Early Spanish Conquest and Settlement
In an effort to break with the monopolized Italian
European trade with India Spain started to look for
an alternate trade route. The Spanish monarchs
Queen Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon
financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus.
Columbus believed he could find an all water route
to India by sailing westward from Europe and in
1492, he started his search. Instead of arriving to
India, Columbus arrived to the Caribbean Islands
of present day Haiti and claimed the land for his
Spanish Monarchs naming it Nueva Espanola.
Hernando Cortez then conquered the Mexica
Aztec Empire of Tenochtitlan renaming it Mexico
City. Conquest continued and the vast Mexican
mainland became ‘New Spain of the Ocean Sea’
giving Spain immense wealth of gold and silver. 1
Columbus taking possession of the new country
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91481671/
The Spanish acquirement of New Spain along with its vast wealth incited further
Exploration not only of the south, as Pizarro conquered Peru, but to the north as
well and attention was placed on Florida.
Panfilo de Narvaez often heard of rich Indian villages located in Florida’s interior
and in company of 400 me sailed for Florida in 1528. He found no riches only
unfriendly Indians and lethal fevers.
Discouraged by no finds of wealth more than half of Narvaez men sailed to New
Spain but storm and shipwreck destroyed their fleet and 80 Men end up in
Galveston Bay in present day TX.
A year later only 15 men were alive captive by Indians; among the captives was
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. In 1534, he escaped with two Spanish and a moor
Named Esteban and marched westward crossing the Rio Grande below present
day El Paso, back then part of New Mexico, reaching New Spain In 1536.1
Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors described the land they had crossed as
one of little farming and few settlements with people who treasured some
beads, turquoise, coral and arrow heads. They also told stories of people far to
the north who lived in large houses and traded with turquoise.
The Spaniards pay little attention to the impoverished land descried by Cabeza
de Vaca and paid closed attention to the “treasures” of these people.
In contemplating possible reaches on the north they started to recall the fable of
far rich lands with both European and American origins. The Europeans said
that when the Moors overran Portugal seven bishops fled and somewhere in the
Atlantic established church districts in very rich lands. The American side was an
Aztec legend claiming the Aztec people had come from seven caves far to the
north; other tales described a land of gold and silver that lay a 40-day journey to
the north. Having in mind the found reaches in their conquered Mexico, they
started to have hopes in finding another “new Mexico” where the seven cities of
gold could be located and plans to explore the northern frontier begun to form.1
Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, heard of the stories of Narvaez’ crew
survivors and he sent a small expedition to fact-find about the seven cities of
gold. Upon the findings he then could decide if a bigger expedition would be
worth to be sent.
In 1539, the expedition lead by Fray Marcos de Niza and having Estevan as guide
headed north and crossed the desert of present day Arizona.
Estevan went ahead of the expedition with instructions of sending back crosses
of different sizes; the bigger the cross the bigger the finding. He sent back a very
large cross and Fray de Niza hurried to met him just to find out he had been
killed.
It is unknown from where the friar got the information he later provided to
Mendoza confirming the finding of the seven cities of gold; which just might have
been the Villages’ walls reflecting the very bright desert sun giving them a ‘golden’
hue.
Once Mendoza confirmed the seven cities of gold with its supposed immense
wealth, he immediately organized a large expedition and chose Francisco Vazquez
de Coronado this time Fray de Niza was the guide.
In 1540, Coronado with more than 300 men on horse back and on foot, several
soldiers and their families along with several hundreds of Indians to help with the
live stock, headed north in search of Cibola and its wealth.
The Coronado expedition endured six hard months arriving at Zuni with its six
villages, not seven, and its buildings plastered with mud not gold. That view
revealed in the most explicit terms that the Spaniards had not found the seven
cities of gold. The hostile Natives did not welcomed the explores and only after
forcefully subdued by Coronado’s men the Zuni make peace and the Spanish got much
needed supplies but no precious metals.
Coronado still believed in news arriving to him about rich villages on the northeast
and sent expeditions to confirm those rumors. When the expeditions came back with
reports of well established Pueblo villages near big rivers and vast plains, Coronado
took his expedition north arriving in winter time at Tiguex, present day Bernalillo.
Still no sight of cities of gold only another tale of a rich city on the plains to the east
called Quivira; which Coronado planned to explore in the spring.
Coronado’s exploration was categorized as a failure for its lack of finding wealth.
But hopes of acquiring new riches beyond the northern frontier were never lost.
After Coronado’s return four more other explorations along the Rio Grande were
taken; which included missionary work and religious intentions to ‘save’ the Natives’
souls.
Among these explorers were Fray Bernardino Beltran, Fray Agustin and Fray
Francisco, the business man Antonio de Espejo, and the lieutenant governor of
Nuevo Leon Gaspar Catano de Sosa.
