The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma

The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma
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The Glass Pyramid of Tenoxtitlana, constructed in 1985 by Francis Casey.

Navatlaca, officially known in government records as the Navatlaca Empire (Spanish: Imperio Navatlacano) (Navatlaca: Empirio Navatlaca) (Latin: Imperium Navatlacanorum) is a constitutional monarchy situated in North America. It is bordered on all sides by multiple countries. Covering almost 2.8 million square kilometers, it is the second largest country in North America and the eleventh largest country in the entire planet. With an estimated population of 108 million people and growing, it is the seventh most populous country and the most populous Navatlacaphone country on Earth. It is a country that comprises thirty eight provinces and one Imperial District consisting of the capital city of Tenoxtitlana.

In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many indigenous cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmecas, the Toltecas, the Teotihuacanas, the Tzapotēcas, the Mayas and the Aztecas prior to their first contact with Europeans. In 1520, a combined army of Spanish soldiers and native allies under the leadership of Hernan Cortes conquered and subdued the Aztecas. In 1521, large disputes between Cortes and the court of the Spanish King Charles I led to an immediate declaration of independence from Spain which transformed to a bloody war that lasted several years and propagated two more wars that occurred after it.

The beginning years of the post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, tumultuous territorial gains, losses and secessions, and multiple civil wars including multiple foreign interventions and conquests by its neighbors. The latter two led to the Navatlaca Revolution and the Second War of Independence in the 1810s and 1820s which culminated in the establishment of the current political system as a constitutional monarchy under the House of Oaxaca. Parliamentary elections were recently held in 2009 that led to clear majorities being won in both houses by a coalition between the National Alliance and the Conservative Party.

As a economic and military regional powerhouse since its very beginnings, it has joined the official list of potential superpowers for the next century. It is the first member and founder of the Union of Mesoamerican States (UMS), a powerful economic and political organization. Navatlaca has been firmly established as a upper high-income country and is considered industrialized by international standards. It currently has the tenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity. The Navatlaca economy is strongly linked to the partners of the UMS especially the Kingdom of Tlaxcala. It is the world's eighth most visited destination with over 25.1 million internationals coming in as tourists every year. It boasts a long and strong tradition in art, architecture, cuisine and the preservation of their culture. It ranks third in the world and the first in the Americas on the list of LoN International Heritage Sites with 41.

 
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archaeogeek

Banned
That is so getting followed. Awesome to see its second edition (and I love the name and am ashamed to admit it took me three readings to realize Navatlaca is the latin for Nahuatl :p ).
 
I always wanted to make a second edition since I wasn't satisfied with how I did with the first edition when JFP handed over control of the time-line to me. You'll find this version has a lot more focus on the Americas than world events though believe me, you'll see more information on the various Native cultures in the Americas. Oh and you'll see later on when I'm covering the early 1700s that the Navatlacas or at least the elite are going to be hard on for Roman culture and begin adopting some parts of the culture like using Latin as a language for the Hispano-Mexican elite and adopt Latin legal terms and loan words for the Navatlaca language.
 

Zioneer

Banned
Yeeeeesssss, it's back! And better than ever! Excellent! I will be following; especially because of the kind words you gave on my own TL.
 
The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma

A Brief Synopsis of the Navatlaca People's Formation
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The banner of the Navatlaca ethnic group.

The Navatlaca people have varied origins and an identity that has shifted and involved with the successions of foreign conquests of the Mesoamerican empire by the Spaniards and the various Amerindian groups that followed in the centuries afterward. The area that compromises the modern day Navatlaca empire and by extension Mesoamerica has cradled many precursor civilizations going as far back as the Olmeca civilization which the Teotihuacanas, the Toltecas who flourished somewhere around the tenth and twelve centuries C.E and ending with the last great pre-Columbian civilization prior to the Spanish conquest, the Aztecas who dominated the region from 1325 to 1520.


The Nahuatl language was the language most spoken in the region of modern Central Navatlaca during the rule of the Aztecas but after the arrival of Europeans, Nahuatl was briefly displaced by Spanish by Hernan Cortes and the new Hispanic administrative elite ruling the empire for two generations before sharing an equal role with Nahuatl again for a couple more decades. It was later displaced by the languages of other conquerors and their armies from the Maya languages to the obscure Āotomi language. Even the extinct Latin language was adopted at one point as the official language of the government from the late seventeenth to the mid eighteenth century CE. All these languages had left a profound mark in Navatlaca, the modern stage of the Nahuatl language.

