geography

NEW MEXICO Historical/Cultural Geography #2

SPANISH ERA Geography 325V

Dr. Wright

The Spanish Arrival Changed the Geography of NM Forever

 Spaniards entered a complex Indian

landscape

 The America’s contained 54 million people

 New Mexico was home to Pueblo and

Athabaskan Indian nations

 What drove the Spanish to come and what

cultural and land tenure changes did they

bring?

Some of flags that have flown in NM

Whose

New Mexico?

Spain The Colonial Roots of New Mexico

 Legends of wealth in the Americas  Mexico conquered by Hernán Cortés 1519

 Peru conquered by his second cousin Francisco Pizarro - 1532

 Aztec and Inca gold and silver spurred Spaniards to explore and conquer north into what is now New Mexico and the West

 New Mexico was a fabled place to Spanish Conquistadores and Kings  Seven Cities of Cibola

 El Dorado

 Gran Quivira

 BUT, what explains this Spanish drive to conquer?

Spain and the Spanish Empire Evolved from centuries of war against Muslims

 570 Prophet Mohammed born in Arabia

 630 - Islam begins

 660s - Arab/Muslim conquest of Egypt,

Middle East, Central Asia

 711 - Arab conquest of Iberian

Peninsula (Spain and Portugal)

 Arabs and North Africans = “Moors”

 “Moor” means “black” in Greek

The Expansion of Islam

Muslims conquer “Spain”

Moorish Conquest and Rule of Spain

711-1492 (1568 in part of the Sierra Nevada)

 Arab and North Africans Muslims (“the Moors”)

conquered Spain

 Killed brutal King Roderick, Visigoths (Germans)

 Was this a conquest of Spain or a Liberation?

 Many Caliphates (governing bodies) controlled “Spain”

over the centuries

 Caliph – a political and religious ruler

 Some ruled from Damascus, Syria

 “Spain” entered a “Tri-Cultural Era”

 Christians, Jews, and Muslims

Straight of Gibraltar was no barrier 8 Miles Separates Europe from Africa

SPAIN

MOROCCO

“Pillars of Hercules”

 Two mountains on opposites sides of the

Straight of Gibraltar

 For the ancients, marked the end of the world

 The Rock of Gibraltar

 A mountain in Spain

 Jebel Musa

 A mountain in Morocco

The Rock of Gibraltar

Jebel Musa seen from Gibraltar

Names of the “Pillars” Jebel = “mountain” in Arabic

 Jebel Musa

 “Mountain of Musa” in Arabic

 Musa

 A military commander, Muslim invasion of Spain

 Gibraltar

 “Jebel el Tarik”

 “Mountain of Tarik” in Arabic

 Tarik Ibn Zeyad

 Leader of Muslim invasion of Spain

“Spain” – Reconquista (730-1492)

Christians drive the Moors out

Reconquista against Moors

Moors Controlled 1210

Reconquista period Was much more than just war and conflict

 Tri-Cultural Era  Commerce between Jews, Christians, Muslims

 But Muslims and Jews did not have much power

 Intermarriage and cultural/linguistic exchange

 Ethnic neighborhoods created in cities

 Muslims often gave respect to fellow “People of the Book” (Jews and Christians)

 Jews in Spain refer to this period of Arab governance as “The Golden Age” because of the brutality of Spanish Inquisitions that followed the expulsion of Arab rulers

Kingdoms of an emerging “Spain”

“Spain”  Arose in 1492 after centuries of internal

warfare between different ethnicities, religions, and kingdoms

 Conquistador culture arose from 857 years of warfare between Christian “Spaniards”

and Muslim Arabs and North Africans

 When the Reconquista (Reconquest) of the Iberian Peninsula was complete, this conquering drive was turned loose on the outside world

1492: SPAIN

is

created

Landscapes of the Reconquista Influenced New Mexico’s Land Tenure Pattern

 Segovia – Roman aqueduct, fortified city

 Control of mountains streams for irrigation, like NM

 Avila – Best preserved Medieval wall in Europe

 Monument to fear of attacks, like NM outlying villages

 Toledo – Tri-Cultural city

 Ethnic neighborhoods: Christians, Jews, Muslims

 New Mexico is Tri-Cultural: Indians, Hispanics, Anglos

 OR, is this too simple a description of NM’s people?

