4 Factors
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Grand Canyon University *
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466
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History
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Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Hist 466 Topic 3: Four Factors Outline
Outline four factors from your study of the Native American Southwest and the Spanish frontier in the Southwest that support Treutt’s concept that the Spanish borderlands, from the 16th
to early 19th
centuries, were a "contested terrain." Complete this assignment in 250-400 words.
According to Truett (2004), the borderlands are defined by the inability of the nation-state and its citizens to fully incorporate and domesticate this space and characterized by their ongoing lack of control and failure to bring closure to previous frontier relationships. But the borderlands have always been a contested terrain. 1.
Environmental/Resources:
The harsh conditions and lack of rainfall make existence a constant battle against the elements, and even cultures that live in harmony with the land struggle to maintain their existence. There is little water, the soil is of generally poor quality, temperatures are extreme from blistering heat during the day to freezing cold at night, and one of the primary building materials, wood, is almost non-existent. With the arrival of the Spanish, this was expanded to include land for grazing and the mining of precious metals. There was significant mining in the Pima and Opata homelands, but activity was abandoned in the 1850 due to the Apache threat.
2.
Tribal:
Although there existed long established trade between the Pueblo peoples and the Southern Athabaskan (Apache), in a land of limited resources, conflict should be anticipated. There have been border disputes between the Hopi and the Navajo that are still active today, and the Apache were feared as raiders by most of the other tribes.
3.
Empire/National
: From the political perspective, the exploration was foremost a search for resources, specifically precious metals with a secondary goal of finding arable land for settlement which would establish permanent Spanish control over the region. This marked a significant departure from the region’s prior history of tribal conflicts. No single tribe could approach the might of Spain, and even when tribes worked in coordination, such as the Pueblo Rebellion, success was short lived. There has also been a constant struggle between the various outside cultures: the Spanish, the Mexican, and the Americans, not only with the region’s inhabitants but also
between each other over control of the region. The Americans were ultimately able to overcome both the Mexicans and the Apache through a
brute force approach, but it now appears that that control is fading, with the practical erasure of the American southern border and the dominance of the gangs in the region.
4.
Religious:
Prior to the Spanish presence, each tribe had their own rites, religion, and origin stories, although there was significant overlap and appropriations between the tribes. However, there is no record of forced conversions. This changed significantly with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, who saw it as their duty to “bring the natives to the fold of the Catholic Church” (Truett, 2004).
Reference:
Truett, S. (2004). The ghosts of frontiers past: Making and unmaking space in the borderlands.
Journal of the Southwest,
46
(2), 309-350.
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