In the 17th Century, widespread colonization of the new world was constantly changing the face of the Americas. European power-houses like England, France and Spain were building colonies on every coast line of the new world. The Native Americans were being forced from the lands they called home for many years, and those that wished to stay were being converted to Catholicism or other religious practices. In some parts of the Americas Native Americans were even being pressed into slavery. Both conversion of the Native Americans and Native Americans being pressed in to slavery were practiced in the Spanish colonies extending into the areas that will one day be called, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California. The most dominant nation in these regions were the Pueblo Indians. In order to control the Pueblos, the Spanish made the once free people live in peasant communities, forts and missions so they could keep a close eye on them. Oppressing these proud people gave cause to resistance by the Pueblos. An influential Pueblo leader known as El Pope rose up to lead his people from oppression. This revolt actually caught the governor, Captain-General Don Antonio de Otermin off guard. In a letter written by Otermin to Fray Francisco de Ayeta he described how the events unfolded. Otermin described how he had caught word of a plot designed by the Pueblo to overthrow the Spanish. Otermin did not disclose how he discovered it; however it is possible that some of the loyal Pueblos heard of it and informed him that the uprising was going to happen. While a large portion of the Pueblo population had begun following El Pope long before the uprising there were still many who were loyal to the Spanish settlers and leaders. Once Otermin heard ... ... middle of paper ... ...ything and everyone that were there. At times they would work with the Natives at other times they would be at war with the natives. The Spanish had been engaged with the natives longer and over time felt the best way to control them would be to convert them or put them into same locations where they could “keep an eye on them”. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was proof that no matter what they tried, when one man, country, or society tries to oppress another, war is almost always inevitable. Works Cited 1. Charles Wilson Hackett, Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin’s Attempted Reconquest, 1680–1682 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1942), Volume 2: 245–49. 2. C. W. Hackett, ed., Historical Documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, vol. III (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937), 327-35.
The Great Pueblo revolt of 1680 all started with the droughts of 1660 when the Southwest had severe drought that brought famine and disease. During this, hungry Apaches who couldn’t find food on plains attacked the pueblos. This angered the people on the pueblos, but there new leader Pope’, a mysterious medicine doctor, tried to keep the Indian beliefs around and resisted the Christian religion. The Spaniards hated this, so they captured his older brother. This enraged Pope’ against the Spaniards so he held meetings to tell everybody that the Spaniards must leave. The Spaniards found out about this and arrested Pope, publicly flogged him and released him back to the pueblos. When he was captured, the pueblo people set fires in the Indian villages in New Mexico. To take care of the fires, the Spaniards sent troops to halt the ritual of setting the fires by pueblo people, and they arrested all of the medicine doctors, killing several of them. The people believed that the doctors protected them from evil, so all of the pueblo towns wanted to unite against the Spaniards. The group from the pueblos went to the governor of Santa Fe and told him that if the doctors that were imprisoned weren’t released by sundown, all of the Spaniards in New Mexico would be killed. They released the prisoners because the Indians outnumber the Spaniards by a huge amount.
Conquistadors came over to get all the gold they possibly could. The Spanish were cruel and took advantage of the Native Americans who were living there. Not only did the Spanish want the gold but they also wanted the land. The Native Americans were enslaved by the Spaniards and were forced to mine for gold. The Spaniards gave the Natives extremely high gold quotas to meet. Most were unable to do so and because of that they were punished. Natives would have both of their hands cut off(Document 1). The other reason was so that the Spaniards wouldn’t have a problem with resistance from them. The Native Americans were majorly taken advantage of for gold.
When the colonists set sail for the New World, they knew that they would not only have to find a way to survive in the wild new habitat, but would also have to deal with rival nations that were claiming their own share of the new land. There had been long rivalry between France, England, and the Dutch. They had read the stories of Columbus and his voyages, and heard rumors of the wild and strange native people who were considered primitive. The Spanish had two different experiences with the Indigenous
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
Differences between cultures are not something new. Many of us can still see it in our daily lives. Four hundred years ago two very distinctly different cultures clashed in what we call the American Southwest. The Spanish presence brought new ideas, new culture, and new way of life to the new found Americas much to the demise of the already settled native tribes. Already having controlled much of Mexico and South America, problems were rising in the outskirts of New Spain. Secular and religious authorities were in conflict and the ever growing animosity of its aboriginal tribe made it difficult to maintain Spanish control. Though, for four generations the Spaniards had begun to feel successful in their endeavors of New Mexico. In early August, the sedentary and nomadic tribes banned together and overthrow the Spanish authority. There are many angles needed to be addressed in order to see why this happened. Historians and anthropologists have been trying to go beyond the bias history to uncover what happen. In the book “What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680”, historians try to answer this question, some theories hold more pull then others in terms of what and why. Through reading this anthology I believe the revolt happened for cultural and religious reasons because the Spaniards were threatening the indigenous people’s very way of life through violence, exploitation of land/resources (food), and demoralization of their old ways and practices.
