Kaufmann, Daniel. 1998. Research on Corruption: Critical Empirical Issues. In Economics of Corruption. Ed. Arvind K
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Cortés, Hernán Kaufmann, Daniel. 1998. Research on Corruption: Critical Empirical Issues. In Economics of Corruption. Ed. Arvind K. Jain. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Transparency International. 2005. Corruption Perceptions Index
org/policy_and_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2005. Wade, Robert. 1985. The Market for Public Office: Why the Indian State Is Not Better at Development. World Development 13 (4): 467-497. World Bank. 2001. Governance and Corruption. World Bank
Arvind K. Jain CORTÉS, HERNÁN 1485-1547 Hernán Cortés is best known as commander of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. His life reveals the human, political, and intellectual dimensions of Spain’s American empire and the use of history in shaping an understand-
As commonly occurs in the biographies of self-made heroes, the few facts of Cortés’s youth have been sup- planted by speculation to invent the lineage, training, and experience that befit so-called singular men of the Renaissance. Cortés was born in 1485 in Medellín, a small town beside the Guadiana River in Extremadura. His parents were poor hidalgos (members of the lower nobility), for whom biographers would claim illustrious ancestors, cele- brated for heroism and learning. At fourteen, Cortés was sent to learn Latin with the husband of his father’s half- sister in Salamanca. These preparatory studies have been misconstrued and, since 1875, when Bartolomé de las Casas’s History of the Indies (c. 1560) was published, oth- ers have repeated his belief that Cortés held a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Salamanca. However, Cortés returned home after two years, for which the deci- sive event in his education was instead an apprenticeship with an escribano (notary) in Valladolid, from whom he learned the skills used in the Caribbean and later in his own letters, reports, edicts, and briefs. Cortés departed Spain in 1504, landing in Hispaniola, the administrative center of Spain’s colony and only permanent settlement until 1507. He received a small encomienda (grant of land with the right to native labor) from the governor Nicolás de Ovando and was made notary of the newly founded town of Azua, in the south of the island, an area subdued with his aid. Because an abscess in his thigh (perhaps syphilis) left Cortés unable to join the ill-fated 1509 expedition of Alonso de Hojeda and Diego de Nicuesa to Darién and Veragua, he remained in Azua until 1511, when he enrolled in the conquest of Cuba, serving its leader, Diego Velázquez, as secretary more than as soldier. Cortés’s years as notary had earned him allies and taught him the workings of the colony at a key juncture in its existence. In 1509, Christopher Columbus’s son, Diego Colón, had replaced Ovando as governor, spurring the settlement of neighboring islands. Justifiably wary of Colón’s ambitions, the royal treasurer Miguel de Pasamonte would recruit Cortés to report on the conquest of Cuba, a service that Cortés capably performed without alienating Velázquez. Despite such oversight, demands for exploration grew over the next years due to the influx of settlers and the precipitous decline of Hispaniola’s native population. The conquests of Puerto Rico (1508), the Bahamas and Jamaica (1509), and Cuba (1511) only tem- porarily relieved this labor shortage, and did even less to satisfy the ambitions of colonists from Europe. This state of affairs was further complicated by the protections ceded to the Amerindians under the Laws of Burgos of 1512, the recall of Colón to Spain in 1514, and the death in 1516 of Ferdinand II of Aragon, who had ruled Castile and its overseas possessions as regent after Isabel I died in 1504. Amid uncertainty and competing claims to legitimate and effective authority, the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, sought to steal a march on potential rivals by organizing an expedition to the uncharted lands southwest of Cuba, about which there had been reports as early as 1506, and especially since the voyage of Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1511. To this end, a small fleet embarked under Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1517 and, when this group reported finding a rich land (the Yucatán peninsula) with an advanced, urban population (the Maya), another flotilla was sent under Juan de Grijalva in 1518. Although this expedition met armed resistance, this was seen as a sign of social and polit- ical order, a conclusion