Diplomacia interétnica en la frontera norte de Nueva España. Un análisis de los tratados hispano-comanches de 1785 y 1786 y sus consecuencias desde una perspectiva etnohistórica

Abstract

This essay offers an ethnohistorical analysis of the peace agreed upon by the Comanche Indians of the Great Plains and the governors of the Spanish provinces of Texas and New Mexico in 1785 and 1786 respectively. The peace was the culmination of a diplomatic process promoted by the leaders of both peoples. Apart from the end of the Comanche hostilities (permanently in New Mexico, but only temporally in Texas), Spaniards gained a powerful ally against other Indians who threatened New Spain´s northern borderlands. At the same time, the peace provided security and material gains for the Comanches, as well as prestige and influence for their leaders, who thus became the primary beneficiaries of it. The alliance with the Spaniards also allowed Comanches to definitively push the Eastern Apaches, their ancestral enemies, to the southern rim of the Great Plains.

Keywords

• Apache Indians
• 18th century
• Comanche Indians
• Interior Provinces of New Spain
• borderlands
• peace treaties