How the legacy of the conquistador shaped NM
Icons of Spanish colonialism only took hold in late 1800s
The icons of Spain’s occupation and conquest of New Mexico are front and center again. The attention is intense, so intense it is to wonder how it was that the conquistador imagery and other representations of Spanish colonialism entrenched themselves in New Mexico’s public spaces. What historical circumstances led citizens in this part of the world to value the symbols of imperialistic power?
New Mexico Hispanics, or Nuevomexicanos, began to define a historical legacy for their regional ethnic group in the late 19th century. Many things prompted such a search. A major one appeared in the early 1880s. Civic-minded Anglos associated with the New Mexico Historical Society concerned themselves with the fact that the New Mexico territory did not have its own distinct history. President William G. Ritch, the territorial secretary, urged members to recover and preserve artifacts, including ancient texts, for the project of constructing New Mexico’s story.
Ritch and colleagues asked who were the founders of “New Mexico?”
In their prejudiced view, indigenous peoples did not have a history or histories. The way Indians looked and behaved at present, they observed, was the same as when they were first “discovered.” Nor did the Mexican Republic go back far enough. New Mexico settlements appeared long before Mexico won its independence in 1821.
As Ritch pitched it in a report, Spanish explorers were the first to cart “Western civilization,” including Christianity, into the region. They were the ones to have established New Mexico in the Southwest.
Anglo business elements saw that having a history could help showcase New Mexico to draw capital investment from the states for the territory’s economic development. In 1883, Santa Fe boosters organized the “Tertio Milennial,” an exposition to put the area’s resources on exhibit. Stretched across a month, the event drew thousands — hundreds from outside the territory . ...
Prominent Nuevomexicanos in Santa
Fe made sure they were going to stage the Spanish colonial procession in the Tertio’s grand historical pageant. After all, they had familiarity with the region’s history through the pages of Spanish-language texts. They determined to make clear that this historical legacy was theirs by virtue of their ancestors . ...
In the pageant, Nuevomexicano leaders enacted the 16th century war between Coronado and Zuñi Pueblo in the Tiguex War. The drama included a battle scene and a highly choreographed skit of Coronado, played by former Santa Fe Mayor José D. Sena, and his military entourage accepting the surrender of the Zuñis.
It was the first modern depiction of a conquistador subduing natives. Nuevomexicanos went on to strengthen their ties to Spanish colonial New Mexico. They and Anglo leaders formed the Society of First Settlers of New Mexico. Interesting for present times, in 1901-03 the society raised funds to commission statues and commemorations of the “heroes of the Spanish conquest,” including de Espejo, Juan de Oñate, Cabeza de Vaca and Diego de Vargas.
The movement for statehood spurred
Spanish colonial heraldry. Intense white racism against Nuevomexicanos back East caused the delay of statehood for New Mexico for several decades until 1912.
For New Mexico to become a state, its electorate needed to ratify the 1910 Constitution. The politician Octaviano Larrazolo, an immigrant from Mexico no less, spoke eloquently before Spanish-speaking crowds, imploring them to vote yes on the Constitution because New Mexico was theirs by their lineage to conquistador founders. When statehood finally came, George Washington Armijo famously celebrated by sporting a conquistador outfit at the Santa Fe Fiestas.
Statehood sealed the Spanish colonial legacy. Standing alongside Native American and Anglo heritages in New Mexico’s quasi-official identity, it signaled to Nuevomexicanos that they truly belonged to the new state. The ethnic labels Spanish, Spanish-American and Hispano referenced Nuevomexicanos for decades to come . ...
Not until the Red Power Movement in the ’60s and ’70s did Native Americans go after the symbols of their historical oppression and subjection to Spanish imperial power.