Genízaro

Genízaros were detribalized Native Americans who, through war or payment of ransom, were taken into Hispano villages as indentured servants, shepherds, general laborers, etc., in New Mexico and southern Colorado.[1][2][3] The prohibition on indigenous slavery in the Spanish Empire, implemented from 1543 onwards, excluded those Indians captured in the context of war, who were often convicted to become indentured servants or slaves for varying periods of time. Genízaros themselves were more typically indentured servants who had to repay there release from enslavement by other Indian tribes through a period of servitude.

Throughout the Spanish and Mexican period, genízaros settled in several New Mexican villages such as Belén, Tomé, Valencia, Carnuel, Los Lentes, Socorro, and San Miguel del Vado. Genízaros also lived in Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Atrisco, Santa Fe, Chimayó, Taos, Abiquiú, and Las Vegas, NM. Most genízaros were, or their ancestors had been slaves of Indian tribes, particularly the Plains tribes who raided and enslaved tribes allied with the Spaniards such as the Apaches.[4] By the end of the 18th century, genízaros were estimated to comprise at least one third of the entire population.[5]

In 2007, genízaros and their contemporary descendants were recognized as indigenous people by the New Mexico Legislature.[6][7] In recent years, they have comprised much of the population of the South Valley of Albuquerque, and significant portions of the population of northern New Mexico including Española, Taos, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, as well as southern Colorado.

Name

The term genízaro is a Spanish word borrowed from the Italian word giannizzero, which itself is adopted from the Ottoman Turkish word yeniçeri.[8] This Turkish word referred to slaves who were trained as soldiers for the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish word was also adopted into English as "janissary." The first known use of the word genízaro in New Mexico was in the early 1660s when a politician was accused of mistreating a genízara servant, whose mother was Apache-Quivira (Wichita) and whose father was a Pueblo. The term came into general use after 1692 when the Spanish regained control of New Mexico after the Pueblo revolt.[9]

The word genízaro also had a military meaning in New Mexico. Genízaro militia and scouts were important in defending New Mexico from raiding Comanche, Apache, and Navajo. The genízaros were formally organized in 1808 into a genízaro Troop, commanded by the corporal from their ranks and with a dedicated supply system to support them.[10]

History

Genízaros were typically indigenous Indians who had been captured and enslaved by other Indian tribes and which Franciscan monks were under the legal obligation of rescuing by payment of ransom, thereby entering indentured servitude in repayment of such debt, typically for a period of a number of years.[11]

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, genízaros were an important proportion of the population of what is now South West United States and founded a number of localities such as Belén, Tomé, Valencia, Carnué, Los Lentes, Socorro and San Miguel del Vado. There were also important numbers of genízaros in towns such as Albuquerque, Atrisco, Santa Fe, Chimayó, Taos, Abiquiú and Las Vegas

The debt of a ransomed Indian, often a child, with young women especially prized, was usually ten to twenty years of service to the person paying his or her ransom. The actual experience of a ransomed Indian—a genízaro—was "bondage on a continuum that ranged from near slavery to familial incorporation, but few shed the stigma of servility." Descendants of genízaros typically were also considered genízaros, although - as in the case of the rest of colonial Mexico - this was not an absolute impediment for social mobility.[12]

Comanches and other tribes brought their captives to the fairs and offered them for sale. In 1770, a female captive from 12 to 20 years old sold for two good horses and some small items; a male was worth only one-half as much.[13]

Many of the genízaros complained of mistreatment by the Spanish and were settled in land grants on the periphery of Spanish settlements in accord with a policy established by the Governors of New Mexico. These settlements became buffer communities for larger Spanish towns in the event of attack by enemy tribes surrounding the province.[3] The genízaros in the frontier communities become mediators between the often-hostile Indian tribes surrounding the Spanish settlements and the Spanish authorities.[14] The following description from the 1740s of the Tome-Valencia settlements by a Spanish religious official, Fray Menchero, describes genízaros and their settlement on land grants:

