Macuilxóchitl

This painted map of Macuilxóchitl made in 1580 forms part of an iconographic corpus of local knowledge produced in response to the official questionnaires used to compile the Relaciones geográficas by the Council of the Indies in the 1570s. However, as often happens in such colonial endeavours, the official questions generated unanticipated responses. So, while the Council requested astronomic positions, data, observations, hydrography and geometry, some local authorities commissioned ‘drawings’ or ‘paintings’ from those who had local knowledge: the tlacuiloque or Nahua ‘painters’ or ‘scribes.’ Between words and images a colonial space of creative translation was opened, one capable of producing a documentary record that presented –and continues to present– challenges to interpretation. Macuilxóchitl was a small village in the diocese of Antequera in Oaxaca. Macuilxóchitl was also a Mexican calendar god, associated with games and music, otherwise known as Xochipilli, the prince of flowers and fertility. We do not know for certain the identity of the artist, but it is clear the painted map is making a historical claim on the legitimate possession of the site, at the time contested by other Zapotec lords. It also depicts the consequences of the rapid decline of human populations due to disease and the presence of invasive, Old World livestock. It is a haunting, historical chart of past and unfolding events, of old and new territorial claims, and of the postconquest transformation of the Mexican countryside.