View source for Santa Fe de Nuevo México

{{Short description|Provincial kingdom of New Spain (1598–1821); territory of Mexico (1821–48)}}
{{about|the Spanish provincial kingdom and former Mexican territory|the capital of modern New Mexico and the second capital of this kingdom|Santa Fe, New Mexico}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| native_name            = Santa Fe de Nuevo México
| conventional_long_name = 
| common_name            = Santa Fé de Nuevo México
| image_flag             = Flag of New Spain.svg
| flag                   = Cross of Burgundy
| image_coat             = [[File:Flag of Mexico 1823-1864.png|border|127px]]
| symbol_type            = Flag of the Mexican Republic
| symbol                 = Flag of Mexico
| image_map              = Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico in Mexico (1824).svg
| image_map_caption      = |
| subdivision            = Territory
| nation                 = Mexico
| status_text            = Kingdom of the [[Spanish Empire]] and [[New Spain]]<ref>Reino del Nuevo México "Water Democracies on the Upper Rio Grande, 1598–1998" by José A. Rivera from [[USDA]] Forest Service Proceedings https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p007/rmrs_p007_020_028.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807020047/https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p007/rmrs_p007_020_028.pdf |date=2020-08-07 }}</ref> (1598–1821)<br />Territory of the [[First Mexican Empire]] (1821–23)<br />Territory of the [[First Mexican Republic]] (1823–1848)
| government_type        = <!-- To generate categories: "Monarchy", "Republic", etc. to generate categories -->
| era                    = <!-- Use: "Napoleonic Wars", "Cold War", etc. -->
| year_start             = 1598
| year_end               = 1848
| life_span              = 1598–1846{{sup|a}}
| today                  = [[Southwestern United States]]
*[[Arizona]]
*[[Colorado]]
*[[Kansas]]
*[[Nevada]]
*[[New Mexico]]
*[[Oklahoma]]
*[[Texas]]
|
| title_leader           = [[List of Spanish governors of New Mexico|Spanish governors]]
| leader1                = [[Juan de Oñate]]
| year_leader1           = 1598–1610 (first)
| leader2                = [[Facundo Melgares]]
| year_leader2           = 1818–1822 (last)
| title_deputy           = [[List of Mexican governors of New Mexico|Mexican governors]]
| deputy1                = [[Francisco Xavier Chávez]]
| year_deputy1           = July – Nov. 1822 (first)
| deputy2                = [[Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid]]
| year_deputy2           = August – Sept. 1846 (last)|
| legislature            = <!-- Name of legislature -->
| house1                 = <!-- Name of first chamber -->
| house2                 = <!-- Name of second chamber -->
| type_house1            = <!-- Default: "Upper house" -->
| type_house2            = <!-- Default: "Lower house" -->|
| capital                = [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]
| event_start            = [[Spanish missions in New Mexico|Spanish missions in New&nbsp;Mexico]]
| date_start             = <!-- Optional: Date of establishment-->
| event1                 = [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexican Independence]]
| date_event1            = 1821
| event2                 = [[Texas Declaration of Independence|Texan Independence]]{{sup|b}}<!-- sic: The Republic of Texas was populated by Texians; the State of Texas is populated by Texans, without the extra "i" -->
| date_event2            = March 2, 1836
| event3                 = [[Mexican–American War]]
| date_event3            = from April 25, 1846
| event4                 = Surrender to U.S. occupation
| date_event4            = September 1846
| event_end              = [[Mexican Cession]]
| date_end               = February 2,
| event_post             = [[New Mexico]] statehood
| date_post              = January 6, 1912
| stat_area1             = 603345
| p1                     = Puebloan peoples
| image_p1               = [[File:Flag placeholder.svg|20x22px|alt=|link=]]
| s1                     = U.S. provisional government of New Mexico
| flag_s1                = Flag of the United States (1846-1847).svg|
|stat_year1=1842
| stat_pop1              = 63,510<ref>{{cite book |last=Fowler |first=Don D. |title=A Laboratory for Anthropology |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |location=Albuquerque |year=2000 |isbn=0-8263-2036-8}}</ref> <!-- population (w/o commas or spaces), population density is calculated if area is also given -->|
| footnotes              = While the Mexican territory theoretically existed until the [[Mexican Cession]] under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] on February 2, 1848, the [[New Mexico Territory]] had been annexed under U.S. military occupation in September 1846, after the surrender by Mexican interim governor [[Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid]] to General [[Stephen W. Kearny]].
}}

