Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco

Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco
Type	Catholic
Established	January 6, 1536
Location	Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico
Campus	Urban

The Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, is the first and oldest European school of higher learning in the Americas^[1] and the first major school of interpreters and translators in the New World.^[2] It was established by the Franciscans on January 6, 1536^[3] with the intention, as is generally accepted, of preparing Native American boys for eventual ordination to the Catholic priesthood.^[4]^[5] Students trained in the Colegio were important contributors to the work of Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún in the creation of his monumental twelve-volume General History of the Things of New Spain, often referred to as the Florentine Codex. The failure of the Colegio had long-lasting consequences, with scholar Robert Ricard saying that "[h]ad the College of Tlatelolco given the country even one [native] bishop, the history of the Mexican Church might have been profoundly changed."^[6]

^ Steck; Francis Borgia (1936). The first college in America: Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. Washington DC.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Lourdes Arencibia Rodriguez (2006). "The Imperial College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco: The First School of Translators and Interpreters in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America". Charting the Future of Translation History. Perspectives on Translation. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 263–275. ISBN 9780776626208. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
^ Carlos Villa Roiz (July 16, 2016). "A 480 años del Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco" [480 years of Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco]. Cronica.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
^ Robert Ricard, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico. Translated by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press 1966, pp. 217-235.
^ See Brand, p. 63; for the argument that it was not founded with this intention, see Estarellas, Juan: "The College of Tlatelolco and the Problem of Higher Education for Indians in 16th Century Mexico". History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Dec., 1962) pp.234-243 at pp.236f.
^ Ricard, Spiritual Conquest, p. 235.

[1] Steck; Francis Borgia (1936). The first college in America: Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. Washington DC.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[2] Lourdes Arencibia Rodriguez (2006). "The Imperial College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco: The First School of Translators and Interpreters in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America". Charting the Future of Translation History. Perspectives on Translation. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 263–275. ISBN 9780776626208. Retrieved 2017-09-27.

[3] Carlos Villa Roiz (July 16, 2016). "A 480 años del Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco" [480 years of Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco]. Cronica.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.

[4] Robert Ricard, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico. Translated by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press 1966, pp. 217-235.

[5] See Brand, p. 63; for the argument that it was not founded with this intention, see Estarellas, Juan: "The College of Tlatelolco and the Problem of Higher Education for Indians in 16th Century Mexico". History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Dec., 1962) pp.234-243 at pp.236f.

[6] Ricard, Spiritual Conquest, p. 235.

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