Santa Fe de Nuevo México

Santa Fe de Nuevo México (; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. Under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, it became the federally administered Territory of New 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 name of "New Mexico", the capital in Santa Fe, the gubernatorial office at the Palace of the Governors, vecino citizen-soldiers, and rule of law were retained as the New Mexico Territory and later state of New Mexico became part of the United States. The New Mexican citizenry, primarily consisting of Hispano, Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and Comanche peoples, became citizens of the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848).

' is often incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the post-independent nation of Mexico. But as early as 1561 (260 years before Mexican independence), Spanish colonial explorers used ' to refer to Cíbola, cities of wealth reported to exist far to the north of the recently conquered Aztec Empire. This name also evoked the Mexica people's accounts of their ancestral origin in Aztlán to the north before their migration to Mexico centuries prior. The Nahuatl-language history of the Mexica people, the Crónica Mexicayotl, dated to 1609, makes this identification explicit, describing how the Mexica left "their home there in Old , which today they call New Mexico ()."

Geography

thumb|right|upright=1.25|Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east of Santa Fe: a winter sunset after a snowfall

Nuevo México was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte): from the crossing point of Oñate on the river south of Ciudad Juárez, it extended north to the Colorado River, encompassing an area that included most of the present-day American state of New Mexico and sections of Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and the Oklahoma panhandle. Actual Spanish settlements were centered at Santa Fe, and extended north to Taos pueblo and south to Albuquerque (Tiguex). Its provincial capital was in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the ancient city of La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís (modern-day Santa Fe). At its furthest extent, its reach extended eastward throughout the Llano Estacado due to early exploration by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, and westward into Las Vegas Springs due to Antonio Armijo's later expeditions. Its outposts were widespread, throughout what is now the Southwestern United States. From the time of Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, which eventually connected to the Old Spanish Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and the subsequent Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

History

Spanish colonial province

16th century

In 1536, the explorers Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico, and others, partook in an ill-fated expedition known as the Narváez Expedition—tasked with setting up colonial settlements in North America—including in New Mexico, where Estevancio is believed to have been killed by the Zuni. The first successful expedition occurred in 1539; Friar Marcos de Niza led the expedition north from Mexico City to a Zuni settlement, returning to Mexico claiming he saw a city made of gold. Given these rumors, the Viceroy of New Spain sent Governor Francisco Vélazquez de Coronado on a subsequent expedition in 1540 to find the riches. He too was unable to find the fabled riches Niza spoke of. As governor, Oñate mingled with the Pueblo people and was responsible for the establishment of Spanish rule in the area. Oñate served as the first governor of the Nuevo México Province from 1598 to 1610. Their original campsite is now located about 300 feet below the surface of Lake Mead. Armijo's scout Raphael Rivera found Las Vegas Springs, at what is today Las Vegas, Nevada, and it became the furthest western outpost for Nuevo México.

The part of the former province east of the Rio Grande was claimed by the Republic of Texas, which won its independence in 1836. This claim was disputed by Mexico. In 1841, the Texans sent the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, ostensibly for trade but with hopes of occupying the claimed area, but the expedition was captured by New Mexican troops under New Mexico governor Manuel Armijo.

American territory

The United States inherited the unenforced claim to the east bank with the Texas Annexation in 1845. The U.S. Army under Stephen Kearny occupied the territory in 1846 during the Mexican–American War, a provisional government was established, and Mexico recognized its loss to the United States in 1848 with the Mexican Cession in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Texas continued to claim the eastern part of the region. However, as part of the Compromise of 1850, Texas accepted $10 million in exchange for relinquishing its claims to areas within and north of the present boundaries of New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. The compromise also granted Texas control of El Paso, while recognizing the establishment of the New Mexico Territory, based in part on trade routes such as Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Santa Fe Trail, and Old Spanish Trail through the Las Vegas Valley and into what is now Arizona and New Mexico itself. In 1855, the Old Mormon Fort was established in the Las Vegas Valley, in what is now Clark County, Nevada. These developments also contributed to New Mexico securing water rights to the Rio Grande and Colorado River, allowing the territory and its subsequent states to fill their reservoir lakes.

Presidents Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln both proposed that New Mexico immediately become a state to sidestep political conflict over slavery in the territories. The already established rule of law which had passed from New Spain and Mexico within New Mexico already outlawed slavery, as was the legal precedent with genízaros.

New Mexico became an official U.S. state in 1912.

Santa Fe de Nuevo México

Geography

History

Spanish colonial province

16th century

American territory

See also

Notes

References