Coyotl
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Coyotlacatl Coyotec | |
|---|---|
.jpg) An 1845 illustration of the peoples of Yztac Tlalocan depicting coyotecas. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Zacapican, Pulacan | |
| Languages | |
| Primarily Nahuatl Various native languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Cozauist; religious minorities including Sarpetism and syncretism with indigenous beliefs. |
Coyotl and the less common coyotlacatl and coyotec are terms used in the Nahuatl-speaking world to denote the non-citizen subjects of the Angatahuacan hegemony and their modern-day descendants.
History
In the early history of Angatahuaca as a sovereign city-state, society was largely divided between free citizens and the enslaved population. The slaves, usually captives taken from rival cities during periods of warfare, could swell to as high as 50% of the population during periods of major military victories against the city's rivals, creating the potential for dangerous unrest and slave rebellion in the city. As a means of pacifying the enslaved population of the city, Angatahuaca implemented an extensive legal code surrounding slavery which included several avenues for manumission that would allow a slave to gain the status of a non-citizen freedman if certain criteria were met. During the period of rapid Angatahuacan military expansion during and after the 8th century Acana War, large foreign populations were brought under Angatahuacan rule. While a large number of these were taken captive and became slaves (tlacotli), the majority became free subjects of Angatahuaca with virtually identical legal standing as the freedman population. These conquered foreigners or coyotl would become a category of their own, merging with the freedmen to form an intermediate social class between the Angatahuacan citizens and the enslaved population. From the 8th century all the way to its collapse in the Zacapine Revolution, most of the population under Angatahuacan rule would be part of this coyotl demographic.
As the Angatahuacan hegemony continued its military expansion, conquering much of modern-day Zacapican, Pulacan, Khuummehkweh and Phansi Uhlanga, the coyotl subject population would only continue to expand and become more diverse. The assimilation of coyotl subjects into Angatahuacan society was a principal imperative of the Angatahuacan Cozauist Temple and its proselytization mission, established as a means of cementing Angatahuaca's position in newly conquered regions by speeding up their assimilation into the culture of the hegemonic city. Full citizenship was often granted to entire cities and tribes of coyotl, both as a means of rewarding loyalty and pacifying unrest similar to the policy of manumission embraced centuries prior. Citizenship was granted to those groups of coyotl that had demonstrated willing loyalty and developed close ties with Angatahuaca, which were almost always the same populations that most readily assimilated into Angatahuacan culture, embracing the Nahuatl language, customs, as well as Cozauist religious practices. At the territorial zenith of Angatahuaca in the early 17th century, most of coastal Zacapican and parts of southern Pulacan were inhabited mostly by full citizens thanks to the policy of granting citizenship to loyal coyotl populations, as well as the process of internal migration and settlement of Angatahuacan citizens in the provinces. Most coyotl spoke Nahuatl and were partially or completely converted to Cozauist religious practice, although many also retained native customs for centuries under Angatahuacan rule, at times merging native and Angatahuacan traditions into a hybridized coyotl culture unique to their region.
As Angatahuaca entered its era of decline, many of the rights to property and movement that the coyotl had previously enjoyed were gradually stripped away as the economy drifted into a pseudo-manoralist relationship of land-owning citizens and unlanded coyotl laborers from what had previously consisted mainly of self-sustaining coyotl farmers working their own lands. Angatahuacan authorities slowly reduced the number of coyotl that would be granted citizenship as the society stagnated and the social hierarchy became rigid and inflexible. Ultimately, the coyotl population of the provinces together with rebelling slaves and native vassals became the vanguard of the sweeping revolutions that overthrew Angatahuacan rule and ultimately succeeded in dismantling the hegemony entirely. Following the collapse of Angatahuaca, many of the citizen populations of the outlying provinces would quickly assimilate into the larger coyotl demographics that surrounded them within 1-2 generations of the revolution. The coyotl identity would come to be embraced by many of the revolutionary factions and states that emerged from the ashes of the fallen hegemony, including both Zacapican and Pulacan.
