A time to reflect on those who bridge cultures

When works of art become a source of controversy, it is an opportunity for reflection and education. This is the case with the call for removal of a statute depicting Juan de Oñate in Alcalde and the La Jornada sculpture at the Museum of Albuquerque.

The narrative associated with this demand is one that views Indigenous people of the past as victims and the arriving Europeans as victimizers. A closer look at New Mexico history offers another narrative.

Many individuals with Hispano roots in New Mexico are descendants of people with roots in Europe and of any combination of Indigenous people of New Mexico’s past, including Pueblo Indian, Apache, Navajo, Hopi, Kiowa, Ute and Comanche.

New Mexico’s 400-plus years of recorded history documents many examples of extended periods of cooperation between Pueblo Indians and the small number of Spanish settlers, even in the midst of conflicts.

Although around 200 soldiers arrived in New Mexico in 1598, many left and only about 50 soldiers, some with families, and about eight Franciscan friars remained in 1609. These individuals were surrounded by thousands of Pueblos Indians and by nomadic bands of Apache and Navajo that preyed upon Pueblo communities.

New Mexico’s Spanish population consisted of 200 to 300 individuals throughout the first half of the 1600s, growing to about 2,000 by 1680. How was it that such a small number of representatives of the Spanish government were able to establish roots in New Mexico? At any time after the arrival of the Europeans, the large Pueblo Indian population could have overcome and eliminated the settlers, or forced them to leave the region.

The Spanish settlers were able to remain because their presence was either accepted or at least tolerated by a majority of Pueblo Indian leaders who saw possible benefits for their people.

The Pueblo Indian people as a whole were not helpless victims of oppression, since there simply were not enough Spanish soldiers to subdue the entire population. When banded together, the Pueblo Indian nations were the dominant military force.

For many decades, after bands of Apache and Navajo raided Pueblo communities, retaliation campaigns were organized consisting of 30 to 50 Spanish soldiers and 300 to 600

Pueblo Indian warriors. Working in cooperation, these groups would pursue raiders to reclaim livestock and grain and rescue captives. These numerous campaigns are significant examples of the longstanding cooperative relationship fostered between people of different cultures.

Apache and Navajo raiders inflicted continually acts of violence against Pueblo Indians and Spanish citizens throughout the 1600s, to be joined by Comanche and Kiowa raiders in the 1700s. Many lives were lost and numerous Pueblo Indian woman and children were taken captive, most never returning to their people.

Because of the political alliance with Pueblo Indian leaders during the 1600s, a segment of the Spanish population had relatives among Pueblo Indians. For instance, Juana Domínguez was part Tiwa and part Spanish and raised her children at Taos Pueblo and in Santa Fe. Juana’s husband, Domingo Luján, had a Keres Indian brother named

“El Ollito.” Thus, the children of Juana and Domingo had relatives among the Keres and northern Tiwa people.

Ventura, a Zuni Indian war captain, was the brother of Josefa de Hinojos, the wife of Diego de Montoya and a common ancestor of the Montoya clan.

The wife of Luis Tupatú of San Juan Pueblo was the niece of Capt. Miguel Luján. Tupatú was a leader of the 1680 Pueblo Indian uprising who in 1692 negotiated reconciliation with Gov. Diego de Vargas, allowing the restoration of Spanish governance in New Mexico.

Are we descendants of “victims” and “victimizers” or are we descendants of individuals who found a way to coexist, even through some very challenging times?

Rather than pursuing a narrative of “us versus them,” let us acknowledge individuals of New Mexico’s past who contributed to bridging European and Indigenous cultures in New Mexico and relied on the better nature of their humanity.

In addition to Luis Tupatú, I offer this short list of individuals:

Letoc, leader at the pueblo of Teypana who gave Spanish soldiers a supply of maize in June 1598, prompting the Spaniards to designate the area as Socorro, or relief.

Capt. Hernán Martín Serrano, whose mother was Doña Ines, a Tano Indian woman taken from New Mexico in 1591 and returned in the company of Oñate in 1598. The son of a Spanish soldier, Hernán was among the earliest individuals of Spanish and Pueblo Indian ancestry.

Juan de Ye, governor of Pecos, who warned Francisco Gómez Robledo 20 days in advance of the August 1680 Pueblo Indian uprising and in 1692 was instrumental in negotiating peace with Gov. Vargas and securing Pueblo Indian allies.

Capt. Francisco Lucero de Godoy, an influential interpreter of the Tano language, his “mother’s tongue.”

The wife of Tupatú, whose desire to be reunited with her sister was an apparent influence on her husband. Her sister left New Mexico in 1680 with the fleeing Spanish citizens in the wake of the Pueblo Indian uprising to live at El Paso.

I invite others to identify names of additional individuals of New Mexico’s past who strove to bridge cultural differences.

José Antonio Esquibel is a genealogical researcher and author.