The territorial and symbolic appropriation of the indian of San Juan de los Lagos: 1623–1633

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to examine, from the methodology of cultural history, the name change of the town that today is known as San Juan de los Lagos, formerly known as San Juan Bautista de Mazatitlán or Mezquititlán. Examining this name change allows us to observe the Spanish appropriation of the place and the image, displacing the indigenous from the territorial and the symbolic. The change in nomenclature allowed the Spanish to appropriate the territory, the image and, in turn, individualize it, incorporating it into what is familiar to them.