Indigenous rebellions in Mexico and Central America were conflicts of resistance initiated by Indigenous peoples against Europeancolonial empires andsettler states that occurred in the territory of the continentalViceroyalty of New Spain andBritish Honduras, as well as their respective successor states. The latter includeMexico,Guatemala,Honduras,Belize,El Salvador,Nicaragua,Costa Rica, and parts of theSouthern andWesternUnited States.
Anti-colonial rebellions by the Indigenous peoples of Central America had precedence in resistance to theAztec Empire prior to theSpanish conquest.[1] During the period of Spanish rule,forced labor,[2][3] the expansion of colonial territory,[4][5] and the forcefulreduction of disparate communities into villages or missions where Christianity was enforced[6] were common causes of revolt. After independence, continued encroachment on Indigenous land rights was the primary cause of conflict.[7][8] Resistance has persisted into the 21st century, such as with the ongoingZapatista uprising.[9]
| Name | Start date | End date | Description of dispute | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yaqui Wars | 1533 | 1929 | The Yaqui Wars were a series ofarmed conflicts betweenNew Spain, and the laterMexican Republic, against theYaquiIndians. Over the course of nearly 400 years, the Spanish and the Mexicans repeatedly launched military campaigns into Yaqui territory which resulted in several serious battles andmassacres.[10][11] | Successful resistance leading to superior treatment of Native Americans in North and South America |
| Mixtón War | 1540 | 1542 | The Mixtón War was a rebellion by theCaxcan people of northwestern Mexico against the Spanish conquerors.[12] The war was named after Mixtón, a hill inZacatecas which served as an Indigenous stronghold. | Spanish victory |
| Chichimeca War | 1550 | 1590 | The Chichimeca War was a military conflict between theSpanish Empire and theChichimeca Confederation (including the Zacateco, Guachichil, Pame, Guamare, Caxcan, Tepecano, Tecuexe, and Otomi) established in the territories today known as theCentral Mexican Plateau, called by the ConquistadoresLa Gran Chichimeca. The epicenter of the hostilities was the region now called theBajío. The Chichimeca War is recorded as the longest and most expensive military campaign confronting the Spanish Empire and Indigenous people inMesoamerica.[13][14] | Chichimeca military victory: several peace treaties led to the pacification and, ultimately, the streamlined integration of the native populations into theSpanish society. |
| Apache–Mexico Wars | 1600s | 1915 | The Apache–Mexico Wars began in the 1600s with the arrival of Spanish colonists in present-dayNew Mexico. War between the Mexicans and the Apache was especially intense from 1831 into the 1850s. Thereafter, Mexican operations against the Apache coincided with theApache Wars of theUnited States, such as during theVictorio Campaign. Mexico continued to operate against hostile Apache bands as late as 1915.[15][16] | Eventual Mexican and American victory |
| Acaxee Rebellion | 1601 | 1607 | A man named Perico initiated the rebellion promisingmillennial redemption using a mixture of Spanish and Indian religious practices. The rebellion aimed "to restore pre-Columbian social and religious elements that had been destroyed by the Spanish conquest."[17] The Acaxee took up strong positions in the mountains and shut down most silver mining and other economic activities in their homeland for nearly two years. In 1603, Perico and most of the leadership of the revolt were killed, but resistance struggled on for 4 more years.[18] | Spanish victory, but better treatment for Natives and some rebels were able to join the Tepehuán Revolt in 1616. |
| Tepehuán Revolt | 1616 | 1620 | The Tepehuán Revolt broke out in Mexico in 1616 when theTepehuán Indians attempted to break free from Spanish rule. The revolt was crushed by 1620 after a large loss of life on both sides.[19] It is estimated that 400 Spaniards and 1000 Indians died.[20] | Spanish victory |
| Tipu Revolt | 1638 | 1638 | The Tipu Revolt was an uprising of the IndigenousMaya people in modern Belize against the New Spanish province ofYucatán due to discontent regarding civil and religious requirements under encomienda, and Anglo-Dutch piratical raids.[21] The revolt led to the death of one Spanish friar, and injury of under 100 Maya individuals.[21] | Maya victory and withdrawal by the Spanish until 1695[21] |
| Pueblo Revolt | 1680 | 1692 | The Pueblo Revolt was an uprising of the IndigenousPueblo people against the New Spanish province ofNew Mexico against oppressive labor conditions, suppression of traditional religious beliefs, and Spanish violence.[22] The Pueblo Revolt killed 400 Spaniards and drove the remaining 2,000 settlers out of the province. | Pueblo victory and expulsion of the Spanish until 1692[23] |
| Pablo Presbere's insurrection | 1709 | 1710 | The king ofTalamanca, Pablo Presbere, intercepted a letter ordering thereduction of his people into a series of Spanish-controlled villages. Together with theTeribe and Cabécare, he launched a series of attacks on Spanish settlements. After some initial success, the authorities inCartago launched a retaliatory expedition. Talamanca and its allies were defeated and the leaders executed.[24] | Spanish victory |
| Tzeltal Rebellion | 1712 | 1713 | In 1712, a number of Maya communities in theSoconusco region ofChiapas rose in rebellion. It was a multiethnic revolt, with 32 towns ofTzeltal,Tzotzil, and Chol peoples participating. The rebels renounced the authority of the Catholic hierarchy and established a priesthood of Indigenous men. The rebel army called itself the “soldiers of the Virgin.”[25][26] | Spanish victory |
