The First architecture was like Spain – every town was to have a Cathedral and a Casa Reales
Juan de Onate’s family was rich in New Spain (Mexico)
In 1595 Onate received authorization to begin a Spanish colony in New Mexico; he began in Santa Barbara, Mexico; he may have had a map from the Coronado expedition 55 years earlier; he thought the silver color on the map represented silver, but it was probably mica
The Camino Real had many branches from Mexico City. Some were paved and some had stone bridges.
- In addition to colonists, eight Franciscan priests and two lay brothers accompanied Onate to New Mexico.
- On the 11th (of August 1598) we began work on the irrigation ditch for the city of our father, Saint Francis…Some fifteen hundred Indians…helped us with our work” (Hammond and Rey 1953:323)
- “On the 23rd (of August 1598) the building of the (parroquia or parish) church was started, and it was completed on September 7. It was large enough to accommodate all the people at the camp” (Hammond and Rey 1953:323)
- “On September 8, feast day of our Lady, the great celebration of the dedication of the church of Saint John the Baptist took place…” (Hammond and Rey 1953:323)
- On September 28, 1599 the viceroy, Martine de Pedrosa authorized reinforcement to be sent to New Mexico to assist Juan de Onate in his settlement and explorations.
- The reinforcements of men, provisions and other things sent to him from New Spain arrived on the day before Christmas…1600” (Hammond and Rey 1953:619)
- Most of the reinforcements along with many of the earlier settlers deserted the colony in September of 1601. At that time, the church was dedicated to San Miguel and the convent to San Gabriel (Hammond and Rey, 1953: 672, 682)
- Juan Martinez de Montoya was among those who remained in New Mexico.
(one had to stay at least 5 years to receive benefits)
- Juan de Onate resigned as governor on August 24, 1607.
- Juan Martinez de Montoya appointed governor February 27, 1608
- Juan de Onate and his son Cristobal were authorized to leave New Mexico
- After lengthy discussion it was decided to continue with the colonization of New Mexico as a missionary effort.
- Appointment of Pedro de Peralta as governor of New Mexico, March 30, 1609.
- The earliest efforts at missionization occurred in 1598 in the Pueblos of San Juan, San Ildefonso and Pecos. Father Fray Alonso de Lugo apparently founded a mission at the Pueblo of Emes (Jemez) before he deserted in March of 1601.
- Fray Juan de Escalona, the commissary, served at Santo Domingo, the ecclesiastical center of the colony as early as 1604 until his death in 1607; the mission and convent of Santa Felipe, the site of a very early infirmary, was served by Fray Cristobal de Quiros.
- By 1608 it was estimated that 7,000 conversions had taken place and by 1609 there were only two or three friars left in New Mexico. When it was decided to continue with the missionization effort, nine friars were sent to the colony in 1609.
Facilitators and
Concilators: the mission effort after 1610
- Fray Alanso de Peinado served as commissary, the local prelate in charge of the missionization effort in the province from 1610-1612; he was followed by Fray Isidro Ordonez who served until December 16176.
- Facilitators were those friars who facilitated the missionization effort in New Mexico, that is laid the groundwork for the construction of the mission churches and conventos. Conciliators were those Franciscans who were responsible for the actual conversion of the residents of any given pueblo. In a few cases, friars such as Andres Baptista served as both facilitator and conciliator in that Baptista not only founded the mission and convent at San Ildefonso in 1610 but also served as its guardian until 1632.
- The first permanent mission among the Tanos was established at Galisteo between 1610-1612. Fray Bernardo de Marta, and musician and choir-master became guardian in 1615 after serving at Santo Domingo from 1613-1614.
- Fray Pedro de Ortega served at Galisteo from 1619 until he was assigned to Pecos where he replaced Fray Pedro Zambrano Ortiz. By 1620 Ortega was replaced at Pecos by Fray Andres Suarez who was responsible for building the great church and probably also responsible for the construction of the convent kiva.
