It should be widely known that Mexican Aztec leader
Moctezuma is one of two indigenous men that appear represented on the facade of the Royal Palace in Madrid along with all the other leaders Spain considered important. It must be pointed out that this representation was incorporated into the building at its time of construction and that that time was well before than the current trend.
Quote:
Statue of Moctezuma II on the Palacio Real [in Madrid, Spain].
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An American in Spain, part 3: Palaces and parks in Madrid
Needless to say that whenever representations of important people are on the facade of royal palaces in Europe, they are all Europeans. Basically, this is the only royal palace in Europe where no one, but two representations are of men that were not Europeans.
There is another interesting fact often ignored or not known by many. As it should be widely known, the conquering of Mexico by
Hernan Cortes and the rest of the Spaniards that accompanied him wasn't possible without the alliance of disgrunted indigenous groups with the ruling Aztecs. Among these disgrunted groups was the
Tlaxcalans. Their role was so important in the conquering of Mexico, that the
Spanish Monarchy included them as a privileged group. Part of this privilege included its members we prohibited from being owned by anyone (but they were allowed to have indians at their service, in fact many were
encomenderos), they were excempt from paying taxes to the Spanish government (in fact, they were allowed to tax the Aztecs and other indians conquered), members of their group was choosen as leaders in various parts of Mexico and even in the conquering of new territorries such as The Philippines and
Guatemala. The privileges of the Tlaxcalans was much more extensive than mentioned here.
Now, here is an intriguing question that revolves on the fact that the Tlaxcalans weren't the only indigenous group that were granted privileges by the Spanish Monarchy.
What were the other groups of privileged indigenous?
There were other things such as
Queen Isabella I of Spain interest in granting protection on the indians and for the first time ever a European power passes laws in the 16th century meant to regulate and lighten the burden on the indians. There were others such as
Fray Antonio de Montesinos who was the first person (a Spanish priest) to hold two sermons in Santo Domingo expressing his protections of the indians. In essence, this was the true beginning of what centuries later would be called
human rights. Or that the Spanish government allowed several indian leaders to go to Europe Spain and study at its universities. This and other things were unheard of by any other European power abd certainly was an aspect ignored or hushed by the rivals of Spain such as England or at times France or other powers bent on gaining a foothold in the New World and Spain was in the way, sort of speak. But this shall not be disturbed in this thread.
I'll repeat,
what were the other groups of privileged indigenous?
An American in Spain, part 3: Palaces and parks in Madrid
Indigenous Tlaxcala: The Allies of the Spaniards
Tlaxcala
Queen Isabella I of Spain
Biography of Antonio de Montesinos, Defender of Indigenous Rights
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