Book description
Studies of seventeenth-century New Mexico have largely overlooked
the soldiers and frontier settlers who formed the backbone of the
colony and laid the foundations of European society in a distant
outpost of Spain's North American empire. This book, the final volume
in the Coronado Historical Series, recognizes the career of Juan
Domínguez de Mendoza, a soldier-colonist who was as instrumental as
any governor or friar in shaping Hispano-Indian society in New Mexico.
Domínguez de Mendoza served in New Mexico from age thirteen to
fifty-eight as a stalwart defender of Spain's interests during the
troubled decades before the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Because of his
successful career, the archives of Mexico and Spain provide extensive
information on his activities. The documents translated in this volume
reveal more cooperative relations between Spaniards and Pueblo Indians
than previously understood.
Marc Simmons is a historian and the author of
over forty books, among them New Mexico: An Interpretive
History and Coronado's Land (both by UNM Press).
José Antonio Esquibel is a genealogical researcher
and contributor to several books on Southwest history.
France V. Scholes was a historian at the
University of New Mexico who played a significant role in unearthing
Spanish colonial documents about New Mexico.
