 Instead the semi-nomadic peoples (referred to at the time by the Nahuatl term, Chichimeca) that lived in this more arid region (and who had resisted Spanish incursions into the area) had either been pushed onto marginal lands or been absorbed into a new Hispanic culture that emerged in the haciendas, towns and cities near the many silver mines that promoted European settlement of this region from Spain and Catholic regions in Europe under Spanish control such as parts of Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and present day Germany.In the northern Provincias Internas, skirmishes between Spanish settlers (later Mexican nationals) and the indigenous peoples, extended even after the Mexican independence well into the 19th century.This was noted by the German scientist, geographer and explorer Alexander von Humboldt in his "Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne"