the Tlahuica name for the city was Cuauhnahuac (coo-ahoo-NA-oo-ac) which means Place of the Whispering Trees. The closest the Spaniard conquerors could come to pronouncing this was cuerno-vaca, which, in Spanish, is cow horn, a rather unfortunate approximation. I like the first name better.

The original inhabitants of the area around Cuernavaca were  the Tlahuicas, a sub group of the Nahuatl culture. They first settled the region  in the 10th or 11th century and were related to the Aztecs who arrived on the other side of the mountains in the valley of Mexico at a later date. It was this  early culture that built the pyramids at Teopanzalco in downtown Cuernavaca.

The first known conquest of the Tlahuicas was made by the  second king of Tenochtitlan, Huitzilihuit who ended up by marrying the daughter of the local king. From this union was born Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, the great  Moctezuma. While Moctezuma was growing up the new king Itzcoatl, conquered Cuauhnahuac (Cuernavaca). When Moctezuma Ilhuicamina became Emperor he  remembered his boyhood haunts and had beautiful gardens and villas built on the  Cuernavaca side of the mountains at Oaxtepec where the natural springs made both  a healthy and warm retreat during the winter months

The Aztec domination of the entire region lasted until the advent of the Spaniard lead by Hernan Cortez conquered and made allies of the Tlaxcalan tribes. These new allies showed him the route to Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) that led around the heavily defended direct route. It went by the more  easily passable southern route. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, the historian who  traveled as a soldier with Cortes' army, describes the trail and the ultimate battle on the southern side of the ring of mountains surrounding Cuernavaca. The  army moved through the valley taking Yautepec then Topoztlan and finally  arriving at a ravine used as a line of defense by the inhabitants of Cuernavaca. The ravine was believed to be uncrossable and so the line was lightly patrolled.  The Indian allies of Cortés discovered a spot along the ravine where two huge trees grew out from either side of the ravine and formed a rough natural bridge.  The magnificent Diego Rivera Mural in the Cortés Palace shows the Indians and some Spaniards working their way across the intertwined branches. Three heavily armored Spaniards fell to their deaths from here but the balance of the force crossed unopposed and entered the city while others repaired one of the felled  bridges for the horses to cross upon. The defending troops scattered at the  sight of the horses (supposedly the horse and man were considered to be one being) and the city was burned and pillaged. When the chiefs came down from the hills and prostrated themselves before Cortés the carnage stopped.

After the conquest of Mexico City Cortés returned to Cuernavaca to build his palace. In 1529 Cortés was granted by the Spanish crown,  as an award for his conquests, a huge tract of land which included all of the  present state of Morelos, all the Indians then living on the land, the title of  Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca and power of life and death over all the souls  on his domains. Efforts were made early to convert the Indians to Christianity and agriculture was altered by new products and methods. The most lasting of these was the cultivation of sugarcane. To economically compete with Island  grown sugarcane employing slave labor, the Spaniard established the Hacienda system utilising vast areas of land and Indian labor maintained almost in complete servitude. Some churchmen came to the defense of the Indians but the  Hacienda system thrived until 1917 and its evils permeated the history of the  region for almost 400 years. Cuernavaca and the State of Morelos thrived under  the Spanish yoke for 289 years. That is, the Spaniards thrived on the richness  of the hacienda produce which were sold abroad

The natives survived and a great deal of intermixing took  place, which gave birth to a new race, the Mexicans. Part Spanish and part  Indian, they were called Mestizos or mixed. The Mextizos grew in number and economic importance but were excluded from all government posts as were the Creoles, or Spaniards born in Mexico. All Appointments were reserved for Spaniards born in Spain. This situation developed slowly over the centuries but  finally the native born population arose to drive out the Spaniards and take over their own lands. The War of Independence started in 1810 with the Cry of Dolores. A Creole priest named Father Miguel Hidalgo rang his church bells in  the town of Dolores and shouted, " Long live the liberty of all the Americas." The populace rose up and, after a protracted war the Spaniards were forced to  withdraw in 1821. From 1821 to 1864 relative peace prevailed in the area with  only a change of Hacienda owners from Spaniards to Creoles or Mestizos.

With the French intervention of 1864-1867 Cuernavaca became  the favorite watering place of the Imperial court of Carlotta and Maximilian Von Hapsburg. They traveled the cobbled trail carriage from the Capital in the mountains above to this sun kissed plain where they could enjoy court life and  avoid the rigors of winter. The Empire was overthrown in 1867 and Benito Juarez,  the legitimate president was reinstalled in office. Up to this time the area of  the present State of Morelos pertained at various times to the States of  Guerrero, Puebla and Mexico but in 1869 President Juarez published a decree forming the sovereign State of Morelos, named after the hero of the Was of Independence. It included Cuernavaca as its capital and the districts of Yautepec, Jonacatepec, and Tetecala.

Text by Linda Cintron