- “…First of all to found and settle the villa that has been ordered built; “He shall allow the residents to elect four councilmen (regidores); and the latter shall choose two alcaldes ordinaries each year who shall hear the civil and criminal cases that may arise in the said villa (cabildo)..”
- “the governor shall empower the cabildo to elect…an alguacil and a notary..”
- “He shall mark out six districts (vecindades) for the city and square block for government buildings and other public works…”
- “He...may apportion to each resident two lots for house and garden, two contiguous fields for vegetables and two others for vineyards…four caballerias of land, and for irrigation the necessary water…for ten consecutive years without absenting themselves…” (Urban/rural lifestyle)
- “He is authorized to allot Indians in encominenda…” (There were 35 encomenderos.)
- Pedro de Peralta formally founded the Villa de Santa Fe sometime in 1610
- Throughout the 17th century, Santa Fe, the seat of civil government, was the only villa in the provence.
- In order to protect Native Americans from Spanish exploitation, “Spanish towns with Indian populations were required to set aside segregated barrios-i.e. neighborhoods-for the Indians.”(Jay Kinsbruner, The Colonial Spanish-American City, University of Texas, 2005, p.43).
- In Santa Fe, the Barrio
de Analco was the home of the Indios
de Mexico, tradesmen, craftsmen, artisans and common laborers along with
some of the servants of the Spaniards who lived in the Barrio de San Francisco around the Plaza Major.
- There were cottonwood trees on the Plaza in the mid-1600s. The parroquia was located at the east end of the plaza major, the Palace of Government was located on the north side and the Casa de Cabildo was probably located on the west side;
- Religious processions proceeded by an individual carrying a large crucifix circled the plaza major every Monday, Wednesday and Friday;
- Town criers, preguneros, including Alonso Ramirez, a mulatto, and Juan Utaca and Joseph, both Indios Ladino (that is Indios who spoke Spanish and were literate), announced civil edicts and important events in the plaza and by affixing notices on the doors of the Palace, cabildo and church.
- There were thirty-eight small houses of adobe or residences
on the north side of the plaza in addition to Hernan Martin Serrano’s obraje and the bodega owned by dona Ana Robledo. The Nicolas Duran family owned a
rancho along the ‘rio de esta villa.”
- Rodrigo Lorenzo a Flemish miner, silversmith and syndic for the Franciscans lived on San Francisco Street (the earliest named street in the villa) in 1639.
- The Barrio de San Francisco was the site of the Plaza Major, the Casas Reales and the parroquia or parish church.
- The Casas Reales included the Palace of Governors and the house of the Cabildo in addition to all other structures necessary for civil government on the frontier such as warehouses, the armory, stables and the like.
- The parroquia and associated convento were located on the east side of the plaza which was probably twice as long as at present. The earliest mention of the parroquia is 1613.
- Unlike the Barrio de Analco in Durango, settled by Tlaxcaltecans in 1590 the Barrio de Analco in Santa Fe was the home of Indios de Mexico, that is Native American artisans, tradesmen, craftsmen and laborers from a variety of Mexican tribes. By mid-century the residents included tradesmen from Puebloan and other Native groups in New Mexico.
- The Barrio de Analco was centered on the Hermita (a place of refuge and quiet contemplation) de San Miguel first mentioned in 1628 (the so-called Oldest Church) and was surrounded by milpas or the fields of the residents.
- The Hermita de San Miguel was destroyed during the term of Governor Luis de Rosas. It was later rebuilt and subsequently described as being a infirmary. Unlike the parroqiua the Hermita de San Miguel was not destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
- Technically, the encomienda was a grant of labor and tribute in return for religious instruction and the protection of the encomendero. Outlawed in Mexico for the uncontrolled explotation of the Native population by 1549, the encomienda continued in use throughout the 17th century on the frontiers of the Spanish empire as a means of controlling the native population of an area. In New Mexico, the encomienda was a grant not of labor but of tribute.
- In New Mexico tribute consisted of one fanega (Spanish bushel, approximately 55.5 liters) of corn and one manta or cotton blanket, “six palms” or about a yard and a half square collected twice a year.
