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History of New Mexico

  • Anasazi
    Jan 1, 700

    Anasazi

    Anasazi culture culminates in the highly developed Chaco Canyon
    (Around 700-1300 AD)
  • Period: Jan 1, 700 to

    Before Statehood

  • Anasazi People Settle Jemez Mountains-
    Jan 1, 1100

    Anasazi People Settle Jemez Mountains-

    Beginning in the late 1100s, the upland mesas flanking the east side of the Jemez Mountains were settled by people of the Anasazi Culture. At first there were hundreds of individual, family size dwellings.
    (actual date unvailable)
  • Drought
    Jan 1, 1180

    Drought

    Serious drought causes abandonment of outlying areas and end of the "Chaco Phenomenon." (actual date not available)
  • Pueblo Indians
    Jan 1, 1200

    Pueblo Indians

    Peublo Indians establish villages along the Rio Grande
    (1200-1500s AD)
  • Chaco Canyon Abandoned-
    Jan 1, 1200

    Chaco Canyon Abandoned-

    Pueblo Bonito and other Great Houses abandoned at Chaco.
  • Puye Cliff Qwellings-
    Jan 8, 1259

    Puye Cliff Qwellings-

    home for over 1500 Pueblo Indians who built villages, dwelled, farmed, and hunted game
  • Great Drought-
    Jan 1, 1276

    Great Drought-

    Great drought probably linked to some abandonments. No actual date available
  • Abandonment of Four Corners
    Jan 1, 1300

    Abandonment of Four Corners

    Abandonment of Four Corners area; population increase further south in Rio Grande and Little Colorado regions and Hopi mesas.
  • Drought
    Jan 1, 1425

    Drought

    More drought actual date not available
  • Treaty of Tordesillas
    Jan 8, 1494

    Treaty of Tordesillas

    The Treaty of Tordesillas was a pivotal document underlying the Spanish Empire's goal of expanding its domain in the world during the 15th century. The treaty would be evoked as divine claim upon land and people granted by the Pope himself in Juan de Oñate's Act of Possession. It was concluded on June 7, 1494 in order to settle the contentious matter of the possession of the newly discovered lands of the non Christian world between Portugal and Spain.
  • Cabeza De Vaca
    Jan 1, 1536

    Cabeza De Vaca

    Cabeza De Vaca, Estevan the Moor, and two others reach Culiacdn, Mexico, after crossing what is now southern New Mexico, and begin the rumors of the Seven Cities of Cibola
    (actual date unknown)
  • First Capitol of San Juan de los Caballeros

    First Capitol of San Juan de los Caballeros

    Juan de Onate establishes the first capitol of San Jun de los Caballeros at the Tewa village of Ohke north of present day Espanola
  • Battle of Acoma

    Battle of Acoma

    Battle of Acoma between Natives and Spaniards; seeds of Pueblo Revolt sown
    (actual date not given)
  • San Gabriel founded

    San Gabriel founded

    Second capitol, San Gabriel, is founded at the conflusnce of the Rio Grande and the Chama River
    (actual date not given)
  • Mass Desertion

    Mass Desertion

    Mass desertion of San Gabriel by colonists; new recruits front Spain and Mexico sent to reinforce colony.
    (actual date not given)
  • Onate removed as governer

    Onate removed as governer

    Onate removed as governor and sent to Mexico City to be tried for mistreatment of the Indians and abuse of power. Decision made by Spanish Crown to continue settlement of New Mexico as a royal province.
    (actual date not given)
  • Santa Fe established

    Santa Fe established

    Gov. Pedro de Peralta establishes a new capital at Santa Fe. Construction begins on the Palace of the Governors. Gaspar de Villagra publishes epic history on the founding of New Mexico, the first book printed about any area in the modern United States
    (1609-10; no actual date given)
  • Spanish Inquistion

    Spanish Inquistion

    Spanish Inquisition established in New Mexico.
  • Pueblo Revolt

    Pueblo Revolt

    Pueblo Indian Revolt Spanish survivors flee to El Paso del Norte
    *date unknown
  • Recolonizing

