Antonio De Espejo
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Antonio de Espejo (c. 1540–1585) was a Spanish explorer who led an expedition, accompanied by Diego Perez de Luxan, into what is now
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
and
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in 1582–83.pg 189 - The expedition created interest in establishing a Spanish colony among the
Pueblo Indians The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...
of the
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valley.


Life

Espejo was born about 1540 in Cordova, Spain, and arrived in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
in 1571 along with the Chief Inquisitor,
Pedro Moya de Contreras Pedro Moya de Contreras (sometimes ''Pedro de Moya y Contreras'') (c. 1528, Pedroche, Córdoba Province, Spain, Córdoba Province, Spain – December 21, 1591, Madrid) was a prelate and colonial administrator who held the three highest offi ...
, who was sent by the Spanish king to establish an
Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
. Espejo and his brother became ranchers on the northern frontier of New Spain. In 1581, Espejo and his brother were charged with murder. His brother was imprisoned and Espejo fled to Santa Barbara, Chihuahua, the northernmost outpost of New Spain. He was there when the Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition returned from New Mexico.


En route to New Mexico

Espejo, a wealthy man, assembled and financed an expedition for the ostensible purpose of ascertaining the fate of two priests who had remained behind with the Pueblos when Chamuscado led his soldiers back to the heartland of New Spain. Along with fourteen soldiers, a priest, about 30 indigenous servants and assistants, and 115 horses he departed from San Bartolome, near Santa Barbara, on November 10, 1582. Espejo followed the same route as Chamuscado and Rodriguez, down the Conchos River to its junction (La Junta) with the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
and then up the Rio Grande to the Pueblo villages. Along the Conchos River, Espejo encountered the Conchos people who he described as "naked people ... who support themselves on fish,
mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...
, mescal, and lechuguilla (
agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...
)". Further downriver, he found Conchos who grew corn, squash, and melons. Leaving the Conchos behind, Espejo next encountered the Passaguates "who were naked like the Conchos" and seemed to have had a similar lifestyle. Next, Espejo came upon the Jobosos who were few in number, shy, and ran away from the Spaniards. All of these ethnic groups had previously been impacted by Spanish slave raids." Near the junction (La Junta) of the Conchos and the Rio Grande, Espejo entered the territory of the Patarabueyes who attacked his horses, killing three. Espejo succeeded in making peace with them. The Patarabueyes, he said, and the other people near La Junta were also called "Jumanos". -- the first use of the name for these people who would be prominent on the frontier for nearly two centuries. To add to the confusion, they were also called Otomoacos and Abriaches. Espejo saw five settlements of Jumanos with a population of about 10,000 people. They lived in low, flat-roofed houses and grew corn, squash, and beans and hunted and fished along the river. They gave Espejo well-tanned deer and
bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...
skins. Leaving the Jumano behind, he passed through the lands of the Caguates or Suma, who spoke the same language as the Jumanos, and the Tanpachoas or Mansos. He found the Rio Grande Valley well populated all the way up to the present site of
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. Upstream from El Paso, the expedition traveled 15 days without seeing any people.


