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Santa Fe
KNOWLEDGE OF Santa Fe
Although the history of Santa Fe is generally well documented, much prior to Spanish settlement and conquest has been overlooked by scholars. Evidence of occupation dates back to 1000 AD, when people from the Pueblos that line the Rio Grande to the south, migrated north and established pit house communities along the small rivers that flowed out of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. One of these waterways was the Santa Fe River. Life here was rich, with fertile farming opportunities to the south and thriving populations of native fauna in the mountains to the north.
The geographic location made this region a crossroads for trade between the pueblos and the nomadic plains tribes. The fruits of this trade opportunity are evident at the ruins of Pecos Pueblo, 30 miles to the east, where as many as 2,000 people lived in multiple story apartment-like structures. However, this wealth came at a price. Comanche war bands from the east and Apaches from the south made regular raids on the pueblo and its outlying communities. This prompted the construction of a defensive wall around the perimeter of the main building. Most archaeologists agree that the small villages along the Santa Fe River were abandoned for the relative safety of the pueblo about 150 years before the first Europeans arrived.
The Spaniards were the first to come. Returning to Mexico City from an exploration into the unknown country to the north, Fray Marcos de Niza told a compelling story of a golden city. This story encouraged Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to lead an expedition of more than 1,000 men into the north in 1540. The gold was not there, but Coronado established a winter headquarters at Tiguex, some 50 miles south of the Santa Fe Valley and proclaimed the lands of the American Southwest to be the “Spanish Kingdom of New Mexico.
Some 50 years later, Don Juan de Onate was selected to lead the first group of Spanish settlers into New Mexico. The group eventually settled across the Rio Grande from San Juan Pueblo, 25 miles north of Santa Fe. In July of 1598, Onate began exploring Spain’s new territory. One reconnaissance party came under attack near Acoma Pueblo and 13 Spanish scouts were killed. Onate returned to Acoma in force the next year and the ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Acoma people and the enslavement of hundreds more. On Onate’s orders, a foot was hacked from the legs of 24 Acoma men, as punishment for crimes against the Spanish Crown.
The geographic location made this region a crossroads for trade between the pueblos and the nomadic plains tribes. The fruits of this trade opportunity are evident at the ruins of Pecos Pueblo, 30 miles to the east, where as many as 2,000 people lived in multiple story apartment-like structures. However, this wealth came at a price. Comanche war bands from the east and Apaches from the south made regular raids on the pueblo and its outlying communities. This prompted the construction of a defensive wall around the perimeter of the main building. Most archaeologists agree that the small villages along the Santa Fe River were abandoned for the relative safety of the pueblo about 150 years before the first Europeans arrived.
The Spaniards were the first to come. Returning to Mexico City from an exploration into the unknown country to the north, Fray Marcos de Niza told a compelling story of a golden city. This story encouraged Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to lead an expedition of more than 1,000 men into the north in 1540. The gold was not there, but Coronado established a winter headquarters at Tiguex, some 50 miles south of the Santa Fe Valley and proclaimed the lands of the American Southwest to be the “Spanish Kingdom of New Mexico.
Some 50 years later, Don Juan de Onate was selected to lead the first group of Spanish settlers into New Mexico. The group eventually settled across the Rio Grande from San Juan Pueblo, 25 miles north of Santa Fe. In July of 1598, Onate began exploring Spain’s new territory. One reconnaissance party came under attack near Acoma Pueblo and 13 Spanish scouts were killed. Onate returned to Acoma in force the next year and the ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Acoma people and the enslavement of hundreds more. On Onate’s orders, a foot was hacked from the legs of 24 Acoma men, as punishment for crimes against the Spanish Crown.
Chapi