After the conquest of the Aztecas, a large portion of Mesoamerica for a brief period of several months remained under the de jure control of the Kingdom of Spain before it broke off under Cortes and his allies. For the first century and a half, the Hispanic elite re-administered and expanded the empire's already vast domains, adding more territory and peoples to the Navatlaca cultural sphere of influence

Cultural diffusion and intermixing in the populations was very limited though it was encouraged and propagated among members of the Navatlaca elite. The lack of women from Europe encouraged the Spaniards to either marry or have sexual liaisons with Amerindian women. The lower nobility encouraged their daughters to marry off with Spanish men and with the later generations prior to the Qumānche conquest, they married with mesticoti and casticoti [1] women to advance their own status in the racial caste system briefly introduced by the Spaniards.

Intermarriage would occur in later centuries beginning with the first incoming flux of immigrants in the 1700s. The immigrants quickly assimilated to the majority Amerindian population within the first and if not second generation but not without leaving a mark that would help in the creation of the modern Navatlaca ethnic and greater imperial Navatlaca national identity which is a mixture of New World and Old World cultures that evolved into one national culture throughout the centuries. This new identity was deemed Navatlaca shortly after the House of Yaxun B’alam was overthrown in the Revolution and was invigorated and developed after the War of Independence which established the Empire as an indivisible pluricultural nation founded on both indigenous and foreign roots.

[1] Both mesticoti and casticoti are the Navatlaca forms of Spanish meztizo and caztizo which as you know were classifications in the racial caste system.

 
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Very interesting stuff. I like the allusions to future developments, like the Comanche conquest.

I'm also interested in this "Navatlaca" language. Is it's phonology the same as Nahuatl? I would think so, since this is basically what has happened with Mexican Spanish, I believe...
 
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Hendryk

Banned
I'm curious about this. I have a soft spot for surviving precolumbian civilizations. What would really make my day was if the native religions managed to survive in a recognizable form, minus the old bloodiness of course, and taking into account the probable mutations and syncretism.
 
Very interesting stuff. I like the allusions to future developments, like the Comanche conquest.

I'm also interested in this "Navatlaca" language. Is it's phonology the same as Nahuatl? I would think so, since this is basically what has happened with Mexican Spanish, I believe...

Navatlaca is to Nahuatl is what English is to middle English or Coptic to late Egyptian; it is essentially the modern evolved form of the Nahuatl language which of course throughout the four hundred and ninety years that I plan on covering (1519-2009) has been supplemented with thousands of loan words from other languages. You're obviously going to see a huge Spanish influence since the elite is going to be predominately Spanish-speaking at least for now. It's going to be a cluster-screw of linguistic influences. And you would notice a bit of Arabic making its way in but that's to be explained further in a future update.

The introduction of horses and gunpowder as in OTL mixed in with a much more delayed and limited European penetration is going to make it very interesting in the Great Plains with the rise of groups like the Kumānche [Comanche], Ābāche [Apache]
, and countless of other Chichimycha tribes.

I'm curious about this. I have a soft spot for surviving precolumbian civilizations. What would really make my day was if the native religions managed to survive in a recognizable form, minus the old bloodiness of course, and taking into account the probable mutations and syncretism.


Roman Catholicism is still going to be the "official" religion of the Navatlaca empire though unlike the situation with New Spain, the very limited amount of Catholic officials are going to have to make concessions with the native population who are strong adherents of the native Mesoamerican religions to convert. The blood sacrifices are going to go. As for the religions themselves, most will disappear and some survive while new religions form. Let's say that you're going to see the roots of a new major religion arising out of the plains.

I like it already.

I'm glad you do. It gets better.
 
The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma

Hernan Cortes: Early Life
Cortes.jpg

A contemporary painting of
Hernán Cortés, unknown date.

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, first Tlàtoānitzin of the Navatlaca Empire (1485 - April 16, 1548) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Azteca empire and brought large portions what is now Mesoamerica under the rule of Spanish king Charles V in the early 1500s for a brief moment of a couple months before disputes between the two led to Cortés' declaration of independence from Spain. Regardless, he was part of a generation of Spanish colonizers that began the main phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Hernán Cortés was born in the year 1485 in the small town of Medellín in modern day Lleón province, Iberia. His father, Martín Cortés de Monroy, was an infantry captain of distinguished lineage but slender means. Hernán's mother was Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. Through his mother Catalina, he was the second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who would attempted and failed in the conquest of the Inka empire of modern day Chichansuyu and Collasuyu (not to be confused with another Francisco Pizarro who would aid Hernan in conquering the Aztecas and aid Hernán's son Martín in the beginning of his reign).

Through his father, Hernán was a twice distant relative to the third governor of Hispaniola, Nicolas de Ovando y Caceres. His paternal grandfather was a son of Rodrigo de Monroy y Almaraz, fifth lord of Monroy and wife Mencia de Orellana y Carvajal.

