Page:Historia Verdadera del Mexico profundo.djvu/155

 complete transgression by the Aztecs that ideologically and religiously facilitated, the subsequent Spanish conquest.

Historical value of the Postclassical period.

Hence the Postclassical period is the best known and studied by scholars, but the least important period of our valuable past. It is partly known because the conquistadors and missionaries wrote about the conquest and the beginning of colonization. Then, because the creoles, as of their independence from Spain, began the formation of their "patriotism" against the gachupines from "appropriating" or taking as their own, the unclear Mexica or Mexican history that was written by people such as Friar Diego Durán and Francisco Javier Clavijero. Because the first "local researchers" of the 19th century, took as the "beginning" of their regional cultures, the lineages and lordships of the late Postclassical period, especially from information collected from historical sources.

"In contrast with the creole elites of the viceroyalties of Peru or New Granada, which for various reasons moved away from the prehispanic past and their indigenous descendants, the New Spain (Mexico) creoles had the genial perception of appropriating the indigenous past to give historical legitimacy to their own claims. At the same time, they separated that past from their true historical descendants. This creole expropriation of the native past makes the difference between the New Spain creoles to assume political leadership in their country, and claim, against ____________________