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Show 78 VI. NAAKAII^BAHI NINAADAA' Even more Pueblos came after 1692, when the Spaniards returned to New Mexico. Diego de Vargas began his reconquest of the province in that year. It took him many years to defeat the Indians and control the Rio Grande Valley. Meanwhile the Pueblos had split into factions. At least some of these factions depended on the Navajos for aid. The Navajos urged the Pueblos to resist Vargas and his army. They also raided with the rebels. In 1696 they joined with many of the Pueblos in a last effort to drive the Spaniards out of New Mexico. But by 1698 the Spaniards had won. They had taken all of the upper Rio Grande Valley. During the early years of the eighteenth century, some Pueblos, including Zuni, Hopi, and Laguna, still plotted against the Spanish rulers. The Spaniards spent a great deal of time stopping the plots. The Navajos too were still a grave and constant threat to Spanish safety. In 1702 the governor began to plan a campaign against them. But when the Navajos sent one of their leaders to Taos to ask for peace, the governor dropped his plans. Navajos continued to raid. In 1704 some joined Pueblos from Hopi, Taos, San Ildefonso, and San Juan in plots against the Spaniards. But not all of the Navajos were fighting the Spaniards. Some even warned the settlers of Pueblo plots. There were many differences among the Navajos. They were very independent people, made up of many separate groups. They spread through a large area west of the Rio Grande. The largest group lived on southern branches of the San Juan River, such as the Gobernador, Largo, and Blanco canyon lands. Most fighting was in that region. During the first fifteen to twenty years of the eighteenth century, New Mexico's warfare began to follow a new pattern. The Navajos raided the towns and the Pueblos. The Spaniards then sent troops into Navajo country. This normally brought Navajo leaders into the towns to ask for peace. Peace gave the People a chance to recover from the attacks. The truces often lasted for a few years, until some Navajos or Spaniards sought wealth at the expense of the other. Then a new cycle of warfare started. More and more, the Pueblos bore the brunt of the raids. The many angry Pueblos living with the Navajos were one reason for this. Another reason was that the Spaniards sought Pueblo help in their wars with other Indians. Vargas used Pueblo allies during his reconquest. Then he turned them against the frontier Indians. As the Spaniards defeated each Pueblo, they added its residents to their army. In this way, they formed a united front against the |
