This was the situation in the Southwest when the sixteenth century
opened, but a new force was abroad which would grow and strengthen and
leave a deep imprint on New Mexico. Beginning on the wild islands of the
Caribbean and then fanning out into the heart of Mexico and the South
American continent, this new force spread across the face of America.
Europeans, more exactly, Spaniards, came bent upon conquest for its own
reward, for the glory of God, and for gold. These sturdy men from the
Iberian peninsula with weapons vastly superior to the Indians’, with the
horse which made them highly mobile and devastating in battle, and with
tactics and precision in warfare unknown among the Indians, were to
sweep without serious setback across the great cultures of Mexico and
Central and South America. By 1540, they were ready to take their next
leap forward.
On the west coast of Mexico, at a place called Culiacan, a colorful host
gathered. In their ears rang the words of the legend of the Seven Cities
of Cibola, seven golden cities, a legend which had been popular in Spain
for many generations. Mexico City had produced wealth, and the Spanish
were ready to believe that other fabulous cities existed. One Spaniard
had already crossed part of North America and had heard from the Indians
tales of the rich cities. His name was Cabeza de Vaca, and the
exuberance of his tales fired the imagination of the Spaniards.
The soldiers and adventurers gathering in Mexico, commanded by Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado, were the first Europeans to organize an expedition
to the American Southwest. Leaving from Culiacan in 1540, they went up
the west coast of Mexico into modern Arizona, then east into New Mexico.
The seven golden cities turned out to be the pueblos around Zuni, New
Mexico, and not golden at all. The expedition, although discouraged,
marched into the Rio Grande Valley and visited most of the pueblos
there. Still they failed to find the treasure they sought. In a final
desperate attempt, they explored onto the Great Plains, eventually
reaching central Kansas. Broken in spirit and body, they struggled back
to the Rio Grande Valley, and then retraced their route to Mexico. In
all, the expedition covered a two-year span. A failure? Yes, in terms of
wealth and treasure found. Yes, in terms of conquest, for nothing had
been conquered. No, in terms of human resources, for the Indians
Coronado met were to be the incentive that would bring the Spaniard back
to New Mexico. While the Spaniard did seek gold and glory, he also
burned with a missionary zeal and sought souls for his deep-running
religion, Roman Catholicism.
[Illustration: Mesa top pueblo]
For fifty-five years after Coronado, interest in New Mexico and the
Southwest was spotty. Other things occupied the Spanish—primarily silver
discoveries in the central valleys of Mexico. But men did not forget New
Mexico and saw there an opportunity for missionary activity and
exploitation. Also, other nations of Europe were beginning to take an
interest in the North American continent, and New Mexico began to look
attractive to the Spanish as a frontier defensive outpost. The frontier
line pushed ever northward from central Mexico. By 1595, the Spanish
were ready to push a salient into New Mexico.
From among the mining communities of northern Mexico, a force of two
hundred colonists was assembled by Don Juan Oñate who had a contract to
colonize New Mexico. After countless delays due to politics and supply
shortages, the Oñate expedition left Chihuahua in 1598. The route went
north across the desert to the Rio Grande near El Paso del Norte (modern
Juarez), thence up the Rio Grande into New Mexico. On August 18, 1598,
they arrived at San Juan, and there founded the first capital of New
Mexico, San Juan de los Caballeros. These lands of the Southwest so long
colored by the Indian now received a new imprint, one that would alter
the direction and flow of culture and change it from the Indian to the
Spanish Southwest.
From San Juan, and later (1610) from Santa Fe, Oñate, his men, and his
colonists brought New Mexico under the Spanish yoke. In co-operation
with the Franciscan Order, which had been assigned the task of
converting the Indian, Oñate supervised the building of missions and
mission churches at many of the pueblos of New Mexico. At the same time,
Spanish towns developed, the most important being the new capital at
Santa Fe. By 1628, New Mexico was solidly in the hands of her new
masters.
