Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend

Synopsis:

In November 1519, Hernán Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story -- and the story of what happened afterwards -- has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars.

For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured.

Fifth Sun is a version of “Aztec” history which attempts to look beyond the traditionally-preferred Spanish sources to the sources written by indigenous people, as close as possible to the time events actually occurred. And it turns out that these sources actually have quite a bit to say, and some light to shed on common myths and beliefs. (Like the persistent belief that Moctezuma believed Cortes to be a god.)

Despite the author’s best efforts, I found the switching back and forth between the translated names and the untranslated names pretty confusing — in part due to unfamiliarity, giving my brain not that much to hang onto. I did appreciate the pronunciation guides though! Overall, partly because of that, I found it a bit slower and harder to follow than I’d hoped.

Nonetheless, it’s worth it; I feel like it’s closer than most popular history works to actually invoking what indigenous people thought and felt at the time. Townsend does a bit of “she must have sympathised with him” and so on where I rather wondered why on earth we should take that for granted given the circumstances, but I always find that irritating and it’s pretty rife in popular history in general.

Rating: 3/5