Oñate Explorations and Settlements

OÑATE EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS

OÑ ATE EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. In 1598, the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate left Chihuahua, Mexico, with an expeditionary force of almost five hundred soldiers and colonists to conquer and colonize a new Mexico along the Rio Grande. In April 1598, near present-day ElPaso, Texas, Oñate declared dominion over the land and its inhabitants in the name of King Philip II of Spain before continuing north along the Rio Grande to the pueblo of Ohke. There, north of modern-day Santa Fe, New Mexico, he established a capital and renamed the town San Juan. Shortly thereafter, however, he moved the capital to nearby Yúngé, displaced its Pueblo residents, and renamed it San Gabriel.

After establishing the colony, Oñate explored the surrounding lands and subjugated the Pueblo people. In September 1598, he sent an expedition into eastern New Mexico via the Canadian River to hunt buffalo. In October, Oñate explored the pueblos to the southeast and west of San Gabriel. In June 1601, he led an expedition east along the Pecos, Canadian, and Arkansas Rivers to the Quivira settlement in modern-day Kansas. In 1604, after two failed attempts, Oñate discovered a route to the Pacific via the Gila and Colorado Rivers. Although not the first Spaniard to explore these areas, Oñate established the first Spanish settlement in the Southwest. At the urging of the king, in 1608 Oñate resigned his post as governor of the new territory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey. Don Juan de Oñate: Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595–1628. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1953.

Simmons, Marc. The Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Spicer, Edward Holland. Cycles of Conquest. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962.

Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1992.

Jennifer L. Bertolet

See also Conquistadores ; Exploration of America, Early ; Explorations and Expeditions: Spanish .