La Gran Chichimeca
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La Gran Chichimeca was a term used by the Spanish conquistadores of the 16th century to refer to an area of the northern central Mexican plateau, a territory which today is encompassed by the modern Mexican states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Nayarit, Guanajuato and Zacatecas. They derived the term from the Aztec who referred to the nomadic tribes of the area as “chichimeca”.
The Nahuatl name Chīchīmēcah (plural, singular Chīchīmēcatl; pronounced [tʃiːtʃiːˈmeːkaʔ]) means "inhabitants of Chichiman"; the placename Chichiman itself means "Area of Milk". It is sometimes said to be related to chichi "dog", but the i's in chichi are short while those in Chīchīmēcah are long, a phonemic distinction in Nahuatl.[1] The word could either have a negative "barbarous" sense, or a positive "noble savage" sense.[2]
Seventy years after the 1521 fall of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City), the Spaniards had failed to subdue the north of New Spain, La Gran Chichimeca. This meant they were unable to exploit the rich silver deposits in the region. Recruiting auxiliaries from among the local tribes led by the warlords of Tlaxcala the Spanish were eventually able to subdue the region.
During the 1920s and 1930s archaeologists, anthropologists, and cultural geographers began to devise the boundaries of what was thought to be Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the area between known as the La Gran Chichimeca. Based upon language groups, iconography, trade items, and architecture, the boundaries have moved around over the years as a result of new evidence. Adding to this confusion not all researchers agree the specifics of the boundaries.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Andrews, J. Richard (2003). Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Revised edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Di Peso, Charles C., John B. Rinaldo and Gloria J. Fenner (1974). Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the La Gran Chichimeca Vols. 1-8.
- Karttunen, Frances (1983). An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl. Austin: University of Texas Press.