Segovia

Avila

Toledo

Landscapes of the Reconquista Influenced New Mexico’s Land Tenure Pattern

 Fortified mountain/hill villages

 Reminiscent of “border garrison” villages in

early new Mexico

 Truchas, Abiquiu, Villaneuva, Belen

Landscapes of the Reconquista Influenced New Mexico’s Land Tenure Pattern

 Grenada – the Muslim Alhambra (“Red Castle”)  Christian Reconquista “complete” in 1492

 Attention then turned across the ocean – The Americas

 Land Grant Villages in Spain  Land grants given colonists as part of the Reconquista

 Villages clustered in a grid around a plaza and church

 Acequias – irrigation ditches

 Mayordomos – ditch masters

 Alcaldes – mayors, laid out boundaries, gave out land

 Ejidos – common land for grazing, timber, minerals, and for defense

The Alhambra Grenada, Spain

Spain’s Physical Geography Similar to New Mexico

 Spanish “Cultural Pre-Adaptation” to

New Mexico’s physical geography was a

major factor in the success of their colonies

 Spain and New Mexico both have arid basins

and forested mountains

 Spain and New Mexico both have snow and

rain in high mountain ranges

 Spring runoff into rivers provide water supply

 Spanish developed Acequias (ditches) for irrigating

crops – a method that was perfect for NM

IBERIAN PENINSULA

Aridity in Spain: Less than 20” in valleys

Central Spain

Spanish Dehesa grazing lands

Structurally similar to Pinyon-Juniper woodlands of New Mexico

Spain New Mexico

Spanish

Acequia

Arid landscape in Spain

Almeria, Spain

Clint’s “Good, Bad, and the Ugly”

Spain or New Mexico?

Sierra Nevada, Spain

Sangre de Cristo, New Mexico

Spain: Mountain snow

Valley acequias

Acequia

Spain or New Mexico?

Acequia (ditch)

Spain or New Mexico?

Spain is created in 1492  King Fernando marries Queen Isabel

 Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon united

 “Spaniard” identity arose

 Spanish Nationalism became a powerful force

 857 years of war against non-Christians

 Conquistador warrior culture was well established

 Faith that military victory is a sign of God’s approval

 Cultural instruction was clear

 wealth and status come from conquest

 Myth of “Sangre pura” – “pure Spanish blood”

Myth of “Sangre pura” (Pure Spanish Blood)

But…what is a “Spaniard?”

• Iberians

– From Paleo ancestors

• Celts

– Ireland

• Celtiberians

• Phoenicians

– Semites from Syria

• Greeks

• Carthaginians

– From Tunisia

• Romans

– “Hispania Province”

• Vandals

– German tribe

• Visigoths

– German tribe

• Franks

– France

• Gypsies

– India

• Jews

– Sephardic Jews

• Arabs (Moors)

• Berbers (Moors) – Non-Arab North Africans

Spanish Inquisitions

and New Mexico

 Following the Reconquista, the Catholic Church in Spain

put tens of thousands of people on trial; convicted and

punished heretics, Jews, and Muslims

 Feared Turks (Muslims) who were in war with Europe

would recruit Muslims in Spain to start an insurrection;

also suspicious of Jews in general

 Conversos (“Converts”)

 “Cryto-Jews” who adopted Catholicism but secretly practiced

Judaism

 Moriscos (“Little Moors”)

 Muslims who stayed in Spain and adopted Catholicism but

secretly practiced Islam

Paella A distinctive food of Spain

 Shrimp, mussels, pork, rice, veggies, spices

Paella often contains shellfish and pork

 Not “Kosher” for Jews

 Not “Halal” for Muslims

 Eating paella in public was a way of openly

displaying your Christianity

 “Proof” you were not a Jew or Muslim

1492 – Cristóbal Colón Christopher Columbus

 Explores for Spain and believes he found a

short route to “the Indies” – Indonesia

 But an entire hemisphere was encountered with 54

million people living in it

 “The Americas”

