“The Fifth Sun. Another history of the Aztecs” (Fifth Sun. A New History of the Aztecs), by Camilla Townsend, translated from English (United States) by Sylvie Taussig, Albin Michel, 416 p., €26.90, digital 19 €.
Who knows the Aztecs? Who knows that they never gave themselves this name? Until now, only the stories of their conquerors have been taken into account and have forged the memory of this civilization. However, contrary to the idea that has long prevailed, it did not disappear completely between 1519 and 1521, when the Spanish conquistadors of Hernan Cortes colonized what is now Mexico. In The Fifth SunAmerican historian Camilla Townsend reverses the perspective thanks to a set of little-known documents, written by indigenous people in the decades following colonization.
Despite the scale of the massacres and destruction perpetrated by Europeans, the colonized preserved large sections of their collective memory in the xiuhpohualli, chronicles recounting significant events over the centuries. Remained buried in archives, these stories express the point of view and the conscience of the people of the Aztec empire, in their common language, Nahuatl.
The first episode reported by the xiuhpohualli takes place in our year 1299, at the beginning of the Fifth Sun (the last epoch of the Aztec era). Fleur de Bouclier, a Mexica princess of royal blood, is then sacrificed by the ruling dynasty of another ethnicity. On the threshold of the stake, she prophesies defeat and misfortune to her executioners, who will effectively become the subjects of her descendants. This type of story with the flavor of a mythological tale punctuates Camilla Townsend’s demonstration, which traces the slow and patient rise of the Mexica, a minority group within the Aztec peoples, from the inhospitable island of Tenochtitlan. Around the lakeside city with innumerable and delicious palaces (the future Mexico City) a sophisticated political and social organization was built, equipped with an administrative, educational and commercial system as sophisticated as it was efficient, governing millions of inhabitants at its peak, at the beginning of the 16th centurye century.
In addition to this level of development, which dazzled the conquistadors upon their arrival, the historian restores the subtle poetic refinement of this forgotten society, evident in the colorful first names of the Aztec chiefs – Hummingbird Feather (Acamapitchli), Aquatic Beetle (Axayacatl)… But it also describes the cruel harshness of the empire, which resorted to an increasing number of human sacrifices as it extended its hegemony – a degree of ritual violence which helped to establish through terror the political domination of the Mexica social elites.
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