"This is a new settlement, composed of various nations [tribes], who are kept in peace, union, and charity by the special providence of God and the efforts of the missionaries,... the Indians are of the various nations that have been taken captive by the Comanche Apaches, a nation so bellicose and so brave that it dominates all those of the interior country...They sell people of all these nations to the Spaniards of the kingdom, by whom they are held in servitude, the adults being instructed by the fathers and the children baptized. It sometimes happens that the Indians are not well treated in this servitude, no thought being given to the hardships of their captivity, and still less to the fact that they are neophytes, and should be cared for and treated with kindness. For this reason many desert and become apostates. Distressed by this, the missionaries informed the governor of it, so that, in a matter of such great importance, he might take the proper measures. Believing the petition to be justified,...he ordered by proclamation throughout the kingdom that all the Indian men and women neophytes who received ill-treatment from their masters should report it to him, so that if the case were proved, he might take the necessary measures. In fact a number did apply to him, and he assigned to them for their residence and settlement, in the name of his Majesty, a place called Valencia and Cerro de Tome, thirty leagues distant from the capital to the south, in a beautiful plain bathed by the Rio (del) Norte. There are congregated more than forty families in a great union, as if they were all of the same nation, all owing to the zeal in the father missionary of Isleta, which is a little more than two leagues from there, to the north. This settlement dates from the year 1740. The people engage in agriculture and are under obligation to go out and explore the country in pursuit of the enemy, which they are doing with great bravery and zeal in their obedience, and under the direction of the said father they are erecting their church without any cost to the royal crown."[15]

The settlements of Tomé and Belén, just south of Albuquerque, were described by Juan Agustin Morfi as follows in 1778:

"In all the Spanish towns of New Mexico there exists a class of Indians called genízaros. These are made up of captive Comanches, Apaches, etc. who were taken as youngsters and raised among us, and who have married in the province…They are forced to live among the Spaniards, without lands or other means to subsist except the bow and arrow which serves them when they go into the back country to hunt deer for food… They are fine soldiers, very warlike… Expecting the genízaros to work for daily wages is a folly because of the abuses they have experienced, especially from the alcaldes mayores in the past… In two places, Belen and Tome, some sixty families of genizaros have congregated."[16]

Tribal origins

Most genízaros were Navajo, Pawnee, Apache, Kiowa Apache, Ute, Comanche, and Paiute who had been purchased at a young age and worked as domestic servants and sheepherders.[3] Throughout the Spanish and Mexican period, Genízaros settled in several New Mexican villages such as Belén, Tomé, Valencia, Carnuel, Los Lentes, Socorro, and San Miguel del Vado. Genízaros also lived in Albuquerque, Atrisco, Santa Fe, Chimayó, Taos, Abiquiú, and Las Vegas, NM.

By the mid-18th century, the Comanche dominated the weaker tribes in the eastern plains and sold children that they kidnapped from these tribes to the Spanish villagers.[3] By the Mexican and early American period (1821–1880), almost all of the genízaros were of Navajo ancestry. During negotiations with the United States military, Navajo spokesmen raised the issue of Navajos being held as servants in Spanish/Mexican households. When asked how many Navajos were among the Mexicans, they responded: "over half the tribe".[17] Most of the captives never returned to the Navajo nation but remained as the lower classes in the Hispanic villages.[17] Members of different tribes intermarried in these communities.

Today their descendants comprise much of the population of Atrisco, Pajarito, and Barelas in the South Valley of Albuquerque, and significant portions of the population of Las Vegas in Eastern New Mexico.[18]

19th century

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain, and New Mexico became a territory within the First Mexican Empire. The Treaty of Córdoba enacted by Mexico decreed that indigenous tribes within its borders were citizens of Mexico. Under Spanish rule, genízaros and Pueblo natives had often been treated as second-class citizens, although they were protected by the Laws of the Indies.[19] Officially, the newly independent Mexican government proclaimed a policy of social equality for all ethnic groups, and the genízaros were officially considered equals to their vecino (villagers of mainly mixed racial background) and Pueblo neighbors. During this period, the term genízaro was officially dropped from church and government documents.[20] In practice however, Mexico was far from egalitarian. Many genízaros remained culturally and economically marginal in New Mexican society.

