Introduction 
195 
ernor and captain-general for himself and family for three generations, 
and other exclusive rights and privileges, including that of exploring and 
settling one thousand leagues beyond New Mexico and of opening up 
ports on the North and the South seas, Martin offered to conduct at con¬ 
siderable expense to himself an expedition of two or three hundred men 
to New Mexico. Martin’s plan was finally approved by the Audiencia 
of New Spain, to which body it was presented, but apparently was not 
approved by the Council of the Indies. 7 
Espejo, shortly after his return, petitioned the king directly for the 
right to conquer and settle New Mexico at his own expense, but with the 
proviso that it should be independent of the viceroy. He proposed to 
enlist four hundred soldiers, of whom one hundred were to be heads of 
families, and to try and find a port on the North Sea as a base of com¬ 
munication and supplies, similar in these respects to Vera Cruz. To 
reach New Mexico two routes were to be followed, one by way of the Rio 
Grande and the other up the Pecos. 8 
Another applicant for the position of adelantado of the country to the 
north was Francisco Díaz de Vargas, alguacil mayor and regidor of the 
city of Puebla in Tlascala. Vargas was not primarily interested in the 
Pueblo region, but rather in the region lying between Quivira and the 
Strait of Anian, and he proposed with sixty or seventy men to pass two 
hundred leagues beyond New Mexico to explore, and, if desirable, to 
settle the country. 9 
In 1589 Juan Bautista de Lomas y Colmenares of Nueva Galicia of¬ 
fered, in case certain exacting demands and exclusive rights were granted, 
to become the conqueror of New Mexico. Among other demands was 
that jurisdiction over all the country beyond the Río Conchos be given to 
him. The viceroy approved Lomas’s proposition but it failed to meet the 
approval of the Council of the Indies, and a new contract was made with 
Francisco de Urdiñola. Nothing came of this, however, because of the 
criminal charge being preferred against him of the murder of his wife. 
When the viceroy was informed of this charge he submitted the evidence 
to the Audiencia of Guadalajara, which ordered him to be arrested and 
his goods sequestered. In 1592 and again in 1595 Lomas presented his 
proposition but it did not meet with approval. 10 
7 “Asiento con Cristobal Martín por el que se Ofrece á Ir en Persona al Descubri¬ 
miento, Pacificación, y Población del Nuevo México, Baxo las Condiciones que Expone. 
México á 26 de Octubre de 1583 ”, in Col. Doc. Inéd., XVI. 277-301; Bolton, op. cit., p. 
199; Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 94-95. 
8 “ Expediente y relación del viaje que hizo Antonio de Espejo con catorce soldados 
y un religioso de la orden de San Francisco, llamado Fray Agustín Rodríguez; el cual 
debía de entender en la predicación de aquella gente”, in Col. Doc. Inéd., XV. 151-162; 
Bolton, op. cit., p. 199; Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 95-97. 
9 Petition of Francisco Díaz de Vargas, in Col. Doc. Inéd., XV. 126-137; Bolton, op. 
cit., pp. 199-200; Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 97-98. 
10 “ Asiento y Capitulaciones que el Virey de la Nueva España, Marqués de Villa- 
manrique, hizo con Joan Bautista de Lomas Colmenares, sobre el Descubrimiento y 
Población de las Provincias del Nuevo México á 15 de Febrero de 1589”, in Col. Doc. 
Inéd., XV. 54-80; Bolton, op. cit., p. 200; Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 99-100. 