Modern coyotl
Pulacan
The conceptualization of a coyotl identity in Pulacan has undergone significant evolution since first adoption. Significantly, the term has diverged from its accepted use in the rest of the Nahuasphere; in modern times, the term coyotl reflects a sort of meta-ethnicity, existing in a conceptual space distinct from social race but encompassing a person's other ethnic identities. Despite originating as an Angatahuacan concept, the coyotl identity has developed in contrast to Heron colonial rule and later perceived Zacapine geopolitical overreach. In short, the Pulatec coyotl identity is perceived as fundamentally Malaioan in character, defined through perseverance of colonial cultural assimilation programs and through their adaptation of imposed ideas and folkways to best suit their needs and character. The Pulatec War of Independence and coinciding Zacapine Revolution at the turn of the 20th century did much to formally separate the nascent Pulatec coyotl identity from its Oxidentalese context. Both nations saw revolts aimed at overthrowing Angatahuacan control that later cooperated explicitly in the name of mutual success. The post-revolutionary regimes in both countries promoted a worldview of the two as "sister republics," brought together by a shared history and allied in a common struggle for equal societies and an end to oligarchic rule akin to the Heron Empire. For many Pulateh, this shared mission was understood to have an implicit goal of decolonization, one which quickly failed to materialize. This worldview had lost favor by the Third Uhlangan Civil War (1967-1973), which saw two Zacapine-backed regimes engage in brutal campaigns of genocide collectively known as the Hasanya. While some Pulateh illegally volunteered to aid Cuhonhicah forces in the war, even perpetrating some of the ethnic cleansing, others were horrified by the violence and called for an end to political ties with Zacapican. Continued Zacapine economic and military presence in the Malaio-Ozeros region in the succeeding decades have continued to provoke resentment. As such, despite the perceived disconnect between Zacapican and the Angatahuacans that proceeded it, the former is often discussed as an imperialist or neo-colonial power in public political discourse.
Both Itzcoatl and later Angatahuacan colonial administrators made extensive use of Cozauism as a tool of state control. It was wielded as the primary tool for uniting the colony's diverse subjects, as well as a means of espousing state doctrine and instilling cultural unity. Owing to the highly-decentralized nature of the faith, syncretic traditions preserving elements of pre-colonial mythologies and folk religions developed in response to these missionary efforts. With the encouragement of certain members of the Temple hierarchy, these disparate local traditions became the dominant form of Cozauism in Malaio by the end of the 16th century. In short order, they had quickly blossomed into numerous distinct denominations under the label of the Quiyatlatotecacalli (Heron Script: ๐๐จ๐ท๐ฐ๐ป๐๐ฐ๐ป๐ฌ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐๐๐จ). The term's literal meaning, the house of the rain-callers, refers to the central role of the divine aspect Tlaloc in these doctrines. This spiritual evolution both dramatically increased the number of Cozauists in Malaio and wrested some agency from Angatahuacan officials. To this day, the post-independence Union State government continues to treat Cozauism as an integral part of Pulatec community life, drawing by and large from the Quiyatlatotecacalli and their recontextualization of Cozauism into the Komontu worldview.
Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, the movement to redress wrongs done to the Tuganani peoples of northern Pulacan reached mainstream attention. Following a short period of intense public struggle, revisions to the law codes in the 1960s and 1970s largely accomplished many of the movement's key goals. A concerted effort resulted, seeking to divorce Pulatec national identity from that of any ethnicity or meta-ethnicity. With an emphasis on civic nationalism, participation in democracy and calpollism, significant advancements have been made in advancing the social station of minority ethnic groups. The Tuganani civil rights movement is also cited by some academics as the progenitor of the Tshiamiso movement, which has been cited as a major influence behind a decline in government corruption since the 1990s.