Template:FriarBernal

To illustrate the situation Friar Juan Bernal wrote on 1 Apr 1669:

"...this kingdom is ...nearly exhausted...the whole land is at War with the...heathen Apaches who kill all the Christian Indians they can find...no road is safe: everyone travels at risk of his life, for the heathen patrol them all. ... for three years no crops have been harvested. last year a great many Christian Indians starved, left dead along the roads, in the ravines, and in their huts. There were towns like Las Humanas where more than 450 starved. Now the same calamity still prevails in the whole kingdom there is not a bushel basket of corn nor of wheat to be had at any price..."