State of New Mexico History

Past
In prehistoric days, much of New Mexico sat underneath a vast sea that covered a great portion of the Southwest, and giant dinosaurs roamed freely across whatever existing tropical landscape rested above water. Ultimately, the giant reptiles vanished, the sea receded and glaciers from the last ice age melted, carving out the high mountains found in many regions of the state today. The Clovis-Paleo Indians later discovered the eastern plains of New Mexico, the same expansive romping grounds of the dinosaurs around 10,000 B.C.
The ancestors of contemporary Native Americans in the state lived in many areas here shortly after the time of Christ, leaving behind bountiful archaeological evidence of their existence and lifestyles. They lived in pit houses, which were holes dug in the ground with ground-level roofs constructed of wood, branches and mud. Some of these ancient Indians also dwelled in cliffside caves while others built impressive stone structures at Chaco Canyon, aligned nearly perfectly with the seasonal skyward paths of the sun and the moon. Visitors are encouraged to glimpse the past at Chaco, as well as at Bandelier, Puye, Mogollon, Aztec and Salmon among others.
The Ancestral Pueblo people of Chaco in the northwest region and the Mogollon of the southwest region established peaceful, agrarian-based societies by A.D. 1000. It's unknown exactly why the Mogollon culture vanished, but archaeologists believe the Ancestral Pueblo abandoned their towering stone settlements because of drought and they later built most of the multistoried adobe pueblos found today along the Rio Grande. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, the natives lived along the river, in western New Mexico and parts of eastern Arizona just as they do today. The then-nomadic Apache and Navajo tribes, also known as the Athapascan people, were the last Native Americans to arrive in this area, around the same time as the first Spanish explorers, and they frequently raided the relatively peaceful Pueblo villages.
Coronado comes searching for Cibola
Spanish explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was the first European to comprehensively explore New Mexico in 1540 after hearing grandiose stories about the existence of gold by Estebanico the Moor. Estebanico, Alvar Nuņez Cabeza de Vaca and two other companions were the first Europeans to see New Mexico. They roamed across Texas and southern New Mexico looking for safe refuge in Mexico after being shipwrecked near present-day Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico coast in 1527. Later Indians held them captive but they escaped in 1534 and made it back to Mexico with many stories about the new lands they witnessed.
Coronado and the provincial government believed the wanderers' stories of golden treasures in New Mexico, which were embellished upon by Franciscan missionaries eager to accompany any exploration parties. The missionaries felt that by stretching the truth about supposed riches in New Mexico, the royal government would fund more expeditions and the church could convert more natives to Christianity.
Juan de Oņate later established the first official European colony in New Mexico in 1598 at San Gabriel, just north of Espaņola at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama. While Oņate's colonizing expedition strived to find riches, it also proved to be a financial failure. But many of his disillusioned colonists persevered and established deep cultural roots to the land that still flourish today. Pedro de Peralta was later appointed governor and ordered to establish Santa Fe as the new capital in 1607 after Oņate was relieved of his command for various atrocities, among them being cruel to the native people and unjust to the settlers. Today, Santa Fe reigns as the oldest capital in the United States.
Pueblo Revolt
Catholic missionaries zealously converted as many Indian people as possible on the expeditions they accompanied north from Mexico. But many Pueblo people deeply resented being forced to relinquish their beliefs. The various Pueblo villages, usually in rivalry with each other, united under Pope (pronounced poh-PAY) who helped organize other Pueblo leaders to orchestrate a surprise revolt against the Spanish in 1680. Many Spanish settlers were killed and the survivors fled south to what is now El Paso, Texas, along with many Christianized Indians and mestizos (persons of both Spanish and Indian blood). Led by Diego de Vargas, the Spanish returned and completely reconquered the area 12-15 years later with some help from warriors from the now-extinct Pecos Pueblo.
Throughout the next century the Spanish were more tolerant of the Pueblo culture. Because of the area's isolation and neglect from both Spain and Mexico, the Spanish colonists persevered with limited resources and vital help from their Pueblo neighbors. The two cultures adopted traits from each other and the result is a distinct cultural commingling that succinctly identifies much of New Mexico's charm today.
When Mexico won her independence from Spain in 1821, the Colonial Period gave way to the Mexican Period. The newly established Mexican government ended the strict Spanish policy of closed borders and opened trade with the fledgling United States. Thousands of Americans quickly saw opportunity and began trading with New Mexicans, establishing the Santa Fe Trail, which stretched from Independence, Missouri, to New Mexico's capital. Other Americans began settling in Texas as Mexican citizens and they soon became disillusioned with the Mexican government and formed their own country, which they called the Lone Star State. Mexico's inability to adequately protect and govern her northern provinces left the door open for more infiltration by American citizens and people of other nationalities.
The beginnings of the Territorial Period began in 1846 when U.S. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny declared New Mexico, which then comprised most of the Southwest and California, an American territory from the rooftop of a home on the Las Vegas Plaza and the Mexican War ensued. Less than 20 years later, during the Civil War, New Mexicans joined their Union conquerors to fight the Confederates at Apache Pass and Valverde to keep New Mexico a slave-free territory.
