Knowra Bernardino de Sahagún Bernardino de Sahagún Bernardino de Sahagún was a 16th-century Spanish Franciscan missionary and scholar who documented Nahuatl language and Mexica history, religion, and culture, chiefly through the Florentine Codex.
Nahuatl : A Uto-Aztecan language spoken historically by Mexica communities and still spoken by millions in Mexico. Sahagún learned Nahuatl and used it to collect and preserve testimony.
Florentine Codex : A 16th-century illustrated, bilingual Nahuatl-Spanish manuscript documenting Mexica life, history, religion, and natural knowledge. It is Sahagún’s best-known work and the fullest surviving record of his method.
Florentine Codex informants : Nahuatl-speaking elders and other Indigenous contributors who supplied testimony and knowledge for Sahagún’s manuscripts. Their answers, not Sahagún’s observations alone, supplied much of the codex’s content.
Indigenous historiography : Historical writing and historical knowledge produced by Indigenous peoples, often through oral and written traditions. The codex preserves Indigenous accounts that complicate histories centered only on Spanish conquerors.
Mexica : A Nahua people who founded Tenochtitlan and built the dominant power in central Mexico before the Spanish conquest. Their society and traditions form the central subject of Sahagún’s investigations.
General History of the Things of New Spain : Sahagún’s encyclopedic account of Indigenous central Mexican culture, preserved chiefly in the Florentine Codex. This title identifies the work whose chapters organize much of his collected material.
Tlatelolco : A Mexica city-state and market center adjoining Tenochtitlan, later the site of a Franciscan college. Sahagún conducted much of his inquiry with Indigenous scholars at its College of Santa Cruz.
Mesoamerican studies : The interdisciplinary study of the cultures and histories of ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. Sahagún’s records remain major sources for research across this field.
Aztec religion : The religious traditions and practices of central Mexican peoples, including the Mexica, before and during Spanish rule. Sahagún recorded ritual practices, deities, and religious explanations in detail.
Primeros Memoriales : An early Nahuatl-Spanish manuscript compiled by Sahagún and Indigenous collaborators, preserving information on central Mexican life. It offers an earlier stage of the inquiries later expanded in the Florentine Codex.
Show all 20