Contradictory arguments are welcome. In judging people from another time period one should bear in mind that society in general has improved, attitudes and beliefs have changed. For example, in the 1500’s a punishment for adultry among the Native Americans was to cut off the nose of the woman. It is not appropriate to judge the people of another time period based on the customs of today. Other examples, in 1538 William Tyndale, a Church of England Cleric, translated the Bible from Latin into English allowing the common man to read it (King James version). For this act of heresy the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, convinced Henry VIII to track down Tyndale and have him burned at the stake, not exactly cricket. Richard the Lion Hearted of France during the Crusades captured a Muslim city and took prisoners. When he realized he would have to feed and care for the captive, Richard ordered 2700 unarmed Muslim prisoners of war beheaded. I don’t believe this behavior would fit within the the modern day Geneva Convention. Examples closer to us are George Washington who ordered the burning of whole Sioux villages and crops so they would not survive the winter. December 28, 1890 the American 7th Calvary was camped around 300 unarmed Sioux Indian men, women, and children being escorted to a reservation. Only 50 managed to escape what can literally be called the executions at Wounded Knee. At least the Spanish tried to convert not exterminate American Indians. It was the Spanish of New Mexico who lobbied the American officials to allow the Navaho to return to their native lands after they were starved into submission by Kit Carson and force marched to Bosque Redondo leaving hundreds of dead Navahos along the "Trail of Sorrow". It is easy to kill or harm another for which there is a lack of respect.

The divine leaders of New England repeatedly inflamed atrocities against the Native Americans by proving with Biblical interpretations that it was "sacred duty of the Christian English to root out the godless Canaanites." The English form of punishment used on natives of "drawn and quartered" where teams of horses would pull a person apart is revolting to us today, but at that time period was termed appropriate. The name Huron as applied to the natives of New France (Great Lakes area) is an old French term meaning "slobs", the French did not exactly considering their Native brothers kindly. What the colonists could not accomplish by war they attributed to the hand of god. The Massachuset Native population was slashed from 10,000 to 1000 in two years from disease. The colonists rejoiced in the thought that God had cleared the path for the chosen people. I think they called it "Manifest Destiny", the land was theirs for the taking. It appears that time period brought out the worst in all the nations.

How does the above relate to us today? New York City police sodomized a Haitian immigrant in 1997. Is it against the law? Yes. Do you feel responsible for what occurred in New York? Were you involved in a social conspiracy against Haitians? Do you believe the system should be corrected to prevent it from recurring? Americans napalmed children and whole villages inVietnam and killed unarmed students at Kent State. Will those events be remembered in history? Are you a part of that history?

The largest body of documents used to criticize the Conquistadors are the 1500’s publications by the Spanish Franciscan "de Las Casas". Historians now recognize that his writings were intentionally exaggerated in order to motivate the Spanish Empire for social reform in dealing with the Indians of the Western Hemisphere. His efforts to champion the Indian cause are praiseworthy and few would counter that the damaged Spanish image was a small price to pay for social reform. Granted the Spanish were the first to spread the Old World diseases among the Natives but to criticize that as a wonton act does not grasp the world forces. Granted some of the Spanish were brutal and their contribution is tainted, but to criticize the contribution of a whole culture is not appropriate either. In the American colonies there was no body of law to protect the Native people from exploitation or extermination. In a way, the advanced social conscience of the Spanish is demonstrated by the1555 Spanish Province's "New Laws for the Indies". The laws released the Natives from slavery and by 1573 it was unlawful to punish Natives, even for refusing to become Christians. Ordenanza "99" of King Phillip II of Spain issued July 13, 1573 granted citizenship to the American Indians with all the corresponding rights. Of course there were over zealous individuals, and the Spanish courts tried them.

Another example of the advanced thinking of the Spanish society led to the creation of the Florida Seminole Nation. Florida was an experiment of the Spanish to create a Province where no European would rule and few were allowed disrupt the existing tribes. The Spanish presence in Florida was solely to be for the purpose of saving souls. The few Spanish missions were protected by a skeleton regiment of troops. By Spanish law, slaves of other nations became free in Spanish territory. Native Americans escaped to the Spanish Territories, such as Florida, from the slavery permissive English, Scot and French Protestant settlements along the East Coast. These refugee camps of various tribes of various languages slowly over the next centuries developed a common language. This newly made tribe was called "Seminolee" from the Creek term for "outlander".

