La Gran Chichimeca

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 IPA| [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. [See for eg Andrews (2003), pp.496, 507.] The word could either have a negative "barbarous" sense, or a positive "noble savage" sense. [Karttunen (1983), p.48.]

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 re-examinations of Mesoamerican 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. However, the participation of the cultures of La Gran Chichimeca in overall Mesoamerican traditions, even if peripherally and occasionally, has led a number of researchers to include the region in the overall Mesoamerican framework.

Notes

References

: cite book |author=aut|Andrews, J. Richard |year=2003 |title=Introduction to Classical Nahuatl |edition=Revised edition |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=0-806-13452-6 |oclc=50090230
* cite journal |author=aut|Boyd, Carolyn E. |year=1996 |month=June |title=Shamanic Journeys into the Otherworld of the Archaic Chichimec |journal=Latin American Antiquity |url=http://www.wac.ucla.edu/pdf/shamanicjourneyrockart.pdf |format=PDF reprinted online |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=pp.152–164 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Society for American Archaeology |doi=10.2307/971615 |issn=1045-6635 |oclc=54395676: cite book |author=aut|Deeds, Susan M. |year=2003 |title=Defiance and Deference in Mexico's Colonial North: Indians Under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=0-292-79876-8 |oclc=55731979 : cite book |author=aut|Di Peso, Charles C. |authorlink=Charles C. Di Peso|year=1974 |title=Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca |format=8 vols. |others=John B. Rinaldo and Gloria J. Fenner (coauthors vols. 4–8), Gloria J. Fenner (ed.), Alice Wesche (illus.) |series=Amerind Foundation, Inc. Archaeology Series, № 9 |location=Dragoon, AZ |publisher=Amerind Foundation, in association with Northland Press (Flagstaff, AZ) |isbn=0873580567 |oclc=1243721: cite book |author=aut|Karttunen, Frances |year=1983 |title=An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=0-292-70365-1 |oclc=9541848