    Recolonizing

    Don Diego de Vargas recolonizes Santa Fe. Spanish civilization returns to New Mexico
    *date unknown, 1692-93
  • Duke of Alburquerque Arrives

    Duke of Alburquerque Arrives

    The Duke of Alburquerque, Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, arrives in Mexico City to assume duties as the 34th viceroy of New Spain.
    (actual date unknown)
  • Albuquerque founded

    Albuquerque founded

    Villa de Albuquerque founded
    *date unknown
  • French trappers Trade with Spanish

    French trappers Trade with Spanish

    French trappers reach Santa Fe and begin limited trade with the Spanish. (actual date not given)
  • Division of Las Trampas Land Grant

    Division of Las Trampas Land Grant

    Political chief Juan Jose Lobato allows 12 families to take possession of the Las Trampas land grant. He assigns each family plots for homes, gardens and growing wheat. Las Trampas was a springboard for settlement of eastern New Mexico and Colorado.
    (actual date not given)
  • Comanche Attack Taos

    Comanche Attack Taos

    Bishop Pedro Tamarón is the first to account for this event officially in his 1760 descriptions of New Mexico,
    (actual date not given)
  • Smallpox Epidemic

    Smallpox Epidemic

    Smallpox epidemic devastates New Mexico, killing more than 5000 people, a quarter of the entire population.(actual date not given)
  • Peace Conference with Comanches

    Peace Conference with Comanches

    Gov. Juan Bautista de Anza and troops hold peace conference at Pecos Pueblo with Comanches, led by Chief Ecueracapa.(actual date not given)
  • First trip over Santa Fe Trail

    First trip over Santa Fe Trail

    Trail between Santa Fe and St. Louis, the first complete journey over the Santa Fe Trail.actual date not given)
  • Santa Rita Mine

    Santa Rita Mine

    Col. Jose Manuel Carrasco discovers a deposit of copper, which comes to be known as the Santa Rita Mine. (actual date unknown)
  • Settling of Rio Colorado

    Settling of Rio Colorado

    Pedro Martín of Taos reported to Governor Alberto Máynez, that he had placed 50 families in possession of the site [paraje and sitio] of Río Colorado. (actual dte unknown)
  • Treaty of Cordova

    Treaty of Cordova

    This was the Agreement on the Independent Kingdom of Mexico, which was concluded in the town of Cordova on
  • Formation of Estado Interno del Norte

    Formation of Estado Interno del Norte

    By an act of the constituent congress, New Mexico joined to the provinces of Chihuahua and Durango, forming the Estado Interno del Norte.(actul dte not known)
  • First Major Gold Discovery in US - Ortiz Mountains

    First Major Gold Discovery in US - Ortiz Mountains

    First major gold discovery in western U. S. made in Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe.(actul date unknown)
  • First School Text Printed in New Mexico

    First School Text Printed in New Mexico

    First school text printed in New Mexico by Padre Antonio Jose Martinez of Taos. (actual date unknown)
  • Repeal of Colonization Laws

    Repeal of Colonization Laws

    The Mexican Congress repeals all land colonization laws, seeking to become the final issuing authority for land grants along the northern frontier. Military and church leaders were alarmed at the number of Anglos receiving grants in New Mexico and Texas.(actual date not available)
  • New Mexico Becomes a Department

    New Mexico Becomes a Department

    Under the constitution of 1836, the territory of New Mexico became a department and would be considered as such until U.S. occupation. (actual date npt avai;able)
  • Assassination of Gov. Perez

    Assassination of Gov. Perez

    Santo Domingo revolutionaries in Santa Fe on Agua Fria Road decapitate Gov. Albino Perez. The governor tried to impose taxes ordered by Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, sparking the Revolt of 1837.
  • Mexican-American War

