Juan de Oñate
Juan de Oñate | |
---|---|
1st Spanish Governor of New Mexico | |
In office November 1598 – 18 April 1606 | |
Succeeded by | Cristóbal de Oñate (son) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1550 Pánuco, New Spain (now Zacatecas, Mexico) |
Died | "on or about June 4" 1626 (aged 76) [1] Guadalcanal, Seville, Spain |
Spouse | Isabel de Tolosa Cortés de Moctezuma |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Cristóbal de Oñate Catalina Salazar y de la Cadena |
Occupation | Explorer and governor of New Mexico |
Signature | |
This article needs to be updated.(December 2022) |
Juan de Oñate y Salazar (Spanish: [ˈxwan de oˈɲate] ⓘ; 1550–1626) was a Spanish conquistador from New Spain, explorer, and colonial governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in the viceroyalty of New Spain. He led early Spanish expeditions to the Great Plains and Lower Colorado River Valley, encountering numerous indigenous tribes in their homelands there. Oñate founded settlements in the province, now in the Southwestern United States.
Oñate is notorious for the 1599
Today, Oñate remains a controversial figure in New Mexican history: in 1998, the right foot was cut off
Early years
Oñate was born in 1550, at
Juan de Oñate married
They had two children:
- Cristóbal de Oñate who married María Gutiérrez del Castillo who had issue, Juan Pérez de Narriahondo y Castillo.
- María de Oñate who married Vicente de Zaldívar who had issue, Nicolás de Zaldívar y Oñate.
Governorship and 1598 New Mexico expedition
In response to a bid by Juan Bautista de Lomas y Colmenares, and subsequently rejected by the King, on September 21, 1595
The agreement with Viceroy Velasco tasked Oñate with two goals; the better-known aim was to explore and colonize the unknown lands annexed into the
In late 1595, the Viceroy Gaspar de Zúñiga followed his predecessor's advice, and in the summer of 1596 delayed Oñate's expedition in order to review the terms of the original agreement, signed before the previous Viceroy had left office. In March 1598, Oñate's expedition moved out and forded the Rio Grande (Río del Norte) south of present-day El Paso and Ciudad Juárez in late April.
On the Catholic calendar day of Ascension, April 30, 1598, the exploration party assembled on the south bank of the Rio Grande. In an Ascension Day ceremony, Oñate led the party in prayer, as he claimed all of the territory across the river for the Spanish Empire. Oñate's original terms would have made this land a separate viceroyalty to the crown in New Spain; this move failed to stand after de Zúñiga reviewed the agreement.[citation needed]
All summer, Oñate's expedition party followed the middle Rio Grande Valley to present day
Oñate granted land to colonists on the expedition, and empowered them to demand tribute from Native Americans.[14]
Ácoma Massacre
In October 1598, a skirmish erupted when a squad of Oñate's men stopped to trade for food supplies from the Acoma Pueblo. The Ácoma themselves needed their stored food to survive the coming winter. The Ácoma resisted and 11 Spaniards were ambushed and killed, including Oñate's nephew, Juan de Zaldívar.[15] In January 1599, Oñate condemned the conflict as an insurrection and ordered the pueblo destroyed, a mandate carried out by Juan de Zaldívar's brother,
Of the 500 or so survivors,[18] at a trial at Ohkay Owingeh, Oñate sentenced all men and women older than 12 to twenty years of forced "personal servitude". In addition, men older than 25 (24 individuals) were to have a foot amputated.[3] According to recent research, there is no evidence of this happening and that, at most, the prisoners lost some toes. This latter theory makes sense, for losing toes rather than a whole foot left the prisoners useful as servants.[19] In Onate's personal journal, he specifically refers to the punishment of the Acoma warriors as cutting off "las puntas del pie" (the points of the foot, the toes).[20]
Great Plains expedition
In 1601, Oñate undertook a large expedition east to the
Oñate proceeded eastward, following the Canadian River into the modern state of Oklahoma. Leaving the river behind in a sandy area where his ox carts could not pass, he went across country, and the land became greener, with more water and groves of Black walnut (Juglans nigra) and bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) trees.[21]
Escanjaque people
The Escanjaques told Oñate that
The Escanjaques guided Oñate to a large river a few miles away and he became the first European to describe the tallgrass prairie. He spoke of fertile land, much better than that through which he had previously passed, and pastures "so good that in many places the grass was high enough to conceal a horse."[23] He found and tasted a fruit of good flavor, possibly the pawpaw.
