Editing New Spain (section)

===Spanish borderlands===
[[File:Cuera dragon.jpg|thumb|''[[Soldado de cuera|Dragon de cuera]]'' from the end of the eighteenth century.]]
Areas of northern Mexico were incorporated into the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, following Texas independence and the Mexican–American War (1846–48) and generally known as the "Spanish Borderlands".<ref>{{harvp|Bannon|1974}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Weber|1991}}</ref> Scholars in the United States have extensively studied this northern region, which became the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.<ref>{{harvp|Bolton|1956}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Cutter|1995}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Spicer|1962}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Weber|1992}}</ref> During the period of Spanish rule, this area was sparsely populated even by indigenous peoples.<ref>{{harvp|Jackson|1994}}</ref>

The [[Presidio]]s (forts), [[pueblo]]s (civilian towns) and the [[List of Spanish missions|misiones]] (missions) were the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial holdings in these territories.

====Missions and the northern frontier====
The town of [[Albuquerque]] (modern Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]) was founded in 1706. Other Mexican towns in the region included Paso del Norte (modern [[Ciudad Juárez]]), founded in 1667; Santiago de la [[Monclova]] in 1689; Panzacola, Tejas in 1681; and San Francisco de Cuéllar (modern city of [[Chihuahua, Chihuahua|Chihuahua]]) in 1709. From 1687, [[Father Kino|Father Eusebio Francisco Kino]], with funding from the Marqués de Villapuente, founded over twenty [[Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert|missions]] in the [[Sonoran Desert]] (in modern [[Sonora]] and Arizona). 

From 1697, Jesuits established eighteen [[Spanish missions in California#Missions in present-day Baja California (Mexico)|missions throughout the Baja California peninsula]]. Between 1687 and 1700 several [[Spanish missions in Trinidad|missions were founded in Trinidad]], but only four survived as Amerindian villages throughout the 18th century. In 1691, explorers and missionaries visited the interior of Texas and came upon a river and Amerindian settlement on 13 June, the feast day of [[Anthony of Padua|St. Anthony]], and named the location and river [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]] in his honor.

====New Mexico====
[[File:Santa Fe San miguel chapel.jpg|thumb|[[San Miguel Mission|San Miguel chapel]] in New Mexico]]
During the term of [[viceroy]] Don [[Luis de Velasco, marqués de Salinas]] the crown ended the long-running [[Chichimeca War]] by making peace with the semi-nomadic [[Chichimeca]] indigenous tribes of northern México in 1591. This allowed expansion into the 'Province of New Mexico' or ''[[Santa Fe de Nuevo México|Provincia de Nuevo México]]''. In 1595, Don [[Juan de Oñate]], son of one of the key figures in the silver remining region of Zacatecas, received official permission from the viceroy to explore and conquer New Mexico. As was the pattern of such expeditions, the leader assumed the greatest risk but would reap the largest rewards, so that Oñate would become ''capitán general'' of New Mexico and had the authority to distribute rewards to those in the expedition.<ref>{{harvp|Altman|Cline|Pescador|2003|pp=193–194}}</ref> 

Oñate pioneered 'The Royal Road of the Interior Land' or ''[[El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro]]'' between Mexico City and the [[Tewa people|Tewa]] village of [[Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico|Ohkay Owingeh]], or San Juan Pueblo. He also founded the Spanish settlement of [[San Gabriel de Yungue-Ouinge]] on the [[Rio Grande]] near the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] Pueblo, located just north of the modern city of [[Española, New Mexico]].<ref>{{harvp|Sanchez|Spude|2013|loc=Chapters 2 & 3}}</ref> Oñate eventually learned that New Mexico, while it had a settled indigenous population, had little arable land, no silver mines, and possessed few other resources to exploit that would merit large scale colonization. He resigned as governor in 1607 and left New Mexico, having lost much of his personal wealth on the enterprise.<ref>{{harvp|Altman|Cline|Pescador|2003|p=194}}</ref>

In 1610, [[Pedro de Peralta]], a later [[Spanish governors of New Mexico|governor of the Province of New Mexico]], established the settlement of [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] near the southern end of the [[Sangre de Cristo Mountains|Sangre de Cristo]] mountain range. [[List of Spanish missions|Missions]] were established to convert the indigenous peoples and manage the agricultural industry. The territory's [[Puebloan peoples|indigenous population]] resented their forced conversion to Catholicism and suppression of their religion, and the imposition of [[encomienda]] system of forced labor. The unrest led to the [[Pueblo Revolt]] in 1680, expelling the Spanish, who retreated to Paso del Norte, modern-day [[Ciudad Juárez]].<ref>{{harvp|Gonzales|2003}}</ref>

