MILESTONES IN SPANISH COLONIAL HISTORY
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| 1492 |
Christopher Columbus makes his first voyage of westward exploration, on behalf of a newly unified Spain. In the wake of Spain's initial conquests, Pope Alexander VI decrees that Spain and Portugal have the right to exploit the resources of the New World, so long as the inhabitants are converted to Catholicism
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| 1513 |
Núñez de Balboa sights the Pacific Ocean.
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| 1519 |
Hernán Cortés enters Mexico; defeats Aztecs by 1521.
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| 1521 |
Fernão de Magalhães (Fernando Magellan), sailing on behalf of Spain, reaches the Philippines.
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| 1532 |
Francisco Pizarro enters Peru; defeats Incas by 1533
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| 1539 |
Hernando de Soto explores portions of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
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| 1540
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Francisco Vásquez de Coronado ventures north of Mexico in a futile search for gold, said to be held in the legendary Gran Quivira and Seven Cities of Cibola; explores from Gulf of California to present-day Kansas.
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| 1541 |
Pedro de Valdivia enters Chile.
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| 1548 |
Discovery of a large silver vein in Zacatecas, Mexico, renews Spanish expectations of finding valuable minerals in the north.
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| 1565 |
Spain completes its conquest of the Philippines. Spaniards establish a trade route for goods from East Asia, shipping them on Manila Galleons to the west coast of Mexico. The goods are then carried overland for sale within the Americas, or are brought to the east coast to be shipped to Europe
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| 1595 |
King Philip II grants Juan de Oñate permission to explore the territories beyond Mexico's northern frontier.
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| 1598 |
Juan de Oñate's forces stop on the banks of the Rio Grande at a Tewa pueblo, Ohke, which they name San Juan de los Caballeros and designate as capital of the province of Nueva México.
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| 1599 |
Juan de Oñate's expedition moves across the Rio Grande and establishes a new capital, San Gabriel del Yunque.
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| 1608 |
Oñate is removed as governor and sent to Mexico City, to be tried for mistreatment of Indians and abuse of power. Juan Martínez de Montoya and then Bernardino de Ceballos serves as governor of New Mexico. A new capital, at Santa Fe, may be established as early as this date.
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| 1610 |
Under their new governor, Pedro de Peralta, the Spaniards establish the Casas Reales (known today as the Palace of the Governors) in Santa Fe.
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| 1630 |
By this date, the Franciscans have constructed some 50 mission churches throughout the New Mexican pueblos.
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| 1680 |
Several thousand pueblo residents rebel. They burn the mission churches, kill the Franciscans and Spaniards on outlying ranches and converge on Santa Fe, where they besiege the Casas Reales. The surviving Spaniards escape, fleeing on foot to present-day El Paso.
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| 1693 |
The newly appointed Spanish governor Don Diego de Vargas attacks the Casas Reales and re-occupies Santa Fe. Spain solidifies control of the northernmost part of its empire
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| 1706 |
The city of Albuquerque is established. A new musical tradition called Inditas, combining Spanish and Indian elements, begins to develop around this time.
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| 1720-58 |
Anonymous artists create the earliest surviving paintings on hide from New Mexico, known as Segesser I and Segesser II.
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| 1751 |
Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, the earliest known Spanish artist in New Mexico, begins to work in Santa Fe.
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| 1786 |
The anonymous, influential artist known as the Laguna Santero begins to work, presumably training apprentices and developing a workshop.
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| 1816 |
The Santuario de Chimayó is completed; the santero tradition flourishes in New Mexico.
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| 1821 |
Mexico achieves independence from Spain.
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| 1822 |
The Santa Fe Trail is opened, linking New Mexico with Anglo North America.
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| 1841 |
Troops from the Republic of Texas attempt to claim New Mexico and are thwarted.
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| 1846 |
United States forces occupy New Mexico.
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| 1848 |
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. Under the treaty's terms, New Mexico (including present-day Arizona, southern Colorado, southern Utah and southern Nevada) becomes a United States territory in 1850.
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| 1854 |
The Gadsden Purchase from Mexico adds 45,000 square miles to the new U.S. territory.
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| 1863-68 |
Thousands of Native Americans die of starvation and disease while being forceably relocated to Bosque Redondo on the "Long Walk"; the survivors are eventually allowed to return to their homelands.
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| 1878 |
The railroad reaches New Mexico, making the Santa Fe Trail obsolete.
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| 1886 |
Geronimo surrenders, marking the end of Native American hostilities in the Southwest.
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| 1902 |
The United States achieves victory in the Spanish-American War; claims the Philippines and Puerto Rico as possessions and establishes hegemony over a newly independent Cuba.
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| 1912 |
New Mexico is admitted to the Union as a state.
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