Rayado people
Near the river, Oñate's expedition party and their numerous Escanjaque guides saw three or four hundred Rayados on a hill. The Rayados advanced, throwing dirt into the air as a sign that they were ready for war. Oñate quickly indicated that he did not wish to fight and made peace with this group of Rayados, who proved to be friendly and generous. Oñate liked the Rayados more than he did the Escanjaques. They were "united, peaceful, and settled." They showed deference to their
Caratax led Oñate and the Escanjaques across the river to Etzanoa, a settlement on the eastern bank, one or two miles from the river. The settlement was deserted, the inhabitants having fled. It contained "about twelve hundred houses, all established along the bank of another good-sized river which flowed into the large one [the Arkansas].... the settlement of the Rayados seemed typical of those seen by Coronado in Quivira in the 1540s. The homesteads were dispersed; the houses round, thatched with grass, large enough to sleep ten persons each, and surrounded by large granaries to store the corn, beans, and squash they grew in their fields." With difficulty Oñate restrained the Escanjaques from looting the town and sent them home.
The next day the Oñate expedition proceeded onward for another eight miles through heavily populated territory, although without seeing many Rayados. At this point, the Spaniards' courage deserted them. There were obviously many Rayados nearby and soon Oñate's men were warned that the Rayados were assembling an army. Discretion seemed the better part of valor. Oñate estimated that three hundred Spanish soldiers would be needed to confront the Rayados, and he turned his soldiers around to return to New Mexico.
Return to Nuevo México
Oñate had worried about the Rayados hurting or attacking his expedition party, but it was instead the Escanjaques who repelled his men on their return to New Mexico. Oñate described a pitched battle with 1,500 Escanjaques, probably an exaggeration, but many Spaniards were wounded and many natives killed. After more than two hours of fighting, Oñate himself retired from the battlefield. The hostage Rayado chief Caratax was freed by a raid on Oñate and Oñate freed several women captives, but he retained several boys at the request of the Spanish priests for instruction in the Catholic faith. The attack may have arisen from Oñate's kidnapping of Caratax and the women and children.[25]
Oñate and his men returned to San Juan de los Caballeros, arriving there on November 24, 1601[26] without any further incidents of note.
Contemporary studies
The path of Oñate's expedition and the identity of the Escanjaques and the Rayados are much debated. Most authorities believe his route led down the
Authorities have speculated that the Escanjaques were Apache,
Colorado River expedition
Oñate's last major expedition went to the west, from New Mexico to the lower valley of the Colorado River.[31] The party of about three dozen men set out from the Rio Grande valley in October 1604. They traveled by way of Zuñi, the Hopi pueblos, and the Bill Williams River to the Colorado River, and descended that river to its mouth in the Gulf of California in January 1605, before returning along the same route to New Mexico. The evident purpose of the expedition was to locate a port by which New Mexico could be supplied, as an alternative to the laborious overland route from New Spain.
The expedition to the lower Colorado River was important as the only recorded European incursion into that region between the expeditions of
They mistakenly thought that the Gulf of California continued indefinitely to the northwest, giving rise to a belief that was common in the 17th century that the western coasts of an Island of California were what was seen by sailing expeditions in the Pacific.
Native groups observed living on the lower Colorado River, were, from north to south, the Amacava (Mohave), Bahacecha, Osera (Pima), at the confluence of the Gila River with the Colorado, in a location later occupied by the Quechan, Alebdoma.
Seen by Oñate below the Gila junction but subsequently reported upstream from there, in the area where Oñate had encountered the Coguana, or Kahwans, Agalle, and Agalecquamaya, or Halyikwamai, and the Cocopah.
Concerning areas that the explorers had not observed directly, they gave fantastic reports about races of human and areas said to be rich in gold, silver, and pearls.
Later life
In 1606, Oñate was recalled to Mexico City for a hearing regarding his conduct. After finishing plans for the founding of the town of Santa Fe, he resigned his post and was tried and convicted of cruelty to both natives and colonists. He was banished from New Mexico for life and exiled from Mexico City for five years.[32]
Eventually Oñate went to Spain, where the king appointed him head of all mining inspectors in Spain. He died in Spain in 1626. He is sometimes referred to as "the Last Conquistador."[33]
Legacy
Oñate is honored by some as an explorer but vilified by others for his cruelty to the Keres people of Acoma Pueblo.
