The Getty Research Institute digitized and translated the 12 books, providing a new perspective on the Spanish conquest of the New World
The Florentine Codewritten nearly 500 years ago, continues to reveal hidden secrets and share knowledge about the natives who experienced the fall of Tenochtitlan in the 16th century.
It is widely regarded as the most reliable source for the civilization of the Mexicans, the Aztec Empire, and the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) in present-day Mexico.
A team of 68 researchers, scientists and linguists spent seven years digitizing and translating the nearly 2,500 pages of a manuscript into modern Spanish, English and Nahuatl (language). It is now available online, along with over 2,000 hand-drawn illustrations. The project was funded by Getty Research Institute based in Los Angeles in collaboration with the Laurentian Medici Library in Florence (Italy).
“The Florentine Codex is considered the most important manuscript of the 16th century and an important indigenous encyclopedia of its time,” according to the head of the project, Kim Richter, as “El Pais” writes.
The Florentine Codex is an ethnographic research study of 16th-century Mesoamerica by Bernardino de Sahagún, a Spanish Franciscan friar who devoted most of his life to recording the natives of Mexico.
Native elders, Nahua philologists, scribes, and artists called tlacuilos collaborated with the monk to write and illustrate the 12 books (in three volumes) that make up the Florentine Codex. Some of his associates include Antonio Valeriano, Alonso Vegerano, Marco Jacobita, Agustín de la Fuente, and Pedro de Sanbuenaventura, trilingual students of the Colegio de la Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco (present-day Mexico City). After its completion, the manuscript was sent to Europe and eventually ended up in the Medici family library in Florence, hence its name.
The Florentine Codex was available in World Digital Library since 2012, but could only be understood by those with an extensive knowledge of Nahuatl and 16th century Spanish. The manuscript spent centuries in oblivion, despite the fact that it is a bilingual primary document of unique importance. Written in parallel Nahuatl and Spanish columns, most of the initial focus was on translating the Spanish portions of the text.
The importance of the Florentine Codex today
The influence of the Florentine Code on present-day Mexico remains significant. However, the historical narrative taught in schoolrooms often portrays indigenous people as a relic of the past, stereotyping them as naïve, weak, and childish people easily conquered by the Spanish, or as treacherous, violent, and malicious people who collaborated with the Spanish and betrayed their own.
Changing the way younger generations perceive Indigenous peoples helps them connect with their ancestors and be proud of their Indigenous roots, rather than ashamed of them. And if they show interest in learning, writing and speaking Nahuatl, the language will thrive and evolve, just as Spanish and English do, according to the researchers.
Source :Skai
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