The Mexica, who are commonly known as the Aztecs, were an insignificant people who rose to power in the twelfth and thirteen centuries.  Formerly a wandering tribe, the Aztecs dominated Tenochtitlan (precursor of Mexico City) and soon expanded throughout central Mexico.     Hernan Cortes had subdued Tenochtitlan by 1521, with the Spanish invasion and their quest for gold. 

A major influence in Mexican culture comes, of course,  from the Spanish colonization during nearly three centuries. Around the 18^th century Mexican scholars began considering themselves as a new culture: they were not Indians, they were not Spaniards….and, thus, the beginnings of the national sentiment being Mexican was born. Even the language took a new flavor.  For example, the abundant use of diminutives (ahorita, lueguito, ratito) may come from the inherent affability of the Nahualt language that came from the Aztecs.

During the 19^th century there were several attacks by foreign nations. Throughout these battles, the national sentiment strengthened. By the time the Mexican Revolution arrived, in 1910, the Mexican had undergone a social and political revolution that helped them define the country, culminating in the creation of the Mexican Constitution in 1917.

Although the policies from the government in the 19^th and 20^th centuries had been to homogenize the different Indian groups and create a unified culture, there are over fifty different distinct linguistic groups very much alive in Mexico today, with a high percentage of the population still employed in agriculture as their basic economic system. There is a kind of cultural movement, though, occurring in Mexico today in which different Indian groups are more vocal in defending their rights and culture. These multicultural communities provide a wealth of cultural expression.

ElCoquiGifts.com features some of the richest Mexican folk art, from wood carvings from  Oaxaca, to the popular ceramic Josefina dolls, and original figures in honor to the famous Frida Kahlo. We’ll continue to bring you unique art from this culturally-rich country.

Bibliography: Mexico Today by Tommie Sue Montgomery

Bordered by the Pacific Ocean, crossed by numerous rivers, Ecuador was the meeting place of many cultures throughout Latin America's history.  However, much is unknown about the beginnings of Ecuador's folk art, as earlier occupants did not seem to have a written language and the topography is not conducive to preservation of many archaeological artifacts.

What is known about Ecuador's history is that around the fifth or six century, the Incas had conquered the highlands near Quito, Ecuador's capital.  Most historians refer to this period as the beginning of Ecuador's cultural heritage.  In 1537, the Spanish invaded Ecuador and became the major influence during the next three centuries.  In the 19th century, Simon Bolivar of Caracas, Venezuela, one of the most controversial libertarians of the time,  was credited for liberating Ecuador and other Latin American countries from Spain.  Today, many Indian populations still remain in Ecuador.

ElCoquiGifts.com is pleased to offer paintings from the village of Tigua in the Andean Mountains close to the Cotopaxi volcano, where the villagers  are descendants of the Incas.    We also bring you items made from vegetable ivory, or Tagua.  The Tagua nut is taken from the rainforest and carved to reflect an almost identical ivory texture and look.  Indians have always been known to be environmentally responsible!

The name Venezuela is attributed to Bartolome Sailler’s discovery of Lake Maracaibo and the naming of the Indian villages surrounding the lake in early 1500’s for their resemblance to Venice, Venezuela…little Venice. Venezuela, surrounded in the north by the Caribbean Sea, tends to be more closely oriented to Caribbean than to South American affairs. Even the Spanish accent of Venezuelans is more closely related to Puerto Ricans or Dominicans than the rest of Latin America.

The real settlement of Venezuela began in the west in the coastal area of Maracaibo and Santa Marta (today Colombia). The German house of Welser was given a concession in these regions; they enslaved the Indians and started the search for gold. The Spaniards resumed their own settlement efforts in the mid 1600’s, even though they continued to be attacked by the French, Dutch and the English pirates for most of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The Independence movement did not get started until the early 1800’s in the Capital, Caracas, with the help of Simon Bolivar, El Libertador. After many wars and quarrels between generals and governors of Spain, The Angostura Congress of 1819 created a nation of three departments: Cundamarca (Colombia), Quito (Ecuador) and Caracas (Venezuela). By 1820 Bolivar had finally expulsed the Spaniard forces from Venezuela and was named President, but he did not stay long…as he had his sight set on liberating Peru.

The Indians who occupied Venezuela came from the north, Arawak-speaking people and Carib Indians, little contact with the Chibcha or the Incas is found. The Arawak Goajiro peoples were mainly pastoral, while another group, the Guahibo from the jungle-forests were mainly nomadic. African slaves came to replace the Indians as early as in 1501.

