Martín Ríos, historian: "We must eliminate both the pink and black legends of the Conquest of America".

The diplomatic crisis between Spain and Mexico, due to the exclusion of King Felipe VI from the inauguration of the new Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, made visible again last September an entrenched topic : the conquest of America. In this case, Mexico explained that it had not invited the head of the Spanish state because he did not respond to the apology request that the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had made in 2019, for the abuses during the Conquest. The Spanish government described the status as "unacceptable".

The very terms used to designate this historical process -conquest, invasion, rebellion and colonization, among others- are already controversial. Martín Ríos, researcher of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), gave a lecture at the University of Navarre's Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra the seminar 'Miradas cruzadas sobre la conquista de la Nueva España', where he suggested "an attitude of calm and tranquility" to approach the topic and reminded that "the past cannot be approached with the prejudices of our present". In this sense, he stressed that "we must understand the historical logics and dynamics of each of the territories, not projecting contemporary nationalist visions on them". The meeting was part of the challenge ICS 24-25 'Orientalism and Occidentalism: crossed views'.

Avoiding simplifications and accepting that there are different and valid interpretations is one of the keys: "A historical event can be read in two ways depending on who the protagonists are. The clearest example is the episode known as 'The Sad Night', in which Hernán Cortés fled Mexico". Thus, Ríos advocated "eliminating both the pink and black legends of the Conquest, and understanding it with the dynamics and logic of the century itself".

An important contribution

The historian also explained that "America contributed enormously to the constitution of the Hispanic monarchy and to the construction of the modern contemporary Spanish identity. Firstly, by constructing the identity of Spain as a planetary monarchy. And, secondly, by incorporating populations of different ethnic and linguistic origin".

It also "expanded the legal casuistry to each of the situations in which the monarchy acted" and, along these lines, "an attempt was made to create a common legalframework for all the overseas territories". The new context also allowed "the integration of words and products from the American world that are part of the per diem expenses of contemporary Spanish culture, such as the potato, avocado, tobacco, or the words 'chalk' and 'canoe'".

New opportunities

On the other hand, although disinformation and fake news also affect the understanding of the Conquest of America, digital channels also offer new options for the transmission of knowledge. "I believe that History books should be written in a much more accessible way for the general public, based on the knowledge of debates and sources, but lessening the weight of the critical apparatus; and also using social networks. If they are so effective in transmitting false information, they can also be so for knowledge, and here young historians have many possibilities for participation," said the professor.

These initiatives could help to bring positions closer together or close wounds that are still open. For Ríos, the main challenge is "the need for mutual recognition": "We need to leave aside the nationalist history of one or the other century and recognize ourselves in that shared history, not so much in the 16th and 17th centuries, but in a much more recent one, that of the 20th and 21st centuries, when Mexico welcomed the Republican exile with open arms and supported the Spanish Transition; and to the extent that Spain has supported the integration of Latin America by sponsoring the Ibero-American Summits. A more palpable history that affects people on both sides of the Atlantic. A relationship between peers who can contribute a great deal".