SPAINISH COLONIALISM BEGINS

 Conquistador culture turned loose to conquer

new lands overseas

 Spain used naval power (“The Spanish Armada”)

and armies (also diseases) to conquer vast areas

of the world over the coming centuries

 Spanish Empire, in some form, existed from 1492

until 1975 when Spain gave up claims in Morocco

 Still holds some land there

Spanish Empire “The Sword and the Cross”

Two of the Many Conquistadores Cousins from Extremadura region of Spain

 Hernán Cortés

 Conqueror of Mexico, 1519

 From Medellin, Spain

 Francisco Pizarro

 Conqueror of Peru, 1533

 From Trujillo, Spain

Cortés

Statue

Medellin,

Spain

Pizarro’s Hometown

Trujillo, Spain

Who were New Mexico’s Spanish

Colonists?

 Most colonists were poor Catholics or military

members looking for a fresh start

 Many came from Extremadura which was and

remains the poorest part of Spain

 Later, many colonists came from Mexico before its

independence in 1821

 Some were Conversos and Moriscos seeking a

better life in the New World

 Many “Cryto-Jews” live in Northern New Mexico

 How many New Mexicans are descended from Moriscos?

Laws of the Indies Spanish rules for settling conquered lands

 Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de los Indies: 1681

 Laws of the Indies were a kind of “Spanish Homestead Act”

 Also described how to rule and manage Indian people: land, work, disputes, faith, law

 Strongly shaped New Mexico’s land tenure patterns and cultural landscapes

Laws of the Indies: Instructions for Creating Villages

 Grid Pattern

 Locations for church, government offices, businesses

 Central plaza - size and uses described

 Orientation of streets: lessen wind and sun exposure

 Acequia systems for irrigation (origin in Middle East)

 Ditches run through the village for drinking water and gardens

 Suertes/Solares de Riego

 Small farm plots inside the village or along rivers (long-lots)

 Long-lots for farming (origin in Middle East)

 Build out of floodplains and hazard zones

 Ejidos

 Commons surrounding the village for grazing, timber, minerals, water development, and defensible space against enemies

Mesilla: grid design

Mesilla Core and Plaza

Mesilla

Spanish Empire “The Sword and the Cross”

La Virgen de Guadalupe

 Appearance in 1531 in Tepayac, Mexico

 Near Mexico City

 The Patron Saint of Mexico

 Revered in New Mexico

 “La Conquistadora”

 Is this the origin of

this sacred story?

Guadalupe, Spain

La Virgen de

Guadalupe

• Year 1152 appeared

in Guadalupe, Spain

Spanish Colonization

of New Mexico  Result of centuries of Reconquista warfare

 Creation of Conquistador culture

 Desire for wealth and power

 Spanish Nationalism and myth of Sangre pura

 Belief that God wanted heathen souls to be saved

 La Virgen de Guadalupe as the Patrona (Saint)

 Laws of the Indies land tenure concepts made settlement effective in dry places

 Culturally pre-adapted to settle arid environments

 Compare “Laws” to our Homestead Act and others

 Aided by horses and “guns, germs, and steel”

The Spanish Era in New Mexico

1539-1821  Explorers and conquistadores arrive

 War and conquest of Indian nations and

lands but also…

 Cultural mixing and exchange

 Ancestry – marriage between Spanish and Indians

 Religions

 Customs

 Languages

 Horses and technologies

Spanish Goals in New Mexico Did they achieve them?

