History

Over its 400 plus year history, Santa Fe has been a commercial center, a place where goods and services were made and traded. Following sporadic trade with settlements such as French New Orleans and Spanish Texas, the town really opened up in 1821, when the first trading caravans completed the 900 mile journey from Missouri. In 1821 New Spain declared independence from Spain, and the new nation officially sanctioned commerce, exchanging the riches of the Mexican silver mines for cattle and wagon loads of textiles, clothing, buckles, buttons, tools, implements and liquor. The six decades of the Santa Fe Trail cemented Santa Fe’s reputation as the commercial capital at Mexico’s northern border, and following New Mexico’s incorporation as a US State in 1911, Santa Fe became the state capital.

Today Santa Fe is the sum of its powerful history, with many families tracing their roots back several generations, a small-town atmosphere and an international reputation for artistic and architectural sophistication.

New Mexico’s long history

Pre-Contact Period
BCE 10000-CE 1550

Long before there was a New Mexico, Native peoples from a rich variety of cultures prospered in the harsh environment of the Southwest. Among the many groups that peopled the land were the Clovis, Folsom, and Ancestral Puebloan cultures. Explore these ancient peoples and the many important archaeological sites and artifacts they left.

Spanish Colonial Period
1540-1821

Spanish colonists arrived in New Mexico in 1598 and remained until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Then, after twelve years as a colony-in-exile in El Paso del Norte, Spanish colonists returned to New Mexico to say in 1693. Learn how for the next century and a quarter, Hispanos and Native Americans negotiated life in the region under the dominion of Spain and its institutions.

Mexican Period
1821-1848

Explore just how Mexican New Mexico really was. The period from 1821 to 1846 is one of the least studied and understood eras in New Mexico history. It was a period of political turmoil locally that mirrored the transformation taking place in the rest of Mexico as a newly independent nation moved out of the shadow of centuries of Spanish colonization and onto the world stage.

US Territorial Period
1848-1889

Ever wonder why it took New Mexico so long to become a state? Following a brief period of military occupation and rule from 1846 to 1850, New Mexico entered a period of rapid change as newcomers from the United States settled in a land belonging to Hispanic and Indian peopled. New Mexico met all the criteria for statehood by 1850, but the obstacles were placed in its way, and the territory began a long and difficult sixty-two-year journey to statehood.

Statehood To Present
1912-2010

New Mexico finally achieved statehood in 1912, becoming the forty-seventh star on the US flag. In the years that followed, New Mexico became the birthplace of the atomic age and one of the most significant contributors in the development of rocketry and the space program. For many years after World War II, New Mexico grew at meteoric rates, forever changing the character of the state. Take a look at the history of modern New Mexico.

Timelines

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Santa Fe Plaza

Santa Fe

History

New Mexico’s long history

Pre-Contact Period BCE 10000-CE 1550

Spanish Colonial Period 1540-1821

Mexican Period 1821-1848