Tenochtitlan, Its Food, Drink and Market
Draft: this translation has not yet been checked against the original by a separate review.
- Written
- written in Spanish some years after 1521 (original lost); printed in Italian at Venice, 1556
- Place
- Mexico-Tenochtitlan
- Language
- Italian (translated from a lost Spanish original)
- Kind of source
- description
- Reading time
- 7 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Low
MesoamericaFood, farming and hungerCooking and recipesTrade, markets and moneyHomes, towns and buildingConquest and resistance in the Americas
One cup of frothy cacao, the writer says, will carry a traveler through a whole day without food. The seeds are ground, stirred with water and poured from one bowl to another until a foam rises, and the foam is drunk from little spoons of gold, silver or wood. The same seeds, he adds, serve as the country's money.
The writer was a Spaniard who came to Mexico with Hernán Cortés. He wrote a short description of the land and its people: their food and drink, clothes, weapons, government, temples, the lake and the city of Tenochtitlan. His Spanish text is lost. The account survives only in Italian, in the third volume of Giovanni Battista Ramusio's collection of voyages, printed at Venice in 1556, which calls him only “a gentleman of Signor Fernando Cortés.” No one has been able to say for certain who he was.
He knew the city before and after its fall in 1521. He says he went into the great lord's palace more than four times just to look at it, and he describes the Spanish quarter later rebuilt in the middle of the city, with its churches and monasteries. So he wrote some years after the conquest, and he sometimes moves between what the city “had” and what it “has.”
He was an eyewitness, and a careful one, but he wrote briefly, and we read him through a translation. The Italian translator or printer garbled some words, such as the Nahuatl name of maize, and numbers differ between the printings and the later translations. He wrote as one of the conquerors, and he admired what he found: order, plenty and skill.
Watch how he explains the new by the old: maize is a grain like the chickpea, cacao pods are like cucumbers, the market is three times the square of Salamanca, a cacao seed is worth half a Venetian coin.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note.
Their Food
The grain they make their bread from is a grain shaped like a chickpea. Some is white, some red, some black, and some bright red.1 They sow it, and it grows a stalk as tall as half a lance, with two or three ears on it. The grain grows on these ears, the way it does on millet. This is how they make bread. They put a big pot over the fire, holding four or five jars of water, and light the fire under it until the water boils. Then they take away the fire and throw in the grain, which they call Tavul.2 On top they throw a little lime, to loosen the skin that covers the grain. The next day, or three or four hours later, when it has cooled, they wash it very well in the river, or at home in many waters, until it is clean of the lime. Then they grind it on stones made for the purpose. As they grind, they keep adding water, and it turns into a dough. So, grinding and kneading at the same time, they make the bread. They bake it on large pans a little bigger than a sieve, and they eat it as soon as it is made, because it is better hot than cold. They have other ways of making it too. They make small rolls of the dough and wrap them in leaves. Then they put them in a big pot with a little water, cover it well, and cook them there in the heat and steam.3 They also cook the dough in pans with various other things that they eat.
Their Drinks
[...] They make various kinds of wine to drink.4 But the chief and noblest drink they have is one called Cachanatle.5 It is made from seeds that come from the fruit of a tree. The fruit is shaped like a cucumber, and inside it are large seeds, much like date stones. The tree that bears this fruit is the most delicate of all trees. It grows only in hot, rich land. Before they plant it, they plant two other trees with large leaves. When these are as tall as two men, they plant the fruit tree between them. Since it is so delicate, the two other trees guard it from the wind and the sun and keep it covered. These trees are highly prized, because their seeds are the main money in that country. Each seed is worth about half a marchetto among us.6 It is the most common money there, and the most used, though very awkward next to gold and silver.
