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Title
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Animals brought by the Spanish
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Description
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Prior to the arrival of the Spanish under Hernàn Cortés, the only domesticated animals in Téotichlan were dogs, turkeys, and ducks. Under Spanish colonialism, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and pigs became endemic to the region, eventually becoming so successful that agricultural products became exported back to Spain. Marveling at the abundance was Spanish settler Gonzalo Fernàndez de Oviedo y Valdéz who stated, “In what land has it ever been heard of or known that in such a short space of time and in regions so far removed from this Europe of ours, so much livestock and crops are produced and in such abundance…” Archaeological research shows that following the 15th century, goats, pigs, sheep, and most significantly, cattle, began to achieve their largest sizes, leading to the desirable agriculture product output. Slaughter houses soon became developed in the Spanish colonies, leading to a dynamic change in diet for the population. For different purposes than consumption, were horses, brought with the Spanish on their expeditions. These specific breeds were part-Arabian and initially bred for herding, making them more slight and maneuverable than the heavier breeds of medieval Europe. Extremely lucrative for the Spanish, a breeding farm was established on Hispaniola, where horses were later exported to Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and eventually, Mexico under Cortés. Mysterious and terrifying to the indigenous population, horses helped ensure the Spaniards’ success and continued cooperation of the remaining Aztecs. An illustration by Amédée François Frézier from A Voyage to the South-Sea shows Spanish guards on horses overlooking Indians playing a game, “to stop disorder.” During the conquest, the dogs of the Spanish, frequently greyhounds and mastiffs, were also an important tool for coercion of the indigenous population of Téotichlan, with the canines trained to maul and disfigure the opposition. One such dog was named “Becerrillo” who viciously attacked indigenous populations for his master, Juan Ponce de Léon. “Becerrillo” went on to have a son, “Leoncillo” who fought under Vasco Núñez de Balboa in the Isthmus of Panama.
Alexander, Michelle M., Christopher M. Gerrard, Alejandra Gutiérrez, and Andrew R. Millard. "Diet, Society, and Economy in Late Medieval Spain: Stable Isotope Evidence from Muslims and Christians from Gandía, Valencia." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 156, no. 2 (2015): 263-273. Frézier, Amédée François, Edmond Halley, and Jonah Bowyer. A Voyage to the South-Sea, and Along the Coasts of Chili and Peru, in the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714: Particularly Describing the Genius and Constitution of the Inhabitants, as Well Indians as Spaniards: Their Customs and Manners ; their Natural History, Mines, Commodities, Traffick with Europe, &c. London: Printed for Jonah Bowyer, 1717. Graham, R.B. Cunninghame. The Horses of the Conquest. Edited by Robert Denhardt. 1949. Grau-Sologestoa, Idoia. "Livestock Management in Spain from Roman to Post-Medieval Times: A Biometrical Analysis of Cattle, sheep/goat and Pig." Journal of Archaeological Science 54, (2015): 123-134. Headrick, Daniel R. "Horses, Diseases, and the Conquest of the Americas, 1492–1849." In . Vol. 41, 95-138. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. Morrisey, Richard J. "Colonial Agriculture in New Spain." Agricultural History 31, no. 3 (1957): 24-29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3740655. Slavicek, Louise Chipley. Juan Ponce De León. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003. Accessed April 2, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=qNUPY1CGZ1MC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Thurston, Mary Elizabeth. The Lost History of the Canine Race : Our 15,000-Year Love Affair with Dogs. United States: 1996. Tordesillas, Herrera y de Antonio. Historia General De Los Hechos De Los Castellanos En Las Islas I Tierra Firme Del Mar Oceano. Madrid: En La Emplenta Real, 1601. Townsend, Richard F. The Aztecs. 3rd ed. New York and London: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
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Relation
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A Voyage to the South-Sea, and Along the Coasts of Chili and Peru: In the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714. Particularly Describing the Genius and Constitution of the Inhabitants, as Well Indians as Spaniards: Their Customs and Manners; their Natural History, Mines, Commodities, Traffick with Europe, &c. by Monsieur Frezier, Engineer in Ordinary to the French King. Illustrated with 37 Copper-Cutts of the Coasts, Harbours, Cities, Plants, and Other Curiosities: Printed from the Author's Original Plates Inserted in the Paris Edition. with a Postscript by Dr. Edmun Halley, Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford. and an Account of the Settlement, Commerce, and Riches of the Jesuites in Paraguay