During the 18^th and early 19^th centuries dictators or quasi-dictators governed Venezuela, with additional progress towards the rise of popular vote being more eminent since the 1960’s. Today, many Indians and Andean groups are still struggling to keep their culture and identity as the nation, as a new culture transformed by an oil and industry economy, takes over.

In our gallery you’ll find works from the villagers in the mountainous regions as well as from the Indians surrounding the Amazon forest. We hope you’ll enjoy our selection and their story!

Sources: Harry Berstein Venezuela & Colombia, Don Jose de Oviedo y Banos, The Conquest and Settlement of Venezuela.

Port-o-Prince, the picturesque and bustling capital of  Haiti.

The country, the other half of the Hispaniola island, the French speaking Caribbean paradise, one of the poorest places in the world and yet one of the most artistically intriguing centers…that is Haiti.

Most people have heard of Haiti because of Voodoo. Voodoo, is a complex religion with a prolific pantheon of spirits, gods and rituals that travel the conscious and unconscious world, complemented with dark tales that fuel the imagination.  In many ways, voodoo is similar to the ‘moggle’ versus ‘wizard’ world in the Harry Potter famous children fiction stories.   There are good spirits, bad spirits, and some spirits that are both good and bad.  Some people can ‘see’ them, some cannot.  Traditional western religious values and rituals are also mixed.  

Haitian painting, sculpting and textile arts have deep roots into the voodoo religion as well as in their struggle as a nation.

The original habitants of Haiti were the Taino Indians, descendents from the Ciboney and Arawak Indians that came from Venezuela.    The Taino culture had reached it speak in Puerto Rico and Santo Doming when Columbus arrived.  The Tainos, known from their hospitality, refined behavior and peaceful ways, were quickly eliminated through fights from the aggressive Carib Indians and through the slavery resulted in the colonization process.

The arts from the Tainos include the carvings in bone, shell, wood, stone and gold.  The Zemis were intermediaries that open lines of communications with the “all powerful”.  Zemis were carved in stone and wood and sometimes represented ancestors.  The ancient carvings of the Tainos in Haiti are very similar to those found in Puerto Rico, including cemis, and the dubo or chair.  A characteristic of the Taino carving is the circle-and-dot design.

When the  Tainos died by the beginning of the 1500s, African slaves were brought in.  Meanwhile, French pirates, buccaneers, were squirming with the Spanish.  By the 1800s half of Haiti was French.  Spaniards kept to the other side of the Island, today named the Dominican Republic.

The abundant crops they were generating and the increased wealth that slaves brought to them pleased the French.  They felt it was more economical to import more slaves than to care and feed the existing ones.  After years of great abuse, the Haitian, especially those with mixed blood, raised war against the French and by 1804 Haiti was an independent nation.   Unfortunately, the leaders that followed were not able or knew how to make Haiti self-sufficient economically.  The country felt into deeper despair.

In 1915 with the preoccupation of the Island possibly being occupied by Germans and to protect their interest, the U.S. started a military occupation that lasted until 1934.

This occupation provided an awakening to the Haitians that they were different and created a higher awareness of themselves.  A sort of national consciousness developed, probably to compensate for their hurt pride.  The folklore, which had been diluted with years of ‘improvements’ and colonialism, became the focus of intellectuals.  These developments brought back to light the uniqueness and emphasis of their Haitian native art.

Painting experienced resurgence.  Each painter, each artist, started to show their own independence of style and form.  With the help of a center established by Peters DeWitt, a center of art was developed.  Many fine painters emerged, a professional class of artists who preserved their strong primitive traditions and inspiration.  New classes of art emerged.   Voodoo flag art, or sequin art, which was originally only used in religious ceremonies, was discovered by art collectors around the world.  Priests then began using flag art as a way to support their communities. 

Metal sculpting began in the early 1950 with the decorative metal cross of Georges Liautaud in a local cemetery.  He went on to bring mythology of Voodoo to life through his three dimensional sculptures.  He taught the art to young fellow artists in Croix-des-Bouquets, who by necessity, turned to art as the only way to support their families. 

Today, we are pleased to introduce many of the best Haitian flag makers and metal sculptors at ElCoquiGalleries.com.  We hope you enjoy our enchanting tour of voodoo art. 

Sources:  The Art of Haiti by Eleanor Ingalls Christiensen,  Haitian Painting by Eva Pataki.