How They Make Cacao
These seeds, which they call almonds, or cacao, are ground into powder, and other small seeds they have are ground with them. They put the powder into bowls with a spout, then add water and stir it with a spoon. When it is well mixed, they pour it from one bowl into another until a foam rises, and they collect the foam in a vessel made for the purpose. When they want to drink it, they stir it with little spoons of gold, silver, or wood, and drink it. You have to open your mouth wide to drink it, because it is foam and needs room to melt and go down little by little. Of all the foods eaten and all the drinks drunk in the world, this drink is the healthiest and the most nourishing. Whoever drinks a cup of it can go all day without eating anything else, however far he walks. It is better in hot weather than in cold, because by its nature it is cold.7
The Great City
[...] This great city of Temistitan Mexico8 is built in the part of the lake that has salt water. It is not right in the middle, but near the edge of the water, about a quarter of a league from the mainland at the nearest point.9 The city may be more than two and a half leagues around, close to three, more or less. Most of those who have seen it think it has well over sixty thousand inhabitants, more rather than fewer.10 It is entered by three raised roads of stone and earth, each thirty paces wide or more. One of these roads runs over the water for more than two leagues to the city, another for a league and a half. These two cross the lake and come into the middle of the city, where they join, so that you could say they are all one road. The third road runs from the mainland to the city for about a quarter of a league. Along this road, for three-quarters of a league, a channel brings water from the mainland into the city. The water is fresh and very good, and the stream is thicker than a man's body. It reaches right into the town, and all the people drink from it. It rises at the foot of a rock and a hill, where it forms a great spring, and from there it was brought to the city.11
The Squares and Markets
[...] In the city of Temistitan Mexico there are very large and very beautiful squares, where everything they use is sold. The greatest is the main square, which they call the Tutelula.12 It may be three times as large as the square of Salamanca, and it has arcades all around it. Every day some twenty or twenty-five thousand people are in this square buying and selling. On market day, which comes every five days, there are some forty or fifty thousand. The market is orderly, both in the way each kind of goods has its own place and in the way things are sold. On one side of the square are the people who sell gold. Next to them are those who sell stones of different kinds, set in gold in the shape of birds and animals. In another part they sell beads and mirrors; in another, feathers and plumes of every color, for working and sewing onto the clothes they wear to war and at their festivals. In another part they cut stone into razor blades and swords, a marvel to see that we over here could not imagine. With this stone they make swords and shields.13 In one part they sell men's cloth and clothes of many kinds, and in another women's clothes. In another they sell shoes; in another, the tanned hides of deer and other animals, and headdresses made of hair, which all the Indian women wear. In another they sell cotton. There is a place where they sell the grain they eat, one for bread of different kinds, and one for pies. There is one for hens, chickens, and eggs, and near it hares, rabbits, deer, quail, geese, and ducks. In another part they sell wine of various kinds, and in another garden greens of different kinds. Pepper is sold in that street, and in another, roots and healing herbs, of which they have an endless number. In another are fruits of many kinds, in another timber for houses, with the lime nearby and the stones next to it. In short, every kind of thing stands in its own place, in order. Besides this great square there are others, with markets selling food in different parts of the city.
Notes
- Maize. Like other Europeans, the writer calls it a grain and the food made from it bread. back
- So in this printing; the first printing (1556) has Tayul. García Icazbalceta took the word for the Nahuatl tlaolli, shelled maize (his note, as quoted by Saville, 1917). back
- Maize dough wrapped in leaves and steamed: what Spaniards came to call tamales. back
- The writer calls any fermented drink “wine.” back
- The cacao drink described in the next section. Saville (1917) glosses the word as chocolate. back
- A small Venetian coin of copper, worth very little. The comparison is the Italian text's, made for Venetian readers. back
- In the medicine of the humors, every food and drink was hot or cold, wet or dry by nature, whatever its temperature. A cold drink cooled the body, so it suited hot weather. back
- Tenochtitlan, the Mexica capital, on the site of present-day Mexico City. back
- A league was roughly the distance a person could walk in an hour. back
- So in this printing. Saville's English (1917), made from García Icazbalceta's Spanish, says seventy thousand. back
- Cortés's men broke this aqueduct at the start of the siege of 1521, to cut off the city's fresh water (see The Siege of Tenochtitlan). back
- Tlatelolco, the twin city on the north side of Tenochtitlan, with the greatest market in the valley. Cortés describes the same market in his second letter (see The Great Market of Tenochtitlan). back
- The stone is obsidian, a black volcanic glass. Earlier in his account the writer describes wooden swords with blades of this stone set along their edges. back
Il grano di che fanno il pane è vn grano a guisa di cece, alcuni bianchi, & altri rossi, & altri neri, & vermigli, lo seminano, & fa vna canna alta, come vna mezza lancia, & butta due, ò tre panocchie, doue è quel grano a guisa di panico. Il modo con che fanno il pane è che mettono vna pignatta grande sopra il fuoco, che tiene quattro, ò cinque cantara d'acqua, & gli accendono sotto il fuoco fin che bolla l'acqua, & all'hora gli lieuano il fuoco, & dentro vi gettano il grano, che da loro si chiama Tavul, & sopra esso gettano poi vn poco di calcina, perche gli lieui la scorza che lo copre, & l'altro giorno, ouero de lì a tre, ò quattro hore, che si è raffreddato lo lauano molto bene al fiume, o in casa con molte acque, onde resta molto netto della calcina, & doppo lo macinano con certe pietre fatte a posta, & secondo che lo vengono macinando, gli vengono gettando l'acqua, & si và facendo pasta, & cosi in vn punto macinandolo, & impastandolo fanno il pane, & cuochonlo in certe cose, come tecchie grandi poco maggiori che vn criuello, & cosi facendo il pane, subito lo mangiano, per esser meglio caldo che freddo. Hanno anco altri modi da farlo, che fanno certi pani buffetti della massa, & gli inuoltano in certe foglie d'herbe, & doppo li mettono in vna gran pignatta con poca acqua, & la cuoprono molto bene, & quiui col caldo, & col tenerli stufati li cuocono, & anco in padelle con diuerse cose, che mangiano.
