Indian Conquistadors: Indigenous Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica (review)

This valuable contribution to the history of the conquest of Mexico and Central America provides extensive information on the role of the Spaniards, indigenous allies, who played several significant roles. In addition to fighting, they bore the burden of carrying supplies, hauling artillery, shot, and horseshoes, supplying (and in some cases foraging and preparing) food for Spaniards, building bridges, and erecting temporary housing. They functioned as scouts, spies, messengers, and translators, and rarely, as in the conquest of Tepexi de la Seda, actually led the invading forces. Two useful chapters also analyze the representation of indigenous warriors in four major native pictorial texts (lienzos).

The book also brings to light an often overlooked fact: the extensive participation of indigenous armies in fighting in terrains far from their own, and against communities other than their traditional enemies. Nahuas, Zapotecs, and Mixtecs, for example, participated in the conquest of Guatemala. Fifteen hundred Nahuas, Maya, and Oaxacans (of various tribes) participated in the conquest of Honduras, some recruited by force. Nahuas, Mayas, and Nicaraguans (of various groups) participated in the conquest of Peru. Many of the Indians traveling great distances were allowed to settle in conquered lands, suggesting a motive for their participation.

Many Indians voluntarily fighting on the Spanish side were promised, but seldom achieved, parity as conquerors. Lengthy legal battles were fought for privileges promised in exchange for military assistance; one case spanned more than seven decades resulting in a small begrudging concession.

On the other hand, as long as indigenous people continued to play a military role, protecting threatened Spanish settlements, they continued to received confirmation of their rights to water, land, and exemption from onerous taxes. In northern Mexico the government honored privileges given to indigenous bowmen for a century and a half, most likely because the latter remained crucial to the safety of small Spanish outposts. In a town in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca, settled Tlaxcalans easily obtained reconfirmation of their privileges until the 1760s when the threat of rebellion from other communities finally disappeared. Participants in one expedition to a relatively barren area of northern Mexico were rewarded with slaves from other Indian tribes.

At the other extreme were the natives coerced into serving with Spanish troops. One of the worst such incidents in Mesoamerica occurred in the conquest of the Yucatan. Thousands of Tabascans were enslaved to serve as brute labor in the conquest of Maya; Lencas and Jicaques from Honduras were forcibly recruited for the same task. Only Nahuas, presumably uncoerced, were equipped with weapons to fight alongside the Spaniards. In the Yucatan, no promises to indigenous allies appear to have been granted.

This book provides a useful service in providing details of the fates of many thousand indigenous people who traveled great distances, and fought with the Spaniards in distant places as a result of their military roles. Only one small frustration remains. Although well supplied with maps, the book lacks an index.