ABSTRACT
Hernán Cortés’ long letters to King Charles of Castile describe the exotic and unusual customs he and his armed band encountered as they advanced toward Temixtitan in 1519. But in light of the thirteen millennia or more that had passed since there had been any sustained contact between people of the Old World and the New, what is striking about his account of Mexico is how familiar it all was. Upon reaching Temixtitan (modern day Mexico City), he wrote:
There are many chiefs, all of whom reside in this city, and the country towns contain peasants who are vassals of these lords and each of whom holds his land independently; some have more than others… And there are many poor people who beg from the rich in the streets as the poor do in Spain and in other civilized places.
(1986, pp. 68, 75)