The grain of which they make bread is a grain like the chickpea, some white, and others red, and others black, and vermilion; they sow it, and it makes a cane as tall as half a lance, and puts out two or three ears, where that grain is, like [in] panic [millet]. The way in which they make the bread is that they put a large pot over the fire, which holds four or five jars [cantara] of water, and they light the fire under it until the water boils, and then they take the fire away from it, and into it they throw the grain, which by them is called Tavul, and on top of it they then throw a little lime, so that it takes off the skin that covers it, and the next day, or else three or four hours later, when it has cooled, they wash it very well at the river, or in the house with many waters, so that it remains very clean of the lime, and after they grind it with certain stones made for the purpose, and as they go on grinding it, they go on throwing water on it, and it becomes dough, and so at the same moment grinding it and kneading it they make the bread, and they cook it on certain things like large pans [tecchie?] a little bigger than a sieve, and so making the bread, they eat it at once, because it is better hot than cold. They also have other ways of making it: they make certain small loaves [pani buffetti] of the dough, and wrap them in certain leaves of plants, and after put them in a big pot with a little water, and cover it very well, and there with the heat, and with keeping them stewed, they cook them; and also in pans with various things that they eat.
The grain they make their bread from is a grain shaped like a chickpea. Some is white, some red, some black, and some bright red. They sow it, and it grows a stalk as tall as half a lance, with two or three ears on it. The grain grows on these ears, the way it does on millet. This is how they make bread. They put a big pot over the fire, holding four or five jars of water, and light the fire under it until the water boils. Then they take away the fire and throw in the grain, which they call Tavul. On top they throw a little lime, to loosen the skin that covers the grain. The next day, or three or four hours later, when it has cooled, they wash it very well in the river, or at home in many waters, until it is clean of the lime. Then they grind it on stones made for the purpose. As they grind, they keep adding water, and it turns into a dough. So, grinding and kneading at the same time, they make the bread. They bake it on large pans a little bigger than a sieve, and they eat it as soon as it is made, because it is better hot than cold. They have other ways of making it too. They make small rolls of the dough and wrap them in leaves. Then they put them in a big pot with a little water, cover it well, and cook them there in the heat and steam. They also cook the dough in pans with various other things that they eat.
The grain with which they make their bread is a kind of pea, and there is white, crimson, black, and reddish. Planted, it produces a high cane like a half pike, which gives two or three ears where the grain is, as in Panizo or Panic grass. In order to make bread they take a great olla which they fill with four or five pitchers full of water, and they put fire beneath it until the water boils. Then they take away the fire, and the grain they call Tayul, and over it they add a little lime in order to loosen the thin skin which covers it. In two or three hours when it has become cold they wash it well in the river or in the houses with many waters, so that it comes to be perfectly clean of all the lime, and then they mash it on some stones made for this purpose. When it has been mashed they put water with it and make a paste, and so grinding it and mashing it at the same time, they make the bread. They put it to cook in large earthen baking pans a little larger than a sieve, and as they cook the bread they eat it, because it is much better hot than cold. They have another method of preparing, which is to make some balls of this mass which they cover with leaves and put it in a great pot with a little water, and cover it well so that with the heat and with keeping them covered they are cooked. They also cook it in fritters [tamales] with other things which they are accustomed to eat.
- Maize. Like other Europeans, the writer calls it a grain and the food made from it bread.
- So in this printing; the first printing (1556) has Tayul. García Icazbalceta took the word for the Nahuatl tlaolli, shelled maize (his note, as quoted by Saville, 1917).
- Maize dough wrapped in leaves and steamed: what Spaniards came to call tamales.
Left out of this excerpt.
Left out of this excerpt.
