Spaniards in the Nahua City of Xochimilco: Colonial Society and Cultural Change in Central Mexico, 1650–1725

In 1650, a Nahua noble named don Martín Cerón y Alvarado set down his last wishes in a codicil. Eminent but now elderly and frail, don Martín had served many times as governor of the central Mexican altepetl (ethnic state) of Xochimilco.¹ Located by the lakes to the south of Mexico City, Xochimilco was a prominent and populous polity, renowned for its bountiful wetland agriculture. Such was its size and economic vitality that Spanish authorities, under King Philip II, decided to award it superior municipal status as a city—one of just four such designations in the basin of Mexico.² In keeping with his position as the dynastic ruler of a prestigious altepetl, don Martín was a lord of the highest social rank. He could trace his exalted lineage back to Acamapichtli, the Mexica forebear of the Aztec emperor Moteuhcçoma Xocoyotzin.³ By 1650, though, don Martín was the last of his kind. No person in Xochimilco would again hold his honorific title, tlatoani (dynastic ruler). His codicil and an earlier will and testament, both written in Nahuatl, marked the passing of an era.⁴

In the postconquest period, Xochimilco suffered the same demographic catastrophe that befell other parts of the Americas.⁵ By 1650, its population had reached its lowest recorded level.⁶ Don Martín’s own family had not been spared from the appallingly high mortality rates. All but one of his offspring had already passed away by the time he set down his testament. Having deemed his sole surviving son as unfit to inherit the estate, don Martín chose to direct his bequests to San Bernardino de Siena, the city’s Franciscan friary.⁷ He arranged for the establishment of a capellanía, or chantry, through which masses would be held on behalf of deceased family members.⁸ He appointed his confessor, a friar named Alonso de la Lima, as the executor of the estate, and asked that a Spaniard, Diego Hernández, assist the executor in his work. In a sign of the changing times, all of the witnesses who signed their names to the Nahuatl document were identified as Spaniards.

On first glance, the fact of Spanish signatories to a Nahuatl testament is not especially remarkable. Spaniards and members of the indigenous nobility are known to have sometimes established and maintained close associations with one another.⁹ But it is worth noting that don Martín’s testament was set down without the assistance of an interpreter, which suggests that some if not all of the Spaniards present at its drafting were conversant with Nahuatl. In fact, we know from separate sources that some of them were indeed Nahuatl speakers. Don Martín’s last wishes, then, offer us a glimpse into a lesser-known facet of colonial encounters in Mexico, namely that of some Spaniards’ adaptation to a foreign culture and their adoption of a key aspect of it—in this case, language. Thus, rather than framing don Martín’s testament as an example of the declining fortunes of the Nahua nobility—and the end of an esteemed lineage—this article uses the testament as a point of departure for examining cross-cultural exchanges from a Spanish perspective.¹⁰ As such, it provides a look at ethnohistory from a different vantage: that of Spaniards adjusting to life among Nahuas.

Examining the history of a Nahua altepetl from the perspective of its Spanish settlers and creole residents can offer insights into cross-cultural relations in central Mexico. The scholarly literature on Spanish society has typically focused on large, urban areas like the viceregal capitals or provincial cities such as Puebla de los Ángeles, Antequera (Oaxaca), and Santiago de Guatemala, which were designed to be regional centers for colonial authorities.¹¹ Alternatively, we are familiar with the Spanish presence outside those cities, as the owners, administrators, and employees of encomienda estates and haciendas, or as small-scale farmers. These rancheros, historians have noted, claimed Spanish ethnicity, and while they...