NORTHWEST MEXICO
Indigenous Baja: Living on the Edge of Existence By John P. Schmal The Baja California Peninsula is located in the northwestern portion of the Mexican Republic. This body of land extends approximately 775 miles (1,250 kilometers) from Tijuana in the north to Cabo San Lucas in the south and is separated from the rest of Mexico by the Gulf of California (also called the sea of Cortés). Occupying the northern half of the peninsula, the state of Baja California shares its northern boundary with two American states, California and Arizona, and is also bordered on its northeast by the Mexican state of Sonora. On its western flank, the state also shares a long coastline with the Pacific Ocean. Baja California occupies a total area of 69,921 square kilometers (26,990 square miles), which makes up 3.7% of Mexico’s national territory. On Baja California’s southern border is another Mexican state, Baja California Sur, which occupies a total area of 71,428 square kilometers (25,751 square miles), taking up 3.7% of the national territory. The story of the indigenous peoples of the Baja Peninsula is a sad one. Living in an arid environment, their susceptibility to the ravages of war and disease was accentuated by their already marginal existence. The vast majority of the Baja Indians have disappeared and those that have survived in the north are represented by as few as a dozen individuals or as many as a few hundred. Ironically, most of the Mexican indigenous languages spoken in the two Bajas are actually tongues brought to the Peninsula by migrant workers from other states, in particular Oaxaca. Early Contacts Between Spaniards and Indigenous Inhabitants In 1532 – a decade after the destruction of the Aztec Empire – the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés sent an expedition commanded by his cousin, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, to explore the Baja California Peninsula and other locations along the Pacific coastline of northwest México. A second expedition to the area left Santiago, Colima, on October 29, 1533. The voyage was a disastrous failure, but mutineers from this expedition explored the area now called La Paz. In April 1535, Cortés himself led a third expedition of three ships that landed near present-day La Paz on May 3, 1535, where he formally took possession of the land for the King of Spain. Cortés founded a small colony in the area, but the local Indians remained very hostile towards the visitors. By November 1535, more than 70 of Cortés’ men had died from starvation or skirmishes with the indigenous population. Early in 1536, Cortés posted 30 Spaniards to man the small colony and sailed back for Mexico. A fourth expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa in June 1539 found that the small colony had been destroyed. Other expeditions followed, but they frequently encountered large groups of natives who strongly resisted their intrusions. For this reason, the colonization and settlement of the Baja Peninsula was a very slow process, complicated by the hostility of the indigenous groups and the great distance from sources of supply, as well as by inhospitable weather conditions. Indigenous Groups at Contact At the time of contact, Baja California Norte was primarily inhabited by several indigenous groups belonging to the Yuman language branch of the Hokan linguistic family. Most of these early inhabitants lived by hunting and fishing, but some of them also gathered acorns, seeds, prickly pears, apples, pine nuts and other small edible plants found in the harsh desert environment. The northernmost aboriginal Baja Californians spoke several closely-related Yuman languages, most notably the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay (Kumiai), and Cocopá (Cucapá) tongues. Using the controversial technique of glottochronology, it has been estimated that the initial separation of the Yuman family into different languages occurred perhaps 2,500 years ago. The Cocopá and Kumiai languages are believed to be very closely related to each other, separated by perhaps about one thousand years of independent development. Pai Pai The Pai Pai Indians – also known as Akwa'ala – occupied the northern Sierras in the interior of the northern Baja California Peninsula. Their original territory included the lower Colorado River Valley in the present day municipios of Ensenada and Mexicali, as well as adjacent areas in western Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Sonora. Kumeyaay (Kumiai) The Kumiai (Kumeyaay) Indians were hunters, gatherers and fishers who inhabited coastal, inland valley, and mountain regions along the present-day Baja California border region with the United States. The traditional Kumeyaay territory originally extended from around Escondido in California to the northern part of the present day municipio of Ensenada. Occupying the southern section of present-day San Diego County in California, the Kumeyaay inhabited the region near the San Diego Presidio when it was founded in 1769. The Kumeyaay in the vicinity of San Diego were also referred to as the Diegueño by the Spaniards. Cochimí The Cochimí Indians inhabited a considerable part of the central Baja Peninsula, from north of Rosario to the vicinity of Loreto in east central Baja California. Like many of the other Baja tribes, the Cochimí Indians survived by fishing in the coastal areas and gathering fruits and seeds for sustenance in other areas. Cucapás (Cocopá) The Cucapás, living in the desert region along the Colorado River in the frontier zone of Baja California Norte and Sonora, fished and hunted deer, rabbit, moles, mountain lion and coyote. They also collected a wide variety of desert products, including cactus flowers, potatoes, and wild wheat. Kiliwa The Kiliwa Indians were hunters who inhabited northeastern Baja California. The Kiliwa lived along the eastern slope of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir and ranged down the Gulf Coast. Their habitat also extended into the Colorado Desert. Guaycura (Guaicura or Waicuri) The Guaycuras lived in the middle part of the lower Baja peninsula, inhabiting the Magdalena Plains from Loreto down to and including the La Paz area. Pericú The Pericú occupied the southern tip of the peninsula around San José del Cabo and several large Gulf islands, including Cerralvo, Espíritu Santo, San José, and Santa Catalina. The Colonization of Baja California Sur In 1596, King Felipe II of Spain ordered the colonization of the Baja California Peninsula. Six years later, Sebastián Vizcaíno made his famous voyage to Baja, exploring the present-day site of Cabo San Lucas, where he was confronted by a force of 800 native warriors. Vizcaíno managed to build a fort at La Paz, but after a skirmish with local natives, the post had to be abandoned by the Spaniards. In 1683, Admiral Isidro Atondo y Antillón led a state-sponsored expedition to Baja and established a settlement at La Paz. However, according to Mr. Laylander, the settlement "was abandoned after a few months because of escalating conflicts with the native inhabitants." Another post was established at San Bruno, north of Loreto, but was also abandoned in 1685 "because of meager local resources and uncertain outside supplies." In October 1697, Jesuit missionaries started arriving in the southern Baja peninsula with the intention of establishing missions. On October 19, 1697, Father Juan María de Salvatierra established the first permanent mission in Baja California Sur, dedicating it with the name of Our Lady of Loreto de Concho, near present-day Loreto, Baja California Sur. Between 1697 and 1767, Jesuit missionaries would establish sixteen missions throughout the length of the Baja Peninsula. The Jesuit missions played an integral role in the Christianizing of the indigenous peoples. However, to accomplish their objectives, the missionaries resettled and congregated many of their converts in rancherías that were located close to the missions. Although this practice was effective in enforcing religious instruction, tribute collection, and the organization of a work force, the concentration of the natives had a devastating effect on the aboriginal groups and made them more susceptible to smallpox, typhus, measles and other infectious diseases. Don Laylander, in "The Linguistic Prehistory of Baja California," has written that "the linguistic map of Baja California underwent dramatic changes during the historic period, culminating in the extinction of many of its aboriginal languages. Before extinction, prehistoric lifeways were altered in a myriad of ways, through such factors as externally-introduced epidemic diseases, military conflicts, and the relocation of populations to mission settlements." The most serious epidemic was the typhus epidemic of 1742-1744, which probably killed 8,000 Indians. During the following decades, entire tribes disappeared, while small bands of Pericú, Guaycura, and Cochimí – struggled to survive in the south. The Revolts of 1734-1744 The most serious rebellion in the southern part of the Baja Peninsula took place in 1734-1737. This uprising of the Pericú and Guaycuras engulfed several missions in the southern part of the peninsula, most of which had to be abandoned. In January 1735, indigenous forces ambushed the Manila Galleon that had stopped at San José del Cabo for supplies. "The revolt and its subsequent suppression," according