The trouble really began on December 1, 1598, when Zaldivar and most of his men were killed. They had reached the great fortress and camped two leagues away. “Three days later, with eighteen men, he ascended the rock to procure cornmeal the Indians had promised” (James 9). But without and warning, the Spanish detachment was attacked by Chief Zutucapan and his warriors. Zaldivar and twelve of his men were killed, while the rest survived and returned to Onate to tell him the news (James 9).
Mexican American struggles in the United States date back to the Spanish discovery of the New World in 1492. For over five hundred years, Mexicans have endured social injustices and inequalities at the hands of their superiors. The mistreatment of the native people of this land is constantly overlooked for "…the main goals shaping Spanish colonial policy were to maintain and expand political control and to convert Indians to Christianity." (Vargas p.30) With this mindset, the basic nature of relations between the dominant Anglos and the inferior Mexicans was that of suppression, rejection, ignorance and separation as opposed to establishment of ideals that would foster cultural relations and produce the true definition of a "melting pot" society.
San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1970. Hassig, R. Trade, Tribute, and Transportation: The Sixteenth-Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico, Norman: U of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Hassig, R. Mexico and the Spanish Conquest. New York: Longman, 1994. Martinez, Jose Luis.
...them, plus, the northern territories of Mexico were not populated, so it was very inviting for them. So, basically, it was the Americans invading Mexican territory and the Mexicans were just defending their selves from the invading settlers. The Mexicans were also angered by the annexation of Texas, which used to be apart of Mexican territory.
The colonialism structure hit hardest on the indigenous peoples of America. Existing power, social and cultural structures were severely disrupted and in most areas there has been a rapid demographic collapse. The population was by colonization also enriched with new ingredients and by European colonists and slaves imported from Africa. The majority population - Indians and blacks, however remained poor and without rights. Civil rights belonged only descendants of Spanish colonists - Creoles. One of the main reasons for the initial Creole resistances were unsatisfied ambitions, which was still subordinated to the people installed directly from Madrid.
Simmons, Mark S. “Kit and the Indians“ University Press of Colorado, 1996. Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago, 1868.
Mexican American history began in the16th century under Spanish colonialism. The Spanish had a goal of conquest and colonization. Evidently, that goal was successfully accomplished because when the Spanish first arrived in 1492 Mexico’s population was fourteen million, but by the end of the 16th century it had drastically declined to one million. Numbers decreased because of the cruel treatment, forced labor, and disease brought by the Spanish. The Spanish eventually controlled most of the territory in the Southwest and over three hundred towns had been established for the purpose of control and conversion. The Spanish imposed conditions on the natives of Mexico that would belittle them. They aimed to convert them in order to make them re...
This lowered the crowns worry about trying to gain power. The most common portrayal that was shared by Spanish records was that what they were doing was a “spiritual conquest.” The boldly portrayed themselves as superior and convinced people that the conquest was the war that they must fight for as Christians. The first meeting of the Indians and Spaniards is always shown to be a dignified event that went by peacefully. There was also a mutual understanding it seems to omit any reference to the massacre but rather start with telling of the rebellion against Machezuma as what started the war, implying that the Indians provoked the war. As it has often been said, “History is written by the
Cortés, Hernán. "The Second Letter." In Letters from Mexico. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. Pg. 83-87.
These diseases decreased the number of tribes from 70-100 to 19. The Spanish forced the Pueblos into Christianity and the Encomienda Labor System upon the conquered tribes. In 1680, the Pueblos revolted and sent the Spanish out of the New Mexico region, but that did not last, and in 1694, the Spanish came back and conquered the land again.