History Pre-1821

Chronology of Southwestern US History

Books by Jack Purcell:

Hell Bent For Santa Fe - The Texan Santa Fe Expedition of 1841

This chronology was created on Time Line Maker software, Progeny Software, Inc., http://www.progenysoftware.com/. Some of the events listed are taken from the History of the States downloads available there.
Southwestern US History

Pre-1821 1821-1860 Post -1860

Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California

Chronology of the Native Americans-Spanish-Mexicans-and Anglos.

They wrote the turbulent history of an empty land in blood to make it their own

Start Date	Event	Place	Note

0300	First Pre-Chacoan culture pit houses appear	Hueco Bolson southeast of Las Cruces, NM, West Mesa, Albuquerque, NM, Durango, CO, Mogollon Dist, NM	Pockets of small villages of 10-20 dwellings

0500	Pit house villages spread to most lowland villages	NM, CO and AZ

0750	Large pit house pre-Chacoan villages appear	NM, CO, Az	Villages of more than 100 occupants

0900	Chacoan/Mogollon cultures first show themselves	New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, northern Mexico	Pueblo II, Classic Mimbres and Classic Chaco period begins. First evidence appears of a large population of slaves among the Chacoan/Mogollons illustrated in their burial methods. Non-slaves were carefully buried under the floors of the houses. Slaves were tossed on the midden (garbage) piles. Daniel Ellis Conner was present when one of these ruins was disturbed during the building of Fort West in March, 1863. A large olla filled with charred human bones was found during the erection of one of the corner-posts for the fort. Conner speculates at some length on the nature of the myriad ruins he observed and the people who created them. The olla was sent to Washington by US Army doctor D.B. Sturgeon (the doctor who exhumed Mangas Colorado and removed his brain, also sent to Washington). The Lost Adams Diggings. During the Classic Chacoan times the southwestern desert was evidently more heavily populated than it is today. An archeologist acquaintance speculates the total population of the Chacoan/Mogollon region might have reached 100-150 thousand at the peak.

1000	The big houses, first major road system in the US	New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, northern Mexico	Major roads 30 feet wide and curbed connected 60 ancient cities. These roads run arrow-straight ignoring all obstacles. Shocking sophistication in engineering and surveying, these roads. They also testify to the wealth of the Chacoans and the abundance of available labor unneeded for the basic requirements of survival. Most of the New Mexico ruins are built without concerns for defense, whereas further north at Hovenweep and Mesa Verde on the periphery of the lands held by the Chacoans defense was fundamental to the architecture. Evidently the Chacoan interior didn't suffer deep penetration by the wild tribes to the north.

1060	Chaco Canyon boom	Chaco, Pueblo Pentada, NM	Hub of most of the roads built by Chacoans in all directions

1100	Eruption of the McCarty flow	South of Mount Taylor, NM	Enormous lava flow covers 30+miles north to south and 7-15 miles wide centered in Anasazi/Chacoan country. A favorite location for the Lost Adams Diggings by one of the early partisans, W.H. Byerts.

1150	Civil War among the Chacoans and Mogollons	New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, northern Mexico	Ruins testify of the civil war. Homes burned, charred corn with the kernels intact, charred skulls and human bones. The disorders covered a wide range geographically from the Mogollons to Utah. The war evidently preceded the migration of the Chacoans and immediately followed the McCarty volcano eruption. The causes of the civil war are entirely open to speculation, as is the destination of the migration. Zuni legends suggest they went south. Lagunas believe their ancestors went south and they are the sole survivors of the tribe, the young, the sick, those unable to make the long trek south.

1200	Chacoan/Mogollon cultures vanish	New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, northern Mexico	If the Chacoans migrated south the Gila Cliff Dwellings and a number of otherwise inexplicable ruins are partially explained. The Cliff Dwellings were only occupied for 50-75 years and were first found with grain-bins full of corn with no obvious reason for the abandonment. Gila Cliff dwellings might well have been a way station for the migration's trickle of wayfarers. If so they testify to the careful planning and organization that typifies almost every aspect of Chacoan culture in the north.