New Mexico
Oñate Elementary School in
Alcalde statue
In the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Center (until 2017 the Oñate Monument and Visitor Center) in Alcalde, New Mexico, is a 1991 bronze statue dedicated to Oñate. In 1998, New Mexico celebrated the 400th anniversary of his arrival. Shortly before (December 29, 1997), and the close dates are no coincidence, unknown perpetrator(s) cut off the statue's right foot[35] and left a note saying, "Fair is fair." Sculptor Reynaldo Rivera recast the foot, but a seam is still visible. Some commentators suggested leaving the statue maimed as a symbolic reminder of the foot-amputating Acoma Massacre. A local filmmaker, Chris Eyre, was contacted by one of the two perpetrators, saying "I'm back on the scene to show people that Oñate and his supporters must be shamed." The sculptor responded that chopping feet "was the nature of discipline of 400 years ago."[36]
In 2017, the statue's left foot was painted red and the words "Remember 1680" (year of the Pueblo Revolt) were written with paint on the monument's base.[37]
The county of Rio Arriba temporarily removed the statue on June 15, 2020, which followed wider efforts to remove controversial statues across the United States.[38] It is unknown whether the statue will be returned to its place in the future, with a statement from Rio Arriba County Commission stating: "Rio Arriba County residents need to understand that a final policy decision has not been made about the Oñate statue other than its removal today to protect it from damage or destruction. The County Commission welcomes a respectful and civil discussion from its residents about the future of the Oñate statue."[39]
1998 400th anniversary of arrival
A memorial for Oñate was created for the New Mexico Cuarto Centenario (the 400th anniversary of Oñate's 1598 settlement). The memorial was meant to be a tri-cultural collaboration (Hispanic, Anglo, and Tewa Pueblo Native American), with Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera, Betty Sabo, and Nora Naranjo Morse. Because of the controversy surrounding Oñate, two separate memorials and perspectives were created.[40] Rivera and Sabo did a series of bronze statues of Oñate leading the first group of Spanish settlers into New Mexico titled "La Jornada," while Naranjo-Morse created an abstract land art from the desert itself of a large dirt spiral representing the Native American perspective titled "Numbe Whageh" (Tewa interpretation: Our Center Place).[41][42] It is located at the Albuquerque Museum.
2014 400th anniversary of exile
In 1614, Oñate was exiled from what is now New Mexico and charged with mismanagement and excessive cruelty, especially at the
Texas
In 1997 the City of
The City of El Paso unveiled the eighteen ton, 34-foot-tall (10 m) statue in a ceremony on April 21, 2007. Oñate is mounted atop his Andalusian horse and holds the La Toma declaration in his right hand. It is one of the tallest statues in the United States. According to Houser, it is the largest and heaviest bronze equestrian statue in the world.
The statue precipitated controversy due to Oñate being tried and convicted for many crimes including brutality against the Ácoma Pueblo tribe,[46] and was protested by groups such as the Ácoma tribe during the development of the project as well as at the inauguration. (To defuse some of the controversy, the statue was renamed "The Equestrian".[47]) The statue, however, was welcomed by segments of the local population (including portions of the Hispanic community), and the Spanish ambassador to the United States, Carlos Westendorp.[citation needed] The statue was vandalized in June 2020.[48]
See also
- Pueblo peoples
- Pueblo Revolt
- Spanish missions in New Mexico
- Colonial New Mexico
- Gaspar Castaño de Sosa
References
- ^ Simmons, Marc, The Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1991 pp. 193–94[ISBN missing]
- ^ a b "Background | The Last Conquistador". POV PBS | American Documentary Inc. 22 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ S2CID 160445622.
- ^ "400 years later, Acoma protests Spanish cruelty – Timeline – Native Voices". www.nlm.nih.gov.
- ^ Temple, Georgia (July 10, 2008). "Controversy surrounding 'The Last Conquistador' statue in El Paso topic of documentary". Midland Reporter-Telegram.
- ^ Montgomery, Molly (June 15, 2020). "County Takes Down Oñate Monument". Rio-Grande-Sun.
- ISBN 0-8061-2338-9.
