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Road to Chinle October 17, 2008 |
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| The Diné occupied areas abandoned by the Pueblo Indians, who were already indigenous to the region.
Consequently, there was considerable trade and cultural interchange between the two neighboring groups though sometimes
relations were antagonistic.
In the 1600s, the Spanish conquistadores and the Church subjugated the Puebloans, a bloody affair involving many massacres, turning them into vassals and often slaves, forcefully converting them to Christianity. The conquest was aided by the coincidence of a rainfall inmidst a drought. The Spanish convinced the Puebloans the rain was caused to be by the Christian god. While most pretended outwardly to be Christian and allied to the Spanish, some Pueblo Indians fled and received asylum among the Diné often bringing along livestock stolen from the Spanish. Previously, the Navajo had been hunters, gatherers and seasonal farmers; now their lifestyle quickly changed to that of shepherding and cattle ranching. They rapidly augmented their flocks through raids on the Spanish and on the Pueblos; for the Spanish this loss of livestock to the Navajo became a major economic factor. On the surface, the Spanish occupation afforded the Puebloans a certain protection from their Navajo and Apache rivals. Quite possibly, however, the need for this protection derived precisely from the Spanish presence as the Navajo viewed the Puebloans as Spanish allies and therefore fair game. Thus, the Spanish had entrenched themselves in the New Mexico area. Their security depended heavily on the pacification of the Pueblos, however. As is usually the case with colonial occupation, resentment only increased over time. Also, as the Navajo gained military strength, the Spanish found their own power declining, and less and less capable of affording protection to the Pueblos, who were caught between the lines of the war between Navajo and Spaniard. Mostly though, the Pueblo people lacked organization. This changed in 1680 with the charismatic Pueblo leader named Popé who organized what came to be known as Popé's Rebellion, or the Pueblo Revolt. At this point the Puebloans allied themselves with the Apaches (and maybe Navajo) and pushed the Spanish back. From here, Spanish, later Mexicans, and Navajo mutually engaged in low intensity warfare - raiding parties, expeditions deep into enemy territory, the Navajo to steal cattle, the Spaniards to abduct women and children as slaves. The Navajo gradually increased their military strength, until the arrival of US forces in the 1840s. |
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