 Expand Spain’s global empire

 Claim and develop land and resources

 Create wealth for the Crown

 “Save” Indian souls, convert to Christianity

 Many Spanish soldiers and rulers sought

prestige and personal fortune

 Most Spanish colonists sought a fresh start

in a new place; a chance for happiness

SPANISH ERA IN NEW MEXICO 1539-1821

 Cabeza de Baca – 1539

 Spanish Explorer

 May have entered southern

New Mexico

 Captured for seven years

by Indians in Mexico

 Survived to write

ethnographic descriptions

Laver Nuñez Cabeza de Baca “What a long strange trip its been”

Coronado Expedition 1540

A military operation

Coronado Expedition

 355 Spaniards, soldiers

 1300 Indians

 4 Priests

 Fought the Zunis at Hawikku

 Indian “guides” led some soldiers on a long trip to

the Grand Canyon to divide the Spanish forces

 Fought and killed many Indians at Tiguex

 Located debated

 Lured to Kansas by Indian guides, mythical city of Gran Quivira never found (reached Dodge City, Kansas area)

Ruins at Hawikku, Zuni Rez Where Coronado was almost killed

Frederic Remington’s painting

Coronado Expedition

Don Juan de Oñate 1598 Expedition to New Mexico

 Began NM Colonization

 San Juan Pueblo

was first capitol

 Extended El Camino Real

into New Mexico

 Fought battles

 Acoma, Zia, and other

Pueblo nations

Oñate statue

at Alcalde,

New Mexico

• Why there?

• Just north of

“San Juan Pueblo”

First Spanish Capitol

(Now called Ohkay

Owingeh Pueblo)

Oñate’s

Route

• Mexico City

• Santa Barbara

• El Paso

• Las Cruces

• Jornada del Muerto

• Socorro

• Albuquerque

• Santa Fe

• San Juan Pueblo

Is this Oñate

at the

El Paso

Airport?

“San Juan

Pueblo”

Onate’s First

Capital

El Camino Real

de

Tierra Adentro

• “Royal Road

of the

Interior Land”

• 1,600 miles from

Mexico City to

San Juan Pueblo

Oñate explores, fights, and colonizes

 Entering a landscape of cultural change  Pueblo Nations still adapting to new environments

following abandonment of Anasazi sites

 300 year drought had ended but fear of another existed

 Pueblos diversifying into language families

 Navajos and Apaches only here for a couple of centuries

 Indian nations mixed, traded, inter-married, and fought

 Acoma Pueblo siege was particularly brutal  Oñate killed 800 Indians and enslaved 500 who were sent

to Mexico City

 Survivors – men had one foot cut off

 Several hundred Acoma Indians fled, later returned

Acoma Pueblo

“Sky City”

Acoma resembles Masada in Israel

Settlements and Missions

1601-1680

 Spain divided New Mexico into two

administrative areas along the Rio Grande

 Rio Arriba – “The Upper River”

 Land north of La Bajada Hill (south of Santa Fe)

which was a major topographic barrier

 San Juan Pueblo – first government center

 Rio Arriba included Santa Fe

 Rio Abajo – “The Lower River”

 Land south of La Bajada Hill to Socorro where a

small pueblo existed

 Rio Abajo included Albuquerque

Historic La Bajada Hill Road

La Bajada

Hill

1606: Oñate expelled from NM for

cruelty to Indians, sent to Spain

 Santa Fe founded – 1607  Plaza and grid system of Laws of the Indies

 Presidio (fort) built

 Palace of the Governors built atop an Indian Pueblo

 Pedro de Peralta becomes Governor

 By 1626 twenty Franciscan priests served 43 mission churches at Indian pueblos, introduced stock raising, and grew wine grapes

 Mostly in the “core” of Spanish settlement along the

Rio Grande

Santa Fe

1620

Pueblo Nations Many mission churches built by Spaniards

Purposes of Pueblo Churches

 Convert Indians to Catholicism

 Use Indians for labor and generating wealth

 Require Indians to help defend the colonies against

raids by non-Pueblo Indian nations such as the

Navajos, Comanches, and Apaches

 Pacify the region as a permanent Spanish colony

Zuni Pueblo

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Church

Zuni Pueblo

Jemez Pueblo

1882

San Diego Mission School

Jemez Pueblo (1906 photo)