The Spanish largely through the efforts of Don Juan Buatista de Anza forged a peace between the Indians of the Southwest who ravaged each other. The Commanche, Ute, and Navaho Indians repeatedly raided the Pueblo villages before the arrival of the Spanish. The Spanish introduced the American Indians to sheep. The sheep transformed the Navaho Indians from a nomadic, warring culture to a ranching culture. The Navaho, among other tribes, would raid the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. The Pueblo Indians being a peaceful, farming culture. The name Navaho originates from the Pueblo name for them, "Apache Nabahu" (Apache Nabaju). Apache meaning "enemy" and Nabahu meaning, "cultivated fields", or the "raiders of the fields". The Spanish spelled this as Navaho since in Spanish "v" is pronounced sort of like a "b". Juan Bautista de Anza, Spanish Governor of New Mexico, engineered a peaceful alliance between the Spanish, Pueblo, Commanche, Ute, and Navaho in the 1780's. However, wars of the Mescalero Apache, Mimbres Apache, Chiricahua Apache, Lipan Apache, Jicarilla Apache, Kiowa Apache against the Alliance continued. In 1756, Apaches killed 500 Commanche in a surprise attack. Later, the Commanche slaughtered 1200 in revenge and on and on and on as has happened throughout history on both continents, the natives are people too.

Some view the Spanish taking of slaves as despicable, despite it known that the Pueblo’s themselves practiced slavery, although not as actively as other tribes in the area. It is also asserted that the Spanish forced the Jemez Pueblos into exile among the Hopi. True the Jemez abandoned their pueblo in the 1670’s but the cause was as much the drought of that time period and the attacks of the Apache as much as the cause of the Spanish presence. It was not a pastoral climate in the west. Attitudes of the Pueblos was not united against the Spanish. When the Pueblos expelled the Spanish from New Mexico in the revolt of 1680 two of the tribes abandoned their pueblos and accompanied the Spanish as they fled to El Paso. When the Spanish returned to the Santa Fe area later the Pueblos accepted them without bloodshed. Perhaps the increased attacks by the Apaches in the Spaniards absence allowed the Pueblos to consider the benefits of cooperation.

At the end of Oñate’s governorship Spain believed New Mexico a poor area with unknown mineral wealth. Never the less, the Franciscans had won their appeal the King to carry on their apostolic work. Their zeal to bring souls into the faith was a sincere motive as demonstrated by the writings of Father Gerónimo de Zárate Salmerón. His "Relaciones de todas las cosas que en el Nuevo Mexico se han visto y sabido asi por mar como por tierra" written in 1626 placed on paper accounts of events from personal observations and documentation of accounts of previous missionaries to the New Mexico Kingdom and the Pueblos. He wrote that his document was a chart "..to those that may enter there and that your reverence knowing these things may with your christianity open the doors and give permission to those religious of ardor who may enter apostilically to shed their (own) blood" for conversion of the natives "Nolite timere eos qui occident corpus, animan autem nom pasunt occidere, Matthew 10:28". His own account reflects his commitment to saving souls not fearing to lose their own lives, but that his good intentions may have fallen short. After the revolt of Acoma pueblo he returned alone unescorted and pasified the Acomas "..because if they (soldiers) are not as they should be, it is better to go alone than in bad company, trusting in devine favor and not human strength." Contrary to what is reported today Fray Salmerón reported that when the main Hemex pueblo (Jemez Pueblo) was weakened from attacks by the Apache Navaho and weakened from famine (caused by drought) it caught fire and was abandoned.

Some people back then did not nice things. Attitudes have changed, and historical events are sometimes a matter of perspective. We could volley back and forth on similar examples for another 400 years. The bottom line is the Spanish families of the southwest contributed to the nation but it is not common knowledge. They are no better or worse than anybody else, they're just people.

1598 was a confusing time for the Pueblos, they were not united in their opinion toward the Spanish. For example when the Pueblos rebelled against the Spanish in 1680, killing a large contingent of the populace, The Isleta Pueblo and Pueblos of the Socorro area were abandoned and those tribes accompanied the Spanish in their retreat to El Paso. The few remaining in the Isleta Pueblo were attacked by the Jemez Pueblo. Some of the Isletans escaped to Hopi territory. When the Spanish returned, to reclaim the territory, some of those tribes returned with them. The Hopi Pueblo of Awatobi was destroyed by Hopi’s who resented the Awatobi acceptance of the Spanish. It was a turbulent time for the people of the Southwest. The Native Americans were looking for an answer to the diseases which were decimating their culture. Some Natives embraced the Franciscans as hope, others did not. But after the return of the Spanish the two cultures worked toward peaceful cooexistance. By the 1700’s the Pueblos were armed by the Spanish and jointly the controlled the nomadic tribes which had raided the Pueblos before the arrival of the Spanish. The Pueblo militia outnumbered the total Spanish population and easily could have driven the Spanish from the territory. Perhaps the two cultures can see the similarity of their struggles and recognize that they are in this world together and can work together.

As part Yaqui and Spanish, I am encouraged that so much controversy exists on the subject and that the Pueblos are fueling that controversy. After all, when the founding of Jamestown is celebrated in 2007, I doubt there will be as much protest since the Native Americans of the North Carolina area have been eliminated long ago. The protest in New Mexico shows to me that we have a proud heritage on all sides and a heritage which will strengthen. It is my wish that the broad sweep of cultures in New Mexico recognize and respect each other. Perhaps the God of your choosing placed us here as a reminder that we can learn from each other and also live together.

signed,

Francisco Serna Osuna

Author

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