The Zacatecas

The Chichimeca Wars have been a major role in the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. The wars or mini battles between the two sides occurred from 1550-1590, when much of the new colony of Mexico had already been established. The Spanish ended up engaging in the longest and most expensive conflict they ever had with an Indigenous people. The Chichimeca people were a nomadic group of people who lived in a desert basin that was roughly 60,000 square miles of land, where they were hunters and gathers. They were not a single tribe either; they people of the tribe were made up of four different ethnic tribes that on occasion would join each other in battle. The wars started after the land in which the tribe lived was found to be abundant in silver ore and led to the Spanish establishing mines on the Chichimeca’s territory. This upset the tribe and they started to raid Spanish convoys that were on their way to deliver supplies to the mines and miners. The Spanish then enlisted the help of their native allies by setting up forts along the routes with solders and allied Native Americans to help protect the convoys traveling across Chichimecan territory. The Spanish government then adopted a policy of “War of Fire and Blood” which meant the death and enslavement, as well as mutilation of the Chichimeca people. The policy had no effect and failed. So instead they decided making peace with the natives was a better option. A Bishop proposed a Christian remedy to the problem and that was to convert the Chichimecan people to Christianity. The steps the Spanish followed to end the war and create peace where negotiate peace agreements, covert, resettle Native American allies provide food, commodities and tools to encourage them to become sedentary. T...

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...he lack of detail the article provides

In conclusion, Wikipedia is a reliable source for providing information without much detail into the topic. Wikipedia provided some information regarding the Chichimecan people including, where they lived and why they didn’t want the Spanish. Wikipedia also made some claims about the war that did not use sources, but did provide a neutral viewpoint for the most part. Wikipedia does report its sources correctly but makes a few mistakes. Compared to the sources for the Wiki article the page does provide some general detail but doesn’t go into much depth if a reader is at all curious about the subject. Powell provides the best detail about the wars. Without this page it would be hard for people to understand the basics of the Chichimecan Wars and the last stand against the Spanish from taking over Mexico and conquering the Aztecs.