1200	Hopi Village Founded	Oraibi, Arizona	This may be the oldest American town where people have continuously lived.

1220	Pueblo III	Last of the Chacoans

1300	New tribes enter New Mexico - Pueblo IV	Areas previously occupied by Chacoans	Pueblos again rise on the Rio Grande

1300	Aztecs arrive in the Valley of Mexico	Mexico City	The Toltecs and other tribes at war with the Aztecs when the Spaniards arrived reported the Aztecs arrived in mass from the 'north' a century earlier, a generation before the grandparents of Indians giving the account to the Spaniards.

1400	First free Navajos and Apaches appear in New Mexico and Arizona	NM, AZ, CO	Possibly previously slaves of the Chacoans struggling over lands vacated by the Anasazi and Mogollons

1450	Pimas and Papagoes appear in AZ	Arizona

1493	Papal Bull gives almost all the New World to King and Queen of Spain	Rome, Spain, New World

1500	Navajos and Apaches begin raiding new Puebloan settlements on the Rio Grande	New Mexico

1500	Ute Inhabit Colorado

1519	First European Explorer		Sailing from a base in Jamaica, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, a Spanish adventurer, was the first known European to explore and map the Texas coastline.

1520	First Spanish contacts with the cannibals on the Texas coast.	Matagorda Island	Karakawans evidently

May6 1527 Nov 1528	Sack of Rome European Traders	Rome Galveston island	Spanish and German mercenaries led by the Duke of Bourbon, fueled by withheld pay, anger at the Church, and war raging across Italy almost a decade enter Rome, kill thousands of priests, rape and kill nuns, loot burn cathedrals and hold the Pope ransom. This event was to have far-reaching effects throughout the Christian world, including the Americas. Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked on what is believed today to be Galveston Island. After trading in the region for some six years, he later explored the Texas interior on his way to Mexico.

1533	First Contact With Native California Indians	Bay of La Paz

25 Jul 1536	Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevan arrive Mexico City	From Texas, New Mexico and Arizona	give first reports of Cibola and wealth to be had in the lands to the north (now New Mexico)

1539	Marcos de Niza travels New Mexico	New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, northern Mexico

1540	Coronado conquers upper Rio Grande	New Mexico, Arizona, Texas

23 Apr 1541	Coronado expedition begins eastward trek from the Rio Grande	New Mexico, Texas	Search for Cibola across the staked plains

28 Sep 1542	First Europeans to Visit California	San Diego Bay

17 Jun 1579	Sir Francis Drake Claims California for England

1581	Chamiscado Rodriguiz treks to Pecos	Pecos Pueblo

1582	Fray Bernadino Beltran explores upper Rio Grande	New Mexico, Arizona, Texas

1582	Antonio de Espojo to upper Rio Grande	New Mexico, Texas

1589	Castano de Sosa	New Mexico, Texas, Mexico

1593	Francisco Leyba de Bonilla to New Mexico	New Mexico, Texas, Mexico

Apr 1598	Oñate arrives on the upper Rio Grande	New Mexico, Texas, Arizona Mexico

11 Jul 1598	First Spanish Capital of New Mexico	Ohkay, NM	An advance party of the Spanish expedition arrived at the northern New Mexico Tewa village of Ohkay Owingeh, located near the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Rio Chama. Here the Spanish decided to stop, renamed the village San Juan de Los Caballeros and established the first Spanish capital of New Mexico.

01 Dec 1598	Juan de Zaldivar and company murdered at Acoma Pueblo	Acoma, NM

12 Jan 1599	Oñate launches army against Acoma Pueblo	San Juan, Acoma, NM

21 Jan 1599	Spanish army reaches Acoma	Acoma Pueblo, NM

12 Feb 1599	Trial of the Acomas	San Juan Pueblo	Found guilty of murdering 11 Spaniards, murdering 2 Indian servants, treachery. Sentence: 1) all male Acomas over the age of 25 to have one foot cut off and serve 20 years of slavery, 2) all males over 12 but less than 25 to 20 years of servitude, 3) Zuni prisoners caught at Acoma to have right hands cut off, 4) all females over 12 to give 20 years of servitude, 5) 60 girls under 12 sent to convents in Mexico.

