AS TAUGHT......

Don JUAN DE ONATE
http://austin.episd.org/quadbioonate.htm

Juan de Onate, a gallant conquistador, was the first successful colonizer of the
Southwest. He was a silver miner and the wealthiest man in Mexico at the
time. De Onate was the son of a wealthy conquistador in Zacatecas, Mexico. He
married Isabel de Tolosa Cortes, who was a descendent of Hernan Cortes and
Moctezuma. In January, 1598, Onate and his followers left the Santa Barbara
frontier settlement in Chihuahua. This expedition consisted of 600 people of
all types -- families, soldiers, priests, Africans and Indians. Onate’s caravan
was four miles with 83 wagons, and 7000 animals. Three long weary months later
they were greeted by friendly Manso Indians of the southwest region . These
indigenous people guided them across the desert to the river crossing.

Juan Onate and his procession arrived at the Rio Grande on April 20, 1598.
Captain Gasper Perez de Villagra was among one of the many travelers. He wrote
about the journeys and hardships that it took to colonize “new” Mexico in his
epic novel entitled La Historia of Nuevo Mexico. On April 30 they held what is
said to be the first theatrical play in America, "La Toma , The Taking." This
is to signify the taking of the new found land for Spain. To celebrate their
safe arrival, they held a huge feast and mass. This marks the real First
Thanksgiving of the nation, although most Americans believe the Puritans were
the first to celebrate Thanksgiving in what is now the United States.

Juan de Onate had an order from the Crown to purify the native people of New
Mexico by converting them to Christianity . Conflicts soon arose between
priests and military authorities. The military's sole purpose was to see order
established. Instead, they committed violent acts, stole the natives'
belongings, and raped the women. The clergy protested this mistreatment.
Several letters were written to Mexico recommending that New Mexico be abandoned
for the good of the people. Onate’s supporters ignored the order. Viceroys made
adjustments to guarantee no further injustices of the natives. Replacing Onate
as governor with Pedro de Peralta was one of the drastic changes they made.

On May 4 the conquistadors went near Mount Cristo Rey and slowly proceeded
North. Juan de Onate is credited for naming El Paso - El Paso del Rio del
Norte, the Ford of the River of the North.

On April 25, 1998 (this is when El Paso celebrates Juan de Onate's crossing, the
last weekend of every April) will be the 400th celebration anniversary of de
Onate’s crossing. A statue of Juan de Onate mounting his stallion will be
dedicated in downtown El Paso -- the largest equestrian bronze sculpture in the
nation. People from El Paso celebrate the First Thanksgiving by partaking in
the acting out of Villagra’s poem. Activities such as these help commemorate
the true First Thanksgiving hosted by the Manso Indians and Juan de Onate.

AS EXPOSED.....




Juan de Onate, the last conquistador
By: Consuelo Worden
http://www.collegetermpapers.com/TermPapers/History_Other/Juan_de_Onate_the_last\
_conquistador.shtml

In the late 1500's after the disappointment of Coronado's non-glorious
expedition
was forgotten, Spain had a renewed interest in New Mexico. King Philip II
needed a new conquistador to go to New Mexico to obtain and claim the 3 G's
(Gold, Glory, and God) for the crown and for the country. The man chosen to
fill
this job was Juan de Onate. Being of noble Basque blood it seems that Juan de
Onate was destined to become someone of importance. It is said that the
Basque
people were "Hardy, self-reliant, and stubbornly strong" and "In New Spain
won
distinction as explorers, soldiers, and discoverers of mines on the
frontier." Juan's
father Cristobal de Onate was one of those Basque people described above. In
1546 Cristobal along with a few other Basque men discovered a silver mine in
Mexico, but was already rich due to his many encomiendas, his salary as a
lieutenant-governor, and many other businesses he owned. Given Juan de
Onate's
tremendous wealth and outstanding family history King Philip thought that he
had
found an excellent conquistador, but would soon find out that he was wrong.

Juan de Onate's problems started before he even left New Spain. Due to
politics
and other circumstances Onate's expeditions were delayed many times. As a
result of these delays many of the settlers Onate had recruited lost interest
and
left. The issue of abandonment of his settlers would continue to remain a
problem. Abandonment by the settlers came as a result of the bad conditions
of
the settlements. It was said that "Onate, instead of trying to establish his
colony
upon a firm economic basis, with his captains, devoted their time and
exhausted
their resources in explorations and the search for mines." On September 12,
1598
four of Onate's men stole horses to leave back to New Spain. After catching
the
four men Onate ordered them executed, with no trial. This perhaps began to
show that Onate was more a villain than a hero. Onate would soon have bigger
problems than abandonment to deal with. This time Onate's problems would hit
closer to home. On December fourth after the Spaniards asked the Acoma
Indians to "subscribe to the Act of obedience and Homage," the Acoma Indians
attacked the Spaniards. In this attack 13 Spaniards were killed. The most
devastating to Juan de Onate was the death of his nephew, Juan de Zaldivar.
After
being given an unfair and biased trial Onate, once again showing the villain
from
within, issued brutal sentences to the 500 captured Acoma Indians. All of the
Indians 12 and older were sentenced to be slaves for 20 years, and males 25
and
older had one of their feet cut off. Conditions continued to worsen for the
settlers
in New Mexico. The situation was so bad that "by early 1601 life in New
Mexico
had been reduced to a simple formula - fending of hunger and cold." This was
more bad news for Onate. Due to the bad conditions of the settlements and
Onate's mistreatment of the Indians and of his own people, the Viceroy of New
Spain received continuous complaints against Onate. Finally in 1607 Onate
gave
up his search for the 3 G's and turned in his resignation, and by 1609 the
Viceroy
of New Spain appointed a new royal governor. Onate's problems did not stop at
his resignation. In 1614 Juan de Onate was called to trial and faced many
charges
of misconduct. One of the many charges was his misuse of the Encomienda
system. In 1601, "the Governor (Onate) had levied a tribute of 2000 cotton
blankets, each one and a half yards square, and 500 deer skins, upon the
Indians."

Onate was found guilty on 12 charges, and was exiled from New Mexico for life
and from New Spain for 4 years. In 1624 Onate appealed and cleared his name,
but died in 1625. At one time the king of Spain believed that Juan de Onate
would
bring his kingdom both glory and great wealth. However, he turned out doing
the
exact opposite. He found no great wealth and brought shame to the name of
Spain. That just goes to show you cannot depend on someone based on his or
her
economic status and family history.