    Mexican-American War

    1996 marked the 150th anniversary of one of the most significant events in New Mexico history - the Mexican American War. War between the United States and Mexico was officially declared on
  • Tom Ketchum Executed

    Tom Ketchum Executed

    Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum was executed in Clayton, New Mexico, becoming the only person ever executed by hanging under the territorial law that imposed the death penalty on train robbers.
  • Lincoln Day Proclamation

    Lincoln Day Proclamation

    New Mexico Governor George Curry issued the Lincoln Day Proclamation recognizing the one hundredth anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth.
  • WWII Starts

    This is just a guideline, not part of actual timeline
  • Period: to

    WWII

  • Kirtland Field

    Kirtland Field

    Albuquerque Army Air Base renamed Kirtland Field
    *no date given
  • Internment Camp

    Internment Camp

    Santa Fe Japanese internment camp is established
  • N.M. National Guardsmen captured

    N.M. National Guardsmen captured

    N.M. National Guardsmen captured at Bataan in the Philippines, about half of the 1800 New Mexicans die before end of the war in 1945
    *no date given
  • Bases extablished

    Bases extablished

    Holloman Air Force Base established near Alamogordo and Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis
    *no date given
  • Code Talkers

    Code Talkers

    Navajo members of the 382nd Platoon, U. S. Marine Corps, establish secret code, become known as “Code Talkers”
    *no date given
  • USS Santa Fe launched

    USS Santa Fe launched

    USS Santa Fe (CL-60), a Cleveland class light cruiser, is launched
    *no date given
  • Manhattan Project Newcomers

    Manhattan Project Newcomers

    109 East Palace in Santa Fe and its administrator, Dorothy McKibbin, welcome Manhattan Project newcomers to New Mexico
    *no date given
  • The Hill

    The Hill

    Manhattan Project site on “the Hill” at Los Alamos is established
    *no date given
  • White Sands

    White Sands

    White Sands Proving Ground (later White Sands Missile Range) established
  • Bomb tested

    Bomb tested

    The test bomb was dropped at 5:29:45 pm. The sand around the drop site turned into glass.
  • Secret revealed

    Secret revealed

    nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, lead to first official reports of secret activities on “the Hill”
    *Date not given
  • Rocket Programs

    Rocket Programs

    about 100 German rocket engineers and scientists arrive at Fort Bliss, the beginning of U. S. Army rocket programs at White Sand
    *Date not given
  • Bill Mauldin

    Bill Mauldin

    New Mexican Bill Mauldin wins Pulitzer Prize for his World War II cartoons and reporting when he was 23
    *Date not given
  • Little Boy dropped

    Little Boy dropped

    Little Boy dropped at 8:16 am on Hiroshima.
  • Fat Man dropped

    Fat Man dropped

    Fat Man dropped on 11:01 on Nagasaki
  • Japan surrenders

    This is just a guideline, not part of actual timeline
  • Period: to

    1947-80

  • UFO in Roswell

    UFO in Roswell

    Roswell Army Air Field picked up a "flying disk" It has been rumored to have contained alien bodies and said to be an alien ship
  • Voting

    Voting

    A federal court in Santa Fe ruled that New Mexico was bring unfair towards the Minorites with voting rights, giving the Native Americans voting rights
  • Period: to

    Timeline 5

  • Riot

    Riot

    N. M. penitentiary riot takes place as inmates take guards hostage, 33 inmates die
  • Seismosaurus

    Seismosaurus

    fossilized bones of perhaps the longest dinosaur yet found, Seismosaurus (Earth Shaker), are found south of San Ysidro
  • I-40

    I-40

    I-40 is completed in New Mexico
    *date not given
  • Space Shuttle

    Space Shuttle

    Space shuttle Columbia lands at White Sands Space Harbor oil Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo.*date not given
  • Third U.S. Congrssional Seat

    Third U.S. Congrssional Seat

    Third U.S Congressional seat, filled by Bill Richardson (other two are Manuel Luján, Jr., and Joe Skeen)
  • I was born

    I was born

    The world gained a serial killer