Juan Bautista (de) Pomar (c. 1535 – after 1601) was a
mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
descendant of the rulers of
prehispanic
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
Texcoco, a historian and writer on prehispanic
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
history. He is the author of two major works. His ''Relación de Texcoco'' was written in response to the
Relación geográfica ca.1580.
According to references by
Fray Juan de Torquemada, he was born around 1535 at
Texcoco. He was the great grandson of
Nezahualcoyotl Nezahualcoyotl may refer to:
* Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani), the ruler of Texcoco
* Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a city in the State of Mexico
* Nezahualcóyotl metro station, in Mexico City
* The Nezahualcóyotl Award, a literary prize in Mexico
* Nezah ...
, and was of
mixed indigenous and Spanish heritage on his father's side. Considered noble by the Spaniards, he was able to obtain one of his great-grandfather's royal houses, known as the Nezahualcoyotl, in Texcoco.
Pomar was raised as a Christian but learned Aztec tradition from his mother. He was
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
and spoke and wrote in both Spanish and the native language of the Aztecs,
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
. He is credited with one of the most important compilations of
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
poetry, ''
Romances de los señores de Nueva España
The ''Romances de los señores de Nueva España'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "Ballads of the Lords of New Spain") is a 16th-century compilation of Nahuatl songs or poems preserved in the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Tex ...
''.
[ Gibson, Charles and John B. Glass. "Prose sources in the Native Historical Tradition", article 27B. "A Census of Middle American Prose Manuscripts in the Native Historical Tradition". ''Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources'' Part 4; ''Handbook of Middle American Indians''. University of Texas Press 1975, census #1087, p. 356.]
Pomar's major work includes an account of the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
and
Tlatelolcas ''Relación de Juan Bautista Pomar'' completed in 1582. He interviewed aged
Nahuas, who recounted memory of the older and lost customs of their people. His account, written at the suggestion of the protomedic of
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
, complements with the works of
Bernardino de Sahagún and
Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
1530s births
17th-century deaths
Colonial Mexico
Nahuatl-language writers
Novohispanic Mesoamericanists
Historians of Mesoamerica
Aztec scholars
16th-century Mesoamericanists
Mestizo writers
Indigenous writers of the Americas
People from Texcoco, State of Mexico
{{mesoamerica-stub