Was the fall of Constantinople responsible for modern Mexico?

It’s a question that challenges however we’ve traditionally understood 1 of history’s astir important encounters. The accepted communicative of 1521 focuses connected conquest, colonization, and taste destruction, a position that has shaped Mexican nationalist individuality for centuries. But 1 arguable historiographer is present asking whether this framework, portion historically close successful galore respects, mightiness beryllium incomplete.

To recognize it, we indispensable archetypal relocate ourselves to the East. It’s 1453. Constantinople, 1 of the world’s astir fabulously affluent cities, has been reduced to rubble. Sultan Mehmed II waits until dawn connected May 29th to unleash his 80,000 troops against what’s near of Constantine XI’s defenses, who look for 1 past hopeless effort to prevention the glittering Byzantine capital. As churches pain and Ottoman flags are raised implicit the Hagia Sofia, present claimed for Islam, an undetectable but destructive ripple cascades westward. And it’s arsenic if a hairline fissure appears beneath Tenochtitlán, the Americas’ grandest stronghold, which by 1521, would beryllium gone. The satellite would beryllium irrevocably changed – forever.

Was the autumn of Tenochtitlán triggered by the Turks? Perhaps, argues 1 historian. (Wikimedia Commons)

From Ottoman power to Spanish exploration

Constantinople’s strategical value successful planetary commercialized cannot beryllium overstated. For centuries, the Byzantine superior controlled the Bosphorus Strait, 1 of the large commercialized routes connecting East and West. The strait connected with the legendary Silk Road, opening European gates to goods — notably spices and teas — from China, India, and Central Asia. The city’s geography made it Europe’s astir important commercialized halfway for a bulk of the Medieval era.

The Ottoman Empire’s emergence was aggressive, and brought devastating tariffs to these onshore routes connecting the 2 continents (sound familiar?), severely affecting the lucrative spice trade. It made consciousness for European nations to question alternate proscription routes, arsenic economies were crumbling, particularly successful captious Italian city-states similar Venice and Genoa.

Spain, too, was feeling the blow, and the country’s effect was rooted successful centuries of maritime tradition. Spanish seafaring traced backmost to past times, erstwhile the Iberian Peninsula was location to coastal peoples similar the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians. Spain’s geographic vantage was stark: its extended coastlines connected some the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea were perfectly positioned for oceanic exploration. By the 15th century, Spain had already started investing heavy successful uncovering caller trading oversea routes, and Christopher Columbus’s 1492 expedition unsocial has been reported to person outgo astir US $530,000 successful today’s currency.

The Age of Discovery: A planetary transformation

Columbus famously miscalculated his way to Asia, believing India was astir 4,000 km westbound of Spain, little than a 4th of the existent distance. This geographical error, combined with Spain’s entree to Atlantic commercialized winds, led him to a spot chartless to immoderate European astatine the time, launching what we present telephone the Age of Discovery.

The Age of Discovery was marked by immense increases successful European territory crossed the “newly discovered” world. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Age of Discovery would past until 1600 and encompass acold much than the uncovering of the Americas. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias proved Africa could beryllium circumnavigated erstwhile helium rounded the Cape of Good Hope. A decennary later, Vasco da Gama reached India utilizing this precise route, establishing a caller question (pun intended) of nonstop European-Asian oversea trade. In 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, proving to the satellite that the Americas were abstracted continents. The Magellan-Elcano expedition (1519-1522) completed the archetypal planetary circumnavigation. 

As these expeditions proved the satellite was bigger than antecedently thought, Spanish attraction shifted from seeking a transition to Asia toward exploring and establishing settlements successful recently accessible lands. These planetary shifts would famously pb Spanish conquistadors to the bosom of the Mexica Empire, wherever Hernán Córtes and his indigenous allies would defy each likelihood and laic siege to the aureate capital. 

“The decision marked not lone the extremity of the Mexica Empire but the commencement of a caller assemblage nine dominated by Spain,” writes historiographer Stuart B. Schwartz. In the span of 30 years, Western knowing of satellite geography would beryllium fundamentally transformed, a displacement that would alteration the mode humans understood some the satellite and each other.

Challenging the accepted narrative

Mexican historiographer Juan Miguel Zunzunegui is among those offering a antithetic and somewhat arguable perspective. Instead of framing the Spanish brushwood arsenic purely convulsive subjugation, Zunzunegui proposes it was an “inevitable encounter” betwixt 2 worlds that created a caller civilization — not Mexica, not Spanish, but Mestizo.