With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s, the southeastern plains were transformed into cattle kingdoms overnight, and rivaling barons and merchants sparked the Lincoln County War, which transformed cattle-puncher Billy the Kid into arguably the nation's most famous outlaw. Although many of Billy's exploits could never be verified, his legend continued to grow even during his own lifetime. The railroad brought more people than ever into New Mexico, and the legend of Billy the Kid and stories of the untamed frontier were all they needed to allure them here.
Frontier Era Wars
Other ranching and homesteading conflicts occurred during the Colfax County War, involving disputes over the resolve of the Maxwell Land Grant, the largest single, private land holding in the Western Hemisphere at more than 1.7 million acres in northeastern New Mexico. Holders of the grant, which also was the largest ever approved by Congress, sold most of the tract to Dutch investors that immediately began evicting homesteaders who were mostly tolerated before the transaction. After many gun battles, deaths and lawsuits, the dispute was finally resolved legally after the turn of the 20th century when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the foreign buyers.
Both during and after the Civil War Chiricahua Apaches led by Cochise, Mangas Coloradas, Victorio and the mighty Geronimo, to name a few, roamed over Sonora, Mexico, southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Geronimo finally surrendered in 1886 in a remote area along the Arizona/New Mexico/Mexico border after many years of raiding and being chased by the diligent U.S. Army.
The great chief and his band of Chiricahua warriors refused to live in forced U.S. settlements and eluded their pursuers for many years. Eventually Geronimo tired of being on the run and hoped that his surrender would mean a more peaceful life for his tenacious people. The chief became a prisoner of the U.S. government and his people were interned for many years before being assigned to a reservation. Many U.S. Army enlistees in New Mexico at this time were Buffalo Soldiers, African-Americans who joined after the Civil War. The Indians likened the curly hair of the black soldiers to that of the buffalo tuft, hence the origin of the moniker.
A multitude of political and cultural factors over the course of more than 60 years prevented statehood for New Mexico after she was declared a territory of the United States. Some people, including Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, advocated that the United States give New Mexico back to Mexico, openly defying the national cry of Manifest Destiny. But finally on Jan. 6, 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state of the Union.
Political squabbling down south in Mexico led to the rise of revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who felt betrayed in his bid for power by the United States. The circumstances led Villa and his band of horsebacked revolutionaries to raid Columbus, N.M., on March 16, 1916. After the armed conflict, which resulted in many deaths on both sides, Villa fled south into Mexico and eluded the pursuing U.S. Army, marking the last time the continental United States was invaded by a foreign power.
Many New Mexicans have contributed to our country's modern history, some influencing the outcome of World War II. The U.S. military employed Navajo Code Talkers to use their native language over the air waves as a top-secret wartime code that the Japanese could never break. Other New Mexicans who trained at Camp Luna in Las Vegas were sent to the Philippines at the onset of the war and were captured by the Japanese after the outgunned Gen. Douglas MacArthur retreated. Many of these POWs lost their lives in the perilous Bataan Death March and the ensuing years of inhumane captivity. A handful of these courageous New Mexican veterans are still alive today and many have shared their stories of the harrowing experience.
Los Alamos Manhattan Project
Meanwhile, the top-secret Manhattan Project was taking place at Los Alamos under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who chose the remote mesalands of Los Alamos for the location after remembering the area from time spent there as a youth at a boy's lodge. The result was the first atomic explosion at Trinity Site in a remote area between Socorro and Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. Just weeks later, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and the most horrific war in human history ended. Los Alamos National Laboratory spawned from this project and is at the forefront of international scientific development as is Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.
Shortly after the war, the U.S. Air Force issued a press release out of Roswell that stated debris from a crashed flying saucer was recovered near the ranching community of Corona in July 1947. After the ensuing international media storm and public hysteria, the Air Force retracted its original statement and took the position that the debris was actually an experimental weather balloon. Many believe that a UFO crash really did occur and that the U.S. Government continues to cover it up. Some believers say the military actually recovered the body of an alien near the crash site. Whether you believe or not, the community of Roswell celebrates alleged UFO phenomena with museums, curio shops and annual festivals.
Ever since Thomas A. Edison first shot a film called "Isleta Day School" in 1898, the terrain of New Mexico has been the popular backdrop of many Hollywood productions. Literally hundreds of movies have been made here, ranging from the days of the caveman to the future. For a concise roundup of movies made in New Mexico, check out "100 Years of Filmmaking," published by New Mexico Magazine.
Besides movies, the terrain of New Mexico is further romanticized in the mystique surrounding historic Route 66, the first continuous highway that beginning in 1926 connected Illinois to California, with the unmatched New Mexico sandwiched in-between. Although the highway was replaced by Interstate 40 in the mid-1960s, many stretches of the old two-lane road are still there for ardent nostalgia seekers.
Today, New Mexico continues to beckon modern explorers with its magnificent landscapes, wide-open vistas and abundance of sun. The enticing terrain invites newcomers and New Mexicans alike to make their own discoveries and to leave their own marks in time. Just like Georgia O'Keeffe who made the landscapes in the Abiquiu area world famous through her colorful surreal paintings, and Ansel Adams, whose photograph, "Moonrise Over Hernandez," froze a legendary New Mexico moment in time for eternity.

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