Zacatecah

The Zacatecah, or Zacatecos in Spanish accounts, were a Chichimeca people whose name comes from the Nahuatl zacatl, the grass that covered their homeland; the Aztecs called their country Zacatlan. They roamed most of what is now Zacatecas and north-eastern Durango, north to Cuencamé.

Most bands were nomadic hunter-gatherers who wore their hair to the waist, marked themselves with paint and tattoos, and were praised by Spanish observers as fine archers. Settled groups in the south kept temples, ball courts and water channels around El Teul.

When silver rushes brought Spanish settlers into their lands, the Zacatecah joined the Chichimeca Confederation and fought the Chichimeca War of 1550 to 1590. The Spanish then bought peace with goods, land grants and mission towns that gradually dissolved their independent life.