Information about Miguel Leon Portilla

Miguel León-Portilla (born in Mexico City, 22 February 1926) is a Mexican anthropologist and historian, and a prime authority on Nahuatl thought and literature.

He wrote a doctoral thesis on Nahua philosophy under the tutelage of Fr. Ángel María Garibay K., another notable researcher and translator of primary Nahuatl source documents whose publications in the 1930s and 1940s first brought Nahuatl literature to widespread public attention. Continuing with Garibay's work, León-Portilla established his renown through translating, interpreting and publishing several recompilations of Nahuatl works.

León-Portilla has spearheaded a movement to understand and reevaluate Nahuatl literature, not only from the pre-Columbian era, but also that of the present day – Nahuatl is still spoken by 1.5 million people. He has contributed to establishing bilingual education in rural Mexico.

León-Portilla was also instrumental in bringing to light the works of Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, a 16th century primary source on the Aztec civilization and whose works have become one of the major references for cultural and historical information on Postclassic central Mexico. León-Portilla was the first to acclaim Sahagún as the "Father of Anthropology in the New World", an appellation which has since become a commonplace, although by no means universally held, viewpoint.

Sahagún recorded the knowledge of three independent groups of Nahuatl elders (tlamatini), in their own language, he compared the different versions and then he questioned again to resolve the differences, then he arranged, so the Aztec Tlacuilos (codex painters) made the illustrations of his work. At the request of Spanish authorities, he wrote a bowdlerized version in Spanish (the Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España), but his original work, the Florentine Codex, was never published. Before León-Portilla, it had only been translated once (into German), and even that was incomplete.

As a historian, León-Portilla gives us an understanding of the figure of Tlacaelel. Originally an obscure name in some chronicles, Tlacaelel is now seen by many as the architect of the Aztec empire.

Through his work, León-Portilla has obtained several academic degrees and decorations including the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor. In 1995 he was elected membership of the National Academy of Sciences.

Best-known works

• Nahuatl Philosophy (La filosofia náhuatl estudiada en sus fuentes). León-Portilla explains that while the Aztec had no philosophy in the contemporary point of view, their tlamatinime tried to understand the world, questioning and inquiring about it. León-Portilla declares that what the Europeans interpreted as gods, the Aztecs perceived as the different manifestations of the dual god Ometeotl/Omecihual (Our lord/lady of the duality). This thesis was expanded upon in "Aztec Thought & Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind"
• The Vision of the Vanquished (La visión de los vencidos). This is his most popular and famous work, translated into a dozen languages. In this short book, León-Portilla compiles several fragments of the Nahuatl vision of the Spanish conquest, from the premonitions of Moctezuma to the "sad chants" after the conquest. This book was followed by other compilations of Inca and Maya sources.

External links

• El Colegio Nacional: Miguel León-Portilla
• (Spanish) Academia Mexicana de la Historia: Miguel León-Portilla