More than fifty years after Hernando de Alvarado first arrived, Don Juan de Oñate started the first settlement in New Spain in 1598. The years following held much conflict between the native peoples, the Spanish conquistadores and later the U. S. government forces. After more Spanish settled in the Taos valley, priests came to convert the Indians to Catholicism and try to suppress expressions of native religious faith. They demanded tribute from the Indians. The Pueblo Revolt in 1680 drove out the Spanish.

In 1692, after only twelve years, there was a Spanish reconquest led by Don Diego de Vargas. Most Spanish were living in remote farms and ranches and raising churro sheep which were the mainstay of the New Mexico economy. Following the reconquest, Commanche raids were frequent and in 1772 the government of Spain demanded that the Spanish no longer settle in remote farms and ranches but that they gather in villages, build a fortification and live in proximity. Plazas were built about this time to offer protection.

In 1821 Mexico got its independence from Spain. The year 1821 was important because it was the same year the Santa Fe trail was established. After Mexican independence, the area of New Spain now became part of an independent Mexico and was called Mexico. In the 1820's Anglo-Americans began settling rapidly in the midst of the Hispanic population.

In 1848 the United States declared war on Mexico. The U. S. military entered New Mexico without resistance and took over the province. In New Mexico the soldiers lacked arms and ammunition and there was a severe shortage of men. The U. S. government was petitioned to make New Mexico a U. S. territory which it became in 1850.

New Mexico became a state in 1912. It was the 47th state to be annexed.

The Taos Valley was the scene of New Mexico's liveliest trade fairs with the Plains Indians. The Spanish would trade horses, agricultural products including sugar, tobacco, corn, bread and dried fruit, tools such as hatchets, war axes, lances, knives, scissors, mirrors, cloth, ribbons and glass beads in exchange with the Indians for mules, moccasins, colts, hides and buffalo meat. Trade fairs, called pow wows, continue to take place today at the Taos Pueblo. Apart from the Pueblo, Spain generally prohibited foreigners from trading in the closed economy of its empire. Besides the Indian trade fairs, most trade occurred with markets that lay far to the south along El Camino Real (the King's Highway) to Santa Fe, El Paso or another three hundred miles south to Chihuahua, Mexico - or even further south. They would have driven large herds of sheep and pack mules laden with woolen textiles, cotton, hides and piñon nuts, returning with horses, mules, cloth, chocolate, sugar, soap, rice, iron, hardware, spices, hats, leather goods, paper, drugs and hard cash. Some traders, trappers and explorers provided goods through illegal trade with the North Americans. Things like high-quality manufactured goods, furs such as beaver pelts, guns, metal or iron tools would have been traded.

The Santa Fe Trail opened up the remote, removed, isolated area of Taos to trade with other areas of North America. When Mexico broke free from Spain it also abolished Spanish restrictions on trade with foreigners. Suddenly New Mexicans and North Americans could trade legally with each other. Manufactured goods of high quality for lower prices were available: cloth, clothing ranging from plain cotton handkerchiefs to imported silk shawls; tools, kitchen utensils and household goods from pins to pens and from wallpaper to window glass. Ironware was especially important because there were few artisan's tools, few implements for agriculture such as carts, ploughs, yokes, spades. The North Americans returned east, back to St. Louis, with silver, mules and furs.

Activity: What sorts of things would be traded at the pow wows?

Activity: What sorts of things would the people from New Spain have traded when under Spanish rule on El Camino Real?

Activity: What sorts of things would the U.S. trappers and traders have traded?

Activity: What sort of things would have been brought in on the Santa Fe trail?