1550 Juan de Oñate was born circa 1550 in the frontier settlement of Zacatecas, Mexico, the son of Cristóbal de Oñate and Catalina de Salazar. His father was a prominent Zacatecas mine owner and encomendero. Juan de Oñate married Isabel de Tolosa Cortés Moctezuma, a descendant of the famous…
In late January 1610, Don Pedro de Peralta reached New Mexico’s first capital city, La Villa de San Gabriel, located on the west bank of the Rio Grande, opposite San Juan Pueblo. Peralta’s origins remain obscure but he was appointed by the viceroy to succeed Juan de Oñate, New…
by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo, formerly Spanish provincial governor of New Mexico, ended his days in France, far from his one-time jurisdiction where he offered to lead an armed force to seize New Mexico and all of northern New Spain…
By Rick Hendricks On 12 May 1737, Felipe IV granted Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza title to the governorship of New Mexico for a five-year term. At the time Mendoza had been serving as captain and ayudante mayor of the plaza of Ciudad Rodrigo in the Spanish province of…
Governor Pedro Reneros Posada, 1686-1689 by Rick Hendricks, Ph.D. On 23 September 1681, Pedro Reneros Posada passed muster before Governor Antonio de Otermín. He described himself as a thirty-year-old bachelor. Eleven days later he enlisted as a presidial soldier. Reneros was a native of Oceño (Peñamellera Alta) in eastern…
1643 By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint Diego José de Vargas Zapata Luján Ponce de León y Contreras was born in Madrid in 1643 to Alonso de Vargas and María Margarita Contreras y Arráiz. His was an illustrious family, though not among the monarch's inner circle. Each…
1736 By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint By the eighteenth century, populations from other European nations in addition to Spain were well established in the Americas. In Spain itself chronic financial difficulties all but ruled out expansion of Spanish controlled territory anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, unsubjugated,…
by Suzanne Stamatov In colonial times, the king governed from Spain and depended on his representatives in the New World to uphold his laws and enact his policies. His preeminent representative in New Mexico was the governor. Appointed by the crown, the governor held military and administrative authority over…
On October 5, 1712, Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, who had been commissioned by Felipe V at Madrid, assumed the office of governor of New Mexico. His salary, which had been fixed by the king, was two thousand dollars per annum. Within the first year of the new governor's incumbency,…
In 1705, Admiral Joseph Chacon Medina Salazar y Villasenor, marques de la Penuela, received his appointment from the king. In 1709, a war was waged against the Navajos in retribution for raiding. Following an attack upon Jemez Pueblo, Governor Chacon's war constituted one of the most vigorous campaigns against…