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The sole mention of the name brings about controversy, past memories and burning desires; controversy about the political situation of the country, Castro and the mini-Havana, Miami; past memories of mambo dancing clubs and pristine beaches, and burning desires to go and visit Cuba “the forbidden land”.  In spite of the embargo, many US citizens manage to go visit Cuba as tourists, businesspersons, educators and scientists.  Tourism from Europeans, South Americans and Canadians has probably become Cuba’s largest source of income since the USSR collapse and the reduction of exports of sugar and agricultural products. Cuba is a country of contradictions.  One of the countries with the highest level of education in the population in Latin America, with recognized medical advances in the cure of sickness such as hepatitis and low mortality rates, a prolific producer of world-class athletes, musicians and artists…and yet Cuba today seems to be a photocopy of life in the l950s before the revolution, a country that has stayed in the past. The largest of the Antilles, Cuba is comparable in size to the State of Florida.   My memories of Cuba are the stories that our father told us about the famous Baseball World Series that took place with teams from the Caribbean and some South American countries.  My perspectives of Cuba come from exiles, some formerly supporters of Castro, some from the poorest regions, and some beneficiaries of the Batista elite era.   Today, 95% of the Cuban exiles in the U.S. are white.  The country is, however, is certainly a mix of white (European descendants), blacks, and criollos (Spanish/black descendants with light brown skin).  As with the other Caribbean Islands, the native Indians were eliminated centuries ago, soon after the conquistadors arrived. The early habitants were the Siboney Indians followed by the Taino.  Although the Spaniards swiftly eliminated the Taino, recent archaeological discoveries show that some small groups managed to survive in the mountains until the early 17th century.   After Christopher Columbus arrival in 1492, it was Diego Velasquez in 1511 that started to colonize the Island, including Santiago, Bayamo, Puerto Principe (Camaguey), Trinidad and Villa de San Cristobal de La Habana, later known as La Habana.  Havana became one of the most extravagantly imposing cities outside Europe, its militaristic fortresses beautified by elaborate décor financed by the burgeoning merchants.  Each Spanish landowner had the Encomienda, an allotment of 40-200 indigenous people as slaves.  This destroyed them, and African slaves quickly substituted them.    In the mid-18th century Cuba was briefly occupied by the British, and later traded for Florida by Spain.  Jose Marti is credited with the abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886 and was a revolutionary and poet who helped force the Spanish authorities to concede autonomy to the island in 1897.  After the war against Spain in 1898, the U.S. decided to concede the right to independence.  However, American companies effectively took over the economic activity on the Island.  Popular outrage against General Gerardo Machado in 1933 brought General Fulgencio Batista to power.   During Batista’s regime American business prospered and Havana became a “social club”.  Most of the habitants, however, did not seem to be enjoying the same prosperity, especially in the rural areas.  Many peasants and intellectuals helped propel a young Fidel Castro into power galvanized by the influence of Che Guevara.  After Castro won the Revolution and declared his Marxist-Leninist beliefs, many of the urban class left the country for the U.S. and became exiles.  Several waves of exiles followed. Under the control of the government, Cuban visual arts have managed to flourish, nurtured by the high level of education, early European surrealist influences from the 1940s and 1950s, the mix of Santeria and Christian religions, and the dances derived from the many rich musical forms.  Examples include:  rumba (from the poorest barrios of Matanzas and Havana), son (began in Oriente with the rich sounds of trumpets and bongos), chachacha (Band music), danzon (a slower music similar to waltzes)…and many “fusion” styles of African, folk, jazz and rock.  Another theme explored by Cuban artists is nature, as Cuba has many unique flora and fauna.  At ElCoquiGalleries.com we are pleased to introduce different categories of Cuban art:  sophisticated surrealist art, folk paintings, and original lithographs and prints.  Please take a look at our Cuban Prints Exhibits and Afro Caribbean Paintings.  Sources:  Cuba, Culture Shock.           Top Costa Rica -- named “The Rich Coast” by Christopher Columbus when he arrived on the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica in 1502--, is today one of the most spectacularly beautiful countries in the world thanks to the abundance of rain forests and diverse geographical regions.  The country is divided into several major regions:  1)  Central Highlands rigged by mountains and large coffee plantations 2) Guanascate, a drier area with a flavor of cowboy country  3) the Nicoya peninsula with diamond-dust beaches and lots of turtles 4) the Caribbean site with its Jamaican heritage, 5) the Pacific coast with great beaches and 6) the European looking San Jose area.  The native Indians greeted the Spaniards with interest and hospitality, the Spaniards found that they were friendly, clever and intelligent….and they were very impressed with the golden mirrors the Indians wore on their necks.  The expectation of gold soon resulted in the Indians being oppressed by settlers with many resisting enslavement and escaping to the mountains.  