early colonization

During the 1500s, Spanish colonizers began scouting and mapping the lands of the Rio Grande on both the south and north sides. The Spaniards entered the Rio Grande Delta on settlement ships, encountering many Indigenous bands along the way. In 1519, Captain Alonso Alvarez’s ships landed in the Rio Grande Delta and encountered several Coahuiltecan rancherias, who he described as friendly people - even partaking in bartering. Alvarez reported this back to the Jamaican governor, Garay, who sent out additional ships with weapons, soldiers, and horses to colonize the land and tame the Coahuiltecan people. Upon the arrival of these ships, the men were tolerated, but after some days the men were asked to leave, which prompted the soldiers to attack and attempt to burn our ancestors’ homes. The Coahuiltecans defended themselves and forced the ships out of the Rio Grande with their canoes and arrows. This laid the groundwork for how our people would react to any more incoming European colonizers.

In the late 1500s, Spaniards trotted into present-day Nuevo Leon with people, cattle, and a new system. The Indigenous people of the area, composed of Chichimec/Coahuiltecan people, were attacked and driven off their lands, with some settling to the east and others being displaced to the Rio Grande Delta (Valley) - the beginning of a mixing for survival. The encomienda system was put into place, resulting in the kidnapping of women and children, and enslavement of Indigenous people for labor on ranches on the south end of the Rio Grande River. The Spaniards began advancing north into the Valley, looking to expand their settlements and missions.

Spaniard Alonso de Leon began permeating the Rio Grande Delta in the 1600s, where many Coahuiltecan bands resided. These bands were hesitant and hostile to the Spaniards after experience with previous colonization attempts by other nations. The indigenous people were seen on both sides of the Rio Grande, naturally moving between the north and south banks. To protect themselves from the Spaniards, they would shoot arrows and seek refuge in the thickets of the Taumaulipan Thornscrub. Alonso de Leon would capture two young boys and kill two Indigenous people along the Rio Grande.

In the 1700s, Jose Escandon established Nuevo Santander, a large-scale settlement along the Rio Grande River. Colonizers flowed in and took over the lands of the Coahuiltecan people, displacing them further. Many of these settlements required labor for the ranches, to which many Indigenous people were used to provide the needed labor. The introduction of ranching further displaced Indigenous tribes along the Rio Grande, especially in the Rio Grande Valley as lands were snatched and distributed among wealthy and powerful Spaniards. Mestizos from other areas of Nueva España were also brought and used to fight against the Coahuiltecan people, submitting them to labor or death. This was the beginning of a divide between our people and our natural environment, as great attempts were made to conquer the land and its resources.

It is important to note that our relatives fought against the colonization of the Spaniards despite many colonizers referring to our relatives as “docile and weak”. Throughout the 1700s, numerous bands of Indigenous people would work together to attack the Spaniards and protect their people, their lands, their animals, and their waters.

NUEVO SANTANDER: MISSIONS & SETTLEMENTS

The establishment of Catholic missions and Spanish settlements was one of the most impactful methods of projecting the colonizer’s ways. In 1747, the Spanish King granted Jose de Escandon permission to establish the colony of Nuevo Santander, which included the lands of Seno Mexicano – the majority of present-day Tamaulipas. Escandon set out in 1748 to these sacred lands, where at least 49 distinct bands of Indigenous people already existed. Along the way, Escandon established several settlements and eventually made it to our great ancestor, the Rio Grande. 

Seven settlements were established along the river: Reynosa (1749), Camargo (1749), Dolores (1750), Revilla (1750), Mier (1752), Laredo (1755), and Refugio (1749-86). These towns were referred to as “Villas del Norte” and included 7 other towns. Settlements were places where Spaniards took the land from the Indigenous population, mostly through force, coercion, threats, or groundless promises, and established their Spaniard communities on these stolen lands. Escandon was notorious for using extremely violent tactics in his conquests and was known to have killed a large number of our Indigenous relatives. One of his famous titles was Jose de Escandon, alias “The Exterminator of the Pames of Queretaro”. Without a doubt, Escandon kidnapped, killed, and tortured many Chichimeca-Coahuiltecan people as he and his 750 soldiers colonized the lands of Tamaulipas and the waters of the Rio Grande. As these settlements were established, Escandon also established missions, which took on the role of “domesticating and civilizing” the Indians, often through force, coercion, and violence as well. 

