This history includes the land, New Mexico, and the lands our ancestors utilized. We must keep in mind that initially New Mexico was huge, huge! It has been shrinking ever since the Spanish took possession of the province. Initially, as part of New Spain, it included everything west of the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to places unknown. On the south it was bounded by the Rio Grande (El Rio Bravo del Norte).
This history also includes time, for Hispanic New Mexicans, our history in the area starts in 1527 with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. It proceeds through 1540 with the explorations of Francisco Coronado and others and then begins in earnest in 1598 with don Juan de Onate and our ancestors who came north from Mexico to establish the colony. It includes the expulsion of our ancestors by the Native Americans in the 1680 revolt. It encompasses their return, with additional settlers who again came north, this time led by don Diego de Vargas in 1693 -1695. The revolt was by the Native Americans and some mixed Spanish/Native Americans and the expelled included most of the Spanish and some Native Americans who had embraced Catholicism. A mixed bag as we say today.
The New Mexican land was vast, though shrinking over time, it was still vast. The time was long, interrupted at various intervals, but still very, very long, 1527 to the present. Almost 500 years. The people, our ancestors, were few. Very few, especially when taken into the perspective of time and space. The actual numbers never amounted to much until here recently. And those numbers have dispersed all over the country and many foreign countries.
And they all fit together, not real neat, but they all fit. Just like a multidimensional puzzle. The most interesting to me is the people, our ancestors. Since they were few it is possible to find out who they were, when and where they were born and how they lived and died. Their trials, the hardships, the triumphs. Like it or not we ended up being related by blood to one degree or another. The poor, the rich, the educated and the illerate, we all ended up related. Como luego dicen, una gran familia.
Our New Mexican history is not like American history. Not at all and not in the least. The "Americans" were scattered (concentrated) over a much smaller area with much greater numbers and a much reduced time frame. The American history starts about 1620 and proceeds from there. This is 93 years shorter than our history here in New Mexico! 93 years shorter and millions upon millions of people coming from many countries and the African continent. Santa Fe was an established place way before the first "Pilgrim" set foot on Plymouth Rock. The Americans in the then America came in droves, in huge human waves from all over Europe and Africa.
Not so our ancestors, they came and stayed and added a few here and there. But so few were added that you can identify them, sometimes individually, as you look at the historical documents. You can identify the "heroes", the idiots, the priests, the church goers the nay sayers the soldiers, etc., etc.
One bad thing about this is that the New Mexican population(s) remained stable, or grew very slowly. The New Mexicans had great difficulty getting people, any material needed and direction from the center of government in far away Mexico or Spain. As a result time seemed to stand still between 1598 and about 1810 when the "Americans" arrived. They came with their new technologies which New Mexicans had only vague ideas what they were.
Native Americans in New Mexico were essentially stuck in the stone age. Dependent on Hispanic New Mexicans for any thing that did not grow or was born locally. That includes the horse that changed the way they lived. All of a sudden, with the arrival of the Spanish, they were a stone age people but now were mounted on a horse.
This is what the Americans found in 1846 when they captured and annexed New Mexico. The Americans had known how many New Mexicans there were and how many ancient weapons they had. It would and was a cakewalk taking control. And that is what they did.
