was a ceremonial court used for conducting religious ceremonies, as well as tombs to honor the dead. One of their burial practices included placing bodies in a large sandstone sarcophagus and placing greenstone, figures, jewelry and celt with the body.
In San Lorenzo the Olmecs created ceremonial buildings, elite residences and a house for commoners. This proved that people from all walks of life lived in towns. It is not likely that the spiritual leaders, who were certainly the most revered of all Olmecs, ruled over the peasants. It is more likely that they carried out religious ceremonies and conducted trade with other tribes. Their trade goods included produce grown by commoners, natural resources, artwork and pottery.
The Olmecs had a strong economy that employed advanced agricultural techniques. Over three-fifths (3/5ths) of the world’s produce was first cultivated in the Western Hemisphere, with over ½ originating in modern-day Mexico. The Native Americans cultivated the lands with their sophisticated practices, including a form of indirect genetic manipulation that led to the production of the most extensive variety of plants in the world. Gourds were the first known plant to be domesticated by the Olmecs. Then was the domestication of beans, squash, peppers, avocados, cotton & corn, their chief crop. Their diet was supplemented their diet with fish & shellfish. As with many economies around the world prior to the technological advancements of the last few centuries, the bulk of society tended the fields. Contrary to popular belief, there is no proof that the Olmecs, or any other society in Ixachilan, practiced cannibalism on a grand scale. In fact, Native Mexicans have been eating tamales and other dishes since before 5000 BCE; that’s over 7,000 years ago. The majority of European cuisine is rather recent and makes use of mostly Native American plants.
The most recognized faculty of the Olmec civilization is their architectural brilliance. They are credited with constructing many magnificent structures, including the world’s most massive pyramid at La Venta, which is 459 feet in diameter. They were built of mud and earth. Modern architects barely surpassed the expertise of the Olmecs, who created pyramids over 3,000 years ago, in the last several decades. In 900 BCE earthen platforms were constructed around pyramids to create cities. Some of these platforms had homes built on them. These highly-advanced people constructed a stone drain system that ran to different settlements. Their plumbing system carried water for drinking, showers, baths, toilets and irrigation thousands of years before Europeans began to bathe.
Olmec Glyph
The Olmecs are considered to be the first civilization in Ixachilan to create a written language. Their first known script dates back to over 2600 years ago, but they probably established characters for writing way before this date. They had a syllabic language system (900 BCE – 450 CE) and hieroglyphic script. They wrote in pure hieroglyphics, phonetic hieroglyphics, syllables & logographic signs. Some suggest that their script is from the Vai people of West Africa, but there is no proof to support these assertions.
Many historians attempt to discredit the civilizations of the “Americas” by claiming that they had no written language, or that their writing was not “true” or “pure.” These criticisms arise from utter jealousy. It has been established that the alphabets of English, Spanish, and many other languages were stolen from the Greeks, who adopted the writing system of the Phoenicians, who were influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphics, which are comparable to Olmec glyphs. The Anglo-Saxons did not adopt the system until 700 AD.
The spoken language of the Olmecs was probably analogous to the Mixe and Zoque native Mexican dialects, but some claim it is similar to Manding, a West African language. Of course, there is no genuine evidence to back these claims. Others believe the language was a Mayans/Huastecs mix.
Calendar Wheel
The Olmecs created a complex calendar system that is far more accurate than the Gregorian calendar. In it, 1 Olmec calendar year is equal to 52 calendar years. They also invented the bar and dot system of math and telling time. This is known as the long count calendar. In this system a bar is equal to 5, a dot equal to 1, and a special glyph is equal to 0.
Olmec Jaguar Child
Olmec theology is difficult to comprehend because so little is known about their society. Some historians believe that the Olmecs claimed they descended from the jaguar. They glorified their rulers with spectacular monuments, and sometimes portrayed them and the powerful shamans, as were-jaguars. The were-jaguar is the embodiment of perfection, that which combines the superior human quality of intelligence, and the inborn feline strength and prowess of the jaguar. The Olmecs worshipped divine powers, but did not likely have gods. Europeans to this day are still unable to comprehend that a supreme energy is not the same as a God. The main power was a jaguar, or a jaguar-serpent hybrid. The jaguar is representative of Mother Earth, and the Serpent dominates the water. This mighty combination symbolized supremacy over all things terrestrial and celestial. The jaguar was considered to be the most powerful of all beings, the avatar of the living and the dead, and also the fertility deity. The Olmecs had as many as 10 supreme powers, including that of corn, fire, rain, and Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent.