Fanno il vino di diuerse sorti, che beuono, però la principale, & più nobile, che vsano, è vna beuanda, che si chiama Cachanatle, & sono certi semi fatti del frutto d'vn'albero, ilqual frutto è a guisa di cocomero, & dentro ha certi grani grossi, che sono quasi della sorte dell'ossa de' dattili. L'albero che fa questo frutto, è il più delicato di tutti gli altri alberi, non nasce se non in terra calda, & grossa, & prima che si semini, seminansi duoi altri alberi, che hanno gran foglia, & come questi sono all'altezza di due stature d'huomini, in mezzo a tutti duoi seminano quest'altro, che produce questo frutto, accioche quei duoi altri alberi, per esser questo delicato, lo guardino, & difendino dal vento, & dal Sole, & lo tengano coperto. Sono questi alberi in grande stimatione, perche quei grani sono tenuti per la principal moneta, che corra in quel paese, & vale ciascuno, come vn mezzo marchetto fra noi, & è moneta la piu commune: ma molto incommoda doppo l'oro, & l'argento, et che più si costuma di quante sono in quel paese.
They make wine of various kinds, which they drink, but the principal, and most noble, that they use is a drink, which is called Cachanatle, and they are certain seeds made from the fruit of a tree, which fruit is like a cucumber, and inside it has certain large grains, which are almost of the kind of the stones of dates. The tree that makes this fruit is the most delicate of all the other trees; it does not grow except in hot and rich [grossa] land, and before it is sown, two other trees are sown, which have large leaves, and when these are at the height of two statures of men, in the middle between both they sow this other one, which produces this fruit, so that those two other trees, because this one is delicate, may guard it, and defend it from the wind, and from the Sun, and keep it covered. These trees are in great esteem, because those grains are held as the principal money that runs in that country, and each is worth like half a marchetto among us, and it is the most common money: but very inconvenient after [compared with?] gold and silver, and [the one] that is most used of those there are in that country.
They make various kinds of wine to drink. But the chief and noblest drink they have is one called Cachanatle. It is made from seeds that come from the fruit of a tree. The fruit is shaped like a cucumber, and inside it are large seeds, much like date stones. The tree that bears this fruit is the most delicate of all trees. It grows only in hot, rich land. Before they plant it, they plant two other trees with large leaves. When these are as tall as two men, they plant the fruit tree between them. Since it is so delicate, the two other trees guard it from the wind and the sun and keep it covered. These trees are highly prized, because their seeds are the main money in that country. Each seed is worth about half a marchetto among us. It is the most common money there, and the most used, though very awkward next to gold and silver.
They make various classes of wine, but the beverage which is the most excellent and which they use principally is one which they call Cachanatle [chocolate]. They make it of certain seeds produced by a tree whose fruit is after the manner of a cucumber, and inside are some thick grains like date stones. The tree that produces this fruit is the most delicate of all, and does not grow except in hot lands and strong soils; before they sow it they plant two other trees of thick foliage, and when these approach the height of two men they plant between them this one which produces the said fruit, so that the others, because of its delicate nature, may defend it and keep from it the winds and the sun and cover it. These trees are held in great esteem because the said grains are the principal money that passes in the land and each one is of the value of half a marchetto of our money. Inconvenient as this money must be, it comes after gold and silver and is the one most used by every one in this land.
- The writer calls any fermented drink “wine.”
- The cacao drink described in the next section. Saville (1917) glosses the word as chocolate.
- A small Venetian coin of copper, worth very little. The comparison is the Italian text's, made for Venetian readers.
Questi semi, che chiamano mandorle, ò Cacao si macinano, & si fanno poluere, & macinansi altre semenze picciole, che hanno, & gettano quella poluere in certi bacini, che hanno con vna punta, poi vi gettano l'acqua, & la mescolano con vn cucchiaro, & doppo l'hauerlo molto ben mescolato lo mutano da vn bacino all'altro, in modo che leua vna spuma, laquale raccogliono in vn vaso fatto a posta, & quando lo vogliono beuere, lo riuoltano con certi cucchiari piccioli d'oro, ò d'argento, o di legno, & lo beuono, & nel beuer si ha da aprir ben la bocca, perche essendo spuma, è necessario di darli luogo, che la si venga disfacendo, & mandando giù a poco a poco. E' questa beuanda la più sana cosa, & della maggior sustanza di quanti cibi si mangiano, & beuanda, che si beua al mondo, perche colui, che beue vna tazza di questo liquore, potrà quantunque camini, passarsene tutto il dì senza mangiare altro, & è meglio al tempo del caldo, che del freddo, per esser di sua natura fredda.
These seeds, which they call almonds, or Cacao, are ground, and made into powder, and other small seeds that they have are ground, and they throw that powder into certain basins that they have with a point [spout], then they throw water on it, and mix it with a spoon, and after having mixed it very well they shift it from one basin to the other, so that it raises a foam, which they gather in a vessel made for the purpose, and when they want to drink it, they stir it with certain small spoons of gold, or of silver, or of wood, and drink it, and in drinking one must open the mouth well, because being foam, it is necessary to give it room, so that it may come undone and go down little by little. This drink is the healthiest thing, and of the greatest substance, of all the foods that are eaten, and drink that is drunk in the world, because he who drinks a cup of this liquor, however far he may walk, can pass the whole day without eating anything else, and it is better in the time of heat than of cold, because it is of its nature cold.
