Chichimeca Contributions to Mining in New Spain’s Guachichila, 1580–1600

The end of the Chichimeca War (c. 1550-1587)—a series of violent encounters between nonsedentary peoples and Iberian soldiers and colonial settlers in the region that became New Spain’s near northern silver mining district—brought Chichimeca peoples under colonial rule. Traditional narratives have equated the war’s end with that of the Chichimeca peoples themselves. In this version of events, Chichimeca peoples—most prominently Guachichiles and Zacatecos—quickly disappeared into obscurity and the region developed into a vibrant mining zone through the efforts of Iberians and the sedentary immigrant indigenous population. This paper argues that Chichimeca influences did not disappear in this region because they submitted to the state. Rather, native peoples and lands dramatically shaped the postwar landscape of the late sixteenth-century silver mining district. Silver production increased dramatically as new veins emerged in former Chichimeca territories or as abandoned sites embedded in the war zone were revitalized. Chichimeca peoples, familiar with the topography of the landscape, often discovered new veins. Chichimeca communities helped to populate the region in an area beleaguered by demographic scarcity. Chichimeca Captains emerged as important postwar leaders and intermediaries and native laborers were critical laborers in the colonial projects of mining and urbanization. Chichimeca peoples had come under Spanish rule, but in the first decade of their submission the mining district remained a Chichimeca space.