©2018 Travis Jeffres ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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©2018 Travis Jeffres ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “WE MEXICAS WENT EVERYWHERE IN THAT LAND”: THE MEXICAN INDIAN DIASPORA IN THE GREATER SOUTHWEST, 1540-1680 By TRAVIS JEFFRES A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History Written under the direction of Camilla ToWnsend And approVed by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “We Mexicas Went Everywhere in That Land:” The Mexican Indian Diaspora in the Greater Southwest, 1540-1680 by TRAVIS JEFFRES Dissertation Director: Camilla ToWnsend Beginning With Hernando Cortés’s capture of Aztec Tenochtitlan in 1521, legions of “Indian conquistadors” from Mexico joined Spanish military campaigns throughout Mesoamerica in the sixteenth century. Scholarship appearing in the last decade has revealed the aWesome scope of this participation—involving hundreds of thousands of Indian allies—and cast critical light on their motiVations and experiences. NeVertheless this Work has remained restricted to central Mexico and areas south, while the region known as the Greater SouthWest, encompassing northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, has been largely ignored. This dissertation traces the moVements of Indians from central Mexico, especially Nahuas, into this region during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and charts their experiences as diasporic peoples under colonialism using sources they Wrote in their oWn language (Nahuatl). Their activities as laborers, soldiers, settlers, and agents of acculturation largely enabled colonial expansion in the region. However their exploits are too frequently cast as contributions to an overarching Spanish colonial project. This ii dissertation seeks to uncover underlying indigenous agendas and reveal what colonial serVice meant for native participants. Nahuatl sources demonstrate that activities typically portrayed as contributions to Spanish colonial causes reflected indigenous attempts to Wrest land, priVileges, and rights to self-goVernance from the colonial regime. OVerall the project urges us to reconsider the extent to which colonial expansion into the early U.S.-Mexico borderlands was European. It also asks whether we have, by relying on European sources to write histories of nation-states, elided natiVe peoples from key American stories and distorted the history of a transnational region Vitally important to both Mexico and the United States today. iii AcknoWledgements If I had known before I started this dissertation what would be required to complete it, I might not have written it. In the end I’m glad I did, but it would not have been possible without the aid of many people. First I must thank the mentors Who kindled my interests and guided my efforts. At HartWick College, Mieko Nishida and Mike Woost saW my potential, convinced me of it, and encouraged me to pursue a PhD. I thank them for mentoring me during those formatiVe years, and more importantly for challenging me to strive for lofty heights. At Rutgers, Cami ToWnsend introduced me to borderlands and Nahuatl and adVocated for me eVen though I’m sure I made her job more difficult on more than one occasion. I am foreVer grateful for the guidance she has offered over these many years. I could not have reached this point without it. For her sake, I hope the juice was worth the squeeze. I am grateful as Well to Paul Clemens, who supported my candidacy at critical stages, and to Lilia Fernández, Who graciously agreed to take on this project and who helped to improVe it in fundamental Ways. I would also like to thank Al HoWard, a model educator and a wonderful human being. I am grateful to the NeW Mexico Office of the State Historian in Santa Fe for providing a History Scholar award that helped to fund archival investigations and gaVe me an opportunity to present my Work to the public. I would like to thank the State Historian, Rick Hendricks, for sharing his vast stores of knowledge and for helping me With Spanish paleography. Thanks also to the Assistant State Historian Rob Martínez for his assistance. At the NeW Mexico State Records Center and ArchiVes, I would like to thank the best archiVist a historian could ask for, Emily iv Brock. She not only proVided me With important research materials, but she also became my Wife. I Will neVer forget the day I Walked into those archiVes and saW you, and if nothing else eVer came of this project, it would have been worth it just to meet you. The expertise of staff members at the Center for SouthWest Research in Albuquerque facilitated my initial inVestigations into Spanish colonialism in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Chris Geherin proVided Welcome comic and alimentary relief from the toil of archiVal research, While conVersations With Samuel Sisneros helped me to understand—to the extent that an Anglo outsider is able—the unique heritage and