'''Santa Fe de Nuevo México''' ({{langx|en|Holy Faith of New Mexico}}; shortened as '''Nuevo México''' or '''Nuevo Méjico''', and translated as '''New Mexico''' in English) was a province of the [[Spanish Empire]] and [[New Spain]], and later a territory of independent Mexico.<ref>Ancestry records for the Spanish Kingdom of New Mexico and the Mexican province of New Mexico https://www.ancestrycdn.com/support/us/2016/11/newmexico.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806234824/https://www.ancestrycdn.com/support/us/2016/11/newmexico.pdf |date=2020-08-06 }}</ref> The first capital was [[Española, New Mexico|San Juan de los Caballeros]] (at [[San Gabriel de Yungue-Ouinge]]) from 1598 until 1610, and from 1610 onward the capital was [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís]].

The name of "New Mexico", the capital in [[Santa Fe Plaza|Santa Fe]], the [[Governor of New Mexico|gubernatorial office]] at the [[Palace of the Governors]], [[New Mexico National Guard|''vecino'' citizen-soldiers]], and [[rule of law]] were retained as the [[New Mexico Territory]] and later [[New Mexico|state of New Mexico]] became part of the [[United States]].<ref name="La Herencia 2005 p.">{{cite book | title=La Herencia | publisher=Gran Via, Incorporated | year=2005 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_4Y6AQAAIAAJ | language=es | access-date=May 21, 2020 | archive-date=August 18, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818181242/https://books.google.com/books?id=_4Y6AQAAIAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[List of people from New Mexico|New Mexican citizenry]], primarily consisting of [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Hispano]], [[Puebloans|Pueblo]], [[Navajo]], [[Apache]], and [[Comanche]] peoples, became [[Citizenship of the United States|citizens of the United States]] as a result of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] (1848).

''{{lang|es|Nuevo México}}'' is often incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the post-independent nation of Mexico. But as early as 1561<ref>{{cite book |first=John L. |last=Kessel |title=Kiva, Cross, and Crown: The Pecos Indians and New Mexico, 1540-1840 |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kcc/index.htm |publisher=National Park Service |location=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]] |year=1979 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ghceyc2w2JYC&pg=PA35 35] | quote=In the hope of seeing in my time another spiritual conquest like that of [Mexico], I set out ... in search of the New Mexico, of which there has been word, although unverified, ever since we came to this land}}</ref> (260 years before [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexican independence]]), Spanish colonial explorers used ''{{lang|es|el Nuevo México}}'' to refer to [[Seven Cities of Gold|Cíbola, cities of wealth]] reported to exist far to the north of [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|the recently conquered Aztec Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |first=David J. |last=Weber |title=The Spanish Frontier in North America |url=https://archive.org/details/spanishfrontiern00webe |url-access=limited |publisher=Yale University Press |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |year=1992 |page=[https://archive.org/details/spanishfrontiern00webe/page/n95 79] |isbn=9780585373485 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Joseph P. |last=Sanchez |title=The Rio Abajo Frontier, 1540–1692: A History of Early Colonial New Mexico |location=Albuquerque |publisher=Museum of Albuquerque History Monograph Series |year=1987 |page=51 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |last=Stewart |first=George |author-link=George R. Stewart |orig-year=1945 |year=2008 |publisher=NYRB Classics |location=New York |pages= 23–24 |isbn=978-1-59017-273-5 |quote=There was Francisco de Ibarra, a great seeker after gold mines. In 1563 he went far to the north ... when he returned south, Ibarra boasted that he had discovered a New Mexico. Doubtless, like others, he stretched the tale, and certainly the land of which he told was well south of the one now so called. Yet men remembered the name ''Nuevo México'', though not at first as that of the region which Coronado had once conquered. }}</ref> This name also evoked the [[Mexica]] people's accounts of their ancestral origin in [[Aztlán]] to the north before their migration to Mexico centuries prior. The Nahuatl-language history of the [[Mexica]] people, the ''[[Crónica Mexicayotl]]'', dated to 1609, makes this identification explicit, describing how the Mexica left "their home there in Old {{lang|nci|Mexico Aztlan Quinehuayan Chicomoztoc}}, which today they call New Mexico ({{lang|nci|yancuic mexico}})."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin |first1=Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón |editor1-last=Namala |editor1-first=Doris |editor2-last=Lockhart |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Schroeder |editor3-first=Susan |title=Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin |date=2006 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804754545 |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRFcH0HWrJ4C&dq=yancuic%20mexico&pg=PA144|quote=inchan yn ompa huehue mexico aztlan quinehuayan chicomoztoc yn axcan quitocayotia yancuic mexico}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Yancuic Mexico |url=https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yancuic-mexico |website=Online Nahuatl Dictionary |publisher=Wired Humanities Projects, University of Oregon |access-date=14 May 2023}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Sangre de Christo Mountains-Winter sunset.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east of Santa Fe: a winter sunset after a snowfall]]
Nuevo México was centered on the upper valley of the [[Rio Grande|Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte)]]: from the crossing point of Oñate on the river south of [[Ciudad Juárez]], it extended north to the [[Colorado River]], encompassing an area that included most of the present-day American state of New Mexico and sections of Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and the Oklahoma panhandle. Actual Spanish settlements were centered at [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], and extended north to [[Taos Pueblo|Taos pueblo]] and south to [[Albuquerque]] ([[Albuquerque metropolitan area|Tiguex]]). Its provincial capital was in the foothills of the [[Sangre de Cristo Mountains]] at the ancient city of [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís]] ([[Santa Fe Historic District|modern-day Santa Fe]]). At its furthest extent, its reach extended eastward throughout the [[Llano Estacado]] due to early exploration by [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]], and westward into [[Las Vegas Springs]] due to [[Antonio Armijo]]'s later expeditions. Its outposts were widespread, throughout what is now the [[Southwestern United States]]. From the time of [[Camino Real de Tierra Adentro]], which eventually connected to the [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]], [[Santa Fe Trail]], and the subsequent [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]].