The image of the Olmec story of creation dates back to 900 BCE. It depicts a “world tree” sprouting out of Creation Mountain. The Olmec’s stela from Izapa shows that they may have believed in the Tree of Life. The tree possesses 7 branches and 12 roots. Although nobody knows what the branches signify, they may represent the clans of the Olmec civilization, and the roots the number of migrations to the established territory.
Olmec Stone Head
The artwork of the Olmecs was highly stylized and naturalistic. They made ceramics, wove cloth of cotton and fibers, made baskets, mats, and polished stone. They carved stelae, freestanding jade sculptures, and basalt sculptures. The Olmecs were known for engraving on pottery and other art, including altars. Altars were used as the thrones of rulers. The ruler was identified on the altar in carving. The jaguar and were-jaguar were presented in many artworks. The Jaguar child, a piece of Olmec art, is known for the slanted eyes and curved mouth that is formed similar to the jaguar. Eagle spirit, another important piece, has an eagle-like mouth, curved eyes and bushy brows. It is believed that they practiced monument mutilation, perhaps religiously.
Colossal heads of helmeted men with thick lips, wide noses, and epicanthic folds were found in Mexico which led many injudicious people to believe that the Olmec civilization came from Africa. The first head was discovered in Veracruz in 1862. They were originally altars and were later carved into the heads. Some believe the huge basalt sculptures were ballplayers. Others feel they may have been sacrificial offering, ancestors, warriors, or rulers. These heads, which were up to 10 feet tall and weighed up to 40 tons, were found as far as 60 miles from the source of basalt, which means they were exceptionally effective in transporting heavy objects. The source of basalt was in Llano del Jicaro, near Tuxtla.
The original inhabitants of Cambodia and the Phillipines also had wide noses and thick lips, as do the current residents of these places, so many believe there was another migration before the Northern Asian one to the Western Hemisphere. For some reason they fail to see that many natives to this day, including those who inhabit the Olmec region, still exhibit these traits. Though DNA tests are not as reliable as one would hope, they have not found any African DNA in these indigenous people.
Olmec Altar
Not much information is available about Olmec leaders, but two have been discerned. Po Ngbe was the founder of the B’aakal Dynasty at Palenque, which lasted from 900-600 BCE. Yo Pe was the ruler at Mojarra in the 2nd Century BCE.
The Olmecs declined between 800 BCE and 400 BCE with the formation of the Maya in the East, Zapotec in the Southwest, and Teotihuacan in the West. San Lorenzo and La Venta declined in importance due to changes in the river system, but Laguna de Los Cerros continued to thrive after 500 BCE. Relatively little is known about the Olmec situation between 500 BCE and 300 BCE, so the causes for the fall of the civilization are shrouded in mystery.
Because this language was so dominant in Mexico prior to the European invasion and is still spoken by many today, various styles were formed in different regions of Mexico & Central America. The groups who have dropped the /l/ in /tl/ are classified as Nahuat speakers. Similarly, those who replaced /tl/ with /l/ are said to speak Nahual.
Nahuatl is spoken in Central & Northern Nahuan, which consisted of Mexico state, Puebla & Hidalgo. The Eastern Nahuan language, which was widely spoken in modern-day Veracruz, is Nahuat. In Michoacan, the Western Nahuan language style, Nahual, dominated the area. Nawat is spoken on the west coast of Chiapas, Guatemala & El Salvador (Southern Nahuan).
Nahuatl was spoken by the Aztecs (Mexica) & their predecessors, the Colhua, Tecpanec, Acolhua, and the Toltecs. Though Classic Nahuatl is no longer spoken on a daily basis, there are over 1.3 million Mexicans who speak Nahuatl as a first language. Unfortunately, this language has been tainted because of prolonged contact with the Spanish language.
Cuitlahuac was a Mexica nobleman, related to both Moctezuma and Cuauhtemoc. After the death of the coward Moctezuma, he became emperor of the Aztec Empire. During this time, the Spaniards had already seized control of Tenochtitlan because Moctezuma allowed them entrace into the royal palace.