traditions that define New Mexico and make its people Who they are. At the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Michelle MaxWell agreed to share essential documents electronically, sparing me a trip to Oklahoma When funds Were loW and time Was tight. I thank the Board of Directors of the Americas Research NetWork for providing a fellowship that funded archival research in Mexico essential to this dissertation. The nature of the felloWship encouraged me to think hard about my project’s contributions to transnationalism. It is my hope that it provides a useful model for hoW transnational collaboration might be effected not only in historical scholarship but in eVeryday life. Equally important Were the cultural experiences I gained and the relationships I formed—and strengthened—during my time in Mexico. I not only visited its archiVes but drank deeply of its culture (and OK, some pulque and mezcal, too), experienced the unquestioning hospitality of its people, V and let its history and traditions infuse my soul. For many reasons, I Will neVer forget my time there. The staff at the ArchiVo General de la Nación in Mexico City deserVes special praise for somehoW managing to make research at a former prison highly enjoyable. I am especially grateful to the cheerful staff in galería cuatro, Who handled my many halting questions with patience and professionalism. I Would especially like to acknowledge Luis Fernando Tolentino, Whose friendly demeanor and upbeat attitude made research more enjoyable and productiVe. Also in Mexico City, I Would like to thank Ethelia Ruíz Medrano and Guilhem OliVier. Ethelia graciously agreed to serve as my scholar-liaison during my research felloWship in Mexico and provided practical adVice and much-needed direction regarding research in Mexico City archives. She and Guilhem shared Volumes from their extensiVe personal libraries, not to mention food from their table, and Ethelia also generously shared research files. For their assistance and for their hospitality, I am sincerely grateful. At the ArchiVo Municipal de Saltillo in Coahuila, I benefitted greatly from the assistance of Lic. Maria del Rosario Villarreal Rodríguez, coordinadora del área del ArchiVo Histórico, and also that of Yeanne Guadalupe AlVizo Gil. IVán Vartan provided jovial conversation and contacts for other scholars. I am grateful to the entire staff at AMS for their assistance and most importantly, for their patience while a gringo grad student cluttered up their archiVe and filled their days with endless requests for documents. This dissertation is testament that those efforts were not in vain. vi My Work has benefitted from exchanges with many people. My thanks to the participants of the 2016 UC-Davis Graduate History Conference and the 2016 annual meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory in Nashville, especially Dana Leibsohn and Stuart M. McManus. Thanks also to Mark G. Hanna, Danna A. LeVin Rojo, Leslie S. Offutt, Tatiana Seijas, and Dana Velasco Murillo for their contributions to the panel, “New PerspectiVes on the Ethnohistory of the Spanish Borderlands,” presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Historical Society in Washington, D.C. I am especially grateful to Leslie for the helpful feedback she provided on a version of chapter 5 in her capacity as commentator, and to Dana for making the panel possible. I would also like to recognize the editors at Ethnohistory, as well as the anonymous reVieWers, who provided invaluable feedback on a version of chapter 3 that is forthcoming with the journal. I thank Ethnohistory and Duke University Press for alloWing me to reproduce portions of it here. At one stage or another my thinking has been shaped by more informal conversations with Leslie Offutt, Dana Velasco Murillo, Susan Deeds, Ida Altman, Sean McEnroe, John Sullivan, Cynthia Radding, Cordelia SnoW, Enrique Lamadrid, and José Antonio Esquibel. José graciously shared research notes and helped me to discoVer the World of the AGN in Albuquerque and the Inquisition in Santa Fe. All helped to make this an infinitely better work. Any errors are mine alone. Members of the History Department at Colgate UniVersity Welcomed me among their ranks during the final year of Write-up, proViding me With a space to Work, time to Write, and Valuable teaching experience. Thank you to Rob Nemes, vii Antonio Barrera, and especially to Xan Karn for his mentorship and for proViding additional teaching opportunities. To my Wife, Emily, thank you for staying by my side throughout this long journey, for the support you have offered over the years, and most importantly for your patience, love, and understanding. With this chapter noW closed, I look forward to Writing the remainder of our story together. This dissertation is about experience, and I believe that experience is a poWerful teacher and effectiVe motor of change. My own experiences in Mexico and the Southwest conVinced me that colonialism’s legacies are aliVe and well.