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=September 2022}}

===Spanish colonial province===
{{See also|Spanish missions in New Mexico}}

====16th century====
In 1536, the legendary explorers [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]] and [[Estevanico]], and two other men, survived an ill-fated expedition known as the [[Narváez expedition]].  For 8 years they wandered across what is today northern Mexico and the Southwest United States. In 1539, Fray [[Marcos de Niza]] led an expedition north from [[Mexico City]]. He caught glimpse of a Zuni town in the distance, probably [[Hawikuh Ruins|Hawikuh]], and returned to Mexico City claiming it might have been one of the fabled [[Seven Cities of Gold]]. The disappearance of Estevanico in the region prompted future expeditions to be more heavily armed, and far more cautious. 1540-1542 with Marcos de Niza's tales in mind, [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] began the most ambitious expedition. Fears caused by rumors surrounding Estevanico's disappearance eventually led to tensions underlying the [[Tiguex War]]. In two years, the Coronado expedition journeyed from present-day Mexico throughout the Southwest United States and as far east as Kansas.

In 1581-1582, Fray Augustin Rodriguez, two other friars, and a few soldiers and servants walked across much of present-day New Mexico seeking converts.

In 1590-1591, an order had arrived from Spain requiring all expeditions to be authorized by the crown. However, Lieutenant Governor Gaspar Castano de Sosa of Nuevo Leon launched an expedition on his own authority. He planned to start a colony in New Mexico and persuade the viceroy to accept it after the fact. Pursued through New Mexico, he was arrested and taken back to Mexico City.

On July 12, 1598, [[Don Juan de Oñate Salazar]] established the [[New Spain]] colony of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico'' at the new village of [[San Juan de los Caballeros]] adjacent to the [[Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico|Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo]] at the confluence of the [[Rio Grande|Río Bravo (Rio Grande)]] and the [[Rio Chama|Río Chama]]. The expedition had been authorized by [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] to survey the region. Though the Spanish believed that cities of gold such as Tenochtitlan of the [[Aztecs]], whom they had previously conquered, lay to the north in the unexplored territory, the major goal was to spread Catholicism{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}. Other expeditions had taken place before Oñate's 1598 expedition. He was unable to find any riches, however. As governor, he mingled with the [[Puebloans|Pueblo]] people and was responsible for the establishment of Spanish rule in the area. Oñate served as the first governor of the Nuevo México Province from 1598 to 1610. He hoped to make it a separate [[viceroy]]alty from New Spain in an original agreement made in 1595, but the terms failed when the Viceroy changed hands in 1596. After a two-year delay and lengthy vetting by the new viceroy, Oñate was finally allowed to cross the Rio Grande River into modern-day Texas and New Mexico.

