The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976 Page: 168
528 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Intrusions by Frenchmen from Canada and Louisiana presented another
problem for New Mexico's governors in the eighteenth century. Not only
did French traders appear in Santa Fe and other villages, violating Spanish
law, but they also sold or bartered guns to the Comanches, which made
that Indian group an even more dangerous threat to the Spanish settle-
ments. The report notes that Governor Velez Cachupin arrested several
French interlopers, confiscated their merchandise, and sent the men as
prisoners to Mexico City. To offset French influence, Governor Velez
Cachupin recommended that the Spanish government officially cultivate
friendship and encourage trade with the Comanches.'
Observations about Franciscan missionary activity in New Mexico are
an important part of this governor's report. Their annual budget for mis-
sionary work is given as eight to nine thousand pesos, a figure that con-
forms to other official records. The governor severely criticized the mission-
aries for not knowing or learning the New Mexico Indian languages,
especially those dialects of the subdued Pueblo Indians, and he recom-
mended that the Franciscans set up a language program and develop
grammar books to correct this failing. This charge, denied by the Fran-
ciscans, was part of a larger church-state struggle in New Mexico. But it
does appear that only three out of twenty-five missionaries were able to
understand and speak the native dialects. However, the missionaries claimed
that the Indians understood Spanish, the language used for conversion and
cultural assimilation.8
Government at the local level in New Mexico's Spanish and Indian
settlements is also discussed. The province was divided into seven districts,
copper, gold, and silver occurred in the Mexican and American periods. A r6sume of
New Mexico mining is in Warren A. Beck, New Mexico: A History of Four Centuries
(Norman, 1962), 242-249.
7Governor V6lez Cachupin's policy regarding friendship and trade with the Comanches
is explicit in the I754 instructions he left his successor. A translation of these, "Copy of
the Instructions which Don Thomas V6lez Cachupin, Governor and Captain General of
New Mexico, left to his successor, Don Francisco Marin del Valle, at the order of his
most excellent sir, Conde de Revilla Gigedo, viceroy of this New Spain" [Copia de la
ynstrucci6n que D. Thomas V6lez Cachupin ... dex6 a sus successor Don Franzco Marin
del Valle"] is printed in Alfred Barnaby Thomas (ed. and trans.), The Plains Indians
and New Mexico, 1751-1778: A Collection of Documents Illustrative of the History of
the Eastern Frontier of New Mexico, Volume XI of Coronado Quarto Centennial Publi-
cations, edited by George P. Hammond (Albuquerque, 1940), 130-135. See also Jones,
Pueblo Warriors, 137.
8In I754 twenty-one Franciscan missionaries served in New Mexico north of the Rio
Grande. See the report in Hackett, Historical Documents, III, 462-468. The missionary
expenditures tally with those given by Alfred Barnaby Thomas, "Antonio Bonilla and
Spanish Plans for the Defense of New Mexico, 1772-1778," New Spain and the Anglo-
American West: Historical Contributions Presented to Herbert Eugene Bolton, edited by
George P. Hammond (2 vols.; Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1932), I, 202 n. For details on168
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976, periodical, 1975/1976; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101203/m1/200/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.