These seeds, which they call almonds, or cacao, are ground into powder, and other small seeds they have are ground with them. They put the powder into bowls with a spout, then add water and stir it with a spoon. When it is well mixed, they pour it from one bowl into another until a foam rises, and they collect the foam in a vessel made for the purpose. When they want to drink it, they stir it with little spoons of gold, silver, or wood, and drink it. You have to open your mouth wide to drink it, because it is foam and needs room to melt and go down little by little. Of all the foods eaten and all the drinks drunk in the world, this drink is the healthiest and the most nourishing. Whoever drinks a cup of it can go all day without eating anything else, however far he walks. It is better in hot weather than in cold, because by its nature it is cold.
These seeds which are called almonds or cacao they pound and reduce to powder, and also grind other small seeds and put the powder in certain jars with spouts. Directly they add water and stir with a spoon, and after it has been well beaten they pass it from one vase to another, which froths it, and this froth they collect in another jar kept for the purpose. When they wish to drink it, they froth it with little spoons of gold or silver or of wood, and it is then drunk, but they have to open the mouth wide because it is froth, and must have room for liquefying little by little. This is the most healthful and most nutritious aliment of all known to the world, for one who takes a cup of it, though he may make a long journey, can pass all day without taking another thing, and being cold of its nature, it is better in hot weather than in cold.
- In the medicine of the humors, every food and drink was hot or cold, wet or dry by nature, whatever its temperature. A cold drink cooled the body, so it suited hot weather.
Questa gran città di Temistitan Messico è edificata dentro di questa parte del lago, che ha l'acqua salata, non cosi nel mezzo, però alla riua dell'acqua circa vn quarto di lega longe da terra ferma per il piu vicino: puo hauer questa città di Temistitan piu di due leghe, & mezza, & presso a tre poco piu, ò meno di circuito: la maggior parte di coloro, che l'hanno veduta giudica, che vi sieno meglio di sessanta mila habitatori, & piu tosto piu, che meno, entrano in essa per tre strade alte di pietra, & di terra, ciascuna larga trenta passi, ò piu: vna di queste strade vien per l'acqua piu di due leghe, fino alla città, vn'altra vna lega, & mezza. Queste due strade attrauersano il lago, & entrano per mezzo della città, & nel mezzo si vengono a congiongere insieme, in modo, che si potrebbe dire, che sono tutte vna. l'altra strada vien dalla terra ferma qualche vn quarto di lega alla città: & per questa strada vien per spatio di tre quarti di lega vna seriola, ò ruscello d'acqua alla città da terra ferma, ch'è dolce, & molto buona, & piu grossa, che il corpo d'vn'huomo, & arriua fin dentro la terra: della quale beuono tutte le genti, & nasce al piè d'vn sasso, & colle, & quiui si fa vno fonte grande, & de lì è poi stata tirata alla città.
This great city of Temistitan Mexico is built within that part of the lake which has salt water, not exactly in the middle, but at the edge of the water about a quarter of a league away from the mainland at the nearest: this city of Temistitan may have more than two leagues and a half, and near three, a little more or less, of circuit: most of those who have seen it judge that there are better than sixty thousand inhabitants, and rather more than less; they enter it by three high roads of stone and of earth, each thirty paces wide or more: one of these roads comes over the water more than two leagues, as far as the city, another a league and a half. These two roads cross the lake and enter through the middle of the city, and in the middle they come to join together, so that one could say that they are all one. The other road comes from the mainland some quarter of a league to the city: and along this road there comes for a space of three quarters of a league a channel [seriola], or stream of water, to the city from the mainland, which is sweet, and very good, and thicker than the body of a man, and it reaches right inside the town: from which all the people drink, and it rises at the foot of a rock, and hill, and there it makes a great spring, and from there it was then drawn to the city.
This great city of Temistitan Mexico is built in the part of the lake that has salt water. It is not right in the middle, but near the edge of the water, about a quarter of a league from the mainland at the nearest point. The city may be more than two and a half leagues around, close to three, more or less. Most of those who have seen it think it has well over sixty thousand inhabitants, more rather than fewer. It is entered by three raised roads of stone and earth, each thirty paces wide or more. One of these roads runs over the water for more than two leagues to the city, another for a league and a half. These two cross the lake and come into the middle of the city, where they join, so that you could say they are all one road. The third road runs from the mainland to the city for about a quarter of a league. Along this road, for three-quarters of a league, a channel brings water from the mainland into the city. The water is fresh and very good, and the stream is thicker than a man's body. It reaches right into the town, and all the people drink from it. It rises at the foot of a rock and a hill, where it forms a great spring, and from there it was brought to the city.