====17th century====
Most of the Spanish [[Spanish missions in New Mexico|missions in Nuevo México]] were established during the early 17th century with varying degrees of success and failure, oftentimes building directly atop ancient pueblo ruins, and in the centers of pueblos. The encounter between different worlds--Native and Spanish--took place all across New Mexico, but especially at the missions. They were small communities, centers of Spanish religious and economic life, and a permanent intrusion into Pueblo ways and beliefs. Here the clash of faiths, customs, and people was immediate, personal, and sometimes bitter and violent. At missions across New Mexico, Franciscan priests baptized thousands of Native Americans in the 1600s, mostly Pueblo people. The missionaries commanded new converts to take part in Catholic services and rituals. They also destroyed Pueblo religious objects, banned ceremonies, and persecuted holy men. Despite the spread of [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] across the province, Pueblo men and women worshiped in secret and their traditional faith endured. By 1668, [[Juan de Medrano y Mesía]] became governor of the province, holding this position until 1671. His tenure was marked most notably by [[Apache]] raids in the region.

Some pueblos were friendly to the foreigners, but after cultural differences and the banishment of local religions, tensions against the Spanish rose significantly. After compounding misdeeds and overbearing taxes by the Spanish invaders, the indigenous communities rebelled in what is now referred to as the [[Pueblo Revolt]] of 1680. This rebellion saw the Spanish expelled from Nuevo México for a period of 12 years, and the pueblo people were able to regain lost lands. In 1692, they returned to battle against the Spanish, who sought restoration of the conquered holdings. [[Diego de Vargas]] achieved the reoccupation of Santa Fe. The province came under the jurisdiction of the ''[[Real Audiencia of Guadalajara|Real Audiencia de Guadalajara]]'', with oversight by the [[Viceroy of New Spain]] at Mexico City.

====18th century====
In 1777, with the creation of the [[Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas]], the Nuevo México Province was removed from the oversight of the Viceroy and placed solely in the jurisdiction of the new commandant general. This caused much unrest, due to the sudden lack of representation in Santa Fe for the region of Nuevo México.

===Mexican territory===
[[File:Mexico 1824 (equirectangular projection).png|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of Mexico in 1824 showing the Province of Nuevo México]]
The province remained in Spanish control until [[Plan of Iguala|Mexico's declaration of independence]] in 1821. Under the [[1824 Constitution of Mexico]], it became the federally administered Territory of New Mexico.

The [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]] was expanded in 1829, merchant [[Antonio Armijo]] expanded the traderoutes of Nuevo México to reach the [[Mormon Road]] and [[The Californias]] out west.<ref name="Friends of the Fort">{{cite web | title=A History of The Old Fort | website=Friends Of The Fort | date=1931-08-20 | url=https://www.friendsofthefort.org/history/ | access-date=2025-08-20}}</ref> Their original campsite is now located about 300 feet below the surface of [[Lake Mead]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Las Vegas Wash History | website=Lake Mead National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) | date=2015-02-28 | url=https://www.nps.gov/lake/learn/historyculture/lasvegaswashhistory.htm | access-date=2025-08-20}}</ref> Armijo's scout [[Raphael Rivera]] found [[Las Vegas Springs]], at what is today [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], and it became the furthest western outpost for Nuevo México.<ref>{{cite web | title=Who is Rafael Rivera? | website=City of Las Vegas | date=2017-04-17 | url=https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/who-is-rafael-rivera | access-date=2025-08-20}}</ref><ref name="Friends of the Fort"/> The governor of New Mexico, [[José Antonio Chaves]], published the report on June 19, 1830.<ref>{{cite web | title=Armijo's Journal | url=https://oldspanishtrail.org/assets/Hafen%201947%20-%20Armijo%20Journal.pdf | access-date=2025-08-20}}</ref>

The part of the former province east of the [[Rio Grande]] was claimed by the [[Republic of Texas]], which won its independence in 1836. This claim was disputed by Mexico. In 1841, the Texans sent the [[Texan Santa Fe Expedition]], ostensibly for trade but with hopes of occupying the claimed area, but the expedition was captured by [[New Mexico National Guard|New Mexican troops]] under [[List of Mexican governors of New Mexico|New Mexico governor]] [[Manuel Armijo]].<ref>Carroll, H. Bailey. [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qyt03 "Texan Santa Fe Expedition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513094821/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qyt03 |date=2011-05-13 }}. ''[[Handbook of Texas Online]]''. [[Texas State Historical Association]]. Retrieved May 29, 2011.</ref><ref name="The Spectator 1844 p. 374">{{cite book | title=The Spectator | publisher=F.C. Westley | issue=v. 17 | year=1844 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TswhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA374 | access-date=May 21, 2020 | page=374 | archive-date=August 19, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819233441/https://books.google.com/books?id=TswhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA374 | url-status=live }}</ref>

===American territory===
{{Main|History of New Mexico}}
{{See also|Territorial evolution of New Mexico}}
The United States inherited the unenforced claim to the east bank with the [[Texas Annexation]] in 1845. The U.S. Army under [[Stephen Kearny]] occupied the territory in 1846 during the [[Mexican–American War]], a [[U.S. provisional government of New Mexico|provisional government]] was established, and Mexico recognized its loss to the United States in 1848 with the [[Mexican Cession]] in the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]].