Hernan Cortés is described as a pale, sickly child by the accounts written by his biographer, chaplain and close companion Manuel Alva de Ixtlilxochitl. At the age of fourteen Cortés was sent to study at the University of Salamanca in west-central Iberia. This was a great center of learning at the time and while accounts different as to the specific nature of his studies, later writings and actions suggest Hernan studied law and Latin.

After two years, Cortés, tired of schooling, returned home to Medellín, much to the irritation of his parents, who had hoped to see him equipped for a profitable career in law. However in those two years at Salamanca, plus his long period of training and experience as a notary in Seville and later in Hispaniola would make him a close acquaintance with the Castillian legal codes that would help him justify his unauthorized conquest of the Azteca empire.

At this point in his life, Cortés was described by Ayala as restless, haughty and mischievous. This was probably a fair description of a sixteen year old boy who had returned home only to find himself frustrated by life in his small town. By this time, news of the exciting discoveries of Colon in the New World was streaming back to Spain.

Flash forwards to 1518, the true story of a man who begot a nation begins.
 
It would be ironic if 'Hispanic' was the word used in the Americas referring to white people.

Isn't it really?

Expect an update either late tonight or tomorrow. I'm trying to get to the more interesting parts of the time-line since I basically did a nice introduction to the thing.
 
Isn't it really?

Expect an update either late tonight or tomorrow. I'm trying to get to the more interesting parts of the time-line since I basically did a nice introduction to the thing.
Well I was referring to the US but I said Americas because you said that there were more Nazatlacaphone countries.
 
Well I was referring to the US but I said Americas because you said that there were more Nazatlacaphone countries.

I did, there are several who utilize Imperial Nazatlaca or languages that are very similar to it.

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An independent Spanish-speaking Mesoamerica...run by Cortes? Kickass.

Consider me subscribed.:cool:

Actually Navatlaca [modern Nahuatl] is going to be the common and dominant language of this empire though Spanish will have a powerful linguistic influence mind you on the development on the language. You will see a predominant Hispanophone minority in various areas of the empire which in some provinces might be in the majority so you'll see eventually a sorts of Quebec-like situation arising.

Bumped.
 
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The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma

Preparations for Invasion and Conquest

Hernán Cortés was by no means the first Spaniard or European for that matter to have visited the mainland coasts of Mesoamerica. He was but one of a series of men commissioned by the Crown of Spain to explore the mainland and establish diplomatic relations and more importantly trading links with the native Māyā peoples who lived there. The year prior to Hernán's famous expedition, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, then governor to Cuba, commissioned a fleet of three ships under the command of Hernández de Cordoba to sail west and explore the Yokatlān peninsula. He did reach the Yokatlān coastline.

The Māyāns at Cape Catoche invited the Spaniards upon which Córdoba had his men read the Requirement of 1513 to the natives. Córdoba took two prisoners whom he named Melchor and Julian to be his interpreters. On the western side of the
Yokatlān Peninsula [1], the Spaniards were ambushed at night by the Maya chief Mochh Couoh. Twenty of Córdoba's men were killed and Córdoba himself was mortally wounded. In the end, only a small remnant returned to Cuba alive.

A year after the ill-fated Córdoba expedition though a bit prior to the expedition of Hernán Cortés, Governor Velázquez commissioned another expedition this time under the leadership of his own nephew Juan de Grijalava. Grijalva's expedition of four ships sailed south along the coast of Yokatlān to the Chontalpanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabasco region [2], a part of the Azteca empire.

Even before Grijalva would return to Cuba, Velázquez decided to send a third and even larger expedition to explore the Mesoamerican coast.
Hernán Cortés, then one of Velázquez's favorites, was named as the commander of the expedition, which created envy and resentment among the Spaniards in the island of Cuba. The governor's instructions to Cortés, in a contract signed on the 23rd of October, 1518 were to lead an expedition to explore the Mesoamerican coast and to initiate diplomatic and economic links with the indigenous coastal tribes.

One account suggests that Governor Velázquez wished to restrict the Cortés expedition to be only a trading one. A hypothetical invasion and conquest of the mainland,
Velázquez felt was a privilege reserved for himself. However by calling upon his knowledge of Castilian law that he gained as a student in Salamanca and the utilization of his ability to persuade others, Hernan Cortés convinced Velázquez into inserting a clause that enabled him to take emergency measures without prior authorizations if such were ".....in the true interests of the Crown."

Perceiving this to be the opportunity of a lifetime, Cortés embarked on this enterprise zealously and energetically. He began assembling a fleet of fifteen ships and a large substantial army of well-armed men and horses. Cortés ostentatiously invested most of his personal fortune into providing the equipment for the expedition and quickly went into debt borrowing additional funds when his own financial assets ran out. Governor Velázquez personally contributed nearly half the cost of the expedition. The very scale of the endeavor added to the envy and resentment of his contemporaries who were also keenly aware of the opportunity that the assignment offered for fame, fortune and glory.


