In the sixteenth century, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian missionaries attempted to evangelize the indigenous peoples of central Mexico. Indigenous peoples incorporated the new faith into their belief system on their own terms, and continued to conceptualize a sacred geography that ordered their world and regulated time. At the same time, the missionaries had new sacred complexes built, but the question remains, why did indigenous peoples dedicate labor and community resources to these projects? This study analyzes the urban plan of indigenous communities, the construction of new sacred complexes, and the ways in which the urban plan conformed to the notion of sacred geography.
2 Land
3 Conclusions
4 The First Doctrina Complexes
1 The Augustinian Doctrina of Metztitlįn
2 The First Doctrina Complex at Tepoztlįn
3 The Franciscan Doctrina la Asunción in Mérida, Yucatįn
4 Conclusions
5 Urban Plan and Development of the Communities in Northern Morelos
1 Atlatlahucan
2 Tlayacapan
3 Urban Plan and Architecture of Other Communities
4 Conclusions
6 Evangelizing the Plan de Amilpas
1 The Dominican Visita Complex at Olintepec
2 The Dominican Visita Complex at San Miguel Anenecuilco
3 The Dominican Visita Complex at Santa Ana Cuautlixco
4 The Franciscan/Dominican Visita Complex at San Hipólito Atenango Las
Bóvedas
5 The Franciscan/Dominican Visita Complex at Santa Marķa de la Asunción
Temimilcingo
6 Conclusions
7 Creating Communities from Whole Cloth
Conclusions
8 Conclusions
Appendix 1: September 19, 2017
San Mateo Atlatlahucan (Augustinian)
San Juan Bautista Tlayacapan (Augustinian)
San Guillermo Totolapan (Augustinian)
The paleo-Christian visita chapels of Ahuatlįn (Totolapan)
La Natividad Tepoztlįn (Dominican)
San Juan Bautista Yecapixtla (Augustinian)
Selected Bibliography
Index
Robert H. Jackson, Ph.D (1988), University of California, Berkeley, is an independent scholar living in Mexico City. He specializes in Latin American History, and his most recent book is The Bourbon Reforms and the Remaking of Spanish Frontier Missions (Brill, 2022).
Leonardo Meraz Quintana, M.A. (1993), York University, is Professor Emeritus at UAM Xochimilco, Mexico City, where he taught architectural conservation. His books include Fundaciones monįsticas en la Sierra Nevada. Historia y medioambiente (UAM, 2017).