- ^ "Piety and privilege collide in Juan de Oñate’s Jewish-converso lineage". by José Antonio Esquibel, Fall 2016, El Palacio The Magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, http://www.elpalacio.org/2016/09/blood-oaths/
- ^ Doña Teresa Confronts the Spanish Inquisition: A Seventeenth-Century New Mexican Drama, Frances Levine, 2016, University of Oklahoma Press[ISBN missing]
- ^ L. Thrapp, Dan. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: G–O, University of Nebraska Press, 1991, p. 1083[ISBN missing]
- ISBN 9781877856563.
- JSTOR j.ctt183p8mp.9.
- ^ Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá (1992). Miguel Encinias; Alfred Rodríguez; Joseph P. Sánchez (eds.). Historia de la Nueva México, 1610 : a critical and annotated Spanish/English edition. Translated by Joseph P. Sánchez. UNM Press. )
- ^ Who Was Juan De Oñate? A Look At The Conquistador's Violent Legacy In New Mexico
- ^ "San Gabriel de Yunque-Ouinge: San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico". Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: American Latino Heritage. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior.=
- ^ Simmons, p. 145
- ^ Ramon A. Gutierrez (February 1, 1991). When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500–1846. Stanford University Press. p. 53.
- ^ Simmons, p. 143
- OCLC 70054191.
- ^ Gilbert, Donald A. Chavez Y. "OPINION | An accurate accounting of the history of Oñate". www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ Bolton, Herbert Eugene, ed. Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542–1706. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916, 250–267
- ^ Bolton, 257
- ^ Bolton, 253
- ^ Vehik, Susan C. "Wichita Culture History," Plains Anthropologist, Vol. 37, No. 141, 1992, 327
- ^ Bolton, 264
- ^ "Yunque Yunque – New Mexico Ghost Town".
- ^ Hawle, Marlin F. "European-contact and Southwestern Artifacts in the lower Walnut Focus Sites at Arkansas City Kansas", Plains Anthropologist, Vol. 45, No. 173, Aug 2000
- ^ Vehik, Susan C. (1986). "Onate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations". Plains Anthropologist. 31 (111): 13–33. .
- ISBN 0-8061-2094-0, p. 19
- ^ Vehik, 22–23
- ^ Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1953; Laylander, Don, "Geographies of Fact and Fantasy: Oñate on the Lower Colorado River, 1604–1605," Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 86, No. 4, 2004, 309–324.
- ^ "Background | the Last Conquistador | POV | PBS". PBS. 22 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ Simmons, Marc, The Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1991[ISBN missing]
- ^ Paying homage to Gallup’s north side. Gallup Sun September 22, 2017. Accessed May 7, 2019.
- ^ a b Ginger Thompson. "As a Sculpture Takes Shape in Mexico, Opposition Takes Shape in the U.S.," The New York Times, January 17, 2002. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- ^ Plevin, Nancy (Jan 8, 1998). "Vandals maim bronze sculpture at visitors center near Espanola". Santa Fe New Mexican.
- ^ Romero, Simon (30 September 2017). "Statue's Stolen Foot Reflects Divisions Over Symbols of Conquest". New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ Writer, Molly Montgomery SUN Staff (15 June 2020). "County Takes Down Oñate Monument". Rio Grande SUN. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ Writer, Amanda Martinez (15 June 2020). "Oñate statue taken down, for now". Taos News. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- ^ Monumental Lies. Reveal (podcast). December 8, 2018. Accessed May 4, 2019.
- ^ La Jornada and Numbe Whageh Form the Cuarto Centenario Memorial to Represent the Past and Present of Albuquerque: Two Memorials, Many Perspectives, One Monument.
- ^ New Mexico's Cuarto Centenario: History in Visual Dialogue. The Public Historian, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 2011), pp. 44–72. Accessed May 5, 2019, from University of New Mexico Digital Repository
- ^ Matthew J. Martinez (August 2014). "Remembering 400 Years of Exile". Archived from the original on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
- ^ POV – The Last Conquistador
- ^ Vimeo: The Last Conquistador
- ISBN 978-0-367-13679-6.
- ^ The 12 Travelers of the Southwest. "The Equestrian | XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "'The Equestrian' Don Juan de Oñate statue at El Paso airport vandalized". 12 June 2020.
- Porras Munoz, Guillermo, La Calle de Cadena en Mexico. pp. 1–46.[ISBN missing]
External links
- Oñate’s Foot: Histories, Landscapes, and Contested Memories in the Southwest – concerning the 1998 attack on Oñate's statue.
- [1] Archived 2018-08-26 at the Wayback Machine