1600	Second Capital of New Mexico	San Gabriel	Founded at the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Chama River.

05 May 1602	Exploration of California Coast

1614	Spanish Mission San Jose	San Jose, NM

1621	Spanish Mission Pecos	Pecos, NM

1626	Spanish Inquisition	Rome, Madrid, Mexico City, New Mexico	Spanish Inquisition established in New Mexico. Thousands of Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal had drifted to the Americas for a century. Many were now in New Mexico. In 1626 the sanctuary of the northern provinces ended for them.

1629	Spanish Mission Acoma Pueblo	Acoma, NM

1630	Spanish Mission Gallisteo	Gallisteo, NM

1672	Abo abandoned	Manzano Mountains, NM

1680	La Cienega abandoned	Near Santa Fe, NM	Pueblo Revolt of 1680

10 Aug 1680	Pueblo Revolt Against Spain	Taos and the Pueblos on the upper Rio Grand, NM	The uprising was led by a Pueblo priest called Pop'e. At a prearranged signal, each Pueblo was to raze its mission church, then kill the resident priest and neighboring Spanish settlers. Once the outlying Spanish settlements were destroyed, the Pueblo forces would converge on the isolated capital of Santa Fe. Events occurred that cause the revolt to be far less organized than planned, but the Pueblos did manage to drive the Spanish to the most southern settlement of new Mexico.


1682	First Spanish Mission	El Paso	Corpus Christi de la Isleta was the first Spanish mission and pueblo in Texas.

18 Feb 1685	French Claim Texas	Matagorda Bay	Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and thus formed the basis for France's claim to Texas. Two years later, LaSalle was murdered by his own men.

1690	Spanish Missionaries		To further its claim to Texas, Spaniards instituted the mission system. Between 1690 and 1793, 36 missions were established in Texas.

1691	Father Eusebio Francisco Kino	Arizona, California	One of the most famous missionaries in Arizona was a Jesuit, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, who came to Arizona in 1691. After establishing the mission San Cayetano Tumacácori, he traveled north to establish the missions San Xavier del Bac and Guevavi. San Xavier del Bac is the only one of the three that is still a mission today. In addition to establishing missions, Father Kino taught the native peoples different agricultural methods and brought horses, sheep, mules, and cattle into Arizona. His teachings formed the basis for ranching in the Santa Cruz and San Pedro river valleys. Father Kino was also an explorer and mapmaker. Before his exploration to the Colorado River, Baja California was thought to be an island. When he reached the mouth of the Colorado in 1702, Father Kino found that Baja California was a peninsula rather than an island. His 1710 map unveiled this discovery and was the model for all area maps for the next 100 years. The maps that Father Kino drew of the area, were important to the later exploration.

14 Sep 1692	Re-conquest of New Mexico by Spain	Upper Rio Grande, Acoma, Zuni	In 1690, Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon was appointed Governor of New Mexico. It was his task to re-conquer New Mexico. Diego de Vargas and a contingent of less than fifty soldiers, accompanied by three friars, left El Paso on August 17, 1692, and began an uneventful expedition north along the Rio Grande. In early September, de Vargas arrived at Santa Fe, where he found the old Spanish capital fortified and its inhabitants defiant. De Vargas, however, utilizing a masterful mix of diplomacy and a not so subtle threat of a siege, soon obtained their surrender. On September 14, 1692, de Vargas proclaimed a formal act of possession, and by the end of 1692, most of New Mexico's Pueblos had been officially restored to the Spanish empire without a shot being fired or any blood shed.