Cochiti Pueblo

San Buenaventura Church

Santa Ana Pueblo

Isleta Pueblo

San Augustín Church

Laguna

Pueblo San

José Church

Santa Clara Pueblo

religious procession

Acoma Pueblo

San Esteban del Rey

Santo Domingo Pueblo

Santo Domingo Pueblo

Pecos Pueblo

Repartimento and Encomienda How the Spaniards dealt with Indians

 Repartimento

 System of forced labor by Indians in fields,

mines, forests, with Spaniards taking most of

the proceeds

 Encomienda

 Early system for giving Indian land to Spanish

soldiers and settlers as private holdings

Encomienda system allocated Estancias

(ranches) to military men

 Caballería

 106 acres for officers

 Peonía

 21 acres for soldiers

 These allotments were along waterways, some

men accumulated more than one parcel

 Spanish colonies mostly near the Rio Grande and

north of Albuquerque

 A contracted pattern at the core of water, resources,

Indian pueblos – a landscape they could defend

17th

Century

Spanish

Map

Pattern

of

Northern

NM

towns

begins

to take

form

El Camino Real

• Weak lifeline of the

new Spanish colony

• Caravans every

3 years brought

supplies and

people north

El Camino Real

Barely linked NM to Mexico

El Camino Real trace near Las Cruces

Spanish saw Southern NM as a place to travel through

WHY?

El Camino Real

near Las Cruces

El Camino Real Mesquite bushes mark the trail

Spanish repression of Indians grew

 Repartimento, whippings, land losses,

diseases, forced conversion to Christianity

(some Indians chose to convert),

suppression of Pueblo religions and

ceremonies, raids by Apaches and Navajos

 Initial Indian uprisings

 Zuni – 1632

 Jemez - 1650

1670s A major drought hit the struggling colonies

 Pueblo Indian people had a deep and

understandable fear of drought

 Farmers with Anasazi roots

 Memories of the “Great Drought” of 1150-1450

 Drought warded off by ceremonies to assure rain and good

crops

 The power of the Christian God was doubted

 “What kind of God is so weak that he can’t make it rain?”

 Maybe the Spaniards were not so powerful after all

1680 The Pueblo Revolt Explodes

The Pueblo Revolt: 1680 • Indian uprising began simultaneously

from Taos to Socorro

• 6,000 Pueblo Indians attacked the Spaniards killing 21 priests and 400 colonists

• Remaining 2,000 Spaniards fled south to El Paso del Norte

– Some Isleta Pueblo Indians and others came south with the Spaniards

Taos Pueblo One center of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt

Popé Leader of the Revolt (Taos)

How did Pueblo nations collaborate across

distance and language barriers?

Spanish Empire Suffered its worst defeat in 200 years

El Paso del Norte

Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, El Paso Isleta Pueblo people near Albuquerque join local Indians

Ysleta Mission: El Paso Misión de Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur

de los Tiguas (Nuestra Señora de Carmen)

Tortugas Pueblo, Las Cruces Formed later

Reconquest and Resettlement 1681- 1710

 Spanish population

in El Paso down to

1,000 by 1685

 Grim conditions, raids,

desertions, crop failures

 Don Diego de Vargas  1688 – reconquered Zia Pueblo

 1692 - Santa Fe reconquered

by 200 Spanish soldiers

The Spanish would not

accept defeat

Spanish Reconquest of New Mexico

 Pueblo Alliance had weakened

 Popé was dead

 Many Pueblo people knew they could not defeat the Spanish this time

 European diseases had reduced Indian numbers

 1692: Don Diego de Vargas reconquered Santa Fe

 23 Pueblos were brought back under Spanish control and the Catholic churches were re-opened

 2,000 Indians baptized in a few months

Resettlement was not easy

 Colonists returned to old estancias and new lands

 1696 – another Pueblo uprising killed 21

Spaniards

 Most Pueblo people then submitted to Spanish rule, but

some moved to remote pueblos: Acoma, Zuni, Hopi

 A few travelled as far as Kansas where pueblo ruins have

been found

 Raids by Navajos, Apaches, Utes, Comanches

 Pueblos worked with Spanish to defend their homes and

became auxiliary units (militias) of the Spanish Army

BUT - if Spanish colonialism was to succeed

it had to be different this time

 Spanish brutality continued but repartimento and

encomienda had to be replaced by different ways

of dealing with…

 Pueblo Indians  Land rights, religion, language, labor, economics, defense against

raids by Athabaskan Indian nations (Navajos, Apaches, etc)