to Don Laylander, "hastened the disorganization and declines of the southern aboriginal groups. To suppress the revolt, the Jesuits were forced to call in outside military assistance." In 1742, King Felipe V authorized the use of royal funds to suppress the revolt. The arrival of a military force from Sinaloa helped to restore order and reestablish control of the southern Baja lands. The last scattered resistance to the Spaniards did not end until 1744. The Expulsion of the Jesuits In June 1767, King Carlos III of Spain expelled all the Jesuit missionaries from México. Eventually, the Dominicans continued the missionary efforts of the Jesuits, especially in the territories of the Cochimí, Kiliwa, Paipai, and Kumeyaay. However, by this time, southern Baja’s indigenous populations had declined to the point of no return. Don Laylander explains that "in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the role of aboriginal peoples in the peninsula’s history has become increasingly marginal. In the central and southern portions of the peninsula, culturally distinct aboriginal populations had disappeared before 1900." The Kiliwa were one of the few Baja groups that was able to hang on, albeit precariously. In 1840, the Kiliwa, who lived in Baja’s northeast corner, successfully rebelled against the Dominicans and fled into quiet isolation. This seclusion enabled the Kiliwa to survive into the Twentieth Century. In 1938, University of California Berkeley anthropologist, Peveril Meigs, searched the entire Baja Peninsula for surviving bands. At that time, he located and did studies on a small band of about fifty Kiliwa living in the east-facing canyons of northern Baja’s mountains. Political Chronology In January 1824, after the Mexican Republic was constituted, the central government organized and oversaw the Territory of Baja. Twenty four years later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – which ended the Mexican-American War – divided the territory of California, with the northern half, called Alta California, being ceded to the United States, while the southern half remained with Mexico as Baja California. On April 26, 1850, two partidos (secondary administrative divisions) were created as Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur. On December 14, 1887, the status of both partidos was changed to distritos (districts), and on January 1, 1888, the northern part of the peninsula became known as the Northern District of Baja California. On December 30, 1930, the separate territories of Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur were created, effective February 7, 1931. The northern territory became a state on January 16, 1952, while the southern Baja State achieved statehood on October 24, 1974. Indigenous Groups of the Twentieth Century By the end of the Nineteenth Century, the aboriginal population of the entire Baja Peninsula had been severely depleted. Up until the 1910 census, the population statistics for Baja California Sur and Baja California Norte were tallied together as one jurisdiction. According to the 1895 Mexican census, some 2,150 individuals spoke indigenous languages in Baja California. However, this tally dropped to 1,111 at the time of the 1900 census. The indigenous speaking population for the Baja territories dropped further in 1910 to 711, representing only 1.36% of the total population. Although most of the indigenous speakers spoke languages indigenous to other states, 96 Cochimí speakers were counted. Yaqui-speaking individuals (primarily from the state of Sonora) were tallied at 65, while Otomí speakers from central México numbered 40. The 2000 Census According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years of age and more in the northern state of Baja California who spoke indigenous languages amounted to 37,685 individuals. These individuals spoke at least forty-five languages from Mexico and United States but represented only 1.87% of the total state population 5 years of age and older (2,010,869). Interestingly, the great majority of the indigenous-speakers in Baja California Norte in 2000 were actually transplants from other parts of the Mexican Republic. The largest language groups represented were the Mixteco (11,962 speakers), Zapoteco (2,987), Náhuatl (2,165), and Purépecha (2,097), and Triqui (1,437), all languages that are indigenous to other parts of the Mexican Republic. Transplanted Languages As a matter of fact, 2000 census statistics indicate that 1,025,754 of the 2,487,367 residents of Baja California Norte were, in fact, natives of other entities, representing a total migrant population of 41.2%. In the 2000 census, 41,014 persons in Baja claimed Oaxaca as their birthplace, and it is likely that most of the 11,962 Mixtecos and 2,987 Zapotecos living in the state were probably natives of that state. Already, in the 1970s, Baja had become a major zone of attraction for Mixtec farm laborers, with Ensenada and Tijuana as their primary destination points. Baja California growers almost exclusively recruited Oaxacans laborers for their agricultural labor needs. An additional 89,083 residents of Baja claimed Michoacán de Ocampo as their birthplace, possibly explaining the substantial number of Purépecha-speaking individuals living in the state (2,097). Native Baja California Tribes in 2000 Unfortunately, the Indian groups indigenous specifically to Baja California never recovered from their initial declines of the Seventeenth Century and are few in number. The primary native speakers of indigenous languages in Baja California Norte in the 2000 census were the Pai-Pai (193 speakers); Kumiai (159); Cucapá (82); Cochimí (80), and Kiliwa (46 people). All of these tribes were of the Yuman Linguistic family whose ancestors had probably migrated to the Baja Peninsula thousands of years earlier. The Pai Pai, living in the Santa Catarina community of the Ensenada municipio in the north, had become bilingual and concerns have been expressed that their language is nearly dead. Estimates of the Kumiai population in Mexico at the end of the Twentieth Century put their numbers at 600. However, by 2000, the Mexican census recorded only 159 persons five years of age and older who actually spoke the Kumiai language in the state and all but 13 of these also spoke Spanish and were thus bilingual. Most of the Kumiai lived near Tecate. The Cochimí culture – located primarily in the central and southern parts of Baja California – also declined dramatically by beginning of the Nineteenth Century. By 2000, only 80 Cochimí speakers were registered as inhabitants of the northern Baja state, most of them living in the municipios of Ensenada, Mexicali, and Tecate. In the 2000 census, only 46 persons were classified as speakers of the Kiliwa language. Readers who are interested in studying more detailed information about the nearly extinct indigenous languages of Baja California can learn more by accessing the Ethnologue website at the following link: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX Indigenous Speakers of Baja California Sur In the 2000 census, the government classified 5,353 inhabitants 5 years of age or more as speakers of more than fifty Indian languages. However, these indigenous speakers represented a mere 0.22% of the total population of the same age group. The primary groups were the Mixteco (1,955), Náhuatl (987), Zapoteco (606), and Amuzgo (126), Trique (113), and Purépecha (106), all imports from the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Michoacán and Guerrero. Oaxaca Migrants In the same census, it was reported that 137,928 of the residents of Baja Sur (out of the total population of 424,041) were born in other political entities, indicating that migrants represented 32.5% of the total population of the state. Today, the Mixteco and Zapoteco Indians are the only significant indigenous languages spoken in Baja California Sur. It is likely that most of the 1,955 Mixtecos and 606 Zapotecos living in Baja were probably born in Oaxaca. In the 2000 census, 8,083 persons in Baja Sur claimed Oaxaca as their birthplace, while another 8,564 listed Michoacán as their birthplace, the original home of the Purépecha language. The use of Oaxacan migrant labor in Baja California Sur has been a well-established practice since the 1970s. For more than thirty years, many Baja California growers have recruited Oaxacans almost exclusively, with La Paz as a major destination for most Mixteco laborers. Copyright © 2008 by John P. Schmal. All Rights Reserved. Sources: Homer Aschmann, "The Central Desert of Baja California: Demography and Ecology," Ibero-Americana 42 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959). Don Laylander, "The Linguistic Prehistory of Baja California," in Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat, "Contributions to the Linguistic Prehistory of Central and Baja California," Archives of California Prehistory Number 44 (Salinas, California: Coyote Press, 1997). William C. Massey, "Tribes and Languages of Baja California," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, V (Autumn 1949): 272-307. William C. Massey, "Brief Report on Archaeological Investigations in Baja California," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, III (Winter 1947): 344-359. Peveril Meigs, "The Kiliwa Indians of Lower California," Ibero-Americana, 15 (Berkeley, California: University of California, 1939).
