The War of the Chichimecas

The War of the Chichimecas is a transcription of the sixteenth-century account attributed to José Gonzalo de las Casas. The document describes the long conflict on the northern frontier of New Spain and records colonial observations of the Jonaces, Pames, Guachichiles, Zacatecos, Caxcanes, Tecuexes and Guamares. Its subjects include raiding, enslavement, mining routes, settlement, military retaliation and the attempts of Spanish officials and missionaries to impose peace.

Manolo Palomares prepared the manuscript for modern Spanish and English editions but is not the original historical author. The text is valuable as a primary source for the Chichimeca War and the developing silver frontier, while its descriptions also preserve the assumptions and prejudices of a colonial observer. Readers can therefore examine both the information it contains about Indigenous societies and the language through which Spanish expansion was justified. The Spanish edition appeared as La guerra de los chichimecas: Testimonio desde la frontera norte de la Nueva España.