After the return of the Spanish in 1692, the final resolution included a marked reduction of Spanish efforts to eradicate native culture and religion, the issuing of substantial communal [[land grant]]s to each Pueblo, and a public defender of their rights and for their legal cases in Spanish courts. In 1776 the New Mexico came under the new [[Provincias Internas]] jurisdiction. In the late 18th century the [[Spanish land grants in New Mexico|Spanish land grant]] encouraged the settlement by individuals of large land parcels outside [[Mission (Christian)|Mission]] and Pueblo boundaries, many of which became ranchos.<ref>{{harvp|Gonzales|2003}}</ref>

====California====
In 1602, [[Sebastián Vizcaíno]], the first Spanish presence in the 'New California' (''Nueva California'') region of the frontier [[Las Californias]] province since Cabrillo in 1542, sailed as far north up the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast]] as present-day [[Oregon]], and named California coastal features from [[San Diego]] to as far north as [[Monterey Bay|the Bay of Monterrey]].

Not until the eighteenth century was California of much interest to the Spanish crown, since it had no known rich mineral deposits or indigenous populations sufficiently organized to render tribute and do labor for Spaniards. The [[California gold rush|discovery of huge deposits of gold]] in the Sierra Nevada foothills did not come until after the U.S. had added California following the [[Mexican–American War]] (1846–48).

By the middle of the 1700s, the Catholic order of [[Jesuits]] had established a number of missions on the [[Baja California peninsula|''Baja'' (lower) California peninsula]]. Then, in 1767, [[Charles III of Spain|King Charles III]] ordered all Jesuits expelled from all Spanish possessions, including New Spain.<ref>{{harvp|Weber|1992|p=242}}</ref> New Spain's Visitador General [[José de Gálvez]] replaced them with the [[Dominican Order]] in Baja California, and the [[Franciscans]] were chosen to establish new northern missions in [[Alta California|''Alta'' (upper) California]].

In 1768, Gálvez received the order to "Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of Spain". The Spanish colonies there, having far fewer known natural resources and less cultural development than Mexico or Peru, were to combine establishing posts to defend the territory with a perceived responsibility to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism.

The method used to "occupy and fortify" was the established Spanish colonial system: [[Spanish Missions of California|missions]] (''misiones'', between 1769 and 1833 twenty-one missions were established) aimed at converting the [[Indigenous peoples of California|Native Californians]] to Catholicism, [[presidio|forts]] (''presidios'', four total) to protect the missionaries, and secular [[pueblo (disambiguation)|municipalities]] (''pueblos'', three total). Due to the region's great distance from supplies and support in México, the system had to be largely self-sufficient. As a result, the colonial population of California remained small, widely scattered and near the coast.

In 1776, the north-western frontier areas came under the administration of the new 'Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North' ''([[Provincias Internas]])'', designed to streamline administration and invigorate growth. The crown created two new provincial governments from the former [[Las Californias]] in 1804; the southern peninsula became Baja California, and the ill-defined northern mainland frontier area became Alta California.

Once missions and protective presidios were established in an area, large [[Spanish land grants in California|land grants]] encouraged settlement and establishment of [[Ranchos of California|California ranchos]]. The Spanish system of land grants was not very successful; however, because the grants were merely royal concessions—not actual land ownership. Under later Mexican rule, land grants conveyed ownership, and were more successful at promoting settlement.

Rancho activities centered on cattle-raising; many grantees emulated the [[Don (honorific)|Dons]] of Spain, with cattle, horses and sheep the source of wealth. The work was usually done by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], sometimes displaced and/or relocated from their villages. Native-born descendants of the resident Spanish-heritage rancho grantees, soldiers, servants, merchants, craftsmen and others became the [[Californios]]. Many of the less-affluent men took native wives, and many daughters married later English, French and American settlers.

After the [[Mexican War of Independence]] (1821) and subsequent [[secularization]] ("disestablishment") of the missions (1834), Mexican land grant transactions increased the spread of the rancho system. The land grants and ranchos established mapping and land-ownership patterns that are still recognizable in present-day California and New Mexico.<ref>{{harvp|Robinson|1979}}</ref>