The friars met their dead at the Natives’ hands who feared they would be sending
more unwanted Spaniards. The other business men returned almost empty
handed but with a great tale of wealth in New Mexico, such account grew more
colorful with each telling.
These expeditions might all failed due to its outcome of no found riches, but set a path
of recognized terrain, now with a new trail along the Rio Grande, for future
explorations for settlement.
By the end of the sixteen century explorers had discovered no treasure, Spanish
officials started to see NM as a land worth of settlement and now the new
interests were permanent settlement and missionary work. Along with this new
quest the desire of finding an all water route through the Americas, the long
dreamed “Northwest Passage” to the Pacific Ocean.
Spain’s King Philip II, officially sanctioned the new priorities in 1583, and ordered
the viceroy to find the right person to colonize New Mexico, and fourteen years
later Don Juan de Onate was the man chosen for the duty. He was given the titles
of governor and captain general of the province along with authority to apportion land
to the settlers who would accompany him.
Onate was favored for the task thanks to his wealthy background and
distinguished family. He was married to Dona Isabel Cortez Tolosa, a descendent
of both Mexico’s conqueror Hernan Cortez and Aztec emperor Moctezuma. He
also possessed invaluable military experience of 20 years of service as a soldier
fighting Indians in northern New Spain.
Onate’s wealth came in handy as he had to agree to pay for most of the expedition
including the soldiers and settlers expenses in addition of the purchase of
supplies and livestock. The government only paid the expenses of friars going to
convert the NM Natives. At the beginning of 1598, Onate’s expedition started with
a group of 400 men which included soldiers and families with wives and children,
ten Franciscan friars and the first NM historian Gaspar Perez de Villagra. The
expedition utilized 83 carts and herded 7,000 head of livestock and the group’s
march extended two miles long front to back. They marched to the Rio Grande
stopping at present day El Paso, TX, resting and proclaiming the land for the
Spanish crown. Continuing with the journey the got to the land of the Piros
Indians where they received food and water and named the place Socorro and
kept their travel north. On July 1598, Onate proclaimed San Juan, near present day
Espanola, the site of the first Spanish settlement in NM and within two weeks the
foundation for a church was laid.
After several months the Spaniards moved to the west side of the
Rio Grande in an attempt to put distance from the San Juan people and to gain
room for expansion. There the Spaniards built their second settlement named San
Gabriel. After going through hard times and requesting reinforcements of
supplies, soldiers and friars, Onate felt the colony was strong enough to allow him
take further explorations. In 1601, he set to search the land east of San Gabriel in
search of the so tell riches of Quivira. Instead of wealth Onate saw large fields of
beans and corn and counted thousands of souls to be saved. Discouraged he
returned to San Gabriel to find it almost empty, its settlers tired of his strict ruled
escaped down the Rio Grande. Onate did not give up and took further west
explorations in search of the “Northwest Passage” finding the Colorado River,
which he followed to the Gulf of California. Disappointed and much poorer than at
the start to the venture, Onate left office under king’s suspension and officially
resigned his dual posts of governor and captain general of NM in 1607.
Don Juan de Oñate
texasbeyondhistory.net
1. Roberts, Calvin A., and Susan A. Roberts, New Mexico Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006.
Image Credits
Enchanted Learning. “Explorers of North and Central America.” Cabeza De Vaca Route.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/devaca.shtml (accessed October 13, 2012).
Enchanted Learning. “Explorers of North and Central America.” Coronado’s Route.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/coronado.shtml (accessed October 13, 2012).
Enchanted Learning. “Explorers of North and Central America.” De Narvaez Route.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/n/narvaez.shtml (accessed October 13, 2012).
Enchanted Learning. “Explorers of North and Central America ” De Onate’s Expedition.”
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexo.shtml accessed October 14, 2012).
Library of Congress. “Columbus taking possession of the new country." Library of Congress - Teacher’s
Guide Primary Source Set. Hispanic Exploration in America.
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/hispanicexploration/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91481671/ (accessed October 13, 2012).
PBS. “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado” New Perspectives of The West.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/coronado.htm (accessed October 14, 2012).
Robenalt, Jeff. “Cabeza de Vaca” Saga of a Texas Ranger-Series. http://sagaofatexasranger.com/cabeza-de-vacaphotos/(accessed
October 14, 2012).
The Marine’s Museum “Panfilo De Narvaez.” The Explorers.
http://ageofex.marinersmuseum.org/index.php?type=explorer&id=36 (accessed October 14, 2012).
Office of the State Historian. “Don Juan de Onate takes Possession of New Mexico.”
http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=305 (accessed October 14, 2012).