The Switchman | Literary Heritage & History

The Switchman Literary Heritage

The whole of Mexican literature is vast, various, and distinguished, characterized by the blend of cultures which have contributed to it. Mexican culture is an intersection of indigenous people, Africans who were brought to Mexico in the slave trade, and the Spanish conquistadors who arrived in 1519 and conquered the Aztec empire. The earliest Mexican works consist of Mayan oral histories; the earliest recorded works are the pre-Columbian Chilam Balam and Popol Vuh, which chronicle many Mayan myths and legends. Most other early literature is Spanish work on two main topics, missionary writing and documentation by the conquistadors. The writing of the conquistadors documents events, geography and the indigenous people they encountered, in the form of journals, annals and letters home and to the Spanish crown. One of the earliest of these is a collection of letters by Hernan Cortes entitled Cartas de Relacion. Spanish missionary writing chronicles the...
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