D07 Colón, Coahuila MEXICO 1824

The Guachichil occupied a large territory from Jalisco to Coahila. The name means “head covered red” due to their adornment practices. The Guachichil and other nomadic Chichimeca groups fiercely resisted Spanish settlement and used their knowledge of the land to raid and intimidate the invaders.     

Since the reports we have about the Chichimecas were mainly war chronicles that sought to justify Spanish aggression by emphasizing the barbarity of the natives, we learn little. . .

— Ruth Behar, “The Visions of a Guachichil Witch in 1599: A Window on the Subjugation of Mexico’s Hunter-Gatherers,” 1987

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