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Chapter 3: The Northern Tribes – Or To Live and Die by the Comanchería
Well, hello there! Here's the third chapter. I almost have again the whole structure of the text, and I will work onto getting the rest of the chapters by next week.
I do apologise for this unexpected schedule slip.
During the times where Mexico was a viceroyalty of Spain, the Spaniards relied on a combination of bribery and gifts to placate the northern tribes, partly as a way to get them to stop attacking settlers that encroached onto their lands; these tributes were obtained through their “embassy” in the town of Béjar, in what nowadays is the province of Texas, and used to live side by side with Spanish and American settlers that were allowed to set up shop in the province of Texas.
A comanche tribe.
However, during the chaotic eleven years of the Independence War, these gifts stopped to be delivered, and as a consequence, the Comanche raided towns and settlements up north, with other tribes also doing so, and almost turning the Mexican north-east into a series of ghost towns. [1]
It all stopped after the Provisional Congress of Mexico (before it became the Empire) dispatched an expedition to regain contact with these tribes, and probably bring them unto their fold. The negotiations dragged on until August 11, 1822, when the Government forged a truce with the tribes, and especially, with the Comanche, as it was the strongest of all of them.
It was in November of the next year, when the Comanche tribes elected a representative called Guonique to celebrate a permanent alliance with the Empire. In that fateful meeting in November, 1823, Agustín I and Guonique established a treaty that would make the Comanche tribes as suzerains of the Empire, with the Emperor allowing them to continue to practice their own traditions unmolested, as long as they did not attempt against the integrity of the Empire. The Comanche, however, would serve under the Imperial Army, carrying their own standard into battle, and promising also that when the time came, he would aid the Empire with “20,000 Comanche Warriors”. [2] In a certain way, it was their way to assert their autonomy, in which “they will never bow to no mortal man, but to the Emperor”. In a certain way, they were reminiscent of the Cossacks of the Russian Empire.
This treaty became the basis for what would later become the Basic Law of Indigenous People. the Institute of Indigenous Relations of the Empire, and that’s why November 24 is celebrated as the Day of the Indigenous Pride in the Empire nowadays (which allows me a free day off work or school and to eat delicious traditional food from my grandma!). Needless to say, this also caused that the northern frontier would be protected from either other, more hostile tribes (leaving the Empire to focus onto internal affairs and securing control over other areas), but causing a bit of confusion amongst some of the Imperial garrisons up north, a few friendly fire incidents, and some other strange intrigues with some tribes siding with the Americans or with the Empire which right now I can't think of, bringing forth again the use of the word Chichimeca against tribes that did not submit to the Imperial rule. [3]
Imperial Cavalry slaughtering an Apache tribe. These were considered Chichimeca due to their periodical habit of staging raids against the territories of Santa Fe and Texas.
It also formed the basis for the “Legiones Indígenas”, in which many people of indigenous origins in Mexico would join, in order to go into military adventures, get riches, fight the enemies of the Empire, and get by in life, as the indigenous peoples in Mexico were, by law, exempt from paying personal income taxes and also they were exempt from being conscripted into the Imperial Army (thus, volunteers). This was formed based on the large war bands formed by the Comanche, and later on expanded to cover the many peoples of the Empire, such as Nahua, Mayans, P’urépecha, Raramuri, Yaqui, Seri, Cocopah, Navajos, among many others which I can’t bring from the top of my mind, which flocked to these legions in order to go to far away places and shoot at things.
Lastly, thanks to them, the Imperial Air Cavalry has an impressive gyroship with the name of one of these tribes. Pictured: CG201 Comanche
However, not everything was dancing puppies and rainbows, as there were American squatters pouring into Texas. Invited in by the viceroys of New Spain, and left unmolested in their immigration to the territories, these ungrateful rogues were invited into the Texas territory in order to boost the population on this land. And while many of them actually were law-abiding citizens who understood that this was a different country with different laws, the problem came when some of them blatantly disobeyed the laws and customs of the Empire, which included setting free all the slaves that they might have, and converting to Catholicism. But, we’ll talk about these rascals at a later time.
[2] It's likely that this was an exaggeration.
[3] These laws would be properly codified after 1826. The holiday was actually established during the late 19th century.
Next chapter:
South America, independence wars, and more.
I do apologise for this unexpected schedule slip.
