Aztecs abroad? Uncovering the early Indigenous Atlantic

Indigenous people are often seen as static recipients of transatlantic encounter, influencing the Atlantic world only in their parochial interactions with Europeans, but the reality is that thousands of Native Americans crossed the ocean during the sixteenth century, many unwillingly, but some by choice. As diplomats, entertainers, traders, travelers, and, sadly, most often when enslaved, Indigenous people operated consciously within structures that spanned the ocean and created a worldview that was framed in transatlantic terms. Focusing on purposeful travelers of “Aztec” (Central Mexican) origin, this article uses the distinctive context of the 1500s to rewrite our understandings of the Atlantic world. In the turbulent waters of early empire, we can more easily see Native people as purposeful global actors who created and transformed social, economic, political, and intellectual networks, forging not one but many “Indigenous Atlantics.” This is about more than “looking east from Indian country,” or recovering the transatlantic journeys of Native people, important though both those things are. To find a truly “Indigenous Atlantic,” we must reimagine the history of the ocean itself: as a place of Indigenous activity, imagination, and power.