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Show 70 VI. NAAKAIIXBAHI NINAAD^' first in what would be a long Spanish invasion, showed the Indians what would follow. As part of their search for riches, Coronado and his followers brought greed, oppression, and warfare to New Mexico. The Navajos had not yet suffered from the Spanish conquest. But other Athabascans and the Pueblos had. The Navajos had seen the warning. During the next fifty years, a handful of Spanish groups made their way to New Mexico. They did little more than increase anger among the Indians. Spanish slavers reached far beyond the mining frontier of Mexico in their search for slaves to work the frontier mines and ranches. Raiders and traders also spread European culture and goods. The most important of those items, the horse, reached southern New Mexico during the sixteenth century. In 1582 the Espejo-Beltran group became the first Europeans to contact the Navajos. Near Acoma Pueblo, they met "peaceful Indian Mountaineers" who gave them tortillas. Thus the Navajos already grew corn. Two of the Spaniards wrote about the trip. One explained the protected location of Acoma by stating that the Pueblos were at war with the Navajos. In contrast, the other wrote that the "Querechos" (Navajos) aided the more settled people and carried on trade with them. The Spaniards learned later that the Hopis were also friendly with the "Querechos" (probably Navajos). But the friendly attitude of the Navajos near Acoma changed the next year, when Espejo and his men returned and fought with them over slaves. Spanish Indian Policy Navajos, Apaches, and Pueblos all learned that they could expect little good from the Spanish. But they also learned that these new men had certain things which gave them advantages. During the next century, the Indians would do what they could to obtain Spanish guns and horses. By 1590, at any rate, it was clear that the Spaniards would continue to push into New Mexico. As New Spain's frontier moved north, the Spaniards needed new policies for dealing with the Indians. Along the frontier, they found a world different from that in the south. The northern Indians did not live in settled towns or have complex societies like the Aztecs and their neighbors. They had almost no central governments with powerful chiefs or kings. Instead, in the north, the |