Following the Pueblo Revolt, the Spanish’s motives for colonization in New Mexico evolved from simple hope, curiosity, and greed into a complicated defensive movement aimed at securing northern settlements from the rising threat of attack by Nomadic Indians and addressing tensions between themselves and the ever-nearing French and English settlers. Whereas previous colonization efforts from the Spanish were led wistfully towards the hopes of untold fortune, the Pueblo Revolt seemed to have shocked the Spaniards into reality; thus, paving the way for new, attentive efforts to establish a defensive frontier.
The Spanish need of colonial fortification and defense was further demonstrated by the strengthening trade alliances between the French, Comanche, and Pawnee Indians. Although the French were incapable of providing the Comanche and Pawnee tribes with the amount of weapons necessary for direct conflict with the Spanish, their brilliant strategy of using their Native American allies as a proxy to provoke the Apache tribe, resulting in Apache raids of Spanish settlements for supplies pressured the Spanish and kept them in a constant state of defense and confusion: A favorable result for a territorially expanding rival.
Fame, fortune, and women were no longer on the Spanish agenda. After the disappointing initial conquest and subsequent Pueblo Revolt, the Spanish experienced a dramatic change in priorities: One that was intended to ensure the stability of the New Mexican colony.
Jared Elliott
The Spanish need of colonial fortification and defense was further demonstrated by the strengthening trade alliances between the French, Comanche, and Pawnee Indians. Although the French were incapable of providing the Comanche and Pawnee tribes with the amount of weapons necessary for direct conflict with the Spanish, their brilliant strategy of using their Native American allies as a proxy to provoke the Apache tribe, resulting in Apache raids of Spanish settlements for supplies pressured the Spanish and kept them in a constant state of defense and confusion: A favorable result for a territorially expanding rival.
Fame, fortune, and women were no longer on the Spanish agenda. After the disappointing initial conquest and subsequent Pueblo Revolt, the Spanish experienced a dramatic change in priorities: One that was intended to ensure the stability of the New Mexican colony.
Jared Elliott