“The stories we archer ourselves astir ourselves go our reality,” observes Zunzunegui who, successful summation to being a historian, is besides a writer, philosopher, and lecturer known for his captious and revisionist attack to Mexican history. Born successful Mexico City successful 1975, Zunzunegui has authored implicit 20 books including “The Myths That Gave Us Trauma,” challenging accepted narratives astir Mexico’s origins. “Through a humanities communicative you conception the world successful which you live,” helium explains.

Historian Juan Miguel Zunzunegui. (Aggi Garduño)

Academic enactment for this taste synthesis mentation comes from Colin MacLachlan of Tulane University. In “Imperialism and the Origins of Mexican Culture,” MacLachlan argues that “modern Mestizo civilization evolved implicit the centuries arsenic a synthesis of Old and New World civilizations.” Both Spain and Mesoamerica were “on akin humanities trajectories” erstwhile they collided.

“This thought that everything was cleanable present earlier the Spanish arrived… is not lone false, it’s precise dangerous,” Zunzunegui argues. For galore historians, including Zunzunegui, it comes down to facts: Mexico is the effect of the premix betwixt Indigenous and Spanish cultures. Mexico did not beryllium earlier 1521, and what did beryllium astatine that clip was by nary means a cleanable society. The Mexica, arsenic almighty arsenic they were astatine their peak, survived lone astir 200 years and conquered galore different indigenous civilizations done warfare. The boundaries of present-day Mexico were scattered among peoples connected chiefly done warfare and commercialized — not a unified paradise.

The science of decision narratives

“If the blasted for each our diminution lies successful an lawsuit from 500 years ago, we’ve conscionable handed our powerfulness to whoever tells that mentation of past that we believe,” Zunzunegui suggests. He makes an absorbing comparison: are Turks perpetually retelling stories of Constantinople’s destruction, a civilization that acold surpassed Tenochtitlán successful some powerfulness and age? In fact, they bash not; they determination guardant and adapt, and let this rhythm of conquest and rebirth to service arsenic a stepping chromatic successful the impactful travel that has made Turkey the humanities powerhouse that it is today.

“In Mexico we marque heroes of everyone who is violent, who leads revolutions, but astir importantly, everyone who fights precise hard and loses. We don’t marque heroes of those who win.” Mexico’s inclination to glorify the loser — Cuauhtémoc, Hidalgo y Costilla, Zapata —profoundly affects the nationalist mentality, encouraging a consciousness of victimhood. “If each peoples make humanities myths to unite themselves, wherefore bash we successful Mexico archer ourselves a story of defeat, of humiliation? You can’t expect to archer each the children successful Mexico that ‘we were humiliated, we were looted, we were conquered,’ but spell up and determination the state forward.”

Reframing Mexico’s instauration story

So wherefore isn’t it “the emergence of Mexico” arsenic opposed to the “fall of Tenochtitlán”? This reframing isn’t conscionable semantic: it’s transformative. Instead of viewing 1521 arsenic an ending, could it alternatively beryllium seen arsenic a beginning? After all, it would beryllium the commencement of thing unprecedented successful quality past — the gathering of East and West, that awkward enactment betwixt Moctezuma and Córtes, is possibly the astir bonzer infinitesimal that mankind has ever experienced.

The irony is striking: Constantinople’s fall, intended to consolidate Ottoman powerfulness successful the East, mightiness person inadvertently triggered the instauration of a caller civilization thousands of miles away. The economical pressures that forced Spain into the Atlantic were 1 origin that acceptable successful question a concatenation of events that would commencement modern Mexico — a synthesis that neither Mehmed II nor Constantine XI could person imagined.

“We are children of gods connected some sides of the ocean,” Zunzunegui reflects. “Europe crossed the Atlantic to conscionable present with the champion of America. That, for me, is the synthesis of Mexico’s history.” Thanks to Constantinople’s fall, planetary forces went into enactment and converged to make thing wholly new. This reframing offers not conscionable humanities accuracy, but nationalist empowerment. In a satellite wherever each federation tells empowering stories astir its origins, Mexico’s communicative of synthesis and translation could beryllium told arsenic the singular accomplishment it whitethorn person been.