|
The Yaqui Indians: Four centuries of resistance By John P. Schmal Over the years, I have met many Americans who have proudly stated that they had a Yaqui grandmother or Yaqui great-grandfather or are in some way descended from the Yaqui Indians of Mexico's northwest coastal region. Many Mexican Americans have indigenous roots from various parts of Mexico, but the assimilation and mestizaje that took place in many northern and central states of Mexico has obscured any cultural or linguistic identity with specific tribes. However, the Yaqui Indians - and their cousins, the Mayo Indians - have held tightly to their ethnic and linguistic identity in a way that many other indigenous groups have not. Although many cultural, spiritual and linguistic traits of Mexico's Amerindians have been preserved in the southern states. It is difficult to find indigenous tribes in northern Mexico who have continued to practice at least some of their ancient practices. The Tarahumara, Tepehuanes, Huicholes, Yaquis and Mayos stand in that rare breed of Native Americans that has held onto many aspects of their original culture. The story of the Yaquis and their resistance is a truly dynamic story that reminds that the spirit of a people cannot be conquered if a people truly believe in their unique destiny. The story of the Yaquis and their Mayo cousins takes us to the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora. The State of Sinaloa, with a surface area of 58,487 square kilometers (22,582 square miles), is basically a narrow strip of land running along the Pacific Ocean. The state of Sonora, which lay north of Sinaloa, consists of 182,554 square kilometers (70,484 square miles) and has a common border with Arizona and New Mexico. The following paragraphs analyze the various confrontations and wars that the Yaquis and Mayos waged to protect their native lands and customs from imperialism. First Contact: 1531. In March 1531, Guzmán's army reached the site of present-day Culiacán (now in Sinaloa), where his force engaged an army of 30,000 warriors in a pitched battle. The indigenous forces were decisively defeated and, as Mr. Gerhard notes, the victors "proceeded to enslave as many people as they could catch." However, before long, however, reports of Guzmán's brutal treatment of the Indians reached the authorities in Mexico City. In 1536, the Viceroy of Nueva España Antonio de Mendoza arrested Guzmán and imprisoned him. He was returned to Spain in chains where he was put on trial and died in obscurity and disgrace. The indigenous people confronted by Guzmán in his 1531 battle belonged to the Cáhita language group, and were most likely the Yaqui Indians. Speaking eighteen closely related dialects, the Cáhita peoples of Sinaloa and Sonora numbered about 115,000 and were the most numerous of any single language group in northern Mexico. These Indians inhabited the coastal area of northwestern Mexico along the lower courses of the Sinaloa, Fuerte, Mayo, and Yaqui Rivers. During his stay in Sinaloa, Guzmán's army was ravaged by an epidemic that killed many of his Amerindian auxiliaries. Finally, in October 1531, after establishing San Miguel de Culiacán on the San Lorenzo River, Guzmán returned to the south, his mostly indigenous army decimated by hunger and disease. But the Spanish post at Culiacán remained, Mr. Gerhard writes, as "a small outpost of Spaniards surrounded on all sides by the sea by hostile Indians kept in a state of agitation" by the slave-hunting activities of the Guzmán's forces. Epidemic Disease - Sinaloa and Sonora (1530-1536). As the Spaniards moved northward they found an amazing diversity of indigenous groups. Unlike the more concentrated Amerindian groups of central Mexico, the Indians of the north were referred to as "ranchería people" by the Spaniards. Their fixed points of settlements (rancherías) were usually scattered over an area of several miles and one dwelling may be separated from the next by up to half a mile. The renowned anthropologist, Professor Edward H. Spicer (1906-1983), writing in "Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960," stated that most ranchería people were agriculturalists and farming was their primary activity. Hurdaide's Offensive in Sinaloa (1599-1600). Initial Contact with the Mayo Indians (1609-1610). Spanish Contact with the Yaqui Indians (1610). In 1609, as Captain Hurdaide became engaged with the pacification of the Ocoronis (another Cáhita-speaking group of northern Sinaloa), he reached the Yaqui River, where he was confronted by a group of Yaquis. Then, in 1610, with the Mayo and Lower Pima Indians as his allies, Captain Hurdaide returned to Yaqui territory with a force of 2,000 Indians and forty Spanish soldiers. He was soundly defeated. When he returned with another force of 4,000 Indian foot soldiers and fifty mounted Spanish cavalry, he was again defeated in a bloody daylong battle. Conversion of the Mayo Indians (1613-1620). Conversion of the Yaqui Indians (1617-1620). Detachment of the Province of Sinaloa and Sonora (1733). Rebellion of the Yaqui, Pima, and Mayo Indians - Sinaloa and
Sonora (1740). Ms. Deeds also points out that the "increasingly bureaucratic and inflexible Jesuit organization obdurately disregarded Yaqui demands for autonomy in the selection of their own village officials." Thus, this rebellion, writes Ms. Deeds, was "a more limited endeavor to restore the colonial pact of village autonomy and territorial integrity." At the beginning of the revolt, an articulate leader named El Muni emerged in the Yaqui community. El Muni and another Yaqui leader, Bernabé, took the Yaquis' grievances to local civil authorities. Resenting this undermining of their authority, the Jesuits had Muni and Bernabé arrested. The arrests triggered a spontaneous outcry, with two thousand armed indigenous men gathering to demand the release of the two leaders. The Governor, having heard the complaints of both sides, recommended that the Yaqui leaders go to Mexico City to testify personally before the Viceroy and Archbishop Vizrón. In February 1740, the Archbishop approved all of the Yaqui demands for free elections, respect for land boundaries, that Yaquis be paid for work, and that they not be forced to work in mines. The initial stages of the 1740 revolt saw sporadic and uncoordinated activity in Sinaloa and Sonora, primarily taking place in the Mayo territory and in the Lower Pima Country. Catholic churches were burned to the ground while priests and settlers were driven out, fleeing to the silver mining town at Alamos. Eventually, Juan Calixto raised an army of 6,000 men, composed of Pima, Yaqui and Mayo Indians. With this large force, Calixto gained control of all the towns along the Mayo and Yaqui Rivers. However, in August 1740, Captain Agustín de Vildósola defeated the insurgents. The rebellion, however, had cost the lives of a thousand Spaniards and more than 5,000 Indians. After the 1740 rebellion, the new Governor of Sonora and Sinaloa began a program of secularization by posting garrisons in the Yaqui Valley and encouraging Spanish residents to return to the area of rebellion. The Viceroy ordered the partition of Yaqui land in a "prudent manner." The Yaquis had obtained a reputation for being courageous warriors during the rebellion of 1740 and the Spanish handled them quite gingerly during the late 1700s. As a result, the government acquisition of Yaqui lands did not begin began until 1768. Mexico Wins Independence – 1822. Yaqui, Mayo and Opata Rebellions of 1825-1833. After Mexico gained independence in 1822, the Yaquis became citizens of a new nation. During this time, there appeared a new Yaqui leader. Ms. Linda Zoontjens, the author of A Brief History of the Yaqui and Their Land, referred to Juan de la Cruz Banderas as a "revolutionary visionary" whose mission was to establish an Indian military confederation. Once again, the Mayo Indians joined their Yaqui neighbors in opposing the central authorities. With a following of 2,000 warriors, Banderas carried out several raids. But eventually, Banderas made an arrangement with the Government of Sonora. In exchange for his "surrender," Banderas was made the Captain-General of the Yaqui Militia. By early 1832, Banderas had formed an alliance with the Opatas. Together, the Opatas and Yaquis were able to field an army of almost 2,500 warriors, staging repeated raids against haciendas, mines and towns in Sonora. However, the Mexican army continued to meet the indigenous forces in battle, gradually reducing their numbers. Finally, in December 1832, volunteers tracked down and captured Banderas. The captive was turned over to the authorities and put on trial. A month later, in January 1833, Banderas was executed, along with eleven other Yaqui, Mayo and Opata leaders who had helped foment rebellion in Sonora. The Yaqui people, after the capture and execution of Banderas, subsided into a tense, uneasy existence. Some, during periods of food shortage, would take up "peaceful" residence outside the presidios, to ask for rations. Others undertook low-level raiding. The Resistance of the Yaqui Indians (1838-1868). Governor Ignacio Pesqueira of Sonora drew up a list of preventative measures to be used against the Yaquis, Opatas and their allies. These orders called for the execution of rebel leaders. In addition, hacienda owners were required to make up lists of all employees, including a notation for those who were suspected of taking part in rebellious activity against the civil government. These measures were ineffective in dealing with the growing unrest among the Yaqui and Opatas. In 1867 Governor Pesqueira of Sonora organized two military expeditions against the Yaquis under the command of General Jesus Garcia Morales. The expeditions marched on Guaymas and Cócorit, both of which lay in the heart of Yaqui territory. These expeditions met at Medano on the Gulf Coast near the Jesuit-founded Yaqui town of Potam. The two expeditions, totaling about 900 men, did not meet with any organized resistance. Instead, small parties of Yaquis resisted their advance. By the end of the year, the Mexican forces had killed many Yaquis. The troops confiscated much livestock, destroyed food supplies, and shot most of the prisoners captured. Yaqui Insurgencies - Sonora (1868-1875). Four hundred and forty people were left languishing in the church overnight, with Bustamante's artillery trained on the church door to discourage an escape attempt. However, during the night a fire was started in the church. The situation inside the church turned to chaos and confusion, as some captives desperately tried to break down the door. As the Yaquis fled the church, several salvos fired from the field pieces killed up to 120 people. In 1875, the Mexican government suspected that a Yaqui insurrection was brewing. In