Their diseases ravaged away at the Aztecs, but Cuitlahuac was determined to rid his lands of these terrorists. In what is known as the Noche Triste, which was really a great night for the Mexican people, Cuitlahuac attacked the white criminals and drove them out of Tenochtitlan.
Two months after Cortes was kicked out of the Aztec capitol, he returned only to see the epidemic that him and his men had left behind. So many died or were direly ill that Cortes had to leave Tenochtitlan and return at a later time to allow the bodies to decompose.
Unfortunately, Cuitlahuac was one of those victims. The exposure to the highly-advanced European diseases proved too much for his immune system to handle. He died of smallpox only 4 months after he became emperor of the Aztec empire.
Because of his excellent service in the military, the government gave him the title of alcalde mayor of the Yaqui River territory. Soon after, his indigenous roots were re-awakened and he realized that these, and not the Spanish-controlled Mexican government, were the people who he should be fighting with. He adopted the name Cajeme, Yoeme for "he who does not drink."
Cajeme declared the Yaqui River territory a separate republic in 1875 and the government began yet another war against the Yaqui Nation. Cajeme was the first Yaqui leader to utilize the "guerrilla" tactics that had been missing from previous campaigns. He began to tax importers both cash and firearms for entering Yaqui territory. He taught them new ways to wage war against the oppressive Mexican government. Under his supervision the Yaqui were able to defeat the Mexican troops on several occasions, using surprise attacks and modern tactics of war.
Cajeme was captured in 1887 and murdered by a firing squad. Though he died, his legacy lived on in the heart of every Yaqui warrior. His ultimate goal was for the government to give control of the Yaqui territory back to its rightful owners and recognize the Yaqui Nation as a sovereign state. If it were not for the great Yaqui warrior Cajeme, the Yaqui struggle would never have reached such dynamic proportions and may not have recaptured and exceeded the glory of their first major rebellion under Juan Ignacio Jusacamea.
Source: Yaqui Resistance and Survival: The Struggle for Land and Autonomy (1821-1910) by Evelyn Hu-DeHart.
Two centuries later, Tupac Amaru’s grandson Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, labeled Tupac Amaru II led another Incan uprising against the Spaniards. His rebellion was quickly caught and the Spaniards sentenced him to death. His body was drawn and quartered in Cuzco in 1781 in the same location his grandfather was beheaded two centuries prior. Other revolts followed, but were quickly ended by the more powerful Spaniards.
His life happenings prior to the Spanish invasion is obscure, mostly because of the inhumane acts of aggression by the Europeans who destroyed the majority of the Aztec texts because they could not accept the fact that the Aztec Empire rivaled and surpassed any civilization in Europe at that time. Cuauhtémoc hated the Spanish & their religion with a passion.
Cuauhtémoc rose to fame with one memorable incident. The Spaniards were welcomed into the royal palace by Moctezuma against the requests of many respectable Aztec noblemen. Moctezuma, being the coward that he was, quickly yielded to the Spanish invaders and became a hostage in the capitol of his own empire. Cortes left Tenochtitlan to settle a disagreement he had with another Spaniard, Diego Velazquez, of Cuba. While Cortes was absent his lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado savagely murdered 600 Aztec nobles. As the Mexicas gained began to riot outside the palace, Cortés ordered Moctezuma to calm the crowd so he approached the people and told them to disperse. The attack on Moctezuma began when a man from the crowd launched a spear at him. This man was the great and powerful Cuauhtémoc.
Cuitlahuac succeeded Moctezuma as emperor. He quickly drove the Spaniard out of Tenochtitlan and secured the city. This is known as Noche Triste "sad night" to the Spanish, but it was one of the last great nights the Mexican race would see. Cuitlahuac fell to the highly-evolved European disease known as smallpox with 4 months.
After the death of Cuitlahuac's, a council of nobles elected Cuauhtémoc as the next emperor of the empire. At this time, Cortés was busy plotting. He manipulated the Tlaxcalans into joining him against the Mexica. Before the attack, he arrogantly asked Cuauhtémoc to surrender. Cuauhtémoc refused to bow to this animal, and announced that all Christians in his lands would be sacrificed to the Aztec gods.
