Missionaries, Miners, and Indians
Spanish Contact with the Yaqui Nation of Northwestern New Spain, 1533–1820
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The Yaqui Indians managed to avoid assimilation during the Spanish colonization of Mexico. Even when mining interests sought to wrest Yaqui labor from the control of the Jesuits who had organized Indian society into an agricultural system, the Yaqui themselves sought primarily to ensure their continuing existence as a people.
More than a tale of Yaqui Indian resistance, Missionaries, Miners, and Indians documents the history of the Jesuit missions during a period of encroaching secularization. The Yaqui rebellion of 1740, analyzed here in detail, enabled the Yaqui to work for the mines without repudiating the missions; however, the erosion of the mission system ultimately led to the Jesuits’ expulsion from New Spain in 1767, and through their own perseverance, the Yaqui were able to bring their culture intact into the nineteenth century.
More than a tale of Yaqui Indian resistance, Missionaries, Miners, and Indians documents the history of the Jesuit missions during a period of encroaching secularization. The Yaqui rebellion of 1740, analyzed here in detail, enabled the Yaqui to work for the mines without repudiating the missions; however, the erosion of the mission system ultimately led to the Jesuits’ expulsion from New Spain in 1767, and through their own perseverance, the Yaqui were able to bring their culture intact into the nineteenth century.
“[A] penetrating study of a vitally important subject—the impact of the Spanish empire upon one triumphantly enduring Native American group, the Yaqui Indians of northwestern Mexico. Dr. Hu-DeHart clearly and cogently examines the struggle for Yaqui land and labor between Jesuit missionaries and their secular Spanish competitors.”—American Indian Quarterly
“An excellent depiction of the arrival of the Europeans and the implantation of the Jesuit mission system upon the native Indians of the lower Yaqui river. . . . A good book, and well worth reading.”—American Ethnologist
“Meticulously researched and interestingly presented, also well illustrated with maps.”—Catholic Historical Review
“Hu-DeHart’s excellent book provides an essential balance to the biased Jesuit accounts of the intriguing story of the Yaqui Indian nation. . . . Splendidly researched and documented. . . . An outstanding bibliography is a plus.”—Church History
“An excellent depiction of the arrival of the Europeans and the implantation of the Jesuit mission system upon the native Indians of the lower Yaqui river. . . . A good book, and well worth reading.”—American Ethnologist
“Meticulously researched and interestingly presented, also well illustrated with maps.”—Catholic Historical Review
“Hu-DeHart’s excellent book provides an essential balance to the biased Jesuit accounts of the intriguing story of the Yaqui Indian nation. . . . Splendidly researched and documented. . . . An outstanding bibliography is a plus.”—Church History