The Pueblos

In February 1583, Espejo arrived at the territory of the Piros, the most southerly of the Pueblo villagers. From there the Spanish continued up the Rio Grande. Espejo described the Pueblo villages as "clean and tidy". The houses were multi-storied and made of adobe bricks. "They make very fine tortillas," Espejo commented, and the Pueblos also served the Spanish turkeys, beans, corns, and pumpkins. The people "did not seem to be bellicose". The southernmost Pueblos had only clubs for weapons plus a few "poor Turkish bows and poorer arrows". Further north, the Indians were better armed and more aggressive. Some of the Pueblo towns were large, Espejo described Zia as having 1,000 houses and 4,000 men and boys. In their farming, the Pueblos used irrigation "with canals and dams, built as if by Spaniards". The only Spanish influence that Espejo noted among the Pueblos was their desire for iron. They would steal any iron article they could find. Espejo confirmed that the two priests had been killed by the Indians in the pueblo of Puala, near present-day Bernalillo. As the Spanish approached the Pueblo the inhabitants fled to the nearby mountains. The Spanish continued their explorations, east and west of the Rio Grande apparently with no opposition from the Indians. Near Acoma, they noted that a people called Querechos lived in the mountains nearby and traded with the townspeople. These Querechos were
Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...
. The closely related
Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
of the
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during this period were also called Querechos. Espejo also visited the Zuni and Hopi and heard stories of silver mines further west. With four men and Hopi guides he went in search of the mines, reaching the
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in Arizona, probably in the area of
Montezuma Castle National Monument Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a set of well-preserved dwellings located in Camp Verde, Arizona, which were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other Prehistoric Southwest ...
. He found the mines near present-day
Jerome, Arizona Jerome is a town in the Black Hills (Yavapai County), Black Hills of Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is approximately ...
, but was unimpressed by their potential. He heard from the local Indians, probably Yavapai, of a large river to the west, undoubtedly a reference to the
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. Among the Hopi and the Zuni, Espejo met several Spanish-speaking Mexican Indians who had been left behind by, or escaped from, the
Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) Coronado is a Spanish surname derived from the village of Cornado, near A Coruña, Galicia. People with the name * Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred t ...
expedition more than 40 years earlier. The priest, several of the soldiers, and the Indian assistants decided, despite Espejo's entreaties, to return to Mexico. It is possible that the priest was offended by the high-handed tactics of Espejo in dealing with the Pueblos. Espejo and eight soldiers stayed behind to look for silver and other precious metals. The little force had a skirmish with the Indians of
Acoma Pueblo Acoma Pueblo ( , ) is a Native American pueblo approximately west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. Four communities make up the village of Acoma Pueblo: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. These communities ...
, apparently because two women slaves or prisoners of the Spanish escaped. The Spanish recaptured the women briefly, but they had to fight their way free. A Spanish soldier was wounded. In aiding the escape of the women, the Acomans and the Spanish exchanged volleys of harquebus fire, stones, and arrows. The Spanish, thus, were placed on notice that the hospitality of the Pueblos had limits. The Spanish then returned to the Rio Grande Valley where at a village they executed 16 Indians who mocked them and refused them food. The Spanish quickly departed the Rio Grande and explored eastward, journeying through the Galisteo Basin near the future city of Santa Fe and reaching the large pueblo at Pecos, called Ciquique.


Documenting the Expedition in New Mexico

When Antonio de Espejo set out to New Mexico as a relief for Chamuscado-Rodriguez, he left with many men including one man that would be vital in documenting the events that took place on the expedition. This man was Diego Perez de Luxan, he wrote journals about Espejo's findings in New Mexico and proved to be very important years later because of the rarity of documentation from the expedition. Diego was only on the expedition from 1582 - 1583. In his journal, Diego wrote a detailed description of the terrain that Espejo and his crew explored throughout New Mexico. This includes mountains, the general path, pueblos, rivers, etc. Also in his journals, he wrote about some aspects of Indian culture through the Tigua who were located at the Rio Grande; Perez de Luxan wrote that the Tigua utilize masks in celebration and ceremonial use. The first record of the names of six different pueblos a part of the Zuni nation and 5 different pueblos in Moqui were written in Luxan's journal. Luxan described many interactions between the Spaniards and the pueblo people including gift giving, discovery of pueblos, reactions from the pueblo people upon Spaniard arrival, and conversations between the Indians and the Spaniards. Diego was only in Texas and New Mexico for 10 months, but his observations that he detailed in his journal, have been made useful by many historians as they have used it to make illustrations of what Texas and New Mexico used to look like, and the routes that Espejo's expedition took. Diego Perez de Luxan has also been recognized as the first person to document certain landscapes, one being El Malpais.


Return journey

Rather than return to the now unfriendly Rio Grande Valley, Espejo decided to return to Mexico via the
Pecos River The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...
which he called "Rio de Las Vacas" because of the large number of bison the Spaniards encountered during the first six days they followed the river downstream. After descending the river about 300 miles from Ciquique the soldiers met Jumano Indians near
Pecos, Texas Pecos ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Reeves County, Texas, Reeves County, Texas, United States. It is in the valley on the west bank of the Pecos River at the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, in the Trans-Pecos region of ...
, who guided them across country, up Toyah Creek, and cross country to La Junta. From here they followed the Conchos River upstream to San Bartolome, their starting place, arriving September 20, 1583. The priest and his companions had also returned safely. Espejo was the first European to traverse most of the length of the Pecos River. Espejo died in 1585 in Havana, Cuba. He was en route to Spain to attempt to get royal permission to establish a Spanish colony in New Mexico.Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fes03, accessed Apr 1, 2010 A chronicle of his expeditions was later published by Spanish historian and explorer Baltasar Obregón.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espejo, Antonio De Rio Conchos Spanish explorers of North America Spanish conquistadors People from New Spain Ranchers 16th-century Spanish explorers 1540s births 1585 deaths