Economic and social conditions under Mexico were so bad that in 1837, the Pueblos, genízaros, coyotes, and vecinos revolted against the Mexican government. Rebels cut off the head of Albino Perez (the Governor of New Mexico), and killed all of the Mexican troops in Santa Fe. They formed a new government and elected José Ángel González, a genízaro of Taos Pueblo and Pawnee ancestry, as governor.[20][21] The revolt was often referred to as the Chimayoso Revolt, after the community of Chimayó in northern New Mexico, which was home to José Ángel González and many other mixed-blood indigenous peoples.[21] The Chimayoso revolt was one of many against the Mexican government by indigenous groups during this period, which included the Mayan revolt in the Yucatán.

Notes
  1. Lawrence, Deborah; Lawrence, Jon (2016). Contesting the Borderlands: Interviews on the Early Southwest. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 67. ISBN 9780806151946.
  2. Masich, Andrew E. (2018). Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands, 1861–1867. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 311. ISBN 9780806160962.
  3. Archibald (1978).
  4. Gonzales (2014), p. 582.
  5. Gutiérrez (1991), p. 171.
  6. House Memorial 40 (HM40), "Genízaros, In Recognition," 2007 New Mexico State Legislature, Regular Session.
  7. Senate Memorial 59 (SM59), "Genizaros, In Recognition," 2007 New Mexico State Legislature, Regular Session.
  8. "genízaro, ra". Diccionario de la lengua Española (in Spanish) (22nd ed.). Madrid: Real Academia Española.
  9. Brooks (2002), p. 129.
  10. Magnaghi, Russell M. "Tropade Genízaro". In Wishart, David J. (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  11. Fuente, Ulises (15 August 2016). "Cuando España (casi) conquistó el Oeste". La Razón (in Spanish). Madrid. También les acompañan indios genízaros, es decir, niños de una tribu robados por otra y que los franciscanos tenían la obligación de rescatar comprándolos.
  12. Brooks (2002), pp. 123–132.
  13. Magnaghi, Russell M. (1990), "Plains Indians in New Mexico: The Genizaro Experience," Great Plains Quarterly, 414, p. 87
  14. Brooks (2002), p. 138.
  15. Hackett (1923).
  16. Morfi (1977).
  17. Brugge (1968).
  18. Gallegos (2010).
  19. Gutierrez (1991).
  20. Rael-Galvéz (2002).
  21. Chavez (1955).
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References
  • Archibald, Robert (1978). "Acculturation and Assimilation in Colonial New Mexico". New Mexico Historical Review. 53 (3).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Brooks, James F. (2002). Captives & Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture; University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2714-2.
  • Brugge, David M. (1968). Navajos in the Catholic Church Records of New Mexico, 1694-1875 (3rd ed.). Window Rock, Arizona: Research Section, Parks and Recreation Dept. Navajo Tribe. ISBN 978-1934691397.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Chavez, Fr A. (1955). "Jose Gonzales, Genizaro Governor". New Mexico Historical Review. 30 (2): 190–194.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gallegos, Bernardo (2010). "Dancing the Comanches, The Santo Niño, La Virgen (of Guadalupe) and the Genizaro Indians of New Mexico". In Martin, Kathleen J. (ed.). Indigenous Symbols and Practices in the Catholic Church: Visual Culture, Missionization and Appropriation. Ashgate Publishers. pp. 203–208. ISBN 978-0754666318.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gonzales, Moises (2014). "The Genizaro Land Grant Settlements of New Mexico". Journal of the Southwest. 56 (4): 583–602. doi:10.1353/jsw.2014.0029.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gutierrez, Ramon A. (1991). When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away, Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846. Stanford. ISBN 978-0804718325.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hackett, Charles W., ed. (1923). Historical Documents Relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto. 1. collected by Adolph Bandelier & Fanny Bandelier. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute. p. 395.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Morfi, Juan Agustin (1977) [1783], Account of Disorders in New Mexico in 1778, translated and edited by Marc Simmons, Historical Society of New Mexico, OCLC 3502950CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rael-Galvéz, Estévan (2002). Identifying and Capturing Identity: Narratives of American Indian Servitude, Colorado and New Mexico, 1750-1930 (PhD thesis). University of Michigan.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
