Conín (also known by his Christian name Hernando ernandode Tapia) was a Native American conquistador of the Otomí people, who helped the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

conquer territories in the central part of Mexico during the 16th century. In the Otomí language his name means "Thunder."

Early life

Conín was born in

Nopala Nopala (officially: Nopala de Villagrán; Otomi: ʼMostʼä) is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern port ...

in the Xilotepec province (modern state of

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

), most likely in the late 15th century. Before the conquest he traded blankets, salt, hides, and other goods among the

Chichimeca Chichimeca () is the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who were established in present-day Bajio region of Mexico. Chichimeca carried the meaning as the Roman term "barbarian" that d ...

s, Otomís, Tlaxcalans, and Mexica. After the conquest of

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

by the Spanish in 1521, Conín left Xilotepec with his family and lived with the Chichimeca tribes in Andamaxei ( Otomí for "Place of the

Ball Game This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Ball games Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: *Bat-and- ...

") in the Bajío (present day Querétaro).

Conversion

Around 1528 or 1529 the conquistador Hernán Pérez de Bocanegra (along with a contingent of warriors from the newly conquered

Tarascan Empire Tarascan or Tarasca is an exonym and the popular name for the Purépecha culture. It may refer to: * the Tarascan State, a Mesoamerican empire until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, located in (present-day) west-central Mexico * the Purépecha p ...

) arrived in the region seeking to make an alliance with Conín. Conín had seen the power of the Spanish first hand and worked with Bocanegra to bring the region under Spanish control peacefully. Accepting Spanish control also meant accepting Roman Catholicism and Conín was the first to be baptized, taking the Christian name Hernando (Fernando) de Tapia. He took the name Hernando from Hernán Pérez de Bocanera and Tapia from the conquistador Andrés de Tapia.

Foundation of Querétaro

When Hernán Pérez de Bocanegra initially arrived at Andamaxei, his Tarascan allies called it Queréndaro which means "Place of Pines" in the Purepecha language. This became the origin for the name of the town that would be founded by Conín and Juan Sánchez de Alanís, a servant of Bocanegra who was fluent in the Otomí language. Between 1531 and 1540 the growth of the Spanish population in the settlement was slow. During the 1540s the real work of foundation began with the construction of irrigation ditches and an influx of Spanish, Otomí, Nahua, and other indigenous tribes attracted by the fertile land and relative peace.

History

In 1521, the Spanish arrived in

México Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatem ...

, and soon conquered indigenous populations all over the country. Cristobal de Olid entered the Querétaro region the following year. Although the arrival of Spaniards was generally met with resistance by the indigenous cultures, the

Otomí people The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

aligned themselves with the Spaniards and fought beside them to defeat the Aztecs living in the Querétaro region. As a demonstration of loyalty, the Otomi leader Conin converted to Roman Catholicism between the years 1522 and 1526 and changed his name to Fernando de Tapia. In 1531 the city of

Santiago de Querétaro Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

was planned by Juan Sánchez de Alaniz and Conin.

Legends and Tradition

According to tradition, the conquest of Querétaro was accomplished without resorting to arms after seeing a vision of the Cross and

Saint James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

("Santiago"), after whom the city was named.http://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/leyenda-dorada-la-conquista-de-queretaro.html In Spanish

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conin History of Mexico Year of birth unknown