Santa Fe de Nuevo México

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México or, in full, Santa Fe de Nuevo México; alternatively, Nuevo Méjico) was a province of New Spain that existed from the late 16th century up through the early 19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico, with borders extending in the present-day states of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. Its capital was Santa Fe.

The province was founded in 1598 by Juan de Oñate during his expedition northward from New Spain. The expedition had been authorized by Phillip II and was motivated in part by a desire to restore the fortunes of the Spanish Empire following the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The Spanish believed that cities of gold, such as the ones of the Aztecs they had previously conquered, lay to the north in the unexplored territory. Oñate was unable to find such cities, however. He later became the first governor of the province. Oñate hoped to turn the province in a separate viceroyalty from New Spain, but he was unsuccessful. The Spanish were expelled from the territory for 12 years following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, returning in 1692 upon the "bloodless" reoccupation of Santa Fe by Diego de Vargas. The province remained in Spanish control until Mexico's declaration of independence in 1810; under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico it became a federally administered territory of the United Mexican States.

The area of the former province east of the Rio Grande was claimed by the Republic of Texas after 1836, a claim that was disputed by Mexico. The Texians sent an expedition to occupy the claimed area in 1841, but were repulsed by Mexican troops. The area became part of the United States by 1848 with the Texas Annexation and the Mexican Cession. New Mexico did not become a state until January of 1912.

See also