reinforced by the artisanship of the items obtained in trade and by stories of a great land called México. Using this information, brought in advance of Grijalva’s return by a ship bearing the most seriously wounded, Velázquez demanded formal consent to colonize from the Hieronymite friars representing the Crown in Hispaniola, and from the Crown itself in Spain. While awaiting an answer, Velázquez sought to advance his claim to the title of adelantado (military and civil gov- ernor of a frontier province) by launching a much larger mission, ostensibly to search for Grijalva who had in fact returned, and also “to investigate and learn the secret” of 146 INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2ND EDITION Cortés, Hernán any new lands discovered (Documentos cortesianos, vol. 1, p. 55). It is possible that Velázquez conspired to have this expedition defy his orders not to settle these new lands, in that Las Casas reported that he later reprimanded Grijalva “because he had not broken his instruction” in this regard (Las Casas 1965, vol. 3, p. 220). In any event, Velázquez did not anticipate the disobedience to be shown by Cortés, whom he made its captain. Velázquez’s motives in naming Cortés remain unclear; for although Cortés had served Velázquez and was able to commit resources, he was an independent spirit; although liked and respected, he was not known as a soldier. The difficulty of hiding Grijalva’s return and the uncertainty of Cortés’s loyalties together explain the haste of the latter’s departure, which occurred on February 18, 1519, with six hundred soldiers and sailors in total. CORTÉS AND THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO From the expedition’s start, there were tensions between hidalgos with holdings in Cuba, loyal to Velázquez, and others hoping to improve their lot by backing Cortés. The voyage along the coast of the present-day states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Tabasco confirmed these lands’ civilization and wealth, and provided an essential means for their eventual conquest: a shipwrecked Spaniard held captive by the Maya, Gerónimo de Aguilar, and a Nahuatl-speaking native woman enslaved in Tabasco, Malinche (Malintzin or Marina). Translating in tandem and later independently, they enabled the Spaniards to communicate and gather intelligence. A key fact learned was that many of the peoples sub- ject to the Mexica (Nahua or Aztecs) deeply resented the tribute imposed upon them, and that others such as the city-state of Tlaxcala were at war. Cortés would astutely exploit these ethnic and regional divisions, which per- sisted under Spanish rule, but first he needed to free him- self and his troops of the commission received from Velázquez so they might lay claim to the profit of their endeavor. To this end, he arranged to found the settlement of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz and had its cabildo (town council) review the legitimacy of Velázquez’s orders. The report sent to Spain with an impressive cargo of booty on July 10, 1519, was signed by this cabildo, yet bears Cortés’s imprimatur in its style and content. Depicting Velázquez as a self-serving tyrant, it states that the collec- tive will of the Crown’s subjects residing in the land was to assist their nation and faith by settling there, so they might lead its people from abhorrent rites to Christian religion. For this, the settlers would answer only to the Crown and had implored Cortés to be their captain. It would not suit Cortés to relate these actions, in which he is said not to rebel but to acquiesce to the legitimate demands of his fellow subjects; it is unlikely that Cortés sent a letter of his own, as he and others have claimed. Stripping and scuttling his ships so that no one could turn back and sailors might become soldiers, Cortés headed inland toward the Mexican capital of Tenochtitlán with approximately 15 horsemen, 400 foot soldiers, and more than 1,300 Totonac Indians. Claiming to be either an ally or foe of the Mexica in accordance with the loyal- ties of those encountered, Cortés made his way first to Tlaxcala, and then to Cholula, negotiating an alliance with the former after a series of skirmishes, and defeating the latter in part with intelligence obtained through Malinche, who warned that the Cholulans had prepared an ambush, despite protestations of friendship. Here as later, Cortés used exemplary punishment to make known the cost of treason, executing several thousand Cholulans as a warning to others. Though effective, this act was con- demned in later years by political rivals and critics. On November 8, 1519, the Spaniards were received by