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A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE ROLE OF GENIZAROS IN NEW MEXICO HISTORY AND

THEIR LEGACY.

WHEREAS, indigenous captivity and servitude were common

in frontier society that became New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, various indigenous peoples, including Apache,

Dine (Navajo), Pawnee, Ute and Comanche, were captured; and

WHEREAS, indigenous people became part of New Mexican

communities and households through capture in war, kidnapping,

trade fairs, punishment for crimes, adoption, abandonment and

the sale of children; and

WHEREAS, baptismal records reveal that at least four

thousand six hundred one captive indigenous persons were

baptized between the years 1700 and 1880, becoming part of

Spanish, Mexican and territorial households; and

WHEREAS, numerous primary source records document the

captivity, presence and experience of indigenous people

displaced in this way, including marriage records, court

cases, wills and censuses; and

WHEREAS, the experiences of captives, while varied,

included being raised and serving within households, and

sometimes remaining in a captor's home for a lifetime; and

WHEREAS, the practice of taking Indian captives lasted

through the Mexican and into the American period in New

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Mexico; and

WHEREAS, there were many terms to describe Indian

captivity and servitude in New Mexico, including "cautivos",

"criados", "coyotes" and "famulos" but the most common used

prior to 1821 and into the Spanish colonial period was the

term "genizaro"; and

WHEREAS, the term "genizaro" derives from the Turkish

word "yeniceri" or "janissary", terms used to describe

Christian captives who, as children, had been forcibly

abducted, traded and trained as the nucleus of the Ottoman

empire's standing army; and

WHEREAS, genizaro families could be found in various

communities throughout the colony, including the major

villages of Albuquerque, Santa Cruz de la Canada, Santa Fe and

El Paso del Norte; and

WHEREAS, in the mid-eighteenth century, many genizaros

were again relocated strategically at the edges of Hispanic

communities, thus providing both an initial line of defense

against raiders and the foundation for communities such as

Abiquiu, Belen, Carnuel, Las Trampas, Ojo Caliente, Ranchos de

Taos, San Miguel del Vado and Tome; and

WHEREAS, by 1776, genizaros comprised at least one-third

of the entire population of the province; and

WHEREAS, genizaros and their descendants have

participated in all aspects of the social, political, military

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and economic life of New Mexico during the Spanish, Mexican

and American periods; and

WHEREAS, eventually the migration patterns of cautivos

and genizaros paralleled that of all New Mexicans with

communities extending southward to El Paso del Norte (Ciudad

Juarez) and northern Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as northward

in Colorado and beyond; and

WHEREAS, the direct result of the Indian slave trade was

the emergence of generations of racial and cultural mixtures

often referred to in the colonial period with terms such as

coyotes, colores quebrados, lobos and mestizos; and

WHEREAS, many New Mexicans can trace their ancestry to

these indigenous peoples;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the important

role of genizaros and their descendants have had in the

social, economic, political and cultural milieu of New Mexico

and the United States be recognized; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives

recognize the existence and importance of this indigenous

group and the presence and importance of its descendants

today; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to the office of the state historian.