an attempt to pacify the Yaquis, Governor Jose J. Pesqueira ordered a new campaign, sending five hundred troops from the west into the Yaqui country. A force of 1,500 Yaquis met the Mexican troops at Pitahaya. In the subsequent battle, the Yaquis are believed to have lost some sixty men. Cajeme and the Yaqui Rebellions During the Porfiriato (1876-1887). Cajeme's military service with the Mexican army was so exemplary that he was given the post of Alcalde Mayor of the Yaqui River area. Soon after receiving this promotion, however, Cajeme announced his intention to withdraw recognition of the Mexican Government if they did not grant the Yaquis self-government. Cajeme galvanized a new generation of Yaquis and Mayos and led his forces against selected towns in Yaqui Country. Mexican Offensives Against the Yaquis (1885-1901). With rebel forces causing so much trouble, General Luis Torres, the Governor of Sonora, petitioned the Federal Government for military aid. Recognizing the seriousness of this rebellion, Mexican President Porfirio Díaz authorized his Secretary of War to begin a campaign against the Sonoran rebels. In 1885, 1,400 federal troops arrived in Sonora to help the Sonoran government put down the insurrection. Together with 800 state troops, the federal forces were organized into an expedition, with the intention of meeting the Yaquis in battle. During 1886, the Yaquis continued to fortify more of their positions. Once again, Mexican federal and state forces collaborated by making forays into Yaqui country. This expedition confiscated more than 20,000 head of livestock and, in April 1886, occupied the Yaqui town of Cócorit. On May 5, the fortified site of Anil was captured after a pitched battle. After suffering several serious military reverses, the Yaqui forces fell back to another fortified site at Buatachive, high in the Sierra de Bacatet, to make a last stand against the Mexican forces. Putting together a fighting force of 4,000 Yaquis, along with thousands of Yaqui civilians, Cajeme prepared to resist. On May 12, after a four-day siege, Mexican troops under General Angel Martinez attacked Buatachive. In a three-hour battle, the Mexican forces killed 200 Yaqui soldiers, while capturing hundreds of women and children. Cajeme and a couple thousand Yaquis managed to escape the siege. After this staggering blow, Cajeme divided his forces into small bands of armed men. From this point on, the smaller units tried to engage government troops in small skirmishes. Although Cajeme asked the Federal authorities for a truce, the military leaders indicated that all Yaqui territory was part of the nation of Mexico. After a few months, expeditions into the war zone led to the capture of four thousand people. With the end of the rebellion in sight, General Luis Torres commenced with the military occupation of the entire Yaqui Nation. With the end of hostilities, Mexican citizens began filtering into Yaqui territory to establish permanent colonies. On April 12, 1887, nearly a year after the Battle of Buatachive, Cajeme was apprehended near Guaymas and taken to Cócorit where he was to be executed before a firing squad in 1887. After being interviewed and photographed by Ramon Corral, he was taken by steamboat to Medano but was shot while trying to escape from the soldiers. Government forces, searching for and confronting armed Yaquis, killed 356 Yaqui men and women over a period of two years. A comprehensive search for the Yaqui holdouts in their hiding places forced the rebels into the Guaymas Valley where they mingled with Yaqui laborers on haciendas and in railroad companies. As a result, the Mexican Government accused owners of haciendas, mining and railroad companies of shielding criminal Yaqui fugitives. Circulars were issued which forbade the owners from giving money, provisions, or arms to the rebels. During this time, some Yaquis were able to slip across the border into Arizona to work in mines and purchase guns and ammunition. The Mexican border guards were unable to stop the steady supply of arms and provisions coming across the border from Arizona. Eventually, Mexico's Secretary of War ordered the recruitment of Opatas and Pimas to hunt down the Yaqui guerillas. In 1894-95, Luis Torres instituted a secret police system and carried out a meticulous survey of the entire Sierra de Bacatete, noting locations of wells supplying fresh water as well as all possible entrances and exits to the region. Renegade bands of Yaquis, familiar with the terrain of their own territory, were able to avoid capture by the government forces. During the campaign of 1895-97, captured rebels were deported to southern Mexico to be drafted into the army. In 1897, the commander of the campaign forces, General Torres initiated negotiations with the Yaqui leader Tetabiate, offering the Yaquis repatriation into their homeland. After a number of months of correspondence between the guerilla leader and a colonel in one of the regiments, a place was set for a peace agreement to be signed. On May 15, 1897, Sonora state officials and the Tetabiate signed the Peace of Ortiz. The Yaqui leader, Juan Maldonado, with 390 Yaquis, consisting of 74 families, arrived from the mountains for the signing of the peace treaty. In the six years following the signing of peace, Lorenzo Torres, the Governor of Sonora, made efforts to complete the Mexican occupation of Yaqui territory. Ignoring the terms of the peace treaty, four hundred Yaquis and their families defied the government and assembled in the Bacatete Mountains. Under the command of their leader Tetabiate, the Yaquis sustained themselves by making nighttime raids on the haciendas near Guaymas. In the meantime, Federal troops and army engineers, trying to survey the Yaqui lands for distribution, found the terrain to be very difficult and were constantly harassed by defiant rebel forces. The government could not understand the Yaqui refusal to divide their land and become individual property owners. Their insistence of communal ownership based on traditional indigenous values also supported their objection to having soldiers in their territory. However, resentful of the continuing military occupation of their territory, the Yaqui colonies of Bácum and Vícam took up arms in 1899. Large detachments of rebel Yaqui forces confronted troops on the Yaqui River and suffered large casualties. Afterwards, a force of three thousand fled to the sierras and barricaded themselves on a plateau called Mazocoba where they were defeated by government troops. When Tetabiate and the rebel forces fled to the Sierras, the government sent out its largest contingent to date with almost five thousand federal and state troops to crush this latest rebellion. Laws restricting the sale of firearms were reenacted and captured rebels were deported from the state. On January 18, 1900, three columns of his Government forces encountered a party of Yaquis at Mazocoba in the heart of the Bacatete Mountains. The Yaquis, mostly on foot, were pursued into a box canyon in a rugged portion of the mountains. After a daylong battle, the Yaquis ceased fighting. The soldiers had killed 397 men, women, and some children, while many others had committed suicide by jumping off the cliffs. Roughly a thousand women and children were taken prisoner. By the end of 1900, there were only an estimated 300 rebels holding out in the Bacatete Mountains. Six months later, Tetabiate was betrayed and murdered by one of his lieutenants and the Secretary of War called off the campaign in August 1901. Deportation of Yaqui Indians (1902-1910). The years 1904 through 1907 witnessed an intensification of guerilla activities and corresponding government persecution. The state government issued passports to Yaquis and those not having them were arrested and jailed. The Sonoran Governor Rafael Izábel was so intent on pacifying the Yaquis that he conducted his own arrests. These arrests included women, children as well as sympathizers. "When Yaqui rebellion threatened Sonora's mining interests," writes Dr. Hatfield, "Governor Rafael Izábel deported Yaquis, considered superior workers by all accounts, to work on Yacatán's henequen plantations." In analyzing the Mexican Government's policy of deportation, Dr. Hatfield observed that deportation of the Yaquis resulted from "the Yaquis' determination to keep their lands. Yaqui refusal to submit to government laws conflicted with the Mexican government's attempts to end all regional hegemony. The regime hoped to take Yaqui lands peacefully, but this the Yaquis prevented." The bulk of the Yaquis were sent to work on hennequen plantations in the Yucatán and some were sent to work in the sugar cane fields in Oaxaca. Sonoran hacendados protested the persecution and deportation of the Yaquis because without their labor, their crops could not be cultivated or harvested. In the early Nineteenth Century, many Yaqui men emigrated to Arizona in order to escape subjugation and deportation to southern Mexico. Today, some 10,000 Yaqui Indians live in the United States, many of them descended from the refugees of a century ago. The Yaquis Indians Today. By 1910, the Yaquis had been almost entirely eliminated from their homeland. In the 1910 census, 5,175 persons classified as speakers of the Yaqui language five years of age and older lived within the Mexican Republic. However, by 1930, the Yaqui population had dropped to 2,134. It is very likely that many persons of Yaqui heritage may have denied that they spoke the language or belonged to the ethnic group. The Yaquis fought their last major battle with Mexican forces in 1927. However, in 1939, Mexican President Cardenas granted the Yaqui tribe official recognition and title to roughly one-third of their traditional tribal lands. Even today, the Yaquis have managed to maintain a form of autonomy within the Mexican nation. In the 2000 Mexican census, Sonora had a total of 55,694 persons who were classified as speakers of indigenous languages five years of age and over. This group represented only 2.85% of the entire population of Sonora. The population of persons speaking the Yaqui language, however, was only 12,467. The Yaqui identity endures in the present day, but is in danger of extinction. "They are threatened continually by the expansion of the Mexican population, as landless Mexicans invade their territory or intermarry with Yaquis and start to take over some of the lands," said Joe Wilder, Director of the University of Arizona's Southwest Center. "The Yaquis are at once deeply admired by Sonorans and deeply despised," said Wilder, noting that the Yaqui deer dancer is the official state symbol. To many Americans, the Yaqui Indians represent an enduring legacy of the pre-Hispanic era. Because the mestizaje and assimilation of many Mexican states was so complete and widespread, the Yaqui Indians are seen as a rare vestige of the old Mexico. © 2008, John P. Schmal. Sources: Susan M. Deeds, "Indigenous Rebellions on the Northern Mexican Mission Frontier: From First-Generation to Later Colonial Responses," in Susan Schroeder, Native Resistance and the Pax Colonial in New Spain. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1998, pp. 1-29. Shelley Bowen Hatfield, "Chasing Shadows: Indians Along the United States-Mexico Border 1876-1911." Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. Oscar J. Martínez, "Troublesome Border." Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1988. Cynthia Radding, "The Colonial Pact and Changing Ethnic Frontiers in Highland Sonora, 1740-1840," in Donna J. Guy and Thomas E. Sheridan (eds.), "Contested Ground: Comparative Frontiers on the Northern and Southern Edges of the Spanish Empire," pp. 52-66. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1998. Daniel T. Reff, "Disease, Depopulation and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518-1764." Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991. Robert Mario Salmon, "Indian Revolts in Northern New Spain: A Synthesis of Resistance (1680-1786)." Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1991. Edward H. Spicer, "Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960." Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1997. Edward H. Spicer, "The Military History Of The Yaquis From 1867 To 1910: Three Points Of View." <Online: http://usaic.hua.army.mil/History/Html/spicer.html . September 12, 2001. Linda Zoontjens, "Brief History of the Yaqui and their Land." Online: http://sustainedaction.org/Explorations/history_of_the_yaqui.htm . July 8, 2001
|
The Regional Implications of the Pueblo Revolt (1680-1696) By John P. Schmal Many people from New Mexico are familiar with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and how it drove the Spanish and mestizo population out of the region for several years. What many people do not know is that the Pueblo Revolt was actually part of a larger regional rebellion against Spanish rule. While actions of the Pueblos in New Mexico may have been the catalyst that ignited the revolt, it has become known by many historians as "The Great Northern Revolt of the Pueblos, Salineros, Conchos, Tobosos and Tarahumares." This revolt, lasting from 1680 into the 1690s was waged in New Mexico, Northeastern Durango, Southern and Western Chihuahua, and also affected parts of Sonora, Coahuila and Texas. In 1680, Pope, a Pueblo Indian medicine man, having assembled a unified Pueblo nation, led a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in New Mexico. Beginning at dawn on August 11, 1680, the insurgents killed twenty-one Franciscan missionaries serving in the various pueblos. At least 400 Spanish colonists were murdered in the first days of the rebellion. On August 15, Indian warriors converged on Santa Fe. They cut off the water supply to the 2,000 men, women and children there, and they sang, "The Christian god is dead, but our sun god will never die." The Spaniards counterattacked, causing the Pueblos to pull back momentarily. Then, on August 21 the Spaniards and mestizos trapped inside of Santa Fe fled, making their way southward down the Rio Grande to El Paso al Norte Mission, which had been built in 1659. Once the Spaniards had been expelled, Pope initiated a campaign to eradicate Spanish cultural elements, disallowing the use of the Spanish language, and insisting that Indians baptized as Christians be bathed in water to negate their baptisms. Religious ceremonies of the Catholic Church were banned and the Indians were stopped from verbally using the names of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. The Pope Revolt, in addition to driving the Spaniards from the Santa Fe-Albuquerque region for more than a decade, also provided the Pueblo Indians with three to five thousand horses. Almost immediately, they started breeding larger herds, with the intention of selling horses to the Apache and Comanche Indians. As a result, the widespread use of the horse revolutionized Indian life. While mounted Indians found that buffalo were much easier to kill, some tribes – such as the Comanche – met with great success when they used the horse for warfare. The revolt in New Mexico jostled many of the indigenous tribes of Nueva Vizcaya (Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora) into action. As the rebellion spread, hundreds were killed but the Spanish military, caught woefully off-guard, could only muster small squads for the defense of the settlements in Chihuahua and Sonora. During the power vacuum in New Mexico and Nueva Vizcaya following the 1680 revolt, the Apache Indians started to push far to the southwest, arriving at the gates of Sonora to attack Spanish and Opata settlements. Then, in 1684, as the Spaniards nursed their wounds at their new headquarters in El Paso, more rebellions popped up across all of northern Chihuahua. From Casas Grandes to El Paso, Conchos, Sumas, Chinarras, Mansos, Janos, and Apachean Jocomes all took up arms. In November 1684, Governor Joseph de Neyra of Nueva Vizcaya reported that the indigenous rebels had taken 40,000 head of livestock from the northern frontier area. Unrest in the province continued into the following year as the Viceroy called for the construction of a presidio of fifty men near Casas Grandes (Chihuahua). In July 1688, the Janos and Jocome Indians once again attacked Casas Grandes. However, in a retaliatory raid a month later, a large Spanish force defeated the Janos, Jocomes, and Sumas, killing 200 warriors and capturing many women and children. Eventually the rebellion was put down, resulting in the execution of fifty-two Indians at Casas Grandes and twenty-five more in the Sonora mission area. A general uprising of the Tarahumara and other tribes in 1690 and 1691 also took place in Chihuahua. The Tarahumara Indians at the northern mission of Tepomera rebelled and killed their missionaries. The Indians participating were led to believe that their leaders had the power to make Spanish guns useless. In addition, the Tarahumara were told that any of their warriors killed in battle would rise again after three days. However, within months, Spanish troops arrived from Parral and were able to kill the primary leader, ending the rebellion. Epidemics of measles and smallpox broke out among the Tarahumara in 1693 and 1695. During this time, a belief developed that the ringing of church bells spread measles and smallpox. This may have contributed to two more uprisings in 1696 and 1698. The Tarahumara country from Sisoguichic in the south to Yepomera in the north was in open revolt. Units from several presidios were utilized in bringing the rebellious Tarahumara under control one more time. The Reconquest of New Mexico (1692). Pulling together a re-colonizing expedition of one hundred soldiers, seventy families, and eighteen Franciscan friars, together with some Indian allies, de Vargas left El Paso for Santa Fe on October 4, 1693. Pledging an end to the abuse that the Spaniards had inflicted on the Pueblo Indians up to 1680, Vargas? forces surrounded Santa Fe and then cut off the water supply. By 1694, Vargas had ended all effective resistance in New Mexico. On June 4, 1696, the Pueblo Indians attempted another revolt that resulted in the killing of five missionaries and twenty-one settlers. After a few churches were burned down, Spanish forces defeated the insurgents. Unlike the Revolt of 1680, this rebellion had been poorly planned and lasted only six months. The Revolts of the late Seventeenth Century led the Spaniards to design a more mobile force that could wage war against swift, fast-moving Indian raiders. Although New Mexico saw some respite from war, Chihuahua continued to suffer the ravages of constant raids well into the Nineteenth Century. The Pueblo Revolt represents an important event in New Mexico's history, but the regional implications of this revolt are equally important. Sources: Jack D. Forbes, Apache, Navajo, and Spaniard. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994 (2nd ed.) William B. Griffen, Indian Assimilation in the Franciscan Area of Nueva Vizcaya. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1979. Oakah L. Jones, Jr., Los Paisanos: Spanish Settlers on the Northern Frontier of New Spain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Robert Mario Salmon, Indian Revolts in Northern New Spain: A Synthesis of Resistance (1680-1786). Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1991. Edward H. Spicer, Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
|
Indigenous
Nayarit: Resistance in the Sierra Madre The
State of Nayarit was named after a great Cora warrior that founded the
Kingdom of Xécora in the high country of the Sierra Madre Mountains. He
was revered by his subjects and elevated to the status of a deity. In
the 2010 census, Nayarit’s twenty municipios were occupied by
1,084,979 inhabitants. The capital of Nayarit is Tepic. Indigenous
Groups at Contact: Tepehuanes.
The Tepehuan, according to Buelna (1891), received their name
from the Náhuatl term, “tepetl” (mountain) and “huan” (at the
junction of).” The Tepehuan belong to the Pima Division of the
Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock and are primarily located along the eastern
slope of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Durango and southern Chihuahua.
They also occupied some of the mountainous regions of northern Nayarit.
The Tepehuanes Indians are usually associated with Durango and with
their massive revolt from 1616 to 1619.
Totorame.
The Totorame Indians, also known as the Memurte and Ponome, were farmers
who grew corn, beans, squash, chili and cotton. They were also regarded
as skilled artisans. The Totorame are closely related to the Cora
Indians and occupied the powerful states of Aztátlan, Centícpac, and
Tzapotzingo in the northwestern and coastal regions of Nayarit. The
Totorame also inhabited the coastal area of present-day Sinaloa as far
north as Mazatlán. Naarinuquia.
These were independent fishermen who occupied coastal regions of
northwestern Nayarit and spoke a Tepehuan dialect, Naarinuquia. Teco-Tecoxquin.
This is a tribe belonging to the Aztecoidan branch of the Uto-Aztecan
linguistic stock located inland in southern Nayarit and in two detached
areas in western Michoacán. Huichol
Indians.
The Huichol Indians (also known as Wirraritari or Wirrárika) are
believed to be closely related to the Guachichil Indians of Zacatecas
and with them form a branch of the Aztecoidan (Nahuatlan) family and
Uto-Aztecan stock. The Huichol were located in the mountains that ranged
through western Zacatecas, northern Jalisco and southeastern Nayarit. The
Cora Indians.
The Cora call themselves Nayarit or Nayariti, a tribe belonging
to the Taracahitian division of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family. The
Cora developed agricultural methods that included the building of
terraces to control erosion. According to Salvador Gutiérrez Contreras,
in “Los Coras y el Rey Nayarit,” the Cora’s success with
agriculture caused some of them to move into surrounding areas that are
now in the neighboring states of Colima and Sinaloa. Linguistic
studies by Grimes (1964) have indicated that there are significant
linguistic similarities among the Pima, Tepehuán, Tarahumara, Yaqui,
Cora, Huichol and Náhuatl speaking peoples living in the Nayarit Sierra
Madre and the coastal regions of Sinaloa and Sonora. In fact, Grimes’
studies noted that the similarities between the neighboring Huichol and
Cora peoples were most pronounced, indicating that they are a linguistic
subfamily sharing a common kin ancestry. The
Aztlán Theory Aztlán (Azatlán) is the legendary place from which the Náhuatl
peoples came from. In fact, the word "Azteca" is the Náhuatl
word for "people from Aztlán." Náhuatl legends relate that
seven tribes lived in Chicomoztoc,
or "the place of the seven caves." Each cave represented a
different Nahua group: the Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Acolhua,
Tlaxcalan, Tepaneca,
Chalca, and Mexica. Because of a common linguistic origin, those groups
also are called "Nahuatlaca" (Nahua people). Sometime
around 1168 A.D., the Aztecs left Aztlán, eventually settling in a new
place called Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City). Scholars have speculated
on the location of the legendary Aztlán. In 1887,
the Mexican anthropologist Alfredo Chavero claimed that Aztlán was
located on the Pacific coast in the state of Nayarit. In the early
1980s, Mexican President José López Portillo suggested that Mexcaltitán,
located in the municipio of Santiago Ixcuintla in west central coastal
Nayarit, was the true location of Aztlán. Many modern scholars have
disputed these theories. Nevertheless, the state of Nayarit incorporated
the symbol of Aztlán in its coat of arms with the legend "Nayarit,
cradle of Mexicans." First
Contact with the Spaniards (1524) In 1524
Captain Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura, a nephew of the
Conquistador Hernán Cortés, arrived at the site of present-day Tepic,
Nayarit. He was confronted
by at least two thousand Tactoani Indian warriors who turned out in
force to give him a peaceful reception. He
was presented with a gifts consisting of a cup of gold nuggets and with
silver pieces by the Tactoani Indians. The
Expedition of Nuño de Guzmán Feuding
with Hernan Cortez, Nuño de Guzmán left Mexico City in December 1529
and embarked on a journey of destruction, marching through Michoacán
and Jalisco, and striking into what is now Nayarit after Easter 1530.
During the next year, Guzmán arrived in the area of Tepic. On July 25,
1532, Nuño de Guzmán established Santiago
de Compostela, the first capital of the province of Nueva
Galicia. [On May 10, 1560, the capital was moved to Guadalajara.] Compostela
was founded on the site of Tepic, an indigenous town which received its
name from the Náhuatl words, “tetl” (stone) and “pic” (hard).
Later, Compostela was moved south, and Tepic returned to its
original name and eventually became the capital of the modern state of
Nayarit. According
to Gutiérrez Contreras, Nuño de Guzmán and his henchmen committed
many atrocities against the indigenous peoples of this area. The
atrocities included the burning at the stake of the Cora governor by
Guzmán’s lieutenant, Gonzalo López, and the murder of many Cora
children. It is believed that these atrocities and others led to the
Mixtón Rebellion that started in December 1540. The rebellion engulfed
many areas of Jalisco, southwestern Zacatecas and southern Nayarit and
lasted until February 1542 with Spanish victory. The
Conquest of Nayarit (1592-1723) The
relentless march of Guzmán caused many tribes to relocate, many of them
joining and becoming assimilated into the Cora and Huichol peoples in
the Sierra. The difficulty of the Sierra Madre terrain prevented the
Spaniards from making any serious attempts at conquest of Nayarit until
1592, when Captain Miguel Caldera entered the Sierra and started
communications with the Cora. But in the century to follow, the
Spaniards were plagued with frequent rebellions in many northern
locations of their colonial empire. From 1616 to 1618, the Coras joined
the Tarahumaras and Tepehuanes in a rebellion against the Spaniards that
included parts of Nayarit, Durango and Chihuahua. The
final decision to subdue the inhabitants of present-day Nayarit was made
in 1719. By this time, drought, epidemics and famine had taken their
toll on the Cora people. Baltasar de Zunigi, Marquis de Valero and the
36th Viceroy of Mexico, sent a large force to subdue the
Coras and established the Presidio de San Francisco Javier de Valero in
1721. In 1721,
the Cora chief Tonati had led a delegation that met with Zunigi and the
Spaniards and said that the Cora would accept the rule of the Spanish
Crown if the Cora rights to their lands would be respected and their
native government would be respected. However, soon after the delegation
had returned to Nayarit, Spanish forces seized Mesa del Nayar in
February 1722 and, by 1723, Zunigi’s force had completed the conquest
of the Coras, who were rounded up and confined within eleven
Jesuit-controlled villages. The Sierra thus became fully incorporated
into the Spanish colonial Empire. The
Huichol Retreat In
contrast to the Cora Indians, the Huichol were never congregated into
nucleated mission settlements and thus, according to Franz (1996), were
never converted from their “primitive pagan ways.” In his 2001
thesis for the University of Florida, Brad Morris Biglow noted that,
while the Cora Indians fought aggressively to resist acculturation, the
Huichol response was primarily to "flee” to more remote locations
in the Sierra Madre. According to Aguirre Beltran, the Huichol retreat
into the Sierra created a "region of refuge” and enabled the
Huichol to “resist the acculturative pressures around them.” Nayarit
in the Nineteenth Century The
indigenous peoples of Nayarit played some role in the independence
movement of the early Nineteenth Century. But the seizure of indigenous
agricultural lands (primarily those occupied by the Tepecano, Huichol
and Cora) by Spaniards and mestizos led to a rebellion against the
Mexican Republic in 1857. The uprising, led by Manuel Lozada, initially
met with success when government troops were defeated in Nayarit. However,
when the French invaded the Mexican Republic, Lozada allied himself with
Maximilian’s forces as they entered Mazatlán (Sinaloa).
But with the defeat of the French and the execution of Maximilian
I of Mexico in 1867, Lozada’s fortunes turned and he was killed by the
enemy. However, some still consider Manuel Lozada the precursor of the
agrarian reform movement in Mexico and credit him with the eventual
creation of the state of Nayarit. There are monuments in his honor in
the city of Tepic and the town of his birth, San Luís de Lozada. The
Road to Statehood At the
time of Mexican independence, Nayarit was part of Jalisco. In November
1824, the political constitution of the State of Jalisco was
established, dividing the territory into eight districts. Nayarit was
called the Seventh District of Jalisco.
On August 7, 1867, after the defeat of the French invasion,
President Benito Juárez separated Nayarit from Jalisco, declaring it to
be the “Military District of Tepic,” under the jurisdiction of the
government. On
December 12, 1884, by order of Article 43 of the Federal Constitution,
Nayarit was elevated to the status of a territory separate from Jalisco.
This federal territory was divided into twenty municipios.
In February 1917 the Territory of Nayarit was elevated to the
status of a free and sovereign state under the provisions of the
Constitution of 1917. The
state was called Nayarit in honor of Nayar or Nayarit, the 16th century
Cora governor who had defied the Spaniards. The
Nayarit Censuses (1895-1921) The 1895
Mexican census found that only 3,033 persons in Nayarit spoke an
indigenous language. This
figure rose to 4,166 in the 1900 census and 12,798 in 1910.
In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were
asked to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena
pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca”
(indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total
state population of 162,499, the residents of Nayarit were categorized
as follows in the 1921 census:
The
remaining population identified as foreigners without racial
distinction, chose to ignore the question, or said “other.” The
2000 Census According
to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years and more who
spoke indigenous languages in Nayarit totaled 37,206 individuals. The
most common indigenous languages in Nayarit were:
Indigenous
Municipios of Nayarit (2000) Only
four municipios of Nayarit contained significant populations of
indigenous persons in the 2000 census:
Del
Nayar, located in northwestern Nayarit, about 16 miles (25 kilometers)
northwest of Arteaga, is located in the traditional Cora Indian
territory. In the 2000
census, 23,123 persons in the Del Nayar municipio were classified as “Indígena,”
representing 86.8% of the total municipio population of 26,649.
The
Huichol in 2000 In the
2000 census, there were 30,686 persons five years of age or more who
spoke the Huichol language in the Mexican Republic.
They were primarily distributed across portions of four adjacent
states:
While a
significant portion of the Huichol lived in the municipios of Bolaños
and Mezquital in northwestern Jalisco, the largest portion inhabited
central and northeastern Nayarit, primarily in the municipios of Tepic
and La Yesca. The town of La Yesca is located in Nayarit, on the Jalisco
border, 55 miles (89 kilometers) southeast of Tepic, in an isolated part
of Sierra Madre Occidental. The
Mexicaneros in 2000 In 2000,
only 1,422 residents of Nayarit spoke Náhuatl. These Náhuatl speakers
are referred to as Mexicaneros and it is believed that their ancestors
were brought to the area by the Spaniards during the Sixteenth Century.
They live in an interethnic area that includes parts of the states of
Durango, Nayarit, Jalisco and Zacatecas.