Montezuma II in the city of Tenochtitlán. Although impressed by the splendor of the city and Montezuma’s control of such a vast and diverse empire, Cortés was con- cerned by what might happen to his forces, amassed on an island in a lake, should this control , as indeed came to pass. For when he left to meet the challenge posed to his authority by an armada sent by Velázquez, hostilities broke out, so that by Cortés’s return on June 24, 1520, the fighting was such that Montezuma himself, held prisoner by the Spaniards, could not quell it. Accounts of these events and of Montezuma’s death a few days later differ, with blame assigned either to the greed of the Spaniards, who allegedly ordered a celebration held in the main tem- ple to slaughter the Mexican warriors, or to the treachery of the Mexica, who allegedly used this event to arm an attack. In any event, the Spaniards were obliged to flee Tenochtitlán during the night of June 30 (la noche triste), losing more than half their forces and nearly all the plun- der. These losses fell heaviest on the troops newly recruited, with promises and threats, from among the men sent to arrest Cortés by Velázquez. Escaping with further casualties to Tlaxcala—which would be accorded special privileges for its partly self- interested loyalty: tax exemptions, the right of its citizens to ride horses and use the honorific title Don—Cortés understood that retreat to the coast and on to Cuba or Hispaniola was impossible given the doubtful legality of his status as Captain General of the Spanish forces, which, although Cortés did not know it, Charles V had pointedly left unaddressed after receiving the cabildo’s letter and del- egates. Cortés therefore began plans to retake Tenoch- titlán, rallied his allies and troops (which, after the rout suffered on la noche triste, included the most resolute and INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2ND EDITION 147 Cortés, Hernán battle-hardened of those previously in his command), and wrote to the king on October 30, 1520, assuring success while blaming defeat on Velázquez’s meddling, which, he said, had diverted his energies at a crucial moment, under- mining his command over the Spaniards and his stature in the eyes of the Mexica. This letter is key to an understanding of the conquest as a whole. Although it was designed to bolster Cortés’s claim to leadership—for example, by recasting fortuitous events as evidence of his foresight and God’s favor, or by narrating successful actions in the first-person singular— it also brings to light differences between the mainly polit- ical tactics of the first march to Tenochtitlán and the violent means ultimately used in its military conquest. The picture put forth in this letter of an enemy seemingly bewildered by technology (ships, firearms, and iron weapons), horses, psychological warfare, and Cortés’s abil- ity to anticipate Montezuma’s every move and moreover use rhetoric and his own irrational beliefs against him— notably the idea that the Spaniards had been sent by the god Quetzalcoatl, an idea that would in fact become cur- rent only after conquest as justification for defeat—has led to the assumption of cultural superiority. Furthermore, it has prompted neglect of the difficulties encountered by the Spaniards after their initial entry into Tenochtitlán and especially after la noche triste. The introduction of dis- eases such as smallpox to which the Amerindians lacked immunity certainly affected the two sides equally. The advantages cited by Cortés in his report to the king might have been decisive had the conquest been rapid; but, as it endured, the Mexica were able to devise countermeasures. Even as Cortés ordered thirteen brigan- tines built to ferry troops and attack Tenochtitlán from the water, where its defenses were most vulnerable, the Mexica were digging trenches armed with sharply pointed sticks and captured lances to kill or hobble the Spaniards’ horses. So too would the Mexica make a display of sacri- ficing and cannibalizing the Spaniards taken in battle to terrorize their comrades as the latter had before used firearms, horses, and dogs to terrorize them. The resulting pursuit of captives for sacrifice would prove costly for the Mexica insofar as it allowed Cortés and others in his com- pany to escape death on several occasions. For this and the far larger number of Mexican combatants—despite the welcome arrival of reinforcements while in Tlaxcala, Cortés reports that in the final assault on Tenochtitlán his forces comprised barely 700 infantry, 118 musketeers and crossbowmen, 86 horsemen, 3 canon, 15 field guns, and an unspecified number of native fighters and