Culture Change in 18th-Century New Mexico

                                      Rick Hendricks, Ph.D., New Mexico State Historian

    December 18, 2018

 

Eighteenth-Century Governors of New Mexico

       Enrique de Olivade y Michelena (1736–1738)

       Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza (1739–1743)

       Joaquín Codallos y Rabal (1743–1749)

       Tomás Vélez Cachupín (1749–1754)

       Francisco Antonio Marín del Valle (1754–1760)

       Mateo Antonio de Mendoza (acting, 1760)

       Manuel Portilla Urrisola (1760–1762)

       Tomás Vélez Cachupín (1762–1767)

       Pedro Fermín de Mendinueta (1767–1777)

       Francisco Trebol Navarro (acting, 1777)

       Juan Bautista de Anza (1778–1788)

       Fernando de la Concha (1789–1794)

       Fernando Chacón (1794–1804)

       Diego de Vargas (1691–1697)

       Pedro Rodríguez Cubero (1697–1703)

       Diego de Vargas (1703–1704)

       Juan Páez Hurtado (1704–1705)

       Francisco Cuervo y Valdés (interim, 1705–1707)

       José Chacón Medina Salazar y Villaseñor (1707–1712)

       Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon (1712–1715)

       Félix Martínez (acting, 1715–1716)

       Antonio Valverde Cosío (acting, 1716)

       Juan Páez Hurtado (acting, 1716–1717)

       Antonio Valverde Cosío (interim, 1718–1722)

       Juan Domingo de Bustamante (1722–1731)

       Gervasio Cruzat y Gongora (1731–1736)

 

Why Restore New Mexico to Spanish Empire?

       Dramatic increase in military spending after 1700

       Military governors replace purchasers of office

       Defense of empire replaced evangelism

       Conde de Galve

       French

       English

       Russian

 

 Military

       Professionalization

       Presidios replace encomenderos

o   El Paso (1681)

o   Santa Fe (1693)

 

Land

       Vargas’s resettlement plan

o   Recruit in heartland of New Spain

o   Incentives of land, status, and opportunity

o   Small landholders

o   Five hundred families

o   Adequate funding

       Land grants

o   Pre-Revolt land grants?

       Hispanics

       Indians

o   Smaller

       Large estancias not regranted

       Pueblo league

 

Colonists

       Returning refugees (1693)

o   Colony-in-exile in El Paso

       One hundred “Spanish soldiers”(1693)

o   Mining districts of northern New Spain

       Velasco-Farfán recruits (1694)

o   Mexico City and Puebla

       Artisans

       Juan Páez Hurtado expedition (1695)

o   Zacatecas and Sombrerete

 

Pueblos

       Vargas, Vélez Cachupín, Anza: personal diplomacy and compadrazgo

       Modus vivendi with Hispanic neighbors

       Common cause against Apaches, Comanches, Navajos, and French

       Permanently fixed geographically

 

Vargas’s Lieutenants

       Juan Páez Hurtado (1704-1705, 1717)

       Antonio de Valverde Cosío (1717-1722)

       Félix Martínez (1715-1717)

 

 

Military Expeditions, 1705-1720

       Navajos

       El Cuartelejo

       Apaches

       Comanches

       Pawnees (French?)

       Madrid, 1705

       Ulibarrí, 1706

       Páez Hurtado, 1715

       Valverde Cosío, 1719

       Pedro de Villasur, 1720

 

Spanish Expeditions, 1741-1780          

       Hopi

       Junta de los Ríos, Upper Gila

       Utes and Paiutes/Teguayo

       Teguayo/California

       Comanches

       Pino and Delgado, 1741

       Menchero, 1746-47

       Rivera, 1765

       Domínguez-Vélez de Escalante, 1776

       Anza, 1779

       Anza, 1780

 

Catholic Church

       Franciscans

o   Spiritual and sacramental monopoly

o   Military chaplains

o   Franciscans Divided Against Themselves

       Criollos and Hijos de Provincia v. Peninsulars

       Diminished power vis-à-vis the State

       Civil-Military Authorities trying to Subjugate Church

o   Marriage Pragmatic of 1776

       New Mexico becomes more secular

o   Diocese of Durango

o   Diocesan clergy in El Paso and Santa Fe

o   Episcopal visitations

 

Secularization Attempts of Bishop Olivares y Benito 1797-1803

       All the Bishop's Men: The Interim Priests of New Mexico's Villas

o   Gregorio Olidén

o   José Bibián de Ortega

o   José Ignacio Suárez

o   Juan Manuel de Aganza

 

The Diocesans’ Failure

       Hostile Reception from Franciscans

o   Secular v. Regular Rivalry

o   Peninsular v. Criollo

o   Racial Overtones

       Hostile Reception from Citizens

o   Financial Burden on Parishioners

o   Dislike of Change

 

Economic

       Pottery Seldom Mentioned

       Maize was Most Important Crop

       Subsistence Agriculture

 

Population

       Population of Non-Indians was increasing while that of Indians was decreasing

       Laguna

o   1700, New Population Center or Growth of Pueblo

       San Miguel del Bado, major ford on Pecos

o   1794 by Lorenzo Marques and Genízaro Families

o   1744

o   El Paso: 613 families (3678)

o   Northern New Mexico: 505 families (3030)

o   1752

o   Northern New Mexico: 3,402 (non-Indian)

o   1760

o   El Paso: 2,479

o   Northern New Mexico: 4,614

o   1790

o   El Paso: 5,244

o   Northern New Mexico: 25,709

o   Santa Fe: 3,733

o   Albuquerque: 5,959

o   La Cañada: 8,895

 

Disease Episodes

       1733

       1748

       1763, typhus

       1780, smallpox

 

 

Social Relations

       Growing use of Genízaro as Ethnic Identity

       Compadrazgo and neighbors

       Lingua franca

o   All Indians Spoke Spanish, but Many Played Dumb

o   Ute

 

Legal

       Litigious society

       Pueblo League