  • Avery, Doris Swann (2008). Into the Den of Evils: The Genízaros in Colonial New Mexico (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Montana. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-17.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Brooks, James F. (1996). "This Evil Extends Especially to the Feminine Sex...Negotiating Captivity in the New Mexico Borderlands". Feminist Studies. Williamsburg: University of North Carolina Press. 22 (2): 279–309. doi:10.2307/3178414.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Demos, John Putnam (1994). The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0333650103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ebright, Malcolm (1996). "Breaking New Ground: A Reappraisal of Governors Vélez Cachupín and Mendinueta and their Land Grant Policies". Colonial Latin American Historical Review. 5 (2): 195–230.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ebright, Malcolm; Hendricks, Rick (2006). The Witches of Abiquiú: The Governor, the Priest, the Genízaro Indians and the Devil. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0826320315.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gallegos, B. (2017). Postcolonial Indigenous Performances: Coyote Musings on Genizaros, Hybridity, Education, and Slavery. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publisher. ISBN 978-94-6351-036-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gandert, Miguel; Lamadrid, Enrique; Gutiérrez, Ramón; Lippard, Lucy; Wilson, Chris (2000). Nuevo Mexico Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispanic Homeland. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0890133491.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Himmerich y Valencia, Robert (August 2020). "Genízaro". Encyclopedia.com.
  • Horvath, Steven M. (1977). "The Genízaro of Eighteenth-Century New Mexico: A Reexamination". Discovery. School of American Research: 25–40.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Horvath, Steven M. (1978). "Indian Slaves for Spanish Horses". The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly. 14 (4): 5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Horvath, Steven M. (1979). The social and political organization of the Genízaros of Plaza de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Belén, New Mexico, 1740-1812 (PhD thesis). Brown University. pp. 130–133. OCLC 7263672.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Jones, Sondra (2000). The Trial of Don Pedro Leon Luján: The Attack Against Indian Slavery and Mexican Traders in Utah. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. pp. 132–33. ISBN 978-0874806151.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lafayette. Statement of Mr. Head of Abiquiú in Regard of the Buying and Selling of Payutahs, 30 April 1852. Doc. no. 2150. Ritch Collection of Papers Pertaining to New Mexico. San Marino, California: Huntington Library.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Magnaghi, Russell M. (1994). "The Genízaro Experience in Spanish New Mexico". In Vigil, Ralph; Kaye, Frances; Wunder, John (eds.). Spain and the Plains: Myths and Realities of Spanish Exploration and Settlement on the Great Plains. Niwot: University Press of Colorado. p. 118. ISBN 978-0870813528.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Pinart Collection, PE 52:28, Governor Tomás Vélez Cachupín, Decree, Santa Fe, 24 May 1766; PE 55:3, 1790 Census for Abiquiú.
  • Twitchell, Ralph Emerson, ed. (2008) [1914]. SANM (Spanish Archives of New Mexico). Series I. Sunstone Press. pp. 85, 183, 494, 780, 1208, 1258. ISBN 978-0865346475.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Twitchell, Ralph Emerson, ed. (2008) [1914]. SANM (Spanish Archives of New Mexico). Series II. Sunstone Press. pp. 477, 523, 555, 573. ISBN 978-0865346482.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Simmons, Marc (1964). "Tlascalans on the Spanish Borderlands". New Mexico Historical Review. 39 (2): 101–110.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Swadesh, Frances Leon (1978). "They Settled by Little Bubbling Springs". El Palacio. Quarterly Journal of the Museum of New Mexico. 84 (3): 19–20, 42–49.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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