The period from 1628 to 1680 was one of internal conflict and isolation
for New Mexico. It lay far out on the frontier, alone and distant from
its source of supplies. It lacked many of the items necessary for
frontier life, particularly hardware and clothing. Its population was
small, and in constant fear of Indian uprising, and its officials were
too weak to act with vigor. Finally, there was a lack of genuine
interest on the part of the central authorities. All these problems led
to internal conflicts between soldier and colonist; between colonist and
Indian; between colonist and official; and, perhaps most bitter of all,
between church and state. This latter conflict would erupt time after
time, openly, and with bitterness and denunciation from both sides.
Governors were excommunicated as heretics; Franciscans were accused of
all sorts of crimes and improper behavior. This, plus the other
conflicts, gave rise to growing disrespect by the Indians for their
European conquerors. The superiority of Christianity was questioned by
the Indians as they watched the attacks and counterattacks made by
priest and governor. The whole system of Spanish rule seemed a mockery.
In 1680, the Indians decided their way was best after all and rose in
rebellion.
Led by Po-pé from Taos, the various pueblos banded together in a mighty
effort to remove the Spanish from traditional Indian lands. For the
first time the pueblos came together, united by a single purpose. There
were two exceptions; Isleta, just south of Albuquerque, and the Piro
villages farther south (Socorro) remained loyal to the Spanish. Up and
down the Rio Grande Valley, the Spaniards fell before the pent-up anger
of the Indians. Survivors gathered at Santa Fe, but their water supply
was cut, and they were forced to retreat south. At Isleta and later at
the Piro villages, they received aid before continuing south to El Paso
del Norte. With them went their Indian allies from Isleta and Socorro.
It was a total defeat for the Spanish, and the Indian again was master
of New Mexico.
But not for long, for at El Paso there gathered a force dedicated to
revenge for their comrades who had died before the Indian onslaught.
Ably led by Diego de Vargas, this expedition moved into New Mexico in
1692. The Indians, who had achieved such unity for the moment in 1680,
were again badly divided. De Vargas, instead of having to subdue an
alliance, had only to deal with one pueblo at a time. Very quickly New
Mexico was returned to a mission area and frontier military post. The
Pueblo Indians became permanently subjected to European domination.
Their one and only attempt at unity had, in the final analysis, failed.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, New Mexico was the
heart of the Spanish empire in the Southwest. Only in southwestern
Arizona, western Texas, and California did the Spanish hold any land
other than in the upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. During these
centuries, this valley complex played out its dual role of mission area
and military outpost. Its only connection with the resources and ideas
of the world was a long hazardous road that stretched from Santa Fe to
Chihuahua City and then south to Mexico City. This was New Mexico’s
Royal Road, and over it moved everything needed by soldier, priest, and
civilian. The trade was dominated by the merchants of Chihuahua, and New
Mexico suffered. The tale of New Mexico during this period was one of
poverty, hardship, and warfare. And several vital forces moved across
the land.
One of these forces had long been in the Southwest, but latent. The
Spanish adopted an Indian word meaning _enemy_ to describe it—Apache!
The Spanish brought with them domesticated animals which quickly adapted
to conditions of the New World and became available to the Indian. Most
important was the horse, at least as far as the Apache was concerned. By
the early eighteenth century, the Apache, and other groups on the
plains, had adapted to the use of the horse. While dangerous as foot
soldiers, the Apache became vastly more dangerous as mounted warriors.
Whereas they had been satisfied with minor raids against the pueblos and
the Spanish holdings prior to 1700, they exploded on a wave of terrorism
during the eighteenth century which very nearly drove the Spanish from
the frontier. Late in the century, the conflict between the Apache and
the Spanish became increasingly bitter. The history of the Southwest
became the history of incessant Indian incursions and Spanish attempts
to control the raiders. The missions declined and in many instances gave
way entirely to the presidio or fort. In New Mexico the military came to
dominate the missionary, and only through the heroic efforts of the
meager force at the Presidio of Santa Fe did the Spanish manage to hold
New Mexico from total collapse. A poor province became poorer,
population declined, both among the Spanish and Indian, and the future
looked dark indeed.
Far from New Mexico, other forces were stirring which would have a
profound effect on the province and the Southwest. Spain and the Spanish
empire were in trouble. Spain had failed to develop the supply
capability to keep her colonies alive and was forced to spend her wealth
in other areas of Europe. After two and a half centuries, the cumbersome
and inefficient colonial administrative machinery was breaking down.
