Oñate's Colonization of New Mexico

Timeline

1. 1598San Juan del Río · MexicoAuthorized by the Spanish crown and New Spain viceroy Luis de Velasco, Oñate led some four hundred colonists, soldiers, and Franciscan friars north across the Chihuahua Desert, entering present-day New Mexico along the old route of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado.
2. 1598Banks of the Rio Grande · New MexicoOn July 11, 1598, the expedition crossed the Rio Grande and entered the Rio Arriba region inhabited by Pueblo peoples. Oñate demanded local chiefs swear allegiance to the Spanish king and the Catholic faith, and some Pueblo communities accepted colonial rule under pressure.
3. 1598San Juan de los Caballeros · New MexicoOñate founded San Juan de los Caballeros beside Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo as the capital of the New Mexico colony and Spain's first permanent settlement, establishing municipal institutions, distributing encomiendas, and dispatching Franciscan friars to missionize, marking the formal start of centuries of Spanish colonial rule in the region.