Texas continued to claim the eastern part of the region. However, as part of the [[Compromise of 1850]], Texas accepted $10 million in exchange for relinquishing its claims to areas within and north of the present boundaries of New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle..<ref>Griffin, Roger A. [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/nbc02 "Compromise of 1850"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119074220/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/nbc02 |date=2012-11-19 }}. ''[[Handbook of Texas Online]]''. [[Texas State Historical Association]]. Retrieved June 7, 2012.</ref> The compromise also granted Texas control of [[El Paso]], while recognizing the establishment of the [[New Mexico Territory]], based in part on trade routes such as [[Camino Real de Tierra Adentro]], [[Santa Fe Trail]], and [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]] through the [[Las Vegas Valley]] and into what is now [[Arizona]] and New Mexico itself. In 1855, the [[Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park|Old Mormon Fort]] was established in the [[Las Vegas Valley]], in what is now [[Clark County, Nevada]]. These developments also contributed to New Mexico securing water rights to the [[Rio Grande]] and [[Colorado River]], allowing the territory and its subsequent states to fill their reservoir lakes.<ref>{{cite web | last=Tracey | first=Caroline | title=The history behind the New Mexico-Texas Rio Grande settlement | website=High Country News | date=November 10, 2022 | url=https://www.hcn.org/articles/south-water-the-history-behind-the-new-mexico-texas-rio-grande-settlement/ | access-date=August 20, 2025}}</ref><ref name="r806">{{cite web | last=Tucker | first=Ellen | title=Water Rights in the West: The Hoover Dam | website=Teaching American History | date=June 25, 2024 | url=https://teachingamericanhistory.org/blog/water-rights-in-the-west-the-hoover-dam/ | access-date=August 20, 2025}}</ref>

Presidents [[Zachary Taylor]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]] both proposed that New Mexico immediately become a state to sidestep political conflict over slavery in the territories. The already established rule of law which had passed from New Spain and Mexico within New Mexico already outlawed slavery, as was the legal precedent with [[genízaro]]s.<ref>[[Sentimientos de la Nación]], [[Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America]], and [[Constitution of Apatzingán]]</ref>

New Mexico became an official [[U.S. state]] in 1912.

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Ancient Pueblo peoples]]
* [[Apache people]]
* [[Cuisine of the Southwestern United States]]
* [[History of New Mexico]]
* Hispanos ([[Californio]]s, [[Genízaro]]s, and [[Tejanos]])
* [[Hispanos of New Mexico]]
* [[Navajo people]]
* [[New Mexican cuisine]]
* [[New Mexican Spanish]]
* [[New Mexico Territory]]
* [[New Mexico]]
* [[New Mexico music]]
* [[Pueblo]]
* [[Puebloan people]]
* [[Pueblo music]]
* [[Pueblo Revolt]]
* [[Spanish governors of New Mexico]]
* [[Spanish missions in New Mexico]]
* [[Supply of Franciscan missions in New Mexico]]
{{div col end}}
{{Commons category|Colonial New Mexico}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{New Mexico}}
{{Thirteen Colonies}}
{{Former sovereign or unrecognized states within the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Fe De Nuevo Mexico}}
[[Category:Colonial New Mexico|01]]
[[Category:New Spain]]
[[Category:Provinces of New Spain]]
[[Category:Colonial Mexico]]
[[Category:Colonial United States (Spanish)]]
[[Category:Former states of Mexico]]
[[Category:Modern Mexico]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of New Mexico|*]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Texas]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Colorado]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Kansas]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma]]
[[Category:16th century in New Mexico]]
[[Category:17th century in New Mexico]]
[[Category:18th century in New Mexico]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1598]]
[[Category:1598 establishments in New Spain]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1821]]
[[Category:1821 disestablishments in New Spain]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1846]]
[[Category:1846 disestablishments in Mexico]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]