Sec. 1. _The Nahuas and Mangues of Nicaragua._ Among the outlying colonies of that important people whose chief seat was in the Valley of Mexico, and who are variously known as Aztecs, Mexicans or Nahuas, were several in Central America. "One of these," writes Mr. Squier, "occupied the principal islands in the Lake of Nicaragua, the narrow isthmus which intervenes between that lake and the Pacific, and probably a portion of the country to the southward, as far as the gulf of Nicoya. Their country was less than a hundred miles long, by twenty-five broad; yet here they preserved the same language and institutions, and practiced the same religious rites, with the people of the same stock who dwelt more than two thousand miles distant, on the plateau of Anahuac, from whom they were separated by numerous powerful nations, speaking different languages, and having distinct organizations."[1] This Nahuatl tribe gave the name to the Province, _Nicaragua_, this being, according to some early authorities, the personal appellation of their chief at the epoch of their discovery, in 1522, and, according to others, their national name.[2] For no sufficient reasons, Mr. Squier applied to them the term _Niquirans_, and Dr. Berendt _Nicaraos_, but it seems better to retain, as distinctive for them, the name _Nicaraguans_, or, more specifically, "the Nahuas of Nicaragua." "Nicaragua" is undoubtedly a Nahuatl word, but, as the letter _r_ is not found in that language, the precise original form is uncertain. Father Francisco Vasquez explained it as a compound of the Nahuatl _nican_, "here," and _anahuacos_, "here dwell those from Anahuac;"[3] or it may be from _nican_ and _nahua_ (plural form of _nahuatl_), "here dwell those speaking the Nahuatl tongue;" or, as a personal name of a chief, it may be _ni calaquiya_, "I entered into, or took possession." How it happened that this fragment of the Aztec nation had become detached from the main body and resident so far from its central seat, has not been clearly explained. Mr. Squier and some others have maintained the hypothesis that the migration of all the Aztec tribes was from south to north, and that their scattered members in Central America were bands which had stopped on the road.[4] This opinion, however, is refuted by the evidence of language, and also by the unanimous traditions of the Aztecs themselves, both in Nicaragua and in Mexico. The Nicaraguans had a very positive recollection that their ancestors came from Mexico, driven forth by scarcity of food, and that they wandered along the Pacific shore to the locality in which the Spaniards found them.[5] They remembered the names of their ancient home, or, rather, of their ancient kindred, and gave them as _Ticomega_ and _Maguateca_, locating them toward the west ("hacia donde se pone el sol"). It is easy to recognize in these words the Aztec terminations signifying _gens_ or tribe, _mecatl_ and _tecatl_, which in the plural drop the _tl_. Nor can we be far wrong in identifying _magua_ with the Aztec _maque_, upper, above, and _tico_ with _tiachcauh_, elder brother, and in translating these names, the one as "the upper people," _i. e._, the dwellers on the lofty interior plateau, and "our elder brothers," _i. e._, the senior and ranking clans of their tribe, who remained in Anahuac.[6]
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:04:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015