bearers, apparently fewer than had supported him on his previous entry—Cortés was obliged to abandon his intent to take the city without destruction. Despite more than two months of siege, beginning on May 30, 1521, the Mexica, though visibly starving, refused to surrender, prompting the Spaniards to raze the city sector by sector to maximize the effect of canon and to deprive the Mexica of cover for attack. Dismayed by the devastation of these final days and their aftermath, during which little was or could be done to restrain the Tlaxcalan forces, Cortés would remark in his third letter to the Crown (May 15, 1522): “So loud was the wailing of the women and children that there was not one man amongst us whose heart did not bleed at the sound; and indeed we had more trouble in preventing our allies from killing with such cruelty than we had in fighting the enemy. For no race, however savage, has ever practiced such fierce and unnatural cruelty as the natives of these parts” (Cortés 1986, pp. 261-262). On August 13, 1521, Tenochtitlán and its new leader, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered. CORTÉS’S LEGACY Although Cortés reorganized and governed the conquered territory, renamed New Spain, until 1528, and led another, this time disastrous, expedition to Honduras (1524-1526), his final years, until his death in 1547, were spent in relative obscurity. His actions in exploring the Pacific coast northward in search of the legendary riches of Cíbola (1532-1536) and in support of Charles V in the unsuccessful assault on Algiers (1541) show a man broken in spirit. It is telling that writers of the sixteenth and sev- enteenth centuries celebrate Cortés’s role, not as military commander, but as an instrument of God, delivering the New World from idolatry and extending the rule of Catholic faith in opposition to Martin Luther, who they wrongly said was born in the same year. Although this image has faded from modern accounts, replaced by that of Machiavelli’s ruthless prince, the audacity of Cortés’s exploits has not. For this and the power of his discourse, Cortés’s letters to the Crown are required reading for scholars of Renaissance society. BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY WORKS Cortés, Hernán. [1519-1526] 1986. Letters from Mexico. Trans.
Haven, CT: Yale University Press. SECONDARY WORKS Boruchoff, David A. 1991. Beyond Utopia and Paradise: Cortés, Bernal Díaz and the Rhetoric of Consecration. MLN 106: 330-369.
Casas, Bartolomé de las. [c. 1560] 1965. Historia de las Indias. Ed. Agustín Millares Carlo. 2nd ed. 3 vol. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Clendinnen, Inga. 1991. “Fierce and Unnatural Cruelty”: Cortés
148 INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2ND EDITION Cosmopolitanism Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. [1575] 1908-1916. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, One of Its Conquerors. Trans. Alfred Percival Maudslay. 5 vols. London: The Hakluyt Society. Documentos cortesianos. 1990-1992. Ed. José Luis Martínez. 4
México and Fondo de Cultura Económica. López de Gómara, Francisco. [1552] 1964. Cortés: The Life of
Trans. Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press. Martínez, José Luis. 1990. Hernán Cortés. Mexico City:
Cultura Económica. Ramos, Demetrio. 1992. Hernán Cortés: Mentalidad y propósitos.
David A. Boruchoff COSMOPOLITANISM Cosmopolitanism is a term derived from the Greek word kosmopolite (“citizen of the world”). It emerged as a philo- sophical and ultimately cultural worldview during the Hellenistic period, when thinkers traced the conceptual evolution of the people’s mentalité from that of the citizen of the city-state to that of the citizen of the entire ecumene (or extended Hellenic world). After a long eclipse, the concept reemerged in the writings of Kant, where the future evolution of the world into a cosmopolitan society was originally contemplated. Adam Smith should also receive credit, however, for his endorsement of free trade as a cosmopolitan stance. In the nineteenth century, the word gained a negative connotation through its juxtaposi- tion with the popular idea of nationalism, a trend that reached its peak in the word’s employment as a derogatory term by the Nazis. Although cosmopolitanism reemerged as a potentially powerful concept in the late 1990s, it is important to note that the concept continues to lack a universally shared def- inition. It has been applied to philosophical and normative orientations as well as to political and cultural attributes, and its employment in the discourse of different disciplines is far from uniform. Moreover, cosmopolitanism has