 Conditions were harsh, Spanish promises were broken, but life

was somewhat better for Indians

 Spanish settlers  Small estancias were replaced by a bold system for settling land

 A system that staked a larger and more permanent claim on NM

Spanish Land Grants Dividing the land into ownerships

 106 grants – 8 million acres near Rio Grande  Indian Land Grants

 1689, as peace offerings, Pueblo Indians “given” land and

promised they could keep their languages and religions

 Individual Land Grants  Soldiers and influential people

 Community Land Grants  10 families or more with ejido common area

 Sitio/Rancho Land Grants  Large ranches (mostly given during Mexican period)

 Tierra realengas y baldias (“Royal vacant lands”)  All land not granted to people remained the King’s

 These lands will be very important later in the story of NM

New Mexico

Land Grants

Given to

settlers by

King of Spain

and later by

President of

Mexico

Purposes of Land Grants

 Claim landscape from Indians while

making peace with them

 Land for “reservations”

 Develop natural resources ($)

 Generate wealth for officials and the King

 Organize the society

 Create a land tenure system for

determining who owns what

 Make a “permanent claim” on New Mexico

Pueblo Indian Land Grants Most granted in 1689 as peace offerings (17,000 acres was typical)

 Picuris

 San Juan

 Santa Clara

 San Ildefonso

 Nambe

 Pojoaque

 Tesuque

 Cochiti

 Zuni

 Picuris

 Santo Domingo

 San Felipe

 Pecos

 Santa Ana

 Zia

 Jemez

 Sandia

 Taos

 Acoma

Indian Pueblos in NM

Sandia Pueblo Land Grant

 City of Albuquerque

Spanish Land Grants made to Colonists A few of the dozens of grants made

 Abiquiu  Rio Chama (“Genizaro

Indians”)

 Piedra Lumbre  Rio Chama

 Las Trampas  Sangre de Cristo

 Santa Fe  Gov’t center of Rio Arriba

 Ranchos de Taos  Near Taos Pueblo

 San Miguel del Bado  Pecos River

 Black Mesa  Near San Ildefonso Pueblo

 Albuquerque  Gov’t center of Rio Abajo

 Duke of Albuquerque

 Bernalillo  Near Albuquerque

 Belen

 Socorro  Town grant

 Armendaris  Huge ranch just north of Las

Cruces

 Now Ted Turner’s ranch

Laws of the Indies Spanish rules used in settling Land Grants

LAWS OF THE INDIES

• Major Traits of Land Grant Villages

– Central Plaza with Catholic Church, government

buildings, and businesses

– Grid of streets for cultural cohesion and defense

– Solares de Riego (Suertes) – irrigated garden

plots inside the village, vegetables and orchards

– Acequias – irrigation ditches in fields and in town

– Long-lots for irrigated farming along rivers

– Ejido – a large commons surrounding the village

for grazing, timber harvest, mining, watershed,

defense

Hispano and Chicano Landscapes: Laws of the Indies

Santa Fe Plaza

Santa Fe River/acequias

Santa Fe Plaza

Palace of the Governors

Santa Fe Plaza

Las Vegas, New Mexico

Longmire series

Colonial Village Administration

 Alcalde – mayor

 Laid out land grant boundaries and made sure village

somewhat matched Laws of the Indies

 Mayordomo – ditch boss  In charge of acequias

 From Arabic – al-saqiya - “the irrigation ditch”

 Water was life, so the Mayordomo was very powerful in

maintaining the ditches and settling water disputes

Las Trampas ejido

Long-lots

Village and plaza

Long-lot fields

Rio Chama

Long Lot

Land Uses

Alcalde, NM

Long Lots on Tigris River, Iraq

Long Lots on Euphrates River, Iraq

Long Lots on the Nile, Egypt

Long Lots on Mississippi, Louisiana

Acequias Irrigation Ditches

Typical pattern:

