Chichimec Wars

Chichimeca War
Date 1550-1590 Location Bajío Region, Mexico Result Chichimeca Victory Spanish Defeat
Belligerents
Chichimeca Confederation Zacateco Guachichiles Pames Guamares	Spain Tlaxcalans Caxcan Purépecha

Chichimeca Confederation

The Chichimeca War (1550–90) was a military conflict waged by Spain against the Chichimeca Confederation established in the lowlands of Mexico, called La Gran Chichimeca located in the West North-Central Mexican states. The region is now called the Bajío. It was recorded as the Spanish Empire’s longest and most expensive war campaign against any indigenous people in the Americas. The result of the forty-year war was a military and economic defeat for the Spanish Empire.

The Chichimeca War (1550-1590) began eight years after the two year Mixtón War. It can be considered a continuation of the rebellion as the fighting did not come to a halt in the intervening years. Unlike in the Mixtón rebellion, the Caxcanes were now allied with the Spanish. The war was fought in the present-day Bajío region which was known as La Gran Chichimeca, specifically in the Mexican states of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosí.

On September 8, 1546 natives near the Cerro de la Bufa in what would become the city of Zacatecas showed the Spaniard Juan de Tolosa several pieces of silver-rich ore. News of the silver strike soon spread across New Spain. The dream of quick wealth caused a large number of Spaniards to immigrate from southern Mexico to the present-day city of Zacatecas in the heartland of La Gran Chichimeca. Soon the mines of San Martín, Chalchihuites, Avino, Sombrerete, Fresnillo, Mazapil, and Nieves were established. The Chichimeca nations resented the intrusions by the Spanish on their sovereign ancestral lands. Spanish soldiers soon began raiding native territory trying to acquire slaves for the mines. To supply and communicate with the mines in and near Zacatecas, new roads were built from Querétaro and Jalisco across Chichimeca lands. The caravans full of goods along the roads were economic targets for Chichimecan warriors.

...
Wikipedia