jan 1, 1599 - Battle of Acoma

Description:

The northern expedition by Coroñado in the 1540's inspired Don Juan de Oñate to lead an expedition into the Rio Grande Valley (present-day New Mexico) in 1598, which soon turned sour when they encountered pueblo peoples. In the brutal slaughtering of the Battle of Acoma, victorious Spanish demonstrated their overzealous spirits by severing one foot of each surviving Indian. They then established the province of New Mexico in 1609 in hopes to Christianize the natives and find gold. Not much gold was found north, so Christianization became the main focus, which also may have inspired a similar process with the missions in California. However, this brutal Spanish treatment of Indians contributed to the Black Legend, which was a false concept that held that conquistadores merely tortured and butchered the Indians (killing for Christ), stole their gold, and infected them with Old World diseases. Though these things are true, it overlooks a lot of the good things that came out of the conquest, namely globalization, the establishment of a sprawling empire, welding of cultures, and setting the foundations for countless Spanish-speaking nations. Unlike their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, the Spanish did not enact policies like the Dual-E policy, which goes to show that not all was bad about Spanish conquest.