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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.