Between 1747 and 1755, 15 missions were established within this region and served as places of labor and resources for many of the Indigenous people in the region. Missions played a crucial role in the assimilation, ethnic erasure/mixture, and colonization of the Chichimec-Coahuiltecan people. Many archived reports from Spaniards at the missions state that many Indigenous groups “voluntarily” lived in missions. It is important to dissect and analyze the validity of this claim and its profound effects on our people - still largely felt today. The reasons for entering the missions varied from band to band. Some of our relatives were displaced, their resources stripped, and their lands destroyed. They found themselves in need of resources and entered the missions because there were extremely difficult and limited options. In exchange for a stable and constant supply of water and food, protection from other Indigenous groups (during this time many people living along the Rio Grande were fighting against Comanche people), a new religion, agricultural, ranching, and special trading skills allowed some who came into the missions to live - to survive. This act invalidates the claim that it was at all “voluntary”, and more of a forced-submission. Living off the land like our people were accustomed to, was no longer an option the way it once was, as the land was heavily influenced by livestock and continued to be secularized. The rhythm in which our people once walked, was now irregular, with resources vastly depleted.The missions provided them with a sense of security and stability, which made some of our people complacent and dependent. 

This same complacency and comfortability is heavily reflected in our community today. It is typical to find a family member from an older generation migrating from Mexico to the United States, laboring in hopes that future generations will not have to work in a way that is so physically demanding and can be much more ‘comfortable’. The ensuing generations are now seeking higher education and white-collared jobs in cities - looking down on labor-based jobs with the environment.

The missions also provided the foundation of assimilation where humiliation, shame, and violence was used to beat the Indian out of the Coahuiltecan people. Missions had the sole purpose of transforming what they considered to be “barbarians” or sub-humans into their most “civilized” form - one which mimics European ways of thinking, eating, and being. It is a form that no brown body (or any non-European) could ever transcend into (a constant reminder through the caste system and inhuman treatment of others). The methods permeate in every inch of life - the cutting our sacred hair, putting tailored clothes onto our bodies, strangling the native tongue til it uttered a bastardized Spanish, prohibiting our sacred practices and ways of living, and humiliating and shaming us into a gnawing hatred turned to a clouded loss of self. It was a place of cultural, spiritual, and physical genocide. In an attempt to purify us and pervade the Spanish into our blood, many Indigenous people in the missions mixed with Spanish settlers, some out of survival and others by force. These missions had Indigenous bands from Coahuila, Chihuahua, and the Rio Grande Delta, which also resulted in a lot of mixing of Indigenous people with other Indigenous groups. The mixing of one Indigenous culture into another also contributed to the loss of cultural identity for smaller bands of Indigenous groups as they adopted new names and customs. These missions were grounds of mixing for many Indigenous people, with their new level in society being labeled as mestizo or Mexican, terms which reflected the assimilation that occurred in these places. These terms and practices are still seen today, with an ingrained sense of self that is rooted in colonialism and the seeming division from our ancestors.

SETTLERS OF NUEVO SANTANDER

Many of the 2,500 settlers who followed Escandon into the Seno Mexicano were mixed people who had also been colonized by the Spaniards. They were a mixture of Spanish half-castes and other Indigenous groups from central and southern Mexico who had been “civilized.” Some of those included were the Tlaxcala and Coahuila natives. The incentives for settling into these unknown lands were free land with and subsidies to settle down and form ranches. They would also not be required to pay taxes for the first 10 years and had all expenses for the journey paid. These incentives, especially the incentive of free land, were enticing to working-class families who had been laboring away for large landowners and had been required to pay high rents on small plots of land they worked. They had a need to gain more resources with a possibility of gaining more power and self-sufficiency. Under exploitative conditions, they could turn a blind eye to the injustices committed upon their Coahuiltecan relatives. Although their own people had undergone the same fate, the self importance that the colonizer’s system projects certainly has its effects on one’s heart and morals. This is something that is deeply reflected in our society today, with many choosing ignorance to sustain their reality of comfort and illusion. 

So with the settlers’ herds of horses, cattle, sheep, and burros - the economic foundation of these lands was established, sending shocking waves into our realities today.