In March of 1521, Cortés began to advance toward the city of Tenochtitlan by invading adjacent communities. When he reached Tacuba, Cuauhtémoc and the Mexica army drove the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans back in an effective land-water attack.
Despite the success of Cuauhtémoc, reinforcements soon arrived from Hispaniola. 200 men, 80 horses, supplies and ammunition turned the tide in favor of the Spanish, who were able to conquer the Valley of Mexico.
On April 28, 1521, the Spaniards launched the brigantines, a type of ship, and a few days later began a land assault. Cuauhtémoc and his army were greatly outmatched, not because of the Chinese weaponry (steel, guns, cannons, crossbows) the Europeans were equipped with, but because the horses were almost unbeatable in open-field combat. Cuauhtémoc’s warriors became experts at urban guerrilla combat. They easily squashed the initial Spanish assault on Tenochtitlan.
Cuauhtémoc was not defeated by the advanced weaponry, horses, or so-called military expertise of the Spanish. The Spaniards and their indigenous "allies" took control of the city market as to not allow the army of Cuauhtémoc access to any food. With the heart of an eagle, Cuauhtémoc attempted to sneak into the countryside and call upon a new military force to aid him in disposing of the Spaniards. Unfortunately, he was captured along the way. Most resistance ended with the capture of the descending eagle, Cuauhtémoc.
Cortés, when speaking of Cuauhtémoc, said. "A Spaniard knows how to respect valor even in an enemy." Then he allowed Aldrete to torture Cuauhtémoc so that he would reveal the location of "hidden treasures."
Cuauhtémoc did not bend under pressure from these terrorists. In 1525, while Cuauhtémoc served with Cortés' "army," Cortés accused him of treason, which was most likely true. A Christian convert and race traitor informed Cortes of Cuauhtémoc’s plans to start an uprising against the Spaniards. He was found guilty and was sacrificed to the Christian Gods; by hanging. Some of the Spaniards, Bernal Diaz de Castillo for instance, believed Cuauhtémoc to be innocent of the charges, but that meant nothing to this monster.
Cuauhtémoc, the last emperor of the Mexica, did not yield to these terrorists at any instant, not even in death. His last words were: "I knew what it was...to trust to your false promises; I knew that you had destined me to this fate since I did not fall by my own hand when you entered my city of Tenochtitlan."
For years to come he fought against the Mexican government and the American government. He showed no mercy for these trespassers on his land. In 1876, the American government attempted to move the Chiracahua from their home to San Carlos, NM. Geronimo did not stand for this treachery and fled from the government with over 700 other Chiracahua Apaches.
In 1883 General Cook began hunting
for Geronimo and his rebels. After three years, he finally captured the evasive Apache warriors and forced a treaty to relocate them to Florida. Geronimo did not bend at the will of the oppressive Americans, and once again left the reservation.
General Nelson Miles captured Geronimo. The United States government cold-heartedly punished these Apache freedom fighters, and Geronimo spent almost
thirty years of his life as a prisoner. Geronimo appealed to President Roosevelt before his death so that he would be allowed to return to his homeland, so that
he could die and be buried along with his ancestors. The President, showing no compassion for another human being, denied the request.
At the age of 85 years old, in 1909, Geronimo fell off of his horse and remained in a ditch until the next day. He caught pneumonia and died a few days later on February 17, 1909. Goyathlay is one of the most renowned heroes of native American history. His memory will never be forgotten by those who continue in the struggle for indigenous independence.
When the United States squatted on St. Louis in 1804, he refused to allow them to invade his native lands. During the War of 1812, Makataimeshekiakiak joined the deceitful British forces under the leadership of Tecumseh.
In 1832 he led 200 warriors and their families back across the Mississippi. He gained no support from neighboring tribes. Disheartened because of his inability to rally support, he decided to surrender. This was to no avail.
American invaders brutally massacred the Amerindians at Bad Axe River on August 2, 1832. Makataimeshekiakiak was taken captive.
President Andrew Jackson decided to put Black Hawk on display, as one would display a trophy, so he ordered him to be brought east in 1833. He attracted great crowds, as do animals in a zoo. He was forced to cut his hair and wear European attire.
He did not allow these inhumane acts by the government to crush his spirit. He remained proud and his faith intact until his death.
