Download His 5263 Spanish Borderlands_ CHICHIMECA

L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
Lorrie Garcia @00089947
HIS 5263: Spanish Borderlands
Profesor Félix Almaráz
27 October 2009
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
The impact of world dynamics has been felt in such locales as Africa,
India, and Hawaii. Global political and cultural influences must be a
consideration when investigating such colonial occupation; Herbert E. Bolton
lauded this as a necessity to any rational investigation to the history of
America. The study of world history as it pertains to American history is
crucial; it is also essential to incorporate examinations across the academic
disciplines in the course of any historical investigation.
This declaration is especially true in respect to New Spain, when
cultural domination was justified in the name of religious promulgation. War
in Europe and corruption of the Iberians entrusted with leadership roles in
New Spain ultimately led her to earn independence, however sovereignty as
Mexico would not have been possible had Spain not been distracted with her
more urgent global conflicts of the moment. Any undertaking in the study of
the colonization of New Spain would be remiss in not incorporating a multidisciplinary approach to dissect the many contributing factors.
As a result of mass media, the modern human ideology receives a
constant influx of cultural mores and our personal role in the larger framework
of reality is ever-present. The constantly expanding technology bombarding
our modern senses creates an overt presence of globalization and broadens our
personal sense of influence on human ideology. Simpler times were not
plagued, or blessed depending on perspective, with the notion of an acute
awareness of our personal role in the larger framework of reality. Therefore,
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
historians in earlier times were susceptible to disregarding the opportunity
presented through study of foreign influences on a region. Not so with
Herbert E. Bolton.
Bolton successfully graduated 104 PhD students and 323 M.A. students
from his rigorous program (Weber, 2000). Although rightfully critical of the
overtly European analyses common at the time of his studies and teaching,
Boltonian ideology was slightly remiss in not incorporating a more
interdisciplinary view of influences on the regions he collectively termed the
Spanish Borderlands. His contributions should never be overlooked, however,
and Bolton’s 1921 text, The Spanish Borderlands: A Chronicle of Old Florida and
the Southwest, continues to be the standard measure for historic discourse on
Spanish colonial expansion in the new world.
Mental and physical dominion over an indigenous population is a
historical condition of colonization. Global developments and cultural views
have always influenced the method of domination over a people. The
Spaniards are known to have utilized a brutal system of oppression in their
quest for wealth, religious dissemination, and even women. Exploration of
multicultural perspectives and primary source documentation from all
civilizations impacting
the Spanish Borderlands is necessary
for
a
comprehensive understanding of the colonization of New Spain. Inspection of
Hernán Cortés’ many writings offer the insight of an educated European with
lofty dreams. The xenophobic viewpoint of the Spanish conquistadores is
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
obvious as Cortés insinuates the native population of New Spain is a raza
inferior or inferior race. Chichimeca was the collective name given to these
people, the fierce and proud community of natives from northern Mexico who
incited the most difficult phase of the Iberian conquest in the Americas; The
Spanish-Chichimeca War began in 1540 and lasted until the closing years of
the century (Powell, 1945). Bolton was the master of scrutinizing primary
source documents to interpret their cultural relevance and historical
significance in his study, yet in my opinion he could have elevated his
research through the inclusion of more cross-curricular input from colleagues.
Utilizing letters, such as that of Cortes, is one essential method in following a
line of investigation through primary sources; however the inclusion of
expertise from such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, and even
botany, should also be considered in grand inquiry.
As noted by George Castille, when a comprehensive study of
indigenous groups, such as the Chichimecas, is undertaken it is necessary to
consider the symbiotic relationship between anthropological undertakings
and historical evidence (Castille, 1979).
Bolton was ever-aware of the
inequities in historical discourse. He gifted the academic community with his
wisdom of Iberian influence on the New World and simultaneously lamented
the reality; American identity continues to be Anglo-centered (Bolton, 1921).
As director of the Bancroft Library located at the University of California in
Berkeley, Bolton had access to collections of texts across the academic stratum.
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
Bolton’s study occurred at an exciting time on the edge of modernity and his
passion for antiquity may not have led him to consider incorporating the
educated viewpoint of his colleagues’ course of study as it related to the
Spanish Borderlands.
The Spanish-Chichimeca War, also referred to as the Mixtón War, began
after Spanish conquest of central Mexico in 1540 as a response by several
nomadic
Chichimec
tribes
to
the
Iberian
invaders.
Conquistadores
successfully quelled the “rebellion” in December of 1541, aided by infectious
disease, thus allowing passage into the Chichimecan territory of northern
Mexico, yet the Chichimecan tribes continued to defend their land until the
1590’s and it is said by modern inhabitants that their souls remain in the
summit of the hills. This territory encompassed modern Mexican states of
Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Nayarit, Guanajuato and Zacatecas. Cortés attempted
to subject the captured Chichimecas to encomienda by offering them as a
subsumed workforce to the men who had fought beside him. He felt the
Spanish purse of HRE Charles V, complicated with issues of French wars,
German Protestants and the expanding Ottoman Empire, was not properly
rewarding those brave warriors who had contributed to Spain’s expansion and
took it upon himself to offer remuneration. This use of the encomienda skirted
around the strict anti-slavery policy of the Spanish crown (Levy, 2008) and was
unsuccessful as the natives of northern Mexico responded with nearly half a
century of harsh warfare. Their refusal to succumb to this de facto slavery, as
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
their southern native counterparts had, is testament to the fact that Los
Chichimecas were absolutely not una raza inferior.
The study of these years of conflict obviously requires historians to
explore the documentation and literary archives, however in addition to the
standard archaeologists and anthropologists a well-rounded study would
include alternate views from a team of scholars to offer their expertise:
metallurgists, cultural geographers, linguists, and theologians among them.
Lacking incorporation of this interdisciplinary approach to his research
should not bode negatively on Bolton’s astonishing contributions to historical
investigation. He truly was delving into innovative ideas, much as the
Spaniards were delving into new terrain. This multi-faceted approach was not
a commonplace practice in the early twentieth century, therefore Bolton
availed himself of the opportunities an historian of his era had before him and
became the master. He espoused the radical idea that world history influenced
American history, while professors had previously only taught a Europeancentered outlook. Therefore, Bolton was the premier global thinker of
historical interpretations.
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
Works Cited
Bolton, H.E. (1921). The Spanish Borderlands: A Chronicle of Old Florida and the
Southwest. Location: Yale University Press.
Castille, G.P. (1979). North American Indians: An Introduction to the Chichimeca.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Levy, B. (2008). Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of
the Aztecs. New York: Bantam Books.
Powell, P.W. (1945). The Chichimecas: Scourge of the Silver Frontier in Sixteenth
Century Mexico. The Hispanic-American Historical Review 25(3): pp.315338.
Weber D. (2000). The Spanish Borderlands of North America: A Historiography
Organization of American Historians . Retrieved October 19, 2009, from
http://www.oah. org/pubs/magazine/spanishfrontier/weber2.html
L. Garcia @00089947
Las Chichimecas: ¿La Raza Inferior o La Raza Increible?
Works Referenced
Bannon, J.F. (1974). The Spanish Borderlands Frontier: 1513-1821. Albequerque:
University of New Mexico Press.
Fehrenbach, T.R. (1968). Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Powell, P.W. (1944). Spanish Warfare against the Chichimecas in the 1570's. The
Hispanic American Historical Review 24(4): pp. 580-604.
Thomas, H. (1993). Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Mexico. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Wallace, E., et.al. (Ed.). (2002). In Documents of Texas History (2nd ed.). Austin:
Texas State Historical Association.