1697	A New Voyage Around the World

1699	Zunis forced to merge to one pueblo because of Apache raids	Zuni Pueblo

1700	First Comanche arrive in northwest Texas and New Mexico	Texas and NM	Displace Fara'on Apaches, Lipan Apaches and Jicarilla Apaches

1706	Albuquerque founded by Diego de Vargas	Albuquerque, NM

1739	French arrive Santa Fe	Santa Fe, NM

1752	3402 Spaniards in New Mexico	New Mexico

1769	Spanish Missions

1776	Utah First Explored

29 Nov 1777	First Settlement	San José, California

1779	Juan Batiste de Anza defeats Comanche	Rabbit Ear Mountain, New Mexico	Prelude to the 'Comanche Peace'

1780	Smallpox Epidemic kills 5000 Indians and Spaniards	New Mexico

17 Jul 1781	Yuma Massacre

1786	Comanche Peace	New Mexico

1793	First School Text Printed	Taos	First school text printed in New Mexico by Padre Antonio Jose Martinez of Taos.

1800	25000 Spaniards in New Mexico	New Mexico

1803	Louisiana Purchase	Central US	Removes an enormous piece of N. America from Spanish possession

1807	Pike Expedition	Santa Fe, NM	Zebulon Pike leads first Anglo American expedition into New Mexico.

1810	Father Manuel Hidalgo leads revolution in Mexico	Mexico	Father Manuel Hidalgo, a revolutionary liberal priest who believed Christ's church should champion the poor, instead of the ruling class.

1811	Mexico Revolution, Father Hidalgo's men capture Guanajuanto	Mexico	Massacre all the creoles in the town

1811	Revolution continues under Father Jose Morales	Mexico	Father Hidalgo captured shortly thereafter

1812	Father Hidalgo Excommunicated	Mexico	Prior to execution

1812	Mexico, Father Manuel Hidalgo executed	Chihuahua, Mexico	Firing squad required 5 volleys to kill him. The 5th was point-blank over the heart

1812	Mexico, General Calleja recaptures Guanajuanto	Guanajuanto, Mexico	Brings 14,000 occupants of the town into the plaza and cuts their throats

1812	Russian Trading Post	Fort Ross

1812	War of 1812, Revolution in Mexico	East Coast, North America and Mexico	Between the US and Great Britain war raged while in Mexico rebellion and civil war was directed for and against the Catholic Church and Spain. These wars were constants the 19th Century, both in the US and in Mexico and the provinces. The US wars tended to be for territorial expansion, while the Mexican civil wars were for and against the power of the Catholic Church, human rights and basic survival. The US warred against Native Americans whenever they stood in the way of expansion. Shrinking Mexico merely endured and fought the constant raids of Apaches in the north throughout most of the century.

Dec 1815	Father Morales captured, excommunicated, executed	Mexico

1816	Joseph Bonaparte meets with Francisco Xavier Mina	New Jersey	Begins to form a plan to overthrow Spain's hold on Mexico

Apr 1817	Mina's fleet lands at Matamoros	Matamoros, Mexico	Bonaparte's $100,000 letter of credit to Mina to finance the expedition provided 2 frigates, 2 brigs, 2 schooners and 400 troops

1818	Joseph Bonaparte funds General Charles Lallemand to establish a Colony in Texas	Champ d' Asile, Texas	Intention to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte I from Saint Helena and bring him to Texas

17 Dec 1818	Benito Juarez leaves his village of San Pablo Gualatao, Oaxaca	Mexico	One day to become the first popular ruler of Mexico. According to Santa Anna many years later, Juarez waited on him as a table servant at the house of Don Manuel Embides Asanbrada, December, 1828, dressed in coarse cloth and barefooted. Santa Anna believed Juarez never forgave him.

1819	Florida Treaty establishes Sabine River as boundary between US and Spain	Sabine River, Texas	US receives Florida and relinquishes all claims to Texas

Jun 1819	James Long army crosses Sabine with army, declares Texas independence from Spain	Texas	Short lived because of residual Spanish power and Indian raids

1820	First Non-Native Explorers

1820	Mexico Independence from Spain	Mexico

1820	Spanish Revolution ends Inquisition	Spain	Also abolishes slavery, confiscates property of the Catholic Church, orders the viceregality in Mexico to abolish slavery, racial discrimination, military courts ad proclaim religious toleration

1820	Spanish Revolution ends Inquisition	Spain	Also abolishes slavery, confiscates property of the Catholic Church, orders the viceregality in Mexico to abolish slavery, racial discrimination, military courts ad proclaim religious toleration

Created with TimeLine Maker on 11 Aug 2003

1821 - 1860 Chronology Post-1860 Chronology

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03/20/2005