On March 11, 2001, after campaigning throughout the country, the Zapatistas held a rally in Mexico City that reportedly drew 75,000 spectators. Always masked, and accompanied by bodyguards called the White Monkeys, Subcommander Marcos is believed by some to be former professor Rafael Sebastian Guillen.
Chiksika trained Tecumseh to become a warrior. Tecumseh's first military encounter occurred against an army led by George Rogers Clark into the Ohio Country in 1782. Tecumseh, panic-stricken, fled from the battlefield. Humiliated, he determined to never run again. Tecumseh quickly grew into a brave warrior and eventually became a Shawnee leader. He fought against the army of Arthur St. Clair in 1791. The Indians in the Northwest Territory emerged victorious, and Tecumseh became one of the most trusted leaders of the Shawnees. Younger braves especially admired him, because of Tecumseh's call for violent resistance against further white settlement of native land. The Indians would not be so successful against the army of Anthony Wayne in 1794. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Wayne's men defeated the natives, including Tecumseh. Many Indians believed relinquishing much of their land was the only way to appease the whites. Most tribes living in Ohio signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. Under this agreement the Native Americans forsook all of their land except the northwestern corner of present-day Ohio. Not all Indians concurred with their tribes' actions, including Tecumseh.
By the early 1800s, Tecumseh determined that the best way to stop white advancement was to form a confederacy of Indian tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains. Tecumseh believed that no single tribe owned the land and that only all tribes together could turn land over to the whites. He also believed that the Indians united together would have a better chance militarily against the Americans. Tecumseh visited most Indian tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, trying to convince them to unite together.
Tecumseh's younger brother, the Prophet, helped Tecumseh to unite the Indians together. The Prophet had a vision where the Master of Life, the Shawnee Indians' primary god, told him to have the Indians to give up all white customs and products. These things included religious beliefs and agricultural practices, as well as guns, iron cookware, and alcohol...
... The Indians by turning their backs on their traditional ways had offended the Master of Life. If they returned to native customs, the Master of Life would reward them by driving the whites from the Indians' land. Many natives embraced the Prophet's message and joined the two brothers at Prophetstown, a village the two had established in 1808 in the Indiana Territory.
The governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, feared the growing number of Indians congregating at Prophetstown. In 1811, Harrison led an army towards the village. Tecumseh was recruiting Indian allies in the southern United States. He left his brother with orders not to attack the Americans. The Prophet claimed to have received another vision from the Master of Life. In this vision, the Master of Life told him to send his warriors against the Americans. The Master of Life also purportedly said that the soldiers' bullets would not harm the Indians. The resulting battle was known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. The Americans defeated the Prophet and his followers, and they destroyed Prophetstown.
This defeat tremendously weakened Tecumseh's Confederation. Tecumseh had already experienced difficulties in convincing tribes to put aside their traditional differences to unite as one against the Americans. Other Indians, including some Shawnees led by Black Hoof, had actually adopted white customs and had no desire to relinquish them. With his brother's reputation in shambles and their village destroyed, Tecumseh tried to bring his followers back together, but many of these people had returned to their own villages, no longer believing in the Prophet's and Tecumseh's respective visions. During the War of 1812, Tecumseh and his remaining followers allied themselves with the British. Tecumseh hoped that, if the English won, that they would return the Indians' homeland to them. The war ended essentially in a draw. Tecumseh died at one of the most important battles of the conflict, the Battle of the Thames, in 1813. A combined English-Indian force met an American army led by William Henry Harrison. The British soldiers ran from the battlefield, leaving Tecumseh and his Indian followers to continue on their own. The Americans drove the natives from the field, but an American's bullet felled the Indian leader. Tecumseh's death signified the end of united Indian resistance against the Americans. Tecumseh's dream of a united Indian front died with him.
Mexican authorities positioned soldiers in the area where the rebels were hiding, and allowed more to enter Yaqui territory, in hopes of squashing the latest rebellion. The Yaquis proved to be too elusive for the Mexican soldiers. The most they were able to find was Yaqui footprints. Even with the aid of 25 Yaquis who were now subservient to the government they were unable to find the rebels.
