El Lienzo de Tlaxcala

The alliance of the Tlaxcalans, a people with a culture similar to that of their neighbors who are members of the Triple Alliance Mexico, Texcoco and Tlacopan and of the Nahuatl language, with Cortés and the Spaniards under his command, was extremely important, if not decisive. in the conquest of Mexico. When the great city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was taken, and at the same time as the conquest of various places in the center, north, and part of what was later called New Spain, the Tlaxcalans recorded their participation in these actions, as well as the rewards received from the Spanish authorities. And in doing so, they left us a rich set of images that illustrate, from their own vision, what the Conquest was. The Lienzo de Tlaxcala, a kind of epic pictographic account of the actions carried out by the Traxcalans, is one of the most important historical documents to have a slightly more objective view of what happened in that period. The 91 plates that compose it, complemented by the comments of five specialists in this decisive historical period, show that history is much more complex than it superficially appears.