Francisco Tenamaztle [SEP] country of citizenship
Francisco Tenamaztle
Francisco Tenamaztle (fl. 1540s–1550s), also Tenamaxtlan, Tenamaxtli or Tenamaxtle, was a leader of the Caxcan Indians in Mexico during the Mixton War of 1540–1542. He was later put on trial in Spain. With the support of Bartolomé de las Casas he defended the justice of his cause by appealing to King Carlos I.
Background.
The first contact of the Caxcan and other indigenous peoples of northwestern Mexico with the Spanish, was in 1529 when Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán set forth from Mexico City with 300–400
. He attempted without success to suppress the Caxcan Indians during the Mixton War in 1541 and was later accused by Caxcan leader Francisco Tenamaztle of murdering and exploiting Indians. Besides being a conquistador, official and mineowner, he was a farmer, rancher and encomendero. Although he was a lieutenant of Beltrán de Guzmán, perhaps the bloodiest conquistador in the history of New Spain, Onate seems also to have had a more benign side. He was a benefactor of the cities he founded. A generous spirit, he offered meals to the