been related both to efforts to construct forms of transnational solidarity, and to the various urban cultures of past and present metropolitan centers. Perhaps the most important contributions to the literature on cosmopolitanism can be found in the writings of Ulrich Beck, and in work inquir- ing into the possibility of cosmopolitanism providing the foundation for a future European identity. Generally speaking, contributors to the growing liter- ature on cosmopolitanism interpret the term in a threefold manner. Some authors advocate “thin” cosmopolitanism, whereby cosmopolitanism is conceived as a form of detachment from local ties, whereas others argue in favor of “rooted” or context-specific or vernacular cosmopoli- tanism, whereby cosmopolitanism is conceived as congru- ent with locality. Finally, some suggest the existence of “glocalized” cosmopolitanism, whereby global detachment and local attachment coexist in a symbiotic relationship. Thus, depending upon the particular definition employed, specific groups of people can be conceived either as carri- ers of cosmopolitanism or as excluded from it altogether. For example, immigrant groups have been viewed as carri- ers of vernacular cosmopolitanism, but they are almost by definition excluded from some versions of “thin” cos- mopolitanism. In contrast to the growing body of theoretical work on cosmopolitanism, there is to date only a limited amount of empirical research in the literature. Ultimately, only empirical research will be in a position to determine which one of the different theoretical strands of cos- mopolitanism might be the most promising one for soci- ology. Such work might also help to evaluate whether the world is indeed experiencing a trend toward cosmopoli- tanism, and might identify which attributes are observable among the public and the extent to which these are related to other trends—such as the growth of transnational con- nections or a revived sense of religiosity. SEE ALSO Cooperation; Globalization, Anthropological Aspects of; Globalization, Social and Economic Aspects of; Internationalism; Trade; Trust BIBLIOGRAPHY Beck, Ulrich. 2005. Cosmopolitan Vision. Oxford, U.K.: Polity. Cheah, Pheng, and Bruce Robbins, eds.1998. Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Robertson, Roland, and David Inglis. 2004. The Global Animus:
38-49.
Roudometof, Victor. 2005. Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and Glocalization. Current Sociology 53 (1): 113-135. Rumford, Chris, ed. 2007. Cosmopolitanism and Europe. Liverpool, U.K.: Liverpool University Press.
Cosmopolitanism. Sociological Review 50 (4): 461-481. Theory, Culture, and Society 19 (1-2). 2002. (Special issue on cosmopolitanism.) Vertovec, Steven, and Robin Cohen, eds. 2002. Conceiving
Oxford University Press. Victor Roudometof
INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2ND EDITION 149 Summary: The document refers to Hernan Cortes’ life, mostly focusing on the part where he explores. To begin, Hernan Cortes was born in Medellin, Castile and the document talks a little about his early life. Then, the document talks about Cortes setting out on his expedition, and he lands in Hispaniola. It also talks about how he when there was a great fight when Cortes returned, so big that even Montezuma couldn’t control it. It all resulted in Montezuma’s death, and in Cortes’ letter they mentioned how the natives were fascinated by the technology that they had. Also, it was mentioned that both sides were affected severely by diseases. Overall, Cortes reorganized and conquered the land which was known as New Spain and being seen as God’s instrument to spread Catholicism to the natives. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> sites sites -> Penn State Harrisburg American Studies/Women Studies 104: Women and the American Experience Spring 2015 Instructor: Kathryn Holmes sites -> Penn State Harrisburg am st/wmnst 104: Women and the American Experience Spring 2015 Instructor: Kathryn Holmes sites -> Adolf hitler sites -> Period 3 (1754-1800): Multiple Choice Exam sites -> Robert hugh kargon sites -> Technology & society in american history sites -> Guide to understanding relationships sites -> Fall 2015 Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Courses wgss 1104 Feminisms and the Arts Instructor: Terri Smith Mondays 2: 35 to 5: 15 pm sites -> Lesson Name a political or Social Hero? – A structured Academic Controversy (sac) with Joshua L. Chamberlain Authors sites -> Period 4: Stimulus-Based Multiple-Choice Questions 1-5 refer to the following quotation Download 90.96 Kb. Share with your friends:
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