Revoking the commission Velázquez himself must have been keenly aware that whoever conquered the mainland for the Crown would gain fame, glory and fortune to eclipse anything that he could achieve cooped up in Cuba. Thus, as the preparations for departure drew to a close, Velázquez had suspicions that Cortés would be disloyal to him and try to commandeer the expedition for his own purposes, though even then he thought his intent was only to establish himself as governor of the new colony, independent of the governor's jurisdiction. For this reason, Velázquez sent Luis de Medina with orders to replace Cortés. However, Cortés' brother-in-law had Medina intercepted and killed. The papers that Medina had been carrying were sent to Cortés. Thus warned, Cortés accelerated the organization and preparation of his expedition.

He was ready to set sail on the morning of the 18th of February 1519 when Velázquez arrived at the dock in person, determined to revoke Cortés's commission. But Cortés, pleading that "time presses," hurriedly set sail thus literally beginning his conquest of Mesoamerica and nations with the legal status of a mutineer. His contingent consisted of [3] 17 vessels carrying 150 sailors,795 soldiers (including 45 crossbowmen and 18 arquebusiers), 2 doctors, several carpenters, at least thirteen women and a couple hundred native Taino and Ciboney Indians and a couple of Africans, both freedmen and slaves.

[1] Yokatlān Peninsula - OTL Yucatan Peninsula; the place-name was borrowed from the Nahuatl word which meant "place of richness."

[2]
Chontalpan region - OTL Tabasco state in southern Mexico. In this time-line, the old name is retained.

[3] The actual POD begins with
Cortés having a bit more luck with finding more ships, soldiers and weapons for the expedition. The extra numbers are going to be very important later on.




 
Interesting concept Sa'id I will certainly follow this Tl.

Just curios on how you came up with the name Navatlacas?
 
The Navatlacas: Heirs to Hernan and Montezuma

Landing on Kùutsmil
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Ruins of an ancient Māyā ball-court in Kùutsmil, photographed in June 2009 by John Frederick Parker of International Geographic.

The first destination that Cortés decided upon was Kùutsmil Island[1]. The island was populated by the Māyā who are believed to have settled Kùutsmil during the early part of the first millennium CE and older Pre-Classic Olmeca artifacts have also been discovered on the island. The island was sacred to the Māyā moon goddess Ixchel and the locals built temples devoted to her; places that were destinations of pilgrimages especially by women who desired fertility. He was not the first European to visit, being beaten by his contemporary Juan de Grijalva a couple months ago in the previous year. His intention, unlike Grijalava's, was different.

Hernán Cortés spent several months on Kùutsmil, tearing down the local pagan shrines devoted to the goddess Ixchel and attempting to convert the native Māyā population to Christianity. The attempt was somewhat successful; only a significant minority converted to Catholicism and this was mostly done by force while the majority continued to worship Ixchel deeper inland. While at Kùutsmil, Cortés heard reports of other white men living in the Yokatlān. Cortés sent messengers to these reported Castillians who turned out to be the sole survivors of a Spanish shipwreck that had occurred in 1511, Geronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerro.

Aguilar petitioned his Māyā warlord to be allowed to leave and join with his former countrymen, and he was released and made his way to Cortés's ships. According to the accounts written by Bartholomeo Dias of Puerto Rico, Aguilar relayed that before coming he had unsuccessfully attempted to convince Guerrero to leave as well. Guerrero declined on the basis that he was by now well-assimilated with the Maya culture, had a Māyā wife and three mescoti children, and he was looked upon as a figure of rank within the Māyā settlement of Chactemàal where he lived.

Although Guerrero's later fate can not be made certain due to the lack of information past that encounter, it appeared that he eventually rose up in the ranks and eventually overthrow the warlord, becoming the new ruler of the local Māyā kingdom he presided over. He would spend the rest of his life trying to unify the various Māyā city-states and kingdoms to repel multiple incursions by the Spaniards, French, English and of course the "Cortesians." He was probably killed during the Great Siege of Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha [2] in 1534 though his descendants via his mescoti children; one of those descendants, Nakan Khaan, would unify the Māyā and then conquer the Mesoamerican kingdoms and empires to its north.

Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yokatlec Māyā as well as other indigenous languages, proved to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator - a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Azteca Empire that was be the end result of the conquistador turned king's expedition.


[1] Kùutsmil - Cozumel Island in OTL.

[2] Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha - Chichen Itza in OTL.



 
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