Genízaro

Genízaros (or Genizaros) was the name for

The word genízaro also had a military meaning in New Mexico. Genízaro militia and scouts were important in defending New Mexico from raiding Comanche, Apache, and Navajo warriors. The genízaros were organized formally in 1808 into a genízaro Troop, commanded by a corporal from their ranks and with a supply system dedicated for them.^[15]

History

Genízaros were typically indigenous people who had been captured and enslaved by other Indian tribes and whom Franciscan monks were obligated legally to rescue by paying ransom. The former slaves were made indentured servants in order to repay such debt, typically for a period of a number of years.^[16]

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, genízaros comprised a significant proportion of the population of what is now the southwest United States. They founded a number of localities, such as Belén, Tomé, Valencia, Carnué, Los Lentes, Las Trampas, Socorro and San Miguel del Vado. There were also genízaros in towns such as Albuquerque, Atrisco, Santa Fe, Chimayó, Taos, Abiquiú and Las Vegas.

The debt of a ransomed Native American (a genízaro), often a child, was usually 10 to 20 years of service to the person paying the ransom. Young women were especially prized. The experience of most ransomed Native Americans was "bondage on a continuum that ranged from near slavery to familial incorporation, but few shed the stigma of servility". Descendants of genízaros typically were also considered genízaros. But, as in the case of the rest of colonial Mexico, this classification was not an absolute impediment to social mobility.^[17]

The Comanche and other tribes brought their captives to trade fairs and offered them for sale. In 1770, a female captive from 12 to 20 years old sold for two good horses and some small items; a male was worth only one-half as much.^[18]

Many of the genízaros complained of mistreatment by the Spanish. Based on a policy established by the Governors of New Mexico, they were settled in land grants on the periphery of Spanish settlements. These settlements became buffer communities for larger Spanish towns in the event of attack by the enemy tribes surrounding the province.^[3] The genízaros in the frontier communities become mediators between the often-hostile Indian tribes surrounding the Spanish settlements and the Spanish authorities.^[19]

The following description from the 1740s of the Tome-Valencia settlements by a Spanish religious official, Fray Menchero, describes genízaros and their settlement on land grants:

"This is a new settlement, composed of various nations [tribes], who are kept in peace, union, and charity by the special providence of God and the efforts of the missionaries,... the Indians are of the various nations that have been taken captive by the

baptized. It sometimes happens that the Indians are not well treated in this servitude, no thought being given to the hardships of their captivity, and still less to the fact that they are neophytes, and should be cared for and treated with kindness. For this reason many desert and become apostates. ^[20]

"In all the Spanish towns of New Mexico there exists a class of Indians called genízaros. These are made up of captive Comanches, Apaches, etc. who were taken as youngsters and raised among us, and who have married in the province ... They are forced to live among the Spaniards, without lands or other means to subsist except the bow and arrow which serves them when they go into the back country to hunt deer for food ... They are fine soldiers, very warlike ... Expecting the genízaros to work for daily wages is a folly because of the abuses they have experienced, especially from the alcaldes mayores in the past ... In two places, Belen and Tome, some sixty families of genizaros have congregated."^[21]

Tribal origins

According to DNA studies, Hispanos of New Mexico have significant proportions of Amerindian genes (between 30 and 40% of the Nuevomexicano

By the mid-18th century, the Comanche dominated the weaker tribes in the eastern plains and sold children that they kidnapped from these tribes to the Spanish villagers.^[3] By the Mexican and early American period (1821–1880), almost all of the genízaros were of Navajo ancestry. During negotiations with the United States military, Navajo spokesmen raised the issue of Navajos being held as servants in Spanish/Mexican households. When asked how many Navajos were among the Mexicans, they responded: "over half the tribe".^[23] Most of the captives never returned to the Navajo nation but remained as the lower classes in the Hispanic villages.^[23] Members of different tribes intermarried in these communities.

Presently their descendants comprise much of the population of Atrisco, Pajarito, and Barelas in the South Valley of Albuquerque, and significant portions of the population of Las Vegas in Eastern New Mexico.^[24]

19th century

In 1821, Mexico became

Officially, the newly independent Mexican government proclaimed a policy of social equality for all ethnic groups, and the genízaros were officially considered equals to their vecino (villagers of mainly mixed racial background) and Pueblo neighbors. During this period, use of the term genízaro was ended officially for church and government documents.^[26] In practice, however, Mexico was far from egalitarian. Many genízaros remained culturally and economically marginal in New Mexican society.

Economic and social conditions during the Mexican period were so bad that in 1837, the Pueblo, genízaros, coyotes, and vecinos revolted against the Mexican government. Rebels beheaded

Notes