In February of 1897, Tetabiakte and Peinado had an active correspondence. One such communication from Peinado was as follows:
"I have always seen in you a man of good heart, and I have great affection for your people, because you are hardworking men.
I will not only give you money, but you can count on tools for cultivation, oxen for your plows, goats, cows and all the land that you wish, either in the Sierra or in the pueblos.
If you like, I could leave Vicam only for your people, so that you can occupy and work freely there; but you must give up your life in the Sierra and become friends of the government.
I have already ordered that the detachments stay in their barracks and when the peace is arranged, they would be withdrawn little by little, and will never return to pursue you.
I regret very much that you, who are our brothers, lead this life, always pursued like wild animals, when you could live in your houses peacefully with your families.
While we are arranging the peace, tell me if you need money or food and I will send them to you."
Tetabiakte informed Mexican authorities that they would consider returning to begin peace talks if all soldiers were removed from Yaqui soil, because this infringed on their right to autonomy. The Mexican government did not flinch. But Tetabiakte felt he could not let this chance pass him by, so he agreed to sign a peace treaty. The date was set for May 15, and the place was the Ortiz Station of the Sonoran Railroad in the Guaymas Valley.
Tetabiakte was joined by 400 Yaqui men, women and children. The most prestigious politicians and businessmen of the area were there to celebrate this joyous occasion. Many signed the document, including Tetabiakte, who was under the impression that the issues he brought up would be addressed in the "submission" statement.
He later found that none of the Yaquis' demands were mentioned in the document, and they were back where they had started. All that was specified in the paper is that the Yaquis are subordinate to the Mexican government and will function as members of Mexican society. The Yoris had deceived them again.
The Yaqui Nation was not satisfied with the lack of change the submission of Tetabiate brought. The Yaquis took up arms again in 1899. They fought government troops along the Yaqui River, where they were sorely defeated. Then they fled to Mazocoba, a plateau in the Sierra de Bacatete. What happened next was one of the worst defeats the Yaqui ever suffered.
An estimated 3,000 were stationed in Mazocoba, including the leader of the rebellion Pablo Opodepe. Many Mexican soldiers found their way into Mazocoba engaging in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Many Yaquis who realized they were going to be captured by the enemy chose death by suicide instead of imprisonment. There was an estimated 400+ dead Yaquis on the battlefield, not including those who plunged to their deaths. Pablo Opodepe was also murdered in the attack.
After seeing the outcome of the battle of Mazocoba, Tetabiakte decided to revert back to the guerrilla tactics that had proven to be successful in the past. Colonel Garcia Pena drew up a new plan for pacification of the Yaqui Nation. In addition to a plan of attack, he included the following stipulations:
1. Military occupation of both margins of the river
2. Circumvallation of the Sierra de Bacatete
3. Intelligence gathering and decisive action by local authorities in the valleys to cut off communication between sierra Yaquis and pacificos (what the subservient workers were known as)
4. Colonization of the Yaqui River
The government then sent out its largest contingent to date of 4,832 troops. Laws banning the sale of firearms were reenacted. Deportation was in effect. On January 18, 1900, government forces engaged a group of Yaquis at Mazocoba. The Yaquis, mostly on foot, were pursued into a box canyon in a rugged portion of the mountains.
Six months later, Tetabiakte was assassinated by one of his lieutenants. His followers brought his body back to one of the Bacatete camps and buried him in the land for which he fought.
Source: Yaqui Resistance and Survival: The Struggle for Land and Autonomy (1821-1910) by Evelyn Hu-DeHart.
Sitting Bull became a leader of the Strong Heart warrior society, and he successfully increased Sioux hunting grounds. However, the U.S. army continually invaded this territory, creating problems within the native economy. From 1863 to 1868, the Sioux fought the army's encroachment. In approximately 1867, Sitting Bull became the first principal chief of the entire Sioux nation. Shortly thereafter peace was made with the U.S. government, although Sitting Bull refused to attend the peace conference or sign the treaty. The Fort Laramie treaty promised the Black Hills would remain in Sioux possession forever.
However, in the mid-1870s, gold was discovered, and press reports brought a rush of prospectors. By 1875, more than a thousand prospectors were camping in the Black Hills. The government ordered the Sioux to their reservations. They were given a deadline of January 31, 1876, and anyone who did not comply was considered hostile. The demand was ignored by the Sioux and in March, General George Crook set up a camp in order to attack the natives.
