Blog #3: Brandon's thoughts on Monte Alban and Encounter

The incredible differences in historical accounts was never more evident than on our trip to Monte Alban, where living history and historical text clash.  The experience of walking the ruins of grand civilization that has since fallen into obscurity is an amazing one. However it is impossible to base the experience on the history in the textbooks because in the case of historical terms the empire of the Zapotecs is dead and gone but the Zapotec people are still very much alive.  This distinction makes studying the historical aspects of the civilization interesting because it has to be done with the understanding that the people that once lived within and around the compound at the top of Monte Alban (shown below) have survived long beyond the walls that their ancestors once inhabited.

The problems that stem from history that is taught from textbooks is examined in Victors and Vanquished, which presents both the Aztec and Spanish accounts of the same events.  Because it is the victor that gets to write history, much of the story is lost in the text. This is true in almost every instance in history, the story is the same in what is now the United States the story of western expansion would look very different from a Native American standpoint but because the European immigrants pushed with such relentless numbers and with so much tenacity that they were unable to intimidate or scare them away.  In the case of the Aztecs fighting the Spanish forces stationed the Spanish references show a savage force of Aztecs who are unreasonable and are so numerous that no matter what the Spanish throw at them they swarm back with more numbers than ever.  This account portrays the Spaniards as fearless warriors taking on impossible odds to benefit the crown and to escape the city.  This differs so greatly from the Aztec recount given, which portrays the Spaniards as murderers who take advantage of the Aztecs. The portrayal of the fight between the two is that the Aztecs “could only fight with sticks of wood; they were cut to pieces by the swords” (of the Spaniards).

While the history of the Zapotec people is not so black and white, the textbook history of the people stops at the moving away from Monte Alban and the living history of the people continues to be written every day as they adapt to changing conditions, there is still a substantial difference between what is taught and what is the reality of the situation.  The site at Monte Alban is a reminder of the civilization the Zapotecs once held, but it is not the end of the story, it is simply the end of a chapter in their tale and the beginning of a new journey.

- Brandon-