Chapter 3: The Northern Tribes – Or To Live and Die by the Comanchería
It is today, in the 24th day of November of the 1823rd year of our Lord, that the fates of the Comanche are to be intertwined with the one of the Mexican Empire.
Fragment of the text of the original Treaty of Friendship of the Comanche Tribes and the Mexican Empire.
During the times where Mexico was a viceroyalty of Spain, the Spaniards relied on a combination of bribery and gifts to placate the northern tribes, partly as a way to get them to stop attacking settlers that encroached onto their lands; these tributes were obtained through their “embassy” in the town of Béjar, in what nowadays is the province of Texas, and used to live side by side with Spanish and American settlers that were allowed to set up shop in the province of Texas.
A comanche tribe.
However, during the chaotic eleven years of the Independence War, these gifts stopped to be delivered, and as a consequence, the Comanche raided towns and settlements up north, with other tribes also doing so, and almost turning the Mexican north-east into a series of ghost towns. [1]
It all stopped after the Provisional Congress of Mexico (before it became the Empire) dispatched an expedition to regain contact with these tribes, and probably bring them unto their fold. The negotiations dragged on until August 11, 1822, when the Government forged a truce with the tribes, and especially, with the Comanche, as it was the strongest of all of them.
It was in November of the next year, when the Comanche tribes elected a representative called Guonique to celebrate a permanent alliance with the Empire. In that fateful meeting in November, 1823, Agustín I and Guonique established a treaty that would make the Comanche tribes as suzerains of the Empire, with the Emperor allowing them to continue to practice their own traditions unmolested, as long as they did not attempt against the integrity of the Empire. The Comanche, however, would serve under the Imperial Army, carrying their own standard into battle, and promising also that when the time came, he would aid the Empire with “20,000 Comanche Warriors”. [2] In a certain way, it was their way to assert their autonomy, in which “they will never bow to no mortal man, but to the Emperor”. In a certain way, they were reminiscent of the Cossacks of the Russian Empire.
This treaty became the basis for what would later become the Basic Law of Indigenous People. the Institute of Indigenous Relations of the Empire, and that’s why November 24 is celebrated as the Day of the Indigenous Pride in the Empire nowadays (which allows me a free day off work or school and to eat delicious traditional food from my grandma!). Needless to say, this also caused that the northern frontier would be protected from either other, more hostile tribes (leaving the Empire to focus onto internal affairs and securing control over other areas), but causing a bit of confusion amongst some of the Imperial garrisons up north, a few friendly fire incidents, and some other strange intrigues with some tribes siding with the Americans or with the Empire which right now I can't think of, bringing forth again the use of the word Chichimeca against tribes that did not submit to the Imperial rule. [3]
Imperial Cavalry slaughtering an Apache tribe. These were considered Chichimeca due to their periodical habit of staging raids against the territories of Santa Fe and Texas.
It also formed the basis for the “Legiones Indígenas”, in which many people of indigenous origins in Mexico would join, in order to go into military adventures, get riches, fight the enemies of the Empire, and get by in life, as the indigenous peoples in Mexico were, by law, exempt from paying personal income taxes and also they were exempt from being conscripted into the Imperial Army (thus, volunteers). This was formed based on the large war bands formed by the Comanche, and later on expanded to cover the many peoples of the Empire, such as Nahua, Mayans, P’urépecha, Raramuri, Yaqui, Seri, Cocopah, Navajos, among many others which I can’t bring from the top of my mind, which flocked to these legions in order to go to far away places and shoot at things.
Lastly, thanks to them, the Imperial Air Cavalry has an impressive gyroship with the name of one of these tribes. Pictured: CG201 Comanche
However, not everything was dancing puppies and rainbows, as there were American squatters pouring into Texas. Invited in by the viceroys of New Spain, and left unmolested in their immigration to the territories, these ungrateful rogues were invited into the Texas territory in order to boost the population on this land. And while many of them actually were law-abiding citizens who understood that this was a different country with different laws, the problem came when some of them blatantly disobeyed the laws and customs of the Empire, which included setting free all the slaves that they might have, and converting to Catholicism. But, we’ll talk about these rascals at a later time.
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[1] OTL's instability in northern Mexico was both due to the central government's perceived weakness and due to these tributes no longer being received by the Comanches.
[2] It's likely that this was an exaggeration.
[3] These laws would be properly codified after 1826. The holiday was actually established during the late 19th century.
====================================
Next chapter:
South America, independence wars, and more.
- Vault boy
- Word Count: 970