The great city of Temistitan, Mexico, is built on the salt part of the lake, but not exactly in the middle, for it is a quarter of a league from the nearest part [of the city] to the shore. It is in circumference more than two and a half leagues, or perhaps three, more or less. The majority of those who have visited it estimate the population at seventy thousand inhabitants, rather more than less. Three high causeways built of stone and earth permit entrance [from the mainland] and each of these has a breadth of thirty paces or more. One of them passes over two leagues of water before getting to the city, and the others a league and a half. These two cross the lake and enter the peopled part [outskirts], in the middle of which they come together, so that the two form one. The other runs from the land towards the city for about a quarter of a league, and by it comes an aqueduct or stream of very good and sweet water from a distance of three-quarters of a league. The flow of the water is thicker than the body of a man, and comes into the center of the city. From it drink all the inhabitants. It springs from the foot of a hill where it forms a great fountain from which they carry it to the city.
- Tenochtitlan, the Mexica capital, on the site of present-day Mexico City.
- A league was roughly the distance a person could walk in an hour.
- So in this printing. Saville's English (1917), made from García Icazbalceta's Spanish, says seventy thousand.
- Cortés's men broke this aqueduct at the start of the siege of 1521, to cut off the city's fresh water (see The Siege of Tenochtitlan).
Left out of this excerpt.
Sono nella città di Temistitan Messico grandissime, & bellissime piazze, doue si vendono tutte le cose, che s'vsano fra loro, & spetialmente la piazza maggiore, ch'essi chiamano il Tutelula, che puo esser cosi grāde, come sarebbe tre volte la piazza di Salamanca, & sono all'intorno d'essa tutti portici: in questa piazza sono communalmente ogni dì a comprare, & vendere 20. ò 25. mila persone, & il dì del mercato, che si fa di 5. in 5. giorni, vi sono da 40. ò 50. mila persone. Ha il suo ordine, cosi in essere ogni mercantia separata al luogo suo, come nel vendere, perche da vna banda della piazza sono coloro, che vendono l'oro, & dall'altra vicini a questa sono quei, che vendono pietre di diuerse sorti legate in oro in forma di varij vccelli, & animali. Dall'altra parte si vendono i paternostri, & gli specchi: dall'altra penne, & penacchi d'ogni colore da lauorare, & cucir in veste, per portar alla guerra, & nelle lor feste. Dall'altra parte cauano le pietre da' rasoi, & di spade, ch'è cosa di marauiglia a vederle, che di quà da noi non si puo intendere, & ne fanno le spade, & rotelle. Dall'una banda vendono i panni, & uestimenti de gli huomini di uarie sorti, & dall'altra i uestimēti delle donne, & dall'altra si uendono le scarpe, & dall'altra parte i cuori acconci di cerui, & altri animali, concieri di testa fatti di capelli, che usano tutte l'indiane, & dall'altra il bambace, doue si uende il grano, ch'essi usano, & doue il pane di diuerse sorti, & doue si uendono pasticci, et doue le galline, & polli, & le oua, & quiui vicino, lepri, conigli, cerui, cotornici, oche, & annatre. In vn'altra parte poi si vende il vino di varie sorti, & nell'altra l'herbe dell'orto di diuerse sorti, il pepe in quella strada, in vn'altra le radici, & l'herbe da medicine, che fra loro ve ne sono infinite, & in altra i frutti varij, in altra legname per le case, & quiui vicino la calcina & appresso le pietre & finalmente ogni cosa stà da sua parte per ordine. et oltra questa gran piazza, ve ne sono delle altre, & mercati in che si vendono cose da mangiare in diuerse parti della città.
