Ihuan Yehhuan Tlacuauh Tlamauhtiah in Ichcapixqueh. “And the Shepherds Are Inspiring Great Fear”. Environment, Control of Resources and Collective Agency in Colonial and Modern Tlaxcala

This chapter explores selected aspects of Tlaxcalan history, showcasing the complexity of human–environment relations that have been affected both by climate change and by colonization and postcolonial domination. I explore historical texts in Nahuatl and Spanish that reveal complex battlegrounds upon which the Tlaxcaltecah strove to maintain control over land and environment, protecting essential components of their well-being and rights within the context of colonial domination. The analyzed sources illustrate the resistance to Spanish settlement and different forms of dispossession, coping with climatic and economic challenges, resisting the expansions of haciendas, securing land and water rights or defending traditional ritual practices. Tying together the common threads of microhistories across longer periods of time, different places and available documentary genres, not only attests to Indigenous agency but also makes us aware of a longer historical process in which some of these battles were won and some were eventually lost. Many of the historical phenomena traced in early modern Tlaxcala can also be linked to contemporary developments, including massive heritage language loss and environmental challenges.