ABSTRACT
At the time of the Spani~;l wnqucst of Mexico, the Indians known as Chichimecas were the hunter-gatherers and warriors who occupied the immense, semi-arid terrain of the northern altiplano in large, dispersed groups.! One of the largest of these groups were the Guachichiles. South of this descrtlike region lay the settiements of the sedentary agricultural people~ of Mesoamerica, another vast culture area, with their great temples, politico-religioll~ hierarchies, trade, and cities. In a mere two years Cortes conquered virtually all of central Mexico, bringing under the control of the Spanish Crown sllch varied sedentary groups as the Tlaxcalans, the Mcxica, and the Tara~cans. With the death of Cortes in I547 this "first conquest of Mexico," a~ Philip Wayne Powell fittingly calls it, came to an end. Afterward!., a much more difficult, costly, and bloody conquest ensued as Spaniards moved north, in their perennial search for riches, to the areas occupied by variou!> Chichimec groups (Powell I974: ix). Unlike their sedentary neighbors to the south, the Chichimecas proved difficult to conquer, resisting for nearly a half centuryfrom 1548 to I590-the advance of Spanish colonization. This resistance. as viewed from the Spanish perspective, which assumed an eminent right ro the northern lands, came to be known as the War of the Chichimec3!> (see Powell 1974. I977)·
1,',,' (Jl,,'ovcry ,), ~;;n-r in /, .. ::1:\'<:;', in 1546 anJ t:le ~ub~eqllent l1orth-\vard CXi')~ill"h)n \If \."Oil ... nH:r(l' ;;iih.! [l' ... l,-':C rOt,tt:~ hrought Spaniards into direct ,'OIll:lCi with till' Zacare,:(), ;i,h] \d;;Khichii,~ .. anJ later with other Chichimec
hn)~l;)" O~<li,ewdi 1. <;.1"7 i : ';"i'-:')' !',\, 15 SO, 5.:, (O;:lp.1llie:-. at Za(atecas owned and \l;x'r.1re(; mim'" l'nlpl()Vlll~ hi .• do;. .. :.!vt's and Indians from the already (ol1(]ucJ"ni r('i~i()n .. of ':('!"ill.li ,\'leXic'O (;,<)\\'('1. 19:'4: 14). As the bustling traft'!l' o( s( .. tdcr~, (,:n:J"(:l)i·cnl·tlr~, (Uh! Llhnrc,":-. i·;ja".;~ hcad,v;lY on the J\ttcxico .. Lac:ltCG1\ hii~hw.ly, :l:;d :,~ ral1,:h,-,~ h(:)!,:"t'l (0 InuiriplY to provide food and su?pli('~ for liw miner'" rb,' (;u;.chi.:hilc .. ;wd L,,';ltecos did not sit idly ob-,erVli114 rilc :'u"y antwork OJ' cpiol1:/,lIion Uii riw:f i.lIlJs. Formed into ~l11all
gro,;p~ or ic:1hilCS joining ~cv;:r;d rriiw" rhey rai,kJ the (arJvans of tht' Spani,mis from thi.:ir stronghnk; iiI rlw vallcy, of the TUllal Grande, stealing hor~es, looting ~t&p!ily PO~~(~, ~1l1a..i kil:in~\ in,lllY i r~l\'(,:l'r~ on the Z;t(ate,,:;Is roaJ. In the dl'..::ad..::, rh.ll i()liowcd, t!ll'Y de."l r,)yed hOlN'" and towns, sacked and burned churches, ,md made martyr, Olll of the: fri;lI', who ~:amc to convert thcm (ibid.: 'P",)5)'
l\(';)orrs and c;~ror;jclc'~ by S; •. lI1i .. h wmer" nut surprislIlgly, emphasize the wiidne~s, hrutality, .1nd thicving ,'haractcr 0:: dw Chichimecas. \Vriting in lS(,.'., rhe Za":::Ii"l'(a,l milll'l" i\'drn dl' Ahumada ilotl',1 that the Indians of Za,'aH.'CiS an,! San ;\bnin "\\'h<) iive lil \i~\~ w,s"ltkd arcas [des/}ob/a,josj go ~lrol1nd n~l~c\i like '.lV.l~;C'. 'They ha\\' '1l'it:~C'r LI\v\ nor ~l{)lt"'C' nor (0l11rnCrcc no." .. it-) th~y ri~i thc.:' LUhJ Ilnr \!\'(lrK ex\.·cpt .H hi:i1nng~ and they su~rain thcnl-~l'lw~ :'rl)l~) tilar alld wilJ in:ir, <Inti rolJt~," (Ai1Uiliada 194.~ [15('L]: 57). These frllir~ :lnd mot\ :lll:;"dl'd IIII/<J-, (p"id,ir pl .. ,r~) :li1d I1WI.C!uitl· sced (from which ;1 form of bre;},l w:\\ m;Hk), Ei~l'wherc t\h\ln~adrl add~, o;pcaking now of thc G\lachicf,ile~ of S;lii'l<lS, thar "d1l'}' Hill "'found rh;tt rq.;ion like wiid beasts )U~r ~rl)ppini4 111 an)' OilC pla..::c iOI1i!, enough to hnish the meal of tunas or rncz<]liite rh,n dwrl' i~ iiI i;" (ihid.: :i'))'
The people nj: riws(' h:id~ ,Ire naked ,Hid wry poor and ("xrrenw!y barh:trous ...... "rhey ,"di 1;,"(, h .. 'nf OVt.'r ,jnd ii1t"li;lcd rowc"':'d~ i:1C ground just li:(c brute" withoul ewr rai~iil)!. thl'ir \'y(~~ frorn it and thu, their only o':C\l;).I;IOI1 i~ to look ;:.,1' fo()~: wlrh how ;lnd ;Irrow, to pl"l1cre:art:, and to :nah' war widll.'<1ch Oilier. (Quoted in ?l'rdwfOI1 191-;L: ))
'I(Jl"(iucmad.l ;';Ot:, '0 (ai' :" [0 .:ump;.rl' tlll' (:hi(hiill<'~';)' to Jel'r (quoted in ibid.). Or as Capir.lIl Aiorhll ,1L-i.l'flil, (lAnrn~~ w the Chichime.:as of norrhem Mexico, Texas, .m,j :\('w Mcxico, i'IiiS it, "tht:IT are no bucks like
Kuth Behar