Indian Pueblo with Hispano towns nearby

San Francisco de Asis Ranchos de Taos

Back of

church

Georgia O’Keefe

Painting

Severino Martínez House, Taos Interior courtyard for defense and privacy

Severino Martínez House

Chimayo, New Mexico Defensive town plan

Socorro, New Mexico

Plaza

San Miguel Church, Socorro

Old Town Albuquerque

Plaza

Plaza

Old Town, Albuquerque

Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque

* Alburquerque

Alburquerque, Spain Extremadura region

Alburquerque, Spain Population 7,500

 Warfare between Christians and Moors during Reconquista

 Alburquerque family center since 1100

 Sheep and wool, pigs, cork oak trees

 “Duke of Alburquerque”

 Don Francisco de la Cueva, Viceroy of New Spain

 19 Dukes of Alburquerque over 900 years

 Origin of name

 Arabic: Abu al-Qurg

 “Land of cork oak trees”

 Latin: Quercus albus (Albus quercus)

 “White Oak”

Alburquerque, Spain

Alburquerque, Spain Castle fortifications against Moors

Spanish Expansion (1710-1821) “The Hispano Homeland Emerges”

 Isolated colony becomes more self-sufficient  1,500 miles from Mexico City

 El Camino Real trade controlled by Chihuahua merchants, high prices for poor goods

 Santa Fe Trail brings in better quality goods at lower price and U.S. influence grows

 Raids by Navajos and Apaches decline

 Comanchero Trade  Colonists or mixed-ancestry people traded with Comanches for buffalo meat,

hides, horses

 Slavery existed during this period: Albuquerque had a slave market

 Economy grows  Ricos (wealthy class) often called the Patron

 Sheep ranching expands

Competing trade trails

“Hispano” Identity Grows  People of Spanish ancestry living in Northern

New Mexico

 A term of self-identity that honors Spanish roots but says you are not a Spaniard

 “Hispano” identity embraces Castilian Spanish, Catholicism, santeros (carvers of saints), weavers, farming and village life, lot-long farm fields, music, food, family, and a sense of shared history in an isolated landscape far from Spain

Demographic and Cultural

Transformation: 1700-1800

 Hispano Population

Grows

 1700 – 800

 1800 – 25,000

Fewer losses to disease

Land grants made and

villages spread outward

Villas at Santa Fe,

Albuquerque

Presidios – forts built

 Indian Population

does not Grow

 1700 - 8,790

 1800 – 8,998

Smallpox epidemic in

1780 killed more than

5,000 Indians

Only 20 Pueblos remained

occupied, half the

original total

Pattern

of Northern

NM

towns

and cities

established

Spanish resettle New Mexico during 1700s Stay and evolve into Hispano culture

 Land Grants were much larger than

the old estancias  Spanish/Hispanos settling big expanses of the landscape

 The Pueblo Revolt alliance no longer existed

 But raids by Apaches, Comanches,

and Navajos remained a problem

Genizaro towns in New Mexico Formed as “border garrisons”

 Genizaros – Indian people who adopted Spanish culture, language, and religion  Some were Indians taken as slaves in childhood and

raised in Spanish culture

 Some were Indians who slowly merged into Spanish culture on their own

 Result was intermarriage: bi-racial people

 Genizaro towns were border garrisons against raids by Navajos, Apaches, Utes, Comanches  Abiquiu, Belen, Tomé, Villanueva, Truchas, Las Trampas

 Defensive towns on the outer edge of the Spanish colony

Abiquiu Truchas

Villaneuva

Belen

Genizaro Border Garrison Towns

Rio Chama

 Abiquiu

San Miguel del Vado Grant

Pecos River Valley

Villanueva

Church, San Miguel del Vado

Truchas Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Spain’s Control Weakened

 By early 1800s “New Mexico” was an extremely remote and isolated outlier of a vast Spanish Empire  Generations were born that had never seen Mexico City

 Even the core of Mexico was becoming harder for Spain to control

 El Camino Real was losing its trade dominance to the Santa Fe Trail

 People in the colony felt less and less obliged to obey the King of Spain  Other identities had been born - Hispano, Neuvo Mexicano,

Mexicano

Mexican Independence was an idea whose time had come