Genízaros and their contemporary descendants were recognized as indigenous people by the 2007 New Mexico Legislature.[1][2] Genizaros were Native American slaves who served as house servants, sheepherders, and in other capacities in Spanish, Mexican, and US households in the Southwest United States well into the 1880s.[3][4] By the late 18th century Genízaros, and their descendents who were often referred to as Coyotes, comprised nearly one-third of the entire population of New Mexico.[5]
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Genízaro is a Spanish word that evolved from the English word janissary which in turn evolved from the Ottoman Turkish word yeniçeri, a term used to describe the slaves trained as soldiers for the Ottoman Empire.
Beginning in 1692 Young Indian captives were sold into slavery in New Mexico. Many of the captives complained of mistreatment and were settled in land grants on the periphery of Spanish settlements according to a policy established by the Governors. These settlements became buffer communities for larger Spanish towns in the event of attack by enemy tribes surrounding the province.[6] The following description of the Tome-Valencia settlements by a Spanish Religious official (Fray Menchero) in the 1740s provides insight as the politics of the settlement of Genizaros on land grants:
"This is a new settlement, composed of various nations, 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 Comanche Apaches, a nation so bellicose and so brave that it dominates all those of the interior country...They sell people of all these nations to the Spaniards of the kingdom, by whom they are held in servitude, the adults being instructed by the fathers and the children 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. Distressed by this, the missionaries informed the governor of it, so that, in a matter of such great importance, he might take the proper measures. Believing the petition to be justified,...he ordered by proclamation throughout the kingdom that all the Indian men and women neophytes who received ill-treatment from their masters should report it to him, so that if the case were proved, he might take the necessary measures. In fact a number did apply to him, and he assigned to them for their residence and settlement, in the name of his Majesty, a place called Valencia and Cerro de Tome, thirty leagues distant from the capital to the south, in a beautiful plain bathed by the Rio (del) Norte. There are congregated more than forty families in a great union, as if they were all of the same nation, all owing to the zeal in the father missionary of Isleta, which is a little more than two leagues from there, to the north. This settlement dates from the year 1740. The people engage in agricultural and are under obligation to go out and explore the country in pursuit of the enemy, which they are doing with great bravery and zeal in their obedience, and under the direction of the said father they are erecting their church without any cost to the royal crown." [7]
The settlements of Tomé and Belén, just south of Albuquerque also were described by Juan Agustin Morfi as follows in 1778: "In all the Spanish towns of New Mexico there exists a class of Indians called genizaros. 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 genizaros 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."[8]
Throughout the Spanish and Mexican period Genízaros settled in several New Mexican villages such as Belén, Tomé, Valencia, Carnué, Los Lentes, Socorro, and San Miguel del Vado.[9] Genízaros also lived in Albuquerque, Atrisco, Santa Fe, Chimayó, Taos, Abiquiú and Las Vegas. Most Genízaros were Navajos, Pawnees, Apaches, Kiowa Apaches, Utes, and Paiutes who had been purchased at a young age and functioned as servants and sheepherders.[10]
In the 18th century many of the young captives were sold as slaves by the Comanches, who dominated the weaker tribes in the eastern plains.[11] Almost all of the more recent Genízaros in fact were of Navajo ancestry during the Mexican and early American period (1821–1880). During negotiations with the United States military, Navajo spokesmen complained that over half of the people in the tribe were servants in Mexican households.[12] Most did not return to the Navajo nation but remained as the lower classes in the Hispanic villages.[13] Today they comprise much of the population of Atrisco, Pajarito, and Los Padillas in the South Valley of Albuquerque, and significant portions of the population of Las Vegas in Eastern New Mexico.[14]
In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain, and New Mexico became a state of the First Mexican Empire. The Treaty of Córdoba enacted by Mexico decreed that indigenous tribes within its borders were citizens of Mexico. Under Spanish rule Genízaros and Pueblo Indians/Natives were often treated as second-class citizens, even though they were protected by the Laws of the Indies.[15] Officially, the Mexican government proclaimed a policy of social equality for all ethnic groups and Genízaros were at least officially considered equals to their Vecino and Pueblo neighbors. During this period, the term Genízaro was officially dropped from church and government documents.[16] In practice however, Mexico was far from egalitarian, and most Genízaros remained at the bottom of Mexican society. Economic and social conditions under Mexico were so bad that in 1837 the Pueblos, Genizaros, Coyotes, and Vecinos revolted against the Mexican government. Rebels cut off the head of Albino Perez (the Mexican Governor), and killed all of the Mexican troops in Santa Fe. They formed a new government and elected José Angel Gonzáles, a Genízaro of Taos Pueblo and Pawnee ancestry, as governor.[17] The revolt was often referred to as the Chimayoso Revolt after the infamous community of Chimayó, in Northern New Mexico, which was home to José Angel Gonzáles and many other mixed-blood Indians.[18] It was one of many revolts against the Mexican government by indigenous groups during this period, including the Mayan revolt in the Yucatán.