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Show THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS 71 Spaniards found many small, independent groups with a great variety of cultures and languages. Because of this confusion, the frontiersmen tried to control the Indians by means of slavery or murder. The Indians fought back, forcing Spain to bring soldiers to the frontier. This policy only angered the Indians all the more. When officials saw that force alone had failed, they began to use the mission to try to turn Indians into Christians with European habits. That, officials thought, would make Indians useful subjects of the Spanish king. In the end, missionaries and soldiers worked together to control the Indians. "Civilization" was the goal of Spanish efforts to change the Indians. To a Spaniard, civilization meant Catholicism, the Spanish language, European dress, European marriage customs, stone or adobe houses, and obedience to the Spanish law and king. The Spaniards felt that their culture would improve the Indians. They did not understand that the Indians had worthwhile lifestyles of their own. They thought that the Indians should be thankful, not resentful, for what the Spaniards brought them. As a result of this policy, Indians were often caught between rival Spanish groups, both of whom wanted to change their lives. Missionaries hoped to settle the Indians around mission churches, where they would turn into good Spaniards. On the other hand, miners, ranchers, and other settlers wanted to use Indian labor. They too hoped to separate the Indians from their own peoples and cultures. Thus missionaries and other Spaniards often fought over how Indians should be brought into Spanish society. In New Mexico, the Spanish policies faced special problems. There was no need to move Pueblos into settlements. The missionaries merely built churches in the existing towns. But the large numbers of unsettled Indians like the Navajos were a major problem. The Spaniards in New Mexico were few, and their power was not great enough to force all of the Indians into towns. The old Spanish policy could not be adapted to the new problems. The Conquest of the Pueblos On July 7, 1598, Juan de Ohate led a large group of Spaniards to Santo Domingo, where they met people from the New Mexico Pueblos. The Indians promised to be loyal to the King of Spain. But they probably did not know what such promises meant to the |