CHAPTER XVII.
THE CONQUEST OF NAYARIT.
1701-1722.
The Last Refuge of Idolatry in Nueva Galicia — Geography of Nayarit — Characteristics of the Natives — Partial Success of Arisbaba in 1618 — Trouble at Acaponeta — Massacre of Bracamonte and his Party in 1701 — Revolt at Colotlan — The Barefoot Friars — Mendiola's Expedition and The First Jesuit Attempt — The Tonati Visits Mexico — His Treaty and his Flight — Preparations and Obstacles at Zacatecas — Camp at Peyotlan — Flores in Command — Assault on the Mesa — The Nayarits Subdued and Conquest Achieved — Progress of the Missions.
After the conclusion of the Mixton war[1] it was believed that the powerful blow administered by Viceroy Mendoza to the revolted savages of Nueva Galicia had been final. The utter defeat and rout of the Chichimecs, who then made a last heroic effort to throw off the Spanish yoke, had been decisive. The Spaniards enjoyed the peaceful possession of the territory in the firm belief that no further attempts would ever be made by the scattered natives to assert their ancient rights. The Indians had not been finally subdued, however, and two centuries later the struggle was to be renewed. Many of the natives who had escaped death or captivity at Cuiná, Nochistlan, and Mixton had taken refuge in what was later known as the sierra of Nayarit.[2]
- ↑ See Hist. Mex., ii. 490-515, this series.
- ↑ The region so called is situated in modern Jalisco, north of the Tololotlan, on and south of the Durango boundary, east of the coast province of Acaponeta, west of Zacatecas, on and near the river San Pedro. In Naynritas, Rel., 4-5, Nayarit is described as a province of 22 pueblos, lying within a triangle formed by the towns of Zacatecas, Huajuquilla, and Guazamota. It included a valley enclosed by high mountains broken only by the Rio Vara-
