Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain,and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan de los Caballeros from 1598 until 1610,and from 1610 onward the capital was La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís.
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin,Missouri,with Santa Fe,New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell,who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River,the trail served as a vital commercial highway until 1880,when the railroad arrived in Santa Fe. Santa Fe was near the end of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which carried trade from Mexico City. The trail was later incorporated into parts of the National Old Trails Road and U.S. Route 66.
Jicarilla Apache,one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache,refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athabaskan language. The term jicarilla comes from Mexican Spanish meaning "little basket",referring to the small sealed baskets they used as drinking vessels. To neighboring Apache bands,such as the Mescalero and Lipan,they were known as Kinya-Inde.
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1519 until 1821. Spain claimed ownership of the region in 1519. Slave raids by Spaniards into what became Texas began in the 16th century and created an atmosphere of antagonism with Native Americans (Indians) which would cause endless difficulties for the Spanish in the future. Spain did not attempt to establish a permanent presence until after France established the colony of Fort Saint Louis in 1685. In 1688,the French colony failed due to internal dissention and attacks by the Karankawa Indians. In 1690,responding to fear of French encroachment,Spanish explorer Alonso de León escorted several Catholic missionaries to east Texas,where they established the first mission in Texas. That attempt to establish a Spanish colony failed due to the hostility of the Caddo Indians.
El Cuartelejo,or El Quartelejo,is a region in eastern Colorado and western Kansas where Plains Apache cohabited with Puebloans. Subject to religious persecution,Puebloans fled the Spanish Nuevo México territory and cohabitated with the Cuartelejo villagers in the 1600s.
Comanche history –in the 18th and 19th centuries the Comanche became the dominant tribe on the southern Great Plains. The Comanche are often characterized as "Lords of the Plains." They presided over a large area called Comancheria which they shared with allied tribes,the Kiowa,Kiowa-Apache,Wichita,and after 1840 the southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. Comanche power and their substantial wealth depended on horses,trading,and raiding. Adroit diplomacy was also a factor in maintaining their dominance and fending off enemies for more than a century. They subsisted on the bison herds of the Plains which they hunted for food and skins.
The history of New Mexico is based on archaeological evidence,attesting to the varying cultures of humans occupying the area of New Mexico since approximately 9200 BCE,and written records. The earliest peoples had migrated from northern areas of North America after leaving Siberia via the Bering Land Bridge. Artifacts and architecture demonstrate ancient complex cultures in this region.
The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro,also known as the Silver Route,was a Spanish 2,560-kilometre-long (1,590 mi) road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo,New Mexico,that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of the four major "royal roads" that linked Mexico City to its major tributaries during and after the Spanish colonial era.
Cayetano Maria Pignatelli RubíCorbera y San Climent was a Spanish nobleman. Rubíwas commissioned by the King Charles III of Spain to inspect the presidios on the northern frontier of New Spain and make recommendations to improve defense against raids by Indian tribes,especially the Apache. From 1766 to 1768,Rubívisited 23 presidios scattered from the Gulf of California to present-day Louisiana,traveling overland about 7,600 mi (12,200 km) in 23 months. He wrote a report on his travels which is a valuable source of information about conditions on New Spain's northern frontier. His recommendations,later implemented,were that Spain withdraw from some presidios on its far northern frontier,including Louisiana and eastern Texas,and strengthen others which were in a poor state of readiness. He recommended that San Antonio replace Los Adaes as the capital of Spanish Texas. To combat the Indian threat,he recommended an offensive war against the Apaches and an alliance with the Comanche to subdue the Apache.
Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá was one of the Spanish missions in Texas. It was established in April 1757,along with the Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas,later renamed Presidio of San Sabá,in what is now Menard County. Located along the San Saba River,the mission was intended to convert members of the Lipan Apache tribe. Although no Apache ever resided at the mission,its existence convinced the Comanche that the Spanish had allied with the Comanche's mortal enemy. In 1758 the mission was destroyed by an estimated 2,000 warriors from the Comanche,Tonkawa,Yojuane,Bidai and Hasinai tribes. It was the only mission in Texas to be completely destroyed by Native Americans. The Indians did not attack the nearby presidio.
The Comanche–Mexico Wars was the Mexican theater of the Comanche Wars,a series of conflicts from 1821 to 1870. The Comanche and their Kiowa and Kiowa Apache allies carried out large-scale raids hundreds of miles deep into Mexico. The raids were stimulated by the desire of Comanches to accumulate wealth through plunder,principally horses,mules,and Mexican captives for ransom or slaves who became integrated into the tribe. The raids escalated proportionally to Mexico's inability to defend its citizens during the turbulent years after it gained independence in 1821 and a large and growing market in the United States for stolen Mexican horses and cattle.
Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante was a Spanish soldier and politician who served as acting governor of Coahuila,governor of the same province (1798–1817),acting governor of Texas (1805–1808) and governor of the province of Sonora and Sinaloa.
Antonio Valverde y Cosío was the architect behind the disastrous Villasur expedition wherein the famous Spanish colonial scout JoséNaranjo perished.
Tomás Vélez Cachupín was a colonial judge,and the Spanish colonial governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México province,located in the northern Viceroyalty of New Spain,from 1749 to 1754 and 1762 to 1767. During his rule,Cachupín achieved the peace between Spaniards and the Amerindian peoples of New Mexico,especially the Comanches. He also protected the right to the possession of lands by the people of New Mexico,including the Amerindians,fining and imprisoning those who occupied the lands of others under the idea that these lands were property of their inhabitants.
The Hispanos of New Mexico,also known as Neomexicanos or Nuevomexicanos,are Hispanic residents originating in the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México,today the US state of New Mexico,southern Colorado,and other parts of the Southwestern United States including Arizona,Nevada,Texas,and Utah. They are descended from Oasisamerica groups and the settlers of the Viceroyalty of New Spain,the First Mexican Empire and Republic,the Centralist Republic of Mexico,and the New Mexico Territory.
Gervasio Cruzat y Góngora was Governor of New Mexico between 1731 and 1736 at a time when it was a province of New Spain,as well as governor of Presidio of Pensacola,in Florida,between 1740 and 1742. He assisted the bishop of Durango,taking evidence for him in his contest with the Franciscans.
Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza y Delgado was a Spanish soldier in the War of the Spanish Succession. He later served as the Spanish colonial governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México province from 1739 to 1743,located in the northern Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Pedro Fermín de Mendinueta was the Spanish colonial governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México province from 1767 to 1777,located in the northern Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Juan de Ulibarrí or Uribarrí was a Spanish or Criollo soldier and explorer who lived in New Mexico. In 1706,he led an expedition to El Cuartelejo on the Great Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Ulibarrí's diary survives and is an important source for the history of Spanish exploration of the Great Plains and relationships with the Apache and Pueblo. The purpose of Ulibarrí's expedition was to find and escort back to New Mexico about 60 people from Picuris Pueblo who had earlier fled Spanish rule in New Mexico and established communities on the Great Plains. The Cuartelejo Ruins in Kansas are a remnant of the Pueblos who lived on the plains.
Spanish peace treaties with the Comanche in 1785 and 1786 resulted in a permanent peace between the Comanche and the Spanish colony in New Mexico and a lengthy,albeit interrupted,peace between the Comanche and the Spanish in Texas. Since their first contacts with the Spanish in 1706,the Comanches had raided the colonies and been a threat to their continued existence. In the 1780s several factors combined to give both sides the incentive to negotiate peace treaties which resulted in expanded trade between the Spanish and the Comanche and a combined effort to defeat their mutual enemy,the Apache.
