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The Spaniards were to have little success in dealings with the Hopi after this 1701 event. The governor in Santa Fe immediately sent a military mission to the mesa to punish Espeleta, but the army was repulsed by the aroused Hopi. Various Spanish expeditions or missions were sent to the region of the Black Mesa in 1707, 1716, 1775, and 1780, but the Hopi refused to succumb to blandishments or threats, and the nation was left pretty much to its own designs from this point on. The Franciscan friars were interested in saving souls, not in writing death sentences for their converts. The expense was too great for the Spanish government to justify the skimpy rewards of maintaining a hold on the Hopi. Marauding by Navajo and Ute warriors was also a great annoyance to the Spanish army in the Four Corners area.
Following the population declines of the mid-1600's, the Hopi began to increase in numbers once again, as their traditional way of life was restored, and outside germs were avoided. By the mid-18th Century, the population may have again passed the 10,000 figure. Nevertheless, another terrible period of drought, beginning in 1777, led to additional stress and famine. The situation got so bad by the late 1770's that about 150 Hopi left the mesa and moved to the wetter areas of New Mexico. When the rains returned, so did most of the Hopi.
From the time of the droughts in the 1600's, a new continuing problem for the Hopi raised its head. The Navajo had been living side-by-side with the Hopi for centuries, usually in peace. As will be discussed below, the Navajo were an adaptable people who kept changing their lifestyle to manners that brought them greater success. During the great droughts, the Navajo gave up on agriculture, and took to raiding and what the Hopi viewed as theft. They would keep up this pattern for many generations. Just as stress forced the Hopi to desperate measures during the 1660's and 1670's, the Navajo reacted to the disaster of the drought.
As the Spaniards left the Black Mesa region, the Hopi became even greater targets of the Navajo activities. The continuous, low-level activity of the Navajo would present some real tribulations for the Hopi, with their land-owning pattern of widely dispersed fields, many of which were visited infrequently. It was somewhat ironic that these troubles would come with the Navajo, because these two peoples had apparently lived, side-by-side, in peace for centuries, and the Navajo forays had certainly helped to convince the Spaniards to abandon their attempts to recolonize the area during the 1700's. The Hopi were at a loss as to what they could do against the mobile bands of Navajo.
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Proceed to Hopiland, Republica de Mexico
Follow scholar Kokopelli to the Suggested
Reading List
Return with Kokopelli to the hogan page, the
Table of Contents
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Black Mesa Highlighted in Sunlight on a Stormy Day
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to
treeves@ionet.net
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Contents, including illustrations, copyright T. K. Reeves, 1997.
on 5 April, 1997.
