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Show VI. NAAKAIIJLBAHI NINAAD44': THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS The First Spaniards News of the whitemen who had invaded the regions far to the south reached New Mexico long before the strangers did. The Rio Grande was a natural route for news to travel. As word spread north, the Navajos and other northern Indians soon learned of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. By the mid-sixteenth century, Spaniards faced strong Indian resistance on the frontier. The sounds of battle, misery, and death echoed through the land, traveling north to Indians beyond the reach of Spanish arms. And by 1540 two Spanish parties had pushed far beyond the Mexican frontier, coming close enough to give the New Mexican Indians their first glimpse of these bold conquerors. The Cabeza de Vaca group roamed west from the Gulf of Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande south of El Paso in 1535 or 1536. When they reached present-day Mexico, then called New Spain, the Spaniards heard stories of great wealth to the north. A member of the party, Esteban the Black, came back to the north in search of that wealth. Scouting ahead of a group led by Father Marcos de Niza, he reached Zuni Pueblo and his death in 1539. By then there were Navajos living near Zuni. In 1540, when Coronado marched into New Mexico, the People already knew of the Spaniards. Though Navajos and Pueblos fought and raided each other, trade had been a much more important part of their contact. Before the Spaniards came, the Navajos had few reasons to fight the Pueblos. The Pueblos had goods that other Indians desired. Hunters and gatherers like the Navajos could obtain these things in trade for goods such as animal hides and pinyon nuts. Trade was more rewarding than raiding. The hunting and gathering peoples lived in small bands and used only bows and spears for weapons. They had little success when they attacked larger groups living in fortress-like pueblos. Although they did attack sometimes, only the pressures of a third party could make war more rewarding than trade. The Spanish were such a third party. Coronado's group, the FT fT 69 |
