Aztecs Published IN1887, the Aztecs:

Aztecs

Published in1887, the Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs by Lucien Biart offers insight into Aztec scholarship at the turn of the last century. This edition of the book was translated from the original French version by J.L. Garner. Biart wrote the historiography during a period of relative ignorance in scholarship as well as limited public knowledge about pre-Columbian Mexico.

The first half of the book offers a basically chronological look at the evolution of human societies in Mexico. However, Biart's organization is not strictly chronological. Chapter 1 introduces the material with a thorough evaluation of Mexico's geography: including its diverse climate and terrain. Biart suggests that geography informs the development of culture. Geography determines which plants and crops grow and which animals flourish. Moreover, a geographic analysis helps historians understand how warring factions might have used terrain as a military advantage. Biart also suggests that geography may have impacted the interactions between indigenous Aztecs and the conquistadors.

Chapter 2 addresses the different pre-Aztec inhabitants of Mexico including the Maya, Tarascos, Otomites, Chichimecs, Alcolhuas, Tlaxcaltecs, and Nahuan tribes. Throughout the first half of the Aztecs, Biart refers to Mexico by its Toltec name Anahuac. Anahuac was incredibly diverse not just in terms of geography and terrain but also in terms of culture. Biart describes four distinct kingdoms, three republics, and smaller states. The author also notes that Cortez was able to take advantage of the rivalries between the various kingdoms and republics.

Chapters 3 through 5 offers much of the meat of the book on the Aztecs. These three chapters detail the rise and fall of the Aztec empire and also reveal much about the kingdom's operations and political philosophies. The remaining twelve chapters of the Aztecs detail Aztec culture and form the heart of the book. Biart spends a good deal of time on the development of the Aztec calendar from its Toltec and Mayan predecessors. In Chapter 6, the author centers the discussion on Aztec cosmogony, including views about the soul. Chapter 7 addresses more formal religious rites and rituals including the political structure of Aztec religious institutions. In Chapter 8, Biart discusses the element of human sacrifices and other uses of ritual feasting in Aztec culture. Chapter 9 is about the election of kings and therefore addresses Aztec political culture. Aristocracy and class differentiation is also addressed in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 lists Aztec rites of passage from birth until burial and cremation and also includes a discussion of marriage customs. In Chapter 11, the author explains Aztec education systems including the transmission of knowledge from mother to daughter and from father to son. The justice and penal systems are addressed in Chapter 12, and Chapter 13 introduces Aztec military institutions, structures and strategies. Chapter 14 includes a survey of Aztec transportation networks as well as commercial activities. Biart also addresses agriculture in Chapter 14. The author continues the discussion about Aztec commerce in Chapter 15, which focuses more on labor issues. Chapter 16 offers an account of language arts and performance arts including music as well as sports and other leisure activities. The final chapter of the book delves more into Aztec visual arts and architecture. Biart does not offer a formal conclusion other than the one brief paragraph at the end of chapter 17 that wraps up the book.

The Aztecs has flaws, many of which are due to the time period in which it was written. Biart's language is engaging and the Aztecs is as accessible to a lay audience as to a scholarly one. The book is referenced as well as possible, and the author relies on as much primary source material as was available at the end of the 19th century. However, several of Biart's sources are European, making them unreliable accounts for an explication of Aztec civilization. The primary source material from the Aztecs is scant, and Biart draws conclusions based on archaeological evidence as much as from first-hand narratives. Biart is aware of and apologetic for the limitations in research, noting early in the book that primary source material for Aztec culture is limited.

Another weakness of Biart's work can be attributed to the prevailing style of writing and scholarship in the 19th century. The author makes amusing inferences about Aztec culture that seem like silly stereotypes to modern readers. For example, page 48 in Chapter 3 is filled with characterizations and generalizations about the culture such as "Like other men, the Aztecs are a prey to the passions; they are able, however, to control them with an uncommon force of will." The author continues, "Anger, love, and jealousy may trouble them, but these passions rarely make them commit the extravagances so common among Europeans," (Biart p. 48). Here the author demonstrates a serious bias in the work: repeatedly glorifying the Aztecs. The Aztecs sometimes seems to be about the author's impressions of Aztec culture more so than about the culture itself. Sometimes the book seems like an account of encounter between the civilized Europeans and the primitive indigenous people of Mexico. The author compares Aztec society with European society at several times in the book.

Throughout the Aztecs Biart broadcasts a deep admiration for the culture. The author's palpable admiration of the Aztecs usually works in the book's favor by providing a post-colonial examination of a pre-Columbian society. Except for the stereotypes and generalizations that occasionally creep into the historiography, Biart uses his personal respect to bolster the book. For instance, using the Toltec name for the country and also describing the geographic terrain using pre-Aztec connotations bolster the validity of Biart's enterprise. The author openly decries the decimation of Aztec society by the Spaniards, too. Instead of viewing the Aztecs through a colonial lenspiece, Biart as much as possible tries to paint a picture of what pre-contact Mexican civilization might have been like. The author explicitly states this main purpose of the book in the prologue. That purpose is mainly fulfilled, especially given the lack of primary source material.

When describing Aztec culture in depth during the second half of the historiography, Biart refrains as much as possible from judgment. However, Biart does project European values and cultural norms on whatever scant hard evidence the author has. The author does not note which specific archaeological findings might have led to conclusions about issues like Aztec military culture. Nevertheless, the ethnology Biart provides is invaluable: one of the first times a historian was able to present a pre-contact culture in a positive light while offering an unveiled critique of colonialism. The Aztecs is fascinating as much for its lending insight into European worldviews at the turn of the century as for the book's content.

The Aztecs proves to be a tremendous resource of information on Aztec culture. In spite of its flaws and its being outdated, Biart's book is one of the earliest compendiums of its kind. The material Biart included in the book addresses almost all aspects of Aztec society and the Aztecs is admirably thorough. Including issues related to gender, class, and social power strengthens the work too.