By 1716, attacks by mounted Comanches had driven the Jicarilla Apache into the mountains of northern New Mexico, while other Plain Apaches had abandoned many of their settlements north of the Arkansas River, and were rapidly giving way across northeastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and western Oklahoma. Only a few Apache settlements still remained above the Arkansas River. During the summer of 1716, Comanches and Ute visited several settlements in New Mexico to trade. Believing that the true purpose of these visits was to spy for defensive weaknesses, the Spanish attacked a Comanche-Ute village northwest of Santa Fe. Prisoners were later sold as slaves.