In some areas, they live side-by-side with Huichol, Tepehuanes
and Coras. The primary
Mexicanero community in Nayarit is Santa Cruz. The
Tepehuán in 2000 In 2000,
1,422 residents of Nayarit spoke the Tepehuán language. One branch of
the Tepehuanes lives in Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains of Chihuahua.
A southern extension of the Tepehuanes live in adjacent parts of Durango
and Nayarit. Their primary location is the northernmost Nayarit
municipio of Huajicori. 1990
to 2010 Trends Between
the censuses of 1990 and 2010, there has been a decline in the Cora
population of Nayarit from 47.3% (1990) to 41.4% (2000) and finally to
38.9% in the 2010 Census. On the other hand, the Huichol population has
seen a corresponding increase from 36.0% (1990) to 47.7% (2010). The
2010 Census In 2010,
Huichol was the 21st most commonly spoken language in Mexico
with Huichol-speakers representing 0.67% of all indigenous speakers.
Tepehuano was the 25th most commonly spoken language,
followed by the Cora language (No. 26). In 2010,
49,963 persons five years of age or more spoke indigenous languages in
Nayarit. In terms of indigenous speakers, Nayarit ranked Number 11 among
the Mexican states, with the Huichol the most commonly spoken language
(47.7%), followed by the Cora language. The 2010 census also
included a question that asked people if they considered themselves
indigenous, whether or not an indigenous language was spoken. Nayarit
was ranked Number 17 among the Mexican states with 10.1% of its
residents 3 years of age and older who were considered indigenous. It is also worth
noting that the Cora Indians have the fifth-highest rate of
monolingualism in the Mexican Republic as of the 2010 census. In the
latter census, 27.8% of Cora Indians were regarded as monolingual. The
monolingual rate among the Huchol was 14% (the fifteenth highest rate). The
latest edition of ethnologue indicates that today the Cora language is
most common in north-central Nayarit, while the Huichol language is most
prevalent in northeast Nayarit and northwest Jalisco. Copyright
© 2014 by John P. Schmal. All Rights Reserved. Biglow,
Brad Morris. “Ethno-Nationalist Politics and Cultural Preservation:
Education and Bordered Identities Among the Wixaritari (Huichol) of
Tatekita, Jalisco, Mexico” (Dissertation, University of Florida,
2001). Casad,
Eugene H, Klaus-Uwe Panther and Thornburg, Linda L. “From Space to
Time: A Cognitive Analysis of the Cora Locative System and its Temporal
Extensions” (Human Cognitive Processing Book 39). John Benjamins
Publishing Company (December 19, 2012). Espinosa
Ramírez, Álvaro. “Historia Política del Estado de Nayarit
1917-1931.” Acaponeta, 1931. Franz,
Allen R. “Huichol Ethnohistory: The View from Zacatecas” In
“People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion, and
Survival” by Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, eds. Pp. 63-87.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1996 Grimes,
Joseph E. “Huichol Syntax.” The Hague: Mouton and Company, 1964. Gutiérrez
Contreras, Salvador. “Los Coras y el Rey Nayarit.” Vera, 1974. Hinton,
Thomas B. et al. “Coras, Huicholes y Tepehuanes.” México,
1972. INEGI.
XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 1990; XII Censo General de
Población y Vivienda 2000; Censo de Población y Vivienda 2010. Lewis,
M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2013.
“Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas,
Texas: SIL International.” Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com. Meyer,
Jean. “Breve Historia de Nayarit.” Online: http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/estados/libros/nayarit/html/nayar.html Peña
Navarro, Everardo. “Estudio Histórico del Estado de Nayarit.” 2
vols., Tepic, 1946 y 1956. Sauer,
Carl y Donald Brand. “Aztatlan: Prehistoric Frontier on the
Pacific Coast.” Berkeley, 1932. Schaefer,
Stacy B. and Furst, Peter T. “People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian
History, Religion and Survival.” Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1998. Scheffler,
Lilian. “Los Indígenas
Mexicanos: Ubicación Geográfica, Organización Social y Política,
Economía, Religión y Costumbres.” México, D.F.: Panorama Editorial,
1992.
|
INDIGENOUS
CHIHUAHUA: A STORY OF WAR AND ASSIMILATION Several
million Americans look to the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua as
their ancestral homeland. Chihuahua - with a total of 247,412 square
kilometers within its boundaries - is the largest state of the Mexican
Republic and occupies 12.6% of Mexico’s national territory. In stark
contrast, Chihuahua's population - 3,406,653 residents in the 2010
census - amounted to only 3.0% of the national population. The
largest city in Chihuahua as of the 2010 census was Juárez, which had
1,321,004 residents. Juárez is followed by the capital, La Ciudad de
Chihuahua (with 809,232 inhabitants), Delicias (118,071 inhabitants) and
Cuauhtémoc (114,007 inhabitants). Hidalgo del Parral – one of the
oldest settlements in Chihuahua – rounds out the top five with 104,836
inhabitants. Picturing
a Different World An
understanding of Chihuahua's indigenous inhabitants from the
pre-Hispanic era to the Nineteenth Century requires an imagination that
dispenses with national borders. The border of the present-day state of
Chihuahua with its neighboring Mexican states and the American states on
its north is a creation of political entities. These borders may cause
the reader to believe that the indigenous groups from Chihuahua were
unique to their area and distinct from the indigenous inhabitants of New
Mexico, Texas, Coahuila, Sonora, or Durango. However,
nothing could be further from the truth. Although an international
border separates Chihuahua from Texas and New Mexico, the indigenous
inhabitants of Chihuahua did in fact have extensive cultural,
linguistic, economic and spiritual ties with the indigenous groups of
those two American states. For several thousand years, indigenous groups
living in Chihuahua have had trading relations with indigenous groups
located in other areas. And many
of the Chihuahua Amerindians do in fact share common roots with the
Native Americans of New Mexico and Texas. And, up until the last part of
the Nineteenth Century, the border of Chihuahua and the United States
was a meaningless line in the sand, across which Apaches, Comanches and
other groups freely passed. In 1528,
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European to travel
through what is now known as the State of Chihuahua.
More than a decade later (1540-42), Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
probably passed through Chihuahua on his way north with 336 Spanish
soldiers, four priests, several hundred Mexican-Indian auxiliaries and
1,500 stock animals. Then, in 1562, Francisco de Ibarra, the official
founder of Nueva Vizcaya, extensively explored the present-day areas of
Zacatecas, Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila. Multiple
Given Names As they
made their way through the Western Sierra Madre highlands and the
deserts of Bolsón de Mapimí, the Spanish explorers found a wide range
of nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous groups. Some of the indigenous
groups were named by different explorers at different times and, as a
result, carried two or three names. Anyone who is studying the
indigenous groups of Chihuahua may at first find this somewhat
confusing. The
Concho Indians lived near the junction of the Río Concho River and Río
Grande Rivers in northern Chihuahua. This region - known as La Junta de
los Ríos - is a historic farming and trading area. The present-day
towns of Presidio (Texas) and Ojinaga (Chihuahua) lay at the center of
this region. The Conchos was named for the Spanish word
"shells," most likely a reference to the many shellfish they
found in the Conchos River. The Conchos - at an early period -
cooperated with and allied themselves with the Spaniards, although on a
few occasions they also fought against them. The
Tarahumara and Tepehuanes Among
Chihuahua’s indigenous peoples, the Tarahumara and Tepehuanes stand
apart, largely because they continue to prosper today as important
ethnic identities – in contrast to many of the other indigenous groups
which have disappeared as cultural entities. Both the Tarahumara and
Tepehuanes are admired and well-studied by academics who have noted
their resilience and their fortitude in maintaining a separate identity
within the Mexican Republic. Few indigenous groups in the northern
Mexican states have this distinction. Exceptions would be the Yaqui and
Mayo (or Sonora), the Huichol and Cora (of Nayarit and Jalisco). The
Tarahumara Indians who inhabited southern Chihuahua belonged to the
Uto-Aztecan Linguistic Family and originally occupied more than 28,000
square miles of mountainous terrain, an area that is even larger than
the state of West Virginia. Today, the Tarahumara are a people whose
rich spiritual ideology and strong cultural identity have persevered
despite the intrusion of foreign customs. The Spanish originally
encountered the Tarahumara throughout Chihuahua upon arrival in the
1500's, but as the Spanish encroached on their civilization the shy and
private Tarahumara gradually retreated to less accessible canyons and
valleys in the Sierra Tarahumara. The
history of Chihuahua's indigenous groups is a story of resistance
against the intrusions of southern forces, Spaniards, French émigrés,
and Indian laborers who settled in Chihuahua to work as laborers (and
avoid the excessive taxation of central Mexico). In studying the story
of Chihuahua as it progressed through the centuries, one finds mention
of one war after another, each fought by various indigenous groups and
for various reasons. As early
as 1567, the silver mines at Santa Barbara were established in the
territory of the Conchos Indians. However, in 1631, a vast new silver
strike was made at Parral in what is now southern Chihuahua. The strike
in Parral led to a large influx of Spaniards and Indian laborers into
this area of Tarahumara country north of Santa Barbara. However, the
steadily increasing need for labor in the Parral mines, according to
Professor Spicer, led to the "forcible recruitment, or enslavement,
of non-Christian Indians." Griffen
also cites “a five-year period of drought, accompanied by a plague,”
which had occurred immediately preceding the uprising as a contributing
factor. The large area of southern Chihuahua inhabited by the Conchos
Indians included the highway between the mining districts of Parral,
Cusihuiriachic, and Chihuahua. In the
meantime, to the north, Franciscan missionaries had successfully
pacified New Mexico, claiming some 34,000 Indian converts. By 1630, the
colony at Santa Fe consisted of 250 Spaniards and 750 people of Indian
and Spanish mixture. Starting around 1660, drought and crop failure
started to plague New Mexico with increasing frequency. Starvation
caused hundreds of Indians to die. Tension increased between the Indian
population and the Spaniards led to a serious revolt in 1680. During
the Eighteenth Century a new threat would appear in Chihuahua. The
Apache Indians, starting in 1751, became a constant and unrelenting
enemy of the Spanish administration. As the Apaches attacked settlements
throughout northern Chihuahua, the Spaniards were forced to establish a
series of presidios to contain the threat. However, the steps taken to
contain the Apache depredations had limited effect and, by 1737, Captain
Juan Mateo Mange reported that "many mines have been destroyed, 15
large estancias along the frontier has been totally destroyed, having
lost two hundred head of cattle, mules, and horses; several missions
have been burned and two hundred Christians have lost their lives to the
Apache enemy, who sustains himself only with the bow and arrow, killing
and stealing livestock. All this has left us in ruins." During
the Eighteenth Century, the Comanche Indians had also begun to raid
Spanish settlements throughout Texas and northern Chihuahua. T. R.
