Tenochtitlan

Thomas Kole recently released several 3-D reconstructions of Tenochtitlan and the lake on which it was situated.  The remarkable city, the home of the Mexica/Aztecs, which left Cortez and his conquistadors in awe, had been constructed over the two centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.  I've written about the city and its conquest before, see Ten Years After: 1519-29.  Kole's reconstruction captures the scale of the city and the terraforming required for its development and is well worth a look.  A couple of screen shots are below.  Because the lake was filled in after the fall of the Mexica it is difficult without such visual aids to capture what once existed.  That fill is unstable and is why today's Mexico City is so susceptible to earthquake damage.

 

Yo, Adrian

On this date, 180 years ago, the Mexican army occupied San Antonio for the second time in 1842.  Though it would be evicted several days later, the event is a reminder that even after the surrender of Santa Anna after the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, Mexico refused to recognize the independence of Texas until 1848.

The hostility was mutual, with the Texian republic attempting invasions of Mexico on several occasions, as discussed in the post When Texas Invaded New Mexico.  The first Mexican invasion in 1842 triggered Texian suspicions of the Tejano population and led to Juan Seguin, a hero of the war for independence, to flee to Mexico as recounted in Juan Seguin Returns to the Alamo.   The invasion also led to the bizarre episode of the Texas Archive War.

The Mexican army general leading the occupation of September 11, 1842 was Adrian Woll, and his career exemplies the wandering and cross-national and cultural allegiances of many figures of that period like Sam Houston, who at various times was a citizen of the United States, the Cherokee Nation, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas.

(Woll)

A native of France, where he was born in 1795, the young Woll served in Napoleon's army as part of the prestigious Imperial Guard.  After Waterloo and the Bourbon restoration, Wool sought his future and his fortune in the New World, arriving first in the United States where he had a letter of introduction to General Winfield Scott, then commander of the US Army in the northeast states.  Winfield advised Woll that there were great opportunities for someone like him in Mexico where its war for independence was underway.

Arriving in Mexico and using his past experience as an entry point (serving under Napoleon was a great asset), Woll rose quickly in the military, eventually joining the forces of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.  After independence he became a Mexican citizen, appointed colonel in 1828 and brigadier general in 1832, assisting Santa Anna in suppressing internal rebellions.

When Santa Anna crossed the Rio Grande in February 1836 to suppress the rebellion in Texas, Woll served as quartermaster general, arriving in San Antonio two days after the fall of the Alamo.  Fortunately avoiding San Jacinto, where Santa Anna was defeated and captured, Wool was tasked by General Filisola, the senior Mexican commander, to seek an armistice with the Texians.

In 1842, Woll was appointed commander of the Department of Coahuila and ordered to invade Texas.  Seven days after occupying San Antonio, Woll's troops were defeated at the Battle of Salado Creek, and retreated across the Rio Grande.

Despite his defeat, Woll was hailed as a hero, promoted to Major General and given command of the Army of the North.  Amid the constant tumult of Mexican politics, in 1844 Woll joined a revolt against Santa Anna, was arrested and imprisoned and then freed the following year.

During the American invasion in the Mexican War, Wool served under Santa Anna once again, until Winfield Scott captured Mexico City, at which point Wool left for Europe, while Santa Anna, deposed once again, fled the country.  Five years later, Woll returned with Santa Anna, who seized power once again, only to be tossed out again a year later, and the general, once again, returned to Europe (Santa Anna ended up on Staten Island).

In the late 1850s, the peripatetic officer returned to Mexico and was reinstated as a general, this time defending the government of Miguel Miramon against the insurgency of Benito Juarez.  Though Wool was successful militarily, the Miramon government collapsed and Woll, like so many times before, returned to Europe.

The final sojourn of the occasional Mexican general occurred in 1863 when he returned to support Napoleon III's effort to installed the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico.  Named as adjutant general of the occupation forces, Woll also became Maximilian's chief aide-de-camp.  In the fall of 1865, Maximilian dispatched Woll to France to meet with Napoleon to urge changes in the military support being provided.  Upon arriving in France, Woll discovered that, under pressure from the United States, Napoleon had decided to withdraw French troops from Mexico, leaving Maximilian on his own.  Woll decided that his best course of action was to finally stay put in France, where he died in 1875.  Maximilian, determined to establish his reign as Emperor stayed in Mexico, where his army was defeated and he was captured and executed in 1867.

That 'Ol Liquid Mercury (Cast Its Spell On Me)

(Teotihuacan from wikimedia)

A Mexican archaeologist has announced the discovery of a large quantity of liquid mercury sealed in a chamber beneath the ancient city of Teotihuacan.  The ruins, which lay about thirty miles from Mexico City, were the largest city in the Americas from 100 AD to 700 AD with a population estimated at 200,000.  The location is a World Heritage Site and contains several stunning pyramids (THC had the thrilling experience of climbing one of them several years ago).
(Pyramid THC climbed)
Much of the history and purpose of Teotihuacan remains a mystery and the discovery of the mercury only adds to it.  It may very well be evidence of a royal burial chamber.  In this it may be strikingly similar to the burial tomb of the Emperor Qin in Xian, China, also the location of the Terracotta Warriors, which THC and the Mrs visited in 2004.
(From Smithsonian)

The warrior figures were buried as part of the burial plan for the Emperor Qin, who died in 209 BC, after brutally unifying China.  A mile from the burial site of the warriors is the burial mound of the Emperor which stands several hundred feet tall.  It has never been opened.  Legend had it that within the burial chamber:

‘Mercury was used to fashion the hundred rivers, the Yellow river and the Yangtze river, and the seas in such a way that they flowed’.

(Qin burial mound from dailygrail)

While formerly dismissed as mere legend, measurements taken of the soil in the mound since the 1980s have shown unusually high levels of mercury.  We may not know the truth about the presence of mercury for some time as Chinese authorities have decided that no excavations will be permitted until such time as it is certain that whatever is uncovered can be preserved.  When the Terracotta Warriors, discovered in 1974, began to be excavated their brightly painted exteriors, which had survived 2,000 of burial, vanished when exposed to the air and the Chinese do not want a repeat of that with the Qin burial mound.

THC will keep you posted!