The town of Cerrillos was founded in 1879 as a mining camp. The Cerrillos Hills mining district, now an historic park, has a unique tri-cultural history of mining dating back to 1000 AD. Cerrillos, New Mexico and Mining in the Cerrillos Hills by Emmy Levitas The prospect and practice…
Title to ownership of land and use of water resources is a problem that plagues many southwestern communities that date their founding from Spanish colonial times. When litigation concerning property or water rights occurs, these communities have to take recourse to Spanish colonial laws and to official reports and…
Approximately 75,000 Spanish‑speaking people were living in the Southwest at the time of the American conquest in 1846. Although sharing a common language, religion, and Iberian heritage, they were not culturally homogeneous but were separated into several population centers, each with its distinct culture. New Mexico Historical Review, October…
The Villa de Albuquerque, founded early in 1706, was settled at a time unpropitious for success. Powerful Comanches continued to push various Apache groups from their adopted homes on the southern plains into the arid and often hostile Southwest. As early as 1706 Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés found…
Between 1821 and the outbreak of war with the United States in 1846, no governor of New Mexico enjoyed a longer term in office than Manuel Armijo. He ruled from 1827 to 1829 and again for all but eighteen months between 1837 and the arrival of American troops in…
Curanderas (curanderos for males) are folk healers who draw upon specialized knowledge and remedies to heal physical and spiritual ailments. Curanderas (curanderos for males) are folk healers who draw upon specialized knowledge and remedies to heal physical and spiritual ailments. Practitioners are part of a centuries-old Hispanic tradition that…
Ted Martinez was born in 1936 in the depth of the Great Depression. He was born in Martineztown, a part of Albuquerque formerly known as “Dog Town,” because of the numerous dogs in the area. By James O’Leary Sponsored by the Paul C. S. Carpenter History Project and funded…
For centuries, the Spanish measured using la vara. This practice carried into Mexico, Nuevomexico, and Pueblo cultures. When the Anglo-American form of government took over in New Mexico, more things changed than just a unit of measurement. Author Michael Miller's insight to the difficulties of land titles, outcries of…
Biographical essay of Raphael Chacon, "a caballero (a Knight, cavalier, gentleman, horseman, horse-soldier.) in the fullest sense of the Spanish word, with all its implications of honesty, decency, kindness, concern for others, gallantry, dedication, and patriotism." Rafael Chacon "I am poor and my only inheritance is my honor." Rafael…
Aniceto C. Abeytia is one of Socorro County's leading citizens whose interests are varied and extensive. He was born April 20, 1856, in Santa Fe, a son of Aniceto and Clara (Nieto) Abeytia. The father's birth occurred in Santa Fe on the 17th of April, 1830, while the mother…
