Four hundred years ago, in October 1609, Santa Fe was founded. That’s a simple statement, right? You’d be surprised how much controversy it’s caused. Was it 1609 or 1610? Define “founded”? After all, the Native Americans had a thriving pueblo on the site of Santa Fe well before the Mexicans and Spanish showed up. And let’s not even talk about why New Mexico became a State, and whether that was a good idea.
And, anyway, what’s to celebrate? (That’s why the City is calling it a Commemoration, not a Celebration) The Native Americans objected to “Celebration”, as to them Santa Fe was a place they were excluded from – except as slaves or captives. Exploration of the area started with Coronado in 1540, and colonization in earnest came with Onate in 1598. His people established the first capital, about 25 miles north of Santa Fe, and moved to Santa Fe in 1608.
The reason for the delay in proclaiming Santa Fe a capital was because, well fax wasn’t invented then, so it took a while for the appropriate papers to make it to Mexico City thence to Madrid and back to the new capital. Anyway, things didn’t start off well, especially when the Spanish imposed a sort of tithe system, called encomienda, among the Native Americans. Then the religious oppression started, with the Spanish seeking to crush the native religion.
This all culminated in the hanging of 4 Indians in beautiful downtown Santa Fe in 1665, and the flogging of another 40 or so. One of these was Pope, who would later lead the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
Anyway, from such inauspicious starts came the present capital of Santa Fe, the oldest capital in the United States. So now we are, uh, commemorating, its founding in a subdued way. We had a big concert and public festival in September, and the visit of some members of the Spanish royal family. Then, because we ran out of money, nobody’s quite sure whether there’ll be any actual formal celebrations in 2010. In fact this may be a blessing, because it forces us all to think ‘what’s this 400th thing all about? I predict many more grassroots events, because if we all sit back and say ‘hey, somebody, celebrate the 400th for us’, that won’t happen because there is no ‘somebody’.
Our local public radio station KSFR has stepped up with a couple of ideas – including a great little 400 song that they had recorded and distributed. Now they want to brand one of our city traditions, the sand filled paper bags known as farolitos. Great idea – and the mayor has agreed to encourage the production of farolitos for display during Christmas in Washington DC.
Just surviving since 1610 is quite a feat for an American town, never mind thriving, as Santa Fe is. So hopefully sometime in the next 12 months we’ll all stop and give ourselves a collective pat on the back for remaining one of the most consistent, interesting and audacious towns on the planet.
Author Resource:
Frank O’Mahony is a realtor in Santa Fe New Mexico. He was previously director of marketing for the State Economic Development Department. Now his firm, Evolve Santa Fe Real Estate, works with people who want to move to Santa Fe to work, relax or retire.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")