Chichimeca War

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The Chichimeca War took place in 1550, nine years after the Mixtón Rebellion. It can be considered as a continuation of the rebellion since the fighting did not come to a halt in the intervening years. In 1550, Zacatecos and Guachichile Indians attacked Spanish merchants and silver miners in the region. Unlike in the Mixtón rebellion, the Caxcanes were now allied with the Spanish, and the war was primarily fought by the Zacatecos and Guachichiles against the Spanish and their Indian allies. The war took place in the current Mexican states of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, and Jalisco. This war is also known to have been the first frontier war in Mexico.

Prelude

In 1546 silver was found around the Cerro de la Bufa hill in Zacatecas by Spaniards, and the news soon spread across Spanish Mexico. The noble Juan de Tolosa, was brought to the foot of the hill after a group of natives gave him a couple of pieces of ore. On September 8 of that same year the city of Zacatecas was founded as a mining settlement. The dream of quick wealth triggered multitudes of people to migrate from southern Mexico into the heartland of La Gran Chichimeca. Soon the mines of San Martín, Chalchihuites, Avino, Sombrerete, Fresnillo, Mazapil, and Nieves were established. The Chichimeca nations resented the intrusions by the Spanish and their Indian laborers on their ancestral lands. Disobeying the Viceroy, Spanish soldiers soon began raiding native settlements to acquire slaves for the mines. After the fall of Tenochtitlan and the Mexica (Aztecs), the Spanish came to believe that the Chichimeca could easily be crushed due to the derogatory term the Aztecs had for them and the nomadic way of living. However, the conflict between the Chichimecas and the Spanish proved to be much more difficult then the Spanish anticipated. The war would last until the turn of the century and in the end had to be solved by "peace and purchase", on the part of the Spanish, which involved offering food, clothing, lands, and agricultural implements in exchange for peace.

References

• Powell, Philip Wayne. Soldiers, Indians, & Silver: The Northward Advance of New Spain, 1550-1600. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1969.
• Schmal, John P. The History of Zacatecas. Houston Institute for Culture. 2004.[1]
• Schmal, John P. Sixteenth Century Indigenous Jalisco. 2004.[2]