Dissertation Information for William B. CarterNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Fully Complete Title: Indian alliances in the Southwest, 1300--1706 Abstract: This study reviews historical documents and research literature related to the evolution of alliance formation during the prehistory and early history of the Southern Athapaskans (Navajos and Apaches), Southwest Puebloans, and Mesoamericans, and then assesses the impact of the Spanish Conquest on Indians in Mexico and New Mexico. Kinship, ecology, and religion are categories that frame the study's reconstructions of prehistoric social and political developments among Puebloans and Mesoamericans. This study reveals striking similarities between transformations in urban societies in the American Southwest and in Mexico, in particular with respect to their adaptations to major environmental changes and the degree of intermarriage with other peoples. Similarly, Athapaskans frequently intermarried with neighboring peoples, and when their migrations following bison led them to the Southern Plains, they became implicated in the networks of trade, alliances, and warfare of the Pueblo Indians. The Spanish Conquest attempted to obliterate native religion in central Mexico, but old patterns of social organization, belief, and language often remained intact for centuries. The pace and process of acculturation varied throughout New Spain, sometimes taking place rapidly with respect to individuals but generally occurring more slowly within more complex social entities. Quite different circumstances unfolded in peripheral regions, where alliances between Indian groups posed a major obstacle to successful acculturation. In the northern frontier province of New Mexico, prehistoric alliances between Athapaskans and Puebloans embodied influences militating against the successful acculturation of many of the Pueblo Indians. Scholars of seventeenth century New Mexico have generally focused on Spanish and Pueblo life in the colony, not fully appreciating the role of long-standing Pueblo alliances with Athapaskans on the periphery of the colony. These alliances became the most significant factor underpinning the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. |
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