- In New Mexico each of the 35 encomenderos received shares in one or more mission pueblos. Encomienda grants were good for three lifetimes and could be rescinded by the Crown.
- Beside a dwelling near the plaza major in the Barrio de San Francisco, each of the encomenderos apparently had a residence, if not an estancia (there were no haciendas in New Mexico) within a league of a mission pueblo in which he had a share where he could store tribute received twice annually. LA34, LA16768 (E Boyd’s 16/3) and LA 200000 are examples of 17th century Spanish domestic sites.
- In 1639 the Cabildo of Santa Fe complained to the viceroy that because the mission pueblos had all the best lands and largest herds in the colony, the colonists were in dire straits.
- Iron was a monopoly controlled by the Spanish crown throughout the colonial period until 1821. In 1639 according to the Cabildo the colony had not received a shipment of iron in 11 years. There was such a severe shortage of the metal, blacksmiths could not make horse shoes so the group of colonists had no defense against the Apaches and other Native groups.
(Any copper items all came from Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish. There was no metal smelting by the natives. There is evidence that in the 1660’s the Spanish had smelters in Paako and San Marcos Pueblos)
- Puebloan life in the 17th century missions in New Mexico revolved around the church and was ruled by the mission bell(s). The pueblos became pawns in the battle between church and state in New Mexico.
- In addition to caring for the church and the friar, the residents of the mission raised crops, corn, beans, squash, wheat, garbonzos, apricots, peaches and other foods for the mission.
- The residents of a mission pueblo also raised sheep, goats, cattle and horses for the mission. Horses, other livestock and crops were regularly sent to Mexico in return for religious paraphernalia, musical instruments and the like for mission churches.
- Each of the mission pueblos specialized in specific trades; for example, Pecos was known for its woodworkers, while the residents of San Lazaro supplied plaster and whitewash for the Casas Reales in the Villa de Santa Fe.
- Governor Bernardo Lopez de Mendizabal and his wife dona Teresa de Aquilera y Roche lived in the Palace between 1659 and 1660. The Inquisition records of their trials provide a wealth of information about the Palace and Santa Fe.
- The Palacio had two stories and was built around a large interior patio with a corridor grande del patio constructed by Juan Chamiso, an albanil maestro, master mason, who was also responsible for the work of numerous Puebloan laborers;
- The Casas Reales del Palacio contained at least 18 rooms and/or apartments including the governor’s office (where the local barber would shave him on Sundays), a receiving hall, a new hall (for the Indians to change into their dance clothing), a dining hall, an apartment for the governor with a room where Lopez ad his wife slept and drank chocolate, an estrada (drawing room) for Teresa de Aquilera (probably where she kept her writing desk and had a tall altar), a dressing room, a room for the servants and a chamber of ‘four small rooms” that “ran along the orchard.”
- In addition there was the (main?) corridor of the Casas Reales, kitchen, a chapel, a room for the archives the office of the Governor’s secretary, a storehouse/warehouse, a harness room and carriage house, a jail, a “dark and gloomy room” in which he held prisoners (this appears to be different from the jail), and a room for bathing.
- The Province of New Mexico suffered severe widespread drought between 1666-1672
and were it not for the fact that the missions supplied food and livestock from the mission stores to both Natives and Spaniards alike, the colony might have been deserted.
- The Saline Pueblos of Abo, Quari and Gran Quivera were abandoned by 1672 as a result of drought and repeated attacks by the Apaches and other groups.
- In August of 1680 tired of being pawns in the continual fights between church and state in New Mexico, Puebloan-speakers revolted and after besieging the Villa de Santa Fe and destroying the parroquia allowed the Spanish to flee to El Paso de Norte where they remained until 1692.
The Pueblos of San Marcos, San Lazaro and Galisteo were the first to attack Santa Fe.
The San Miguel church was damaged but not destroyed, perhaps because it was used by the Indians not the Spanish in the colony.
Excavations showed that at San Gabriel del Yungue the room sizes were different for the Spanish.