Plains Indians in New Mexico: The Genízaro Experiance

T he colonial period in American history must, include not only the English experience on the Atlantic shore but the Spanish story in the Southwest and the approaches to the Great Plains. l Part of the New Mexican story is the emergence of a new people who become part of our multicultural experience, the detribalized Indians of the Plains and Mountains who were given the name genfzaros and were eventually absorbed into Pueblo-Spanish society. 2 The Spanish had tried to implement their Indian policy on the Great Plains, but frustrated by the environment and the native people, they remained in their New Mexican settlements and watched as Plains Indians involuntarily came to them