There are in the city of Temistitan Mexico very large and very beautiful squares, where all the things that are used among them are sold, and especially the greatest square, which they call the Tutelula, which may be as large as three times the square of Salamanca would be, and all around it are porticoes: in this square there are commonly every day 20 or 25 thousand persons buying and selling, and on the market day, which is held every 5 days, there are some 40 or 50 thousand persons. It has its order, both in each merchandise being separated in its place and in selling, for on one side of the square are those who sell gold, and on the other, near these, are those who sell stones of various sorts set in gold in the form of various birds and animals. In another part are sold beads [paternostri] and mirrors; in another feathers and plumes of every color for working and sewing onto clothing, to wear to war and in their festivals. In another part they hollow out [cut] the stones for razors and for swords, which is a thing of wonder to see, which on this side among us cannot be understood, and they make swords and shields of them. In one area they sell the cloths and garments of men of various sorts, and in another the garments of women, and in another shoes are sold, and in another part dressed hides [cuori, for cuoi] of deer and other animals, head ornaments made of hair, which all the Indian women use, and in another cotton, where the grain they use is sold, and where bread of various kinds, and where pies are sold, and where hens and chickens and eggs, and near there, hares, rabbits, deer, quail, geese, and ducks. In another part then wine of various kinds is sold, and in another the greens of the garden of various kinds, the pepper in that street, in another the roots and herbs for medicine, of which among them there are infinitely many, and in another the various fruits, in another timber for houses, and near there the lime, and next the stones, and finally every thing stands in its own part in order. And besides this great square there are others, and markets in which things to eat are sold in various parts of the city.
In the city of Temistitan Mexico there are very large and very beautiful squares, where everything they use is sold. The greatest is the main square, which they call the Tutelula. It may be three times as large as the square of Salamanca, and it has arcades all around it. Every day some twenty or twenty-five thousand people are in this square buying and selling. On market day, which comes every five days, there are some forty or fifty thousand. The market is orderly, both in the way each kind of goods has its own place and in the way things are sold. On one side of the square are the people who sell gold. Next to them are those who sell stones of different kinds, set in gold in the shape of birds and animals. In another part they sell beads and mirrors; in another, feathers and plumes of every color, for working and sewing onto the clothes they wear to war and at their festivals. In another part they cut stone into razor blades and swords, a marvel to see that we over here could not imagine. With this stone they make swords and shields. In one part they sell men's cloth and clothes of many kinds, and in another women's clothes. In another they sell shoes; in another, the tanned hides of deer and other animals, and headdresses made of hair, which all the Indian women wear. In another they sell cotton. There is a place where they sell the grain they eat, one for bread of different kinds, and one for pies. There is one for hens, chickens, and eggs, and near it hares, rabbits, deer, quail, geese, and ducks. In another part they sell wine of various kinds, and in another garden greens of different kinds. Pepper is sold in that street, and in another, roots and healing herbs, of which they have an endless number. In another are fruits of many kinds, in another timber for houses, with the lime nearby and the stones next to it. In short, every kind of thing stands in its own place, in order. Besides this great square there are others, with markets selling food in different parts of the city.
There are in the city of Temistitan, Mexico, very large and beautiful plazas where they sell all of the things which the natives use. There was especially the great plaza which they call the Tutelula [Tlatelolco], which may be three times the size of the great square of Salamanca. All around it are porticos where every day from twenty to twenty-five thousand people come to buy and sell. But on the market day there are assembled as many as forty or fifty thousand. This plaza has a system of its own, for each class of merchandise has its own place. On one side of the square are those who sell gold [in quills], and on another those who sell [precious] stones of divers classes mounted in gold shapes of various birds and animals. In another part they sell beads and mirrors, in another feathers and tufted crests [of birds], of all colors to adorn the cloths they wear in war and holidays. Further on they are busy turning stones into knives and swords, which is a marvelous thing to see, and of which we here [in Spain] have no idea, and with them they make swords and bucklers. In one part they sell cloths and garments of various classes for men and in another the habiliments of women. In another place they sell sandals, in another the tanned skins of deer and other animals, and finery for the head made out of hair, which all the Indian women wear. Here they sell cotton, there the grains which they use for food, further on bread of divers sorts, then pastry, then hens, chickens, and eggs. Near them are hares, rabbits, deer, quail, geese, and ducks. Soon we arrive at a place where they sell wines of various classes, and then we find all sorts of vegetables. In this street they lay out the peppers, in that medicinal roots and herbs, of which the natives know an infinite variety. In another street they have various fruits, and further on fire-wood for houses, near-by lime, and following it, [building] stones. In fact each thing is by itself and in order. In addition to this plaza there are others, and markets for food in different parts of the city.
- Tlatelolco, the twin city on the north side of Tenochtitlan, with the greatest market in the valley. Cortés describes the same market in his second letter (see The Great Market of Tenochtitlan).
- The stone is obsidian, a black volcanic glass. Earlier in his account the writer describes wooden swords with blades of this stone set along their edges.
Who and what this source names, in the original. Each name links to every source in the library that mentions it. Not yet checked.
Ideas
- Cacao The beans from which chocolate is made. In Mexico and Yucatán they served as money. Sections beuande, cacao.
- Fresh water supply Bringing drinking water to a town from a spring or river. Tenochtitlan stood in a salt lake and drank from a spring on the shore, brought in by an aqueduct along a causeway; the Spaniards cut it at the start of the siege of 1521. Sections citta.
