Spanish Conquest.

Nowhere is the Spanish colonial cultural legacy more visible than in New Mexico, the first area of the southwestern United States colonized by the Spanish. Although the conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado claimed the territory for the Spanish monarchy in 1542, permanent settlements were only established there after persistent indigenous resistance to colonization. The first Spanish explorers arrived in 1540, led by Coronado, followed by another Spanish expedition in 1581 and a third in 1582. Finding little mineral wealth, these explorers quickly abandoned the desolate area.

Onate's Expedition.

The Spanish king, Philip II, officially authorized settlement of New Mexico in 1583. He was interested in establishing missions to convert the Indians and in protecting Mexico's northern mines. He chose Juan de Onate as the official leader and financier of the colonizing expedition. Onate's group, including ten Franciscan missionary friars, left Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1598. On 30 April, Onate officially...