Nevertheless, the conquistadors left their mark in the Indian populations, who were slowly disappearing.   No great gold riches were found and the Spaniards themselves were forced to cultivate their own fields using native methods to cultivate crops.  The land was and is rich.    These earlier settlers became the “Cafetaleros” or upper power class who made their riches by cultivating coffee and cocoa in the region.  By 1546 Costa Rica was officially conquered by the Spaniards led by Christopher Columbus’ grandson Luis.  In the next two centuries, the original Indians, probably descendants of the Oltecs, the Chorotega, Huetar, Bribi Cacebar and Corobici basically disappeared.   Small settlements were formed around the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.  The criollos, as were called the descendants of Spaniards born in Costa Rica, engrossed themselves in subsisting from agriculture and surviving the natural environments. In 1821, the criollos learned that the Captaincy of General of Guatemala had declared independence from the Spanish empire.  Local leaders then drafted their own constitution creating indeed the country of Costa Rica.  After some fights with the Mexican who thought Costa Rica should be annexed to it, and quitting a loose alliance with five Central American countries, Costa Rica had secured their independence and started positioning itself as a neutral country by the end of the 19th century. The 20th century started with economic turmoil due to World War I and the coffee price crisis.  After winning a civil war and declaring their neutrality to their neighbors, Don Pepe Figueres, known as the grandfather of Costa Rica, established a series of social programs.  New ‘caudillos’ emerged.  After an volunteer exile in Mexico, Don Pepe went back to Costa Rica and following another series of political encounters within and outside the country, established himself as a leader with a new Constitution and additional liberal reform policies for the county. The traditions of his party, social programs and neutrality, helped his successor, Oscar Arias to win the Nobel Prize in 1987 for his peace efforts in the Central American region. The mix of people in Costa Rica reflects both their Indian and Spaniard ancestry and also their policies of opening the country doors to commerce.  German and English settlers became involved in the import-export trade, Lebanese, Turks and Polish Jews became powerful merchants, Blacks from Jamaica and Chinese were brought in for a railroad project in 1873, ‘The Gringo’ arrived in modern and artsy San Jose…indeed creating a less homogeneous population than originally thought. What they all share is the lush environment of Costa Rica, where 5 percent or more of all the known species on earth abound.   Their rich traditions as well as their majestic flora and fauna are sources of inspiration for modern and indigenous artists as well.  Discover the luscious Costa Rican art at ElCoquiGalleries.com under paintings, masks and carvings sections. Sources:  Costa Rica, National Geographic Traveler, Costa Rica - Insight Guides           Top Peru is a fascinating country. The remains of the Inka Empire and of the Moche and Chimu cultures (preInca) can be found in the many archaeological sites of the country as well as in the culture and people of Peru. The recent discovery of the Lord of Sipan, "King Tutankamon of the Americas", is the most spectacular tomb discovered in the western hemisphere, near the coastal city of Chiclay, testifies to the archeological importance of Peru. Sipan's treasures show the Moche culture's ability with several metals: gold, silver and copper and precious stones in fine quality and a mastery in metallurgy unrivalled in the Americas, centuries before the Incas. Cusco, for many the "Archeological Capital of America", was the capital of the fabled Inca Empire. The pilgrimage to the legendary Machu Pichu is the voyage of a lifetime. To see the clifs, the mountain tops, and the magnificent ruins, is an great experience. Amazing natural scenery abound in this country covered by over 2,000 miles of the coastal Pacific Ocean, the majestic Andean mountains and the lush Amazonia in the southeast. Located on a wide, arid plan near the coastal city of Nasca are one of the greatest mysteries known to man: a mosaic of gigantic stylized figures. A monkey, a fish, a spider and a hummingbird are among the many drawings and geometric figures available only from the air. The Lake Titicaca, the scared lake of the Incas where Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, children of the Sun, emerged from its depths to found their empire, extends from southern Peru into Bolivia. The Huascaran National Park where the Cordillera Blanca resides is where of the most world's beautiful mountains reside, the snowcapped Huascaran at almost 7,000m. The rich, ancient cultural heritage is alive in Peru. In the various regions, original techniques of ceramics, metallurgy, and weavings complement contemporary visual arts. At El Coqui Galleries we are pleased to introduce the ceramics from the Shipibo Indians in deep in the Amazonia region, and textiles from different Indian communities around Cusco. Take the time to learn and enjoy these rich and beautiful cultural arts on our on-line galleries.

If you are interested in a specific category or cultural item from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, Venezuela or another country,  please contact us at  mailto:elcoquigifts@attglobal.net.  We are constantly expanding our selection and would like to do our best to meet your request. Please review FAQ/Shipping for details.

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