Sitting Bull and the Sioux realized they could not defeat the army alone, and they must stand with other tribes. They were joined by the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and on June 17, they forced a retreat of U.S. troops at the Battle of the Rosebud, then set up camp at Little Bighorn...
...After the battle, Sitting Bull performed an important religious ritual called a Sun Dance. The Sun Dance was a type of self-torture which included a loss of consciousness. When Sitting Bull emerged from his trance, he told of his vision of soldiers falling from the sky.
Sitting Bull's prediction came true on June 25 when Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led his soldiers into the village along the Little Big Horn River. By the end of the day, Custer and his army of more than 200 soldiers were dead. Sitting Bull thought by winning this battle, the U.S. government would leave him alone, but the fight had just begun. As the battles continued, many of Sitting Bull's followers surrendered. However, Sitting Bull would not give up. Soldiers chasing him found a note that read "You scare all the buffalo away. I want to hunt in this place. I want you to turn back from here. If you don't, I will fight you again."
In 1877, Sitting Bull and his followers escaped into Canada. However within four years, famine forced them to surrender. Sitting Bull was held as a prisoner of war for two years, before he was sent to join other Sioux at Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota. In 1885, Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and traveled throughout the United States and Canada. Some believe he was allowed to join the show to keep him away from the reservation.
When Sitting Bull returned to the reservation in 1889, many natives had joined a new religion called the Ghost Dance. They believed an Indian messiah would return their lands and remove the whites. Because of this new religion, Indian police arrested Sitting Bull on December 15, 1890 as a precaution. They planned to send him to prison, but when his warriors attempted to rescue him, Sitting Bull was killed. He was buried at Fort Yates. In 1953, his remains were moved to Mobridge, South Dakota.
In order to understand more about Emiliano, we need to go back...
European docuementation started in 1521, when the Spaniards first enter Morelos (this was before the Spaniards fought the Mexica.). Anenecuilco, Nahuatl for The Place Where The Water Rushes, existed before the coming of the Europeans. When the Spanirds found out that the land that the Mayan lived on was good for growing suguar, the Spaniards threaten the Mayans people by competing with them for resources. During the 1500's, the diseases that the Spaniards brought declined the Indigenous population. In the late 1500's, sugar boomed. Econimieda was the only reason for this. In 1603, the Mayans of Anenecuilco were becoming endangered. The Spaniards colonist government decided that Anenecuilco population be mixed with that of Cuautla (Nahuatl for The Place of the Eagles).
In 1866-1867, a man named Jose Zapata (not Emiliano's uncle, but from what I been researching, it could be his great-uncle) fought with Porfirio Diaz against the French. He fought with him because Diaz promised him that Anenecuilco will always belong to the people. For this, Jose supported Diaz's to achieve power in the 1870's. In 1876, Diaz became president (1876-1911), but sadly, Jose Zapata died. Diaz felt like he didn't need to what he promised Jose and so the land was not returned back.
In 1887, the hacendado of Cuahuixtla took many lands and homes of the people of Anenecuilco.
Vicente Alonso, owner of the Hacienda Hospital, began a new type of opression towards Anenecuilco. The people of Anenecuilco turned to livestock-raising because they lost most of their fertile lands for growing crops. Hacendado complained that livestock was damaging the crops. Alonso resolved this by sending his men to kill the animals that were grazing on their land.
Emiliano Zapata was born in the village of San Miguel Anencuilco in the state of Morelos on the 8th of August 1879 The son of a 'strong farmer', Zapata grew up to become the most famous leader of the Mexican Revolution. Like Connolly or the Ladies' Land League in Ireland, Zapata is paid much lip service by the Mexican establishment, but his revolutionary ideas are ignored by those who inherited the power won in the Revolution. A gifted organiser, Zapata also spoke Náhuatl, his local indigenous language.
Elected leader of his village in 1909, Zapata began recruiting an insurgent army even before the Revolution beginning in 1910 which overthrew the dictator Porfirio Díaz. The links between the dictatorship and the U.S.A., combined with Mexico's colonial past, gave rise to much 'revolutionary nationalism' - revolution as defence of the nation - which is still a vibrant force today.