Fehrenbach, the author of “"Comanches: The Destruction of a
People,” writes that “a long terror descended over the entire
frontier, because Spanish organization and institutions were totally
unable to cope with war parties of long-striking, swiftly moving
Comanches.” Mounting
extended campaigns into Spanish territory, the Comanches avoided forts
and armies. T. R. Fehrenbach states that these Amerindians were
“eternally poised for war.” They traveled across great distances and
struck their victims with great speed. “They rampaged across mountains
and deserts,” writes Mr. Fehrenbach, “scattering to avoid detection
- surrounding peaceful villages of peasants for dawn raids. They waylaid
travelers, ravaged isolated ranches [and] destroyed whole villages along
with their inhabitants.” In 1786,
the Viceroy of Nueva España, Bernardo de Galvez, instituted a series of
reforms for the pacification of the frontier. He constructed peace
establishments (establecimientos de paz) for Apaches willing to settle
down and become peaceful. Through this policy, several Apache bands were
induced to forgo their raiding and warfare habits in exchange for
farmlands, food, clothing, agricultural implements and hunting arms. Although
the Spanish administration had negotiated with both the Apaches and
Comanches in an effort to bring peace to the frontier era, the
establishment of the Mexican Republic in 1822 led to a renewal of the
Comanche and Apache wars. Between 1836 and 1852, the Chiricahua Apaches
fought a running battle against both American and Mexican federal
forces. The Apaches continued to defy both Mexico and the United States
for many years until 1886, when Geronimo, the famous Chiricahua leader,
surrendered in the Sierra Madres to American forces that had crossed the
border for the special purpose of capturing Geronimo. Although
many people living in Chihuahua during the Nineteenth Century were of
Indian descent, most of the original indigenous groups had either been
displaced, decimated, or assimilated. In the 1895 Mexican federal
census, only 19,270 Chihuahua residents aged five or more claimed to
speak an indigenous language. This figure increased to 22,025 in 1900
and 33,237 in 1910. A large percentage of these indigenous speakers were
Tarahumara and Tepehuanes Indians, who had managed to preserve their
unique cultural and linguistic identities. In the
very unique Mexican Census of 1921, residents of each state were asked
to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena
pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca”
(indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total
state population of 401,622, 51,228 persons (or 12.8%) claimed to be of
pure indigenous background. Another 201,182 - or 50.1% - classified
themselves as being mixed, while 145,926 Chihuahua residents (36.3%)
claimed to be white It is
worth noting that the classifications for the entire Mexican Republic
differed significantly from Chihuahua. Out of a total population of
14,334,780 in the Mexican Republic, 4,179,449 - or 29.2% - claimed to be
of pure indigenous background, while 8,504,561 - or 59.3% - were of
mixed origins. The total number of people who classified themselves as
blanca was only 1,404,718 - or 9.8% of the population - a far cry from
Chihuahua's figure of 36.3%. . It is possible that the significant
migration of Americans to Chihuahua in the post-Civil War (1861-65) era
may have contributed to the white population. By the
beginning of the Twenty-First Century, the Tarahumara and Tepehuanes
continued to represent the largest surviving groups of Amerindians
within Chihuahua. According to the 2000 census, the population of
persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages amounted to
84,086 individuals. The
largest indigenous groups represented in Chihuahua at that time were:
Tarahumara (70,842), Tepehuán (6,178), Náhuatl (1,011), Guarijío
(917), Mazahua (740), Mixteco (603), Zapoteco (477), Pima (346),
Chinanteco (301), and Otomí (220). Of these groups, only the Tarahumara,
Tepehuán, Guarijío and Pima-speakers were indigenous to Chihuahua and
adjacent states. The other groups are representative of migrants from
southern Mexican states, such as Guerrero, Puebla and Oaxaca. The
2010 Census In the
2010 census, the State of Chihuahua ranked 17th among the
Mexican states with 104,014 persons five years of age and older who
spoke indigenous languages, representing 3.5% of the Mexican
Republic’s total indigenous-speaking population. The vast majority of
Chihuahua’s indigenous speakers – 85,316 – spoke the Tarahumara
tongue. Coincidentally, the Tarahumara language was also the 17th
most spoken indigenous language in Mexico. The Tepehuanes had the 26th
most commonly spoken language. Other languages spoken within the state
include Mixtec and Náhuatl. Recent
Trends The
population of indigenous speakers in Chihuahua has steadily increased
from 61,504 in 1990 to 84,086 in 2000 and to 104,014 in 2010.
However, during the same time period, the percentage of
Tarahumara speakers in the State fluctuated from 81.9% in 1990 to 84.2%
in 2000 and down to 77.8% in 2010. At the
same time, the Tepehuanes have seen a mild increase from 4.8% of the
indigenous speaking population in 1990 to 7.3% in 2000 and 7.6% in 2010.
The Mixtecs have also witnessed a moderate increase in their population
too. Over the
centuries, the mestizaje and assimilation of the indigenous Chihuahua
people were widespread and today most of the state is truly Mexican in
its makeup. Most of the people of Chihuahua today do not speak Indian
languages or practice Indian customs. However, the assimilation of
Chihuahua's people was a process that took place over several centuries
and the land of Chihuahua - now at peace - was a dangerous battleground
for many generations. Sources: Fehrenbach,
T. R., “Comanches: The Destruction of a People.” New York: Da Capo
Press, 1994. Forbes,
Jack D. “Apache, Navajo, and Spaniard.” Norman, Oklahoma: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Griffen,
William B. “Apaches at War and Peace: The Janos Presidio,
1750-1858.” Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Griffen,
William B. “Indian Assimilation in the Franciscan Area of Nueva
Vizcaya.” Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1979. Gradie,
Charlotte M. “The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616: Militarism, Evangelism, and
Colonialism in Seventeenth-Century Nueva Vizcaya.” Salt Lake City:
University of Utah Press, 2000. Instituto Nacional
de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Censos de Población
y Vivienda, 2000 y 2010. INEGI,
“2010 Censo: Chihuahua: Principales Resultados: III. Características
Culturales” Available at: Salmon,
Robert Mario. “Indian Revolts in Northern New Spain: A Synthesis of
Resistance (1680-1786).” Lanham, Maryland: University Press of
America, 1991. Spicer, Edward H. “Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960.” Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
|
THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS DURANGO Durango
is a landlocked state of northwestern Mexico. As the fourth largest
state of the Mexican Republic, Durango covers an area of 121,776 square
kilometers and takes up 6.2% of the national territory. The state is
surrounded by the States of Chihuahua and Coahuila de Zaragoza on the
north, Zacatecas on the east and southeast, Nayarit on the southwest,
and Sinaloa on the west. Politically, Durango is divided into 39
municipalities. The capital of the State is the City of Durango, which
had a population of 491,436 in 2000. With a population of 1,445, 900 in
the 2000 census, the State of Durango was ranked twenty-third in terms
of population. Sources
|
Return to TABLE OF CONTENTS
10/16/2017 10:15 AM