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Show 74 VI. NAAKAIIXBAHI NINAADAA' long as the Indians could not be controlled. Most army victories came about only because Indian tribes were not well-organized. Normally, however, the few soldiers could do little more than anger the enemy. New missionaries came to New Mexico in the 1620s. Among them was Father Geronimo de Zarate Salmeron, who was the first Spaniard to use the word "Navajo" for the People. Instead of using the broader names "Apache" and "Querecho," Zarate Salmeron wrote about the "Apaches of Nabaho." He said they lived between the Chama and San Juan rivers in 1626. By the mid-1620s, the Spanish fathers knew that the Navajos were a separate group. At that time, the friars began their efforts to convert the tribe. They learned more about the Navajos from Santa Clara and Jemez Pueblos, who had a great deal of contact with the People. Christian Santa Clara was the victim of constant Navajo attacks. The more rebellious Jemez Pueblo often joined the Navajos in their wars against the Spaniards. Many of the Navajos who lived in this region were led by Quinia. When the missionaries met this leader, they set out to convert his people. At first, they succeeded. Quinia and another leader named Manases were baptized. But soon the Navajos came to resent the restraints of Christianity and tried to kill the missionary who lived with them. In spite of this setback, Father Alonso de Benavides went on trying to baptize the Navajos. In 1630 he published the first lengthy account of the tribe. He described them as a vast nation of more than 200,000 people. He stated that they were part of the same nation as the other Apaches but had different leaders and a different lifestyle. Unlike the other Apaches, he reported, the Navajos farmed and lived a more settled life, In fact, Benavides wrote, they were "very great farmers for that is what Navajo means â€" it means 'great planted fields.' " Benavides also said that the Navajos were the most warlike tribe in New Mexico. They fought with the Pueblos, he said, because the Pueblos took a mineral dye from Navajo lands. The Navajos reacted to this trespass by attacking Pueblo towns. The Spaniards who tried to protect the Pueblos, Benavides said, met as many as 30,000 Navajo warriors. Benavides wildly exaggerated the number of Navajos. He did not write about the role the Spaniards had played in increasing hostilities among the Indians. But he was correct when he described the Navajos as the largest and most powerful tribe in New Mexico. |