While Spain’s star was descending, other European nations were on the
move. England, France, Holland, and Russia were contesting with Spain
for control of the New World. England and France were digging in on the
east coast of North America; Holland was penetrating the islands of the
Caribbean, and Russia was pushing down the Pacific Coast from Alaska.
The weakness of Spain and the failure of her colonial government, plus
help from Napoleon by way of his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in
1808, brought about the collapse of the Spanish empire. In America,
patriots, inspired by the earlier success of the American Revolution and
afire with the ideas of the French Revolution, struck out at the
remnants of Spanish rule. By 1825, all the Spanish colonies but the
islands of the Caribbean were free and independent nations. New Mexico
and the Southwest became part of the Mexican state.
Almost immediately, Mexico, without leaders, without a political
heritage to lead it to stability, and torn by power struggles large and
small, was plunged into a period of political anarchy and civil war
which would last for half a century. The problems and dangers of a
far-flung frontier were lost in the din of conflict, and New Mexico
became a forgotten province. Its claims as a mission area were so weak
as to be almost nonexistent. It was no longer needed as a military
outpost, for the danger to Mexico was not external, but internal. Its
reasons for being were forgotten, at least for the moment, and New
Mexico had to survive on her own initiative. But for one very important
fact, the Spanish salient into the Southwest might have collapsed under
the weight of poverty and Indian attacks. That fact was the opening of
the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, a trail which linked the Spanish world with
the Anglo-Saxon world then pushing its frontiers out from Missouri. This
trail, so rich in lore and adventure, so much a part of the history of
both the American west and the Spanish north, was the door through which
passed the characters for the final act in the history of the Southwest.
Before the final act, however, it is vital and necessary to set down the
contribution of two hundred fifty years of Spanish occupation and rule.
The coming of the Spaniard to the Southwest began a mixture of white and
red races which resulted in a new mixed race. The first generation of
those who came up from Mexico were Caucasians; their descendants were
usually not. They came seeking wealth and security, but there was
neither wealth nor security in New Mexico, and they remained poor, very
poor. The society that evolved was to be based upon farming and stock
raising, and its organization was to be feudal in nature. There would be
no education; hence, there could be no intellectual advance. The world
began to go ahead of the people of New Mexico. Only in the house of the
rico was there any sign of the wealth and grandeur of Spain; everywhere
else was poverty. Farming was left in the hands of the Indian, while the
Spaniard chose to be a man on horseback, a cattleman, an aristocrat. In
the final analysis, Spanish New Mexico would not develop as democratic
and agricultural, but aristocratic and feudal. The hacienda was a part
of old Spain in exile. The rico tried vainly to hold to his idea of
chivalry and to a decorum suitable to his position. But what chance was
there in the face of the increasing poverty, the constant danger to life
and property, and time that did not move? While individual courage of
the upper class remained, discipline and industry died. When the
American army marched into the Southwest, the sons of the conquistadores
could offer no armed resistance. Perhaps the most amazing thing about
the society of the ricos in New Mexico was that it failed to contribute
any lasting monument. It left no art, no music, no great highways, no
adequate governmental system.
But many elements of Spanish culture were to persist, and these arose
from the collective consciousness of the people of New Mexico. Around
the great haciendas were small villages with their artisans and workers.
It was among these people that the heritage of Spain clung to this land.
Many of these towns yet remain and are not much different from those of
two hundred years ago. To a large degree, their Spanish culture seems
hidden and undiscovered, but the people, their loves and hates,
pleasures and hopes, beliefs and fears, are governed by tradition, a
tradition that finds its roots deep in the soil of Spain.
[Illustration: Old mission church at Isleta Pueblo]
Today, when we look at the cultural scene in New Mexico, we can see
direct evidence of Spanish occupation. The language of half the people
in the state is Spanish, in some areas still the Spanish of the
sixteenth century. Roman Catholicism, of which the Spanish were the most
Catholic, dominates the religious scene. The Spanish heritage in
political attitudes, in building and architecture, and in the legal
tradition of the state is apparent. New Mexico, of all the states in the
United States, is the only one that can claim a truly Spanish heritage.