| Pima Revolt | 1751 | 1752 | The Pima Revolt was a revolt ofPima people against colonial forces inPimería Alta, New Spain. The revolt culminated from decades of violence by the local Spanish settlers against Indians beginning in 1684.[27] While the 15,000 rebels had no central authority, the charismaticLuis Oacpicagigua was influential in unifying them under a single war plan. The initial act of rebellion was the massacre of 18 settlers lured to Oacpicagigua's home inSáric.[28] In the ensuing three months, Oacpicagigua and more than a hundred other men attacked the mission atTubutama, and other Spanish settlements, and more than a hundred settlers were killed. Oacpicagigua surrendered to Captain José Díaz del Carpio on March 18, 1752 after a negotiated peace. When the Pima leaders laid the blame for the revolt onJesuitmissionaries (who would beexpelled from Spain and its colonies in 1767) they were pardoned by the colonial governor Ortiz Parrilla.[28] | Negotiated surrender, rebels pardoned |
| Totonicapán Uprising | 1820 | 1820 | The Totonicapán Uprising was an uprising ofK'iche' people against theSpanish Empire inTotonicapán, located in the western highlands ofGuatemala. The revolt was in response to the excessive tribute demanded by thecolonial authorities, and managed to establish a short lived breakaway state in Totonicapán with a free Indigenous government. The rebellion was concurrent with the independence ofCentral America and other Latin American wars of independence.[29][30] | Spanish victory, but the leaders would be pardoned due to the ongoing Independence struggles |
| Texas–Indian wars | 1820 | 1875 | The Texas–Indian wars were a series of conflicts between Spanish, Mexican, and later Anglo settlers in Texas and Native peoples of Texas, especially theComanche andLipan Apache. These conflicts began when the first wave of settlers moved intoSpanish Texas. They continued through Texas's time aspart of Mexico, when more Europeans andAnglo-Americans arrived, to the subsequent declaration of independence by theRepublic of Texas. The conflicts did not end until thirty years afterTexas joined theUnited States. | American victory;genocide of peoples including theKarankawa,Akokisa, andBidai, and forced removal of other peoples such as the Comanche andCaddo onto reservations in Oklahoma. |
| Comanche–Mexico Wars | 1821 | 1870 | The Comanche–Mexico Wars was the Mexicantheater of theComanche Wars. There were large-scale raids into northernMexico by theComanche and theirKiowa andKiowa Apache allies, which left thousands of people dead.[31] The Comanche raids were sparked by the declining military capability of Mexico during the turbulent years after it gained independence in 1821, as well as a large and growing market in theUnited States for stolen Mexican horses and cattle.[32] | Eventual American victory, with Comanche forced onto reservations |
| Chumash revolt | 1824 | 1824 | The Chumash revolt of 1824 was an uprising of theChumash Native Americans against the Spanish and Mexican presence in their ancestral lands. The rebellion began in 3 of theCalifornia Missions inAlta California:Mission Santa Inés,Mission Santa Barbara, andMission La Purisima, and spread to the surrounding villages.[33] All three missions are located in present-daySanta Barbara County, California. The Chumash revolt was the largest organized resistance movement to occur during the Spanish and Mexican periods in California.[34] | Mexican victory |
| Anastasio Aquino's Rebellion | 1832 | 1833 | Anastasio Aquino's Rebellion was an uprising led by Salvadoran Indigenous leader Anastasio Aquino against theFederal Republic of Central America. | Central American victory |
| Chimayó Rebellion | 1837 | 1837 | The Chimayó Rebellion was a popular insurrection inNew Mexico against governorAlbino Pérez. | Mexican victory |
| Caste War of Yucatán | 1847 | 1933 | The Caste War of Yucatán was the revolt of NativeMaya people of theYucatán Peninsula against theYucatecos, or the local white and mixed-race elites. By the 1840s, economic development had led to Maya peasants being stripped of their land and forced intodebt bondage.[35][36] The revolt was assisted by the United Kingdom because of the value of its trading withBritish Honduras.[37] By 1867 the Maya occupied parts of the western part of the Yucatán. But growing investment in Mexico changed British policy, and in 1893 it ceased to recognize the Maya state. The war unofficially ended in 1901 when the Mexican army occupied the Maya capital ofChan Santa Cruz and subdued neighboring areas. Another formal end was made in 1915, when a Mexican general was sent to subdue the territory. He introduced reforms from the revolution that ended some of the grievances. However, skirmishes with small settlements that refused to acknowledge Mexican control continued until 1933. | Mexican victory |
| Mexican Revolution in Morelos | February 1911 | 1920 | When theMexican Revolution began in 1911, the Indigenous villages ofMorelos had been facing decades of encroachment by sugar-producinghaciendas and the steadyproletarianization of their inhabitants.[38][39][40] Throughout the next nine years,a revolutionary army led byEmiliano Zapata grew rapidly in strength, eventually coming to dominate Morelos and the surrounding states. After the Zapatistas defeated the attempts of four successive national governments to subjugate the state, Zapata's successorGildardo Magaña was able to negotiate a peace with PresidentÁlvaro Obregón.[41] | Successful: Morelos was able to conduct land reform according thePlan of Ayala and the Indigenous villages were restored. |
| Chiapas conflict | January 1994 | 2014 | On January 1, 1994, theZapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) coordinated a 12-day Zapatista uprising in the state ofChiapas, Mexico in protest ofNAFTA's enactment. This led to the establishment by the Zapatistas of an autonomous area under their control in the state. It has involvedTzeltal andTzotzil Maya, other Indigenous groups, andLadinos, among others.[42] | Ongoing, in a mostly static, peaceful accommodation with the Mexican government |
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