- Gold and silver The metals European explorers hoped above all to find in the Americas, and asked about by signs from the first meetings. Sections beuande, piazze.
- Healing plants Roots, leaves and bark used as medicine, by Indigenous healers in the Americas and by European herbalists and apothecaries. Sections piazze.
- Maize (corn) The grain of the Americas, eaten as bread, porridge and drink and planted in hills or holes made with a stick. English writers called it Indian corn. Sections cibi.1.
- Markets and trade Buying, selling and trading goods: markets, merchants, money and the routes along which goods traveled. Sections piazze.
- The humors The four body fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) that doctors from Hippocrates to the 1800s believed had to stay in balance for health. Sections cacao.
Places
- Lake Texcoco The salt lake in the Valley of Mexico, joined to freshwater lakes to the south. Tenochtitlan was built on islands in its western part and linked to the shore by causeways. Sections citta.
- Mexico-Tenochtitlan The Mexica capital, built on an island in a lake in the Valley of Mexico. Cortés entered it in November 1519, was driven out in June 1520, and took it by siege in 1521; Mexico City was built on its site. Sections citta, piazze.
- Salamanca A city in Castile known for its university and its great square, which Cortés used as a measure for the market square of Tenochtitlan. Sections piazze.
- Tlatelolco The twin city just north of Tenochtitlan on the same island, with the great market Cortés described. Sahagún's Nahua informants came largely from there. Sections piazze.
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, vol. 3, Venice 1606
Internet Archive (Getty Research Institute copy). fols. 255r–255v, 258v. Public domain (published 1606).
The printing our text follows.
Ramusio, Terzo volume delle nauigationi et viaggi, Venice 1556
Internet Archive (John Carter Brown Library copy). Public domain (published 1556).
The first printing, the oldest surviving text of the account.
Other translations of this passage. Links go to copies that are free to read online.
Marshall H. Saville, 1917. English. Public domain.
The whole account, translated from García Icazbalceta's Spanish and compared with the Italian.
Joaquín García Icazbalceta, 1858. Spanish. Public domain.
The whole account, with the Italian text printed below.
New translation from the Italian text of the Relatione as printed in Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, vol. 3 (Venice, 1606), folios 255r–255v and 258v. Parts of five short chapters of a longer account, about 1,200 words of the Italian: maize bread, drink and cacao, the city, and its great market. Cuts are marked. The Italian is itself a translation, made in the sixteenth century from a Spanish original that is lost.
The writer's long chains of clauses joined by “and” are broken into sentences. His names for American things (Tavul, Cachanatle, Tutelula) are kept and explained in the notes.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, vol. 3, 3rd ed. (Venice: Giunti, 1606), Relatione d'alcune cose della Nuoua Spagna, fols. 255r–255v and 258v. Digital text: Internet Archive item dellenavigationi00ramu (Getty Research Institute copy), OCR text, extracted by code and read against the page images. The volume was first printed in 1556.
- Transliterated
- Not needed: the original is in the Latin alphabet
- Close English
- Close translation, kept as a working draft
- Simplified English
- Made by Hearth from the original. Not yet checked by a separate review.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain. Our translations and notes: CC BY-SA 4.0; credit “Hearth Library, hearthinteractive.com” with a link.
Sources for the notes
- Ramusio, Giovanni Battista, ed. Delle navigationi et viaggi. Vol. 3. 3rd ed. Venice: Giunti, 1606. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/dellenavigationi00ramu. Fols. 255r–255v and 258v, read in the page images; the account's title and its chapter on weapons, in the OCR text.
- Ramusio, Giovanni Battista, ed. Terzo volume delle nauigationi et viaggi. Venice: Giunti, 1556. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/terzovolumedelle32ramu. Catalogue record, index, and the OCR text of the chapters on food and drink.
- García Icazbalceta, Joaquín, ed. Colección de documentos para la historia de México. Vol. 1. Mexico, 1858. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_WJk6nlChEKYC. The opening of the Relación de algunas cosas de la Nueva España (pp. 368–371), OCR text only.
- Saville, Marshall H., trans. Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan, Mexico. New York: Cortes Society, 1917. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/narrativeofsomet00savi. Introduction (pp. 7–14), chapters 8–10 and 18–20, and notes 24–25.
- Cortés, Hernán. Cartas y relaciones de Hernán Cortés al emperador Carlos V. Edited by Pascual de Gayangos. Paris: Imprenta Central de los Ferro-Carriles, 1866. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/cartasyrelacione00cort. Third letter, p. 209 (the cutting of the aqueduct).