Zapata's Liberation Army of the South did not accept the new reformist government under Francisco Madera. The Zapatistas fought on against government troops lead by Victoriano Huerta, the general who overthrew Madera in February, 1913, and was then deposed in 1914. At the following Convention in Aguascalientes, called to decide the future of Mexico, the Zapatistas demanded 'tierra y libertad' - land and freedom - for their people.
This was the core of Zapata's 'Plan de Ayala', produced in November 1911. Clearly influenced by anarchist ideas spread in Mexico by people like Ricardo Flores Magón, Zapata demands the socialisation of land:
The lands, forests and water that have been usurped ... will be immediately restored to the villages or citizens who have title to them ... Because the great majority of Mexicans own nothing more than the land they walk on ... one third of these properties will be expropriated ... so that the villages and citizens of Mexico may obtain ejidos , sites for towns, and fields.
Zapata remained in opposition, fighting against terrible repression, until 1919. Lured to a meeting with government troops apparently mutinying against President Carranza, he was gunned down on April the 10th, 1919. Although the insurgents fought on, and Zapata's ghost was seen to ride the hills of his native state, Morelos, the conservatives won out, and Zapata's ideas of fair distribution of land remained ignored until the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas in the late 1930's.
Zapata's memory, like his ghost, rides on in Mexico. His name has been invoked by the indigenous rebel army in Chiapas, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), in their struggle against exactly the same social ills that Zapata fought against: large landlords and (often foreign-owned) big business running a corrupt and repressive régime that leaves the peasants, particularly indigenous peoples, landless and exploited. Throughout this century, people all over the world have risen up against oppression, taking heart from Zapata's cry:
The first revolt occurred in 1810. It was led by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a parish priest who issued 'Grito de Delores', calling for an end to Spanish rule, redistribution of land, and empowerment of the masses. Costilla and his followers were captured and executed. A following uprising by Jose Maria Moreles y Pavon in 1814 was also crushed, and the disintegrating independence movement turned to guerilla warfare.
Vicente Guerrero led this new struggle and in 1821 he negotiated a treaty with the ruling Spanish elite to gain self determination for the colony. A congress was elected, and after a military rebellion in 1823 Mexico became a republic.
In 1845 the U.S. Congress voted to annex Texas and war with Mexico ensued. By 1848 North American superiority overwhelmed the Mexican Army, and Utah, Texas, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and most of Colorado came under American control.
In 1857 Benito Juarez issued a new constitution in an effort to abolish the remnants of colonialism. Land reforms did nothing however to improve the lives of the majority of the population who lived in poverty. To make matters worse, civil war broke out in 1858 between the liberals led by Juarez and the conservatives. Juarez was victorious and some of his later reforms helped to lessen the excessive power of the church and the army. His liberal successors were not as successful.
In 1876 Porfio Diaz seized power and his monopoly on political power over the next thirty years was a major cause of the revolution in 1910.
The 1910 revolt was led by Francisco i Madero, who advocated neither social reforms nor drastic change. With conservative support, another general, Victoriano Huerta, overthrew Madero. The peasants continued the revolt begun in 1910 and Pancho Villa and Emile Zapata became the two key figures in the struggle against Huerta. Huerta was defeated and control fell into the hands of Venustiano Carranza, a rich landowner who had supported Madero. Civil war broke out between his forces and those of Villa in the north and Zapata in the south. By 1920 the popular uprising had been crushed.
A new party, the PNR, then consolidated power, and depression in the 1930's caused a reversal of land reforms and an increase in the rich/poor divide. The PNR (now PRI) has ruled Mexico ever since with a peculiar one party system.
In 1968 a major student uprising was crushed and the PRI party became more indifferent towards the oppressed masses On 1 January 1994 the EZLN, an unheard-of revolutionary organisation, seized power in parts of Chiapas, southern Mexico, calling for the reforms Zapata had fought and died for. Forty thousand federal troops now surround the revolutionaries, and the Mexican government is again under extreme pressure to reform. The struggle of the indigenous and oppressed people of Mexico has never ceased and the EZLN have captured the imagination and won the support of many.
Related Pages:
MEXA UH's Position on Mexican Identity
Indigenous Identity in the Mexican Census
Racial Make-Up of Native Born Mexicans in 1921