210 
The Founding of New Mexico 
For these reasons it has not seemed pertinent to do more than to sum¬ 
marize very briefly the events of the Oñate episode after March 15, 1598, 
particularly so since after the latter date there are no documents in the 
Bandelier Collection of an earlier date than February 7, 1602. 
On April 19 the expedition was divided and the passage of the sand- 
dunes south of El Paso was begun by the vanguard. The next day it 
reached the Rio del Norte at a place recorded as being in exactly 3 I o 
and 30' north latitude. 65 There the entire force was reunited on April 26. 
On April 30, three leagues further up the river, Oñate formally took pos¬ 
session “ of all the kingdoms and provinces of New Mexico, on the Rio 
del Norte, in the name of our Lord King Philip ”. 66 Continuing from 
there five and one-half leagues up-stream, Oñate and his entire force on 
May 4 crossed the Rio del Norte at a ford, which, according to the calcu¬ 
lations taken at the time, must have been in 32 0 , instead of in 31 0 north 
latitude, as is apparently inadvertently recorded in the “ Ytinerario 
This ford, since known as “ el paso del Rio del Norte ”, is, according to 
modern calculation, in 31 0 47' north latitude. 67 
While at the ford forty Indians voluntarily came to the Spanish camp. 
Their first words were manxo, manxo, micos , micos, which the Spaniards 
interpreted as “ gentle ” and “ friends ”. 68 Accordingly the term Mansos 
came to be applied to the Indians in the vicinity of “ el paso ”, which from 
that time on served as the main gateway between New Mexico and New 
Spain proper. 
On May 12, Oñate’s expedition having advanced eight or nine leagues 
above “ el paso,” Captain Aguilar was sent ahead to explore the way. 
He returned on May 20, by which time the main party had encamped at 
a place six leagues further north. 69 From there two days later Oñate 
with sixty men went ahead to pacify the natives, seize any traitors, as 
Humaña and his followers, and reconnoitre the country. 70 At the Oueres 
pueblo of Santo Domingo, Oñate, on July 7, received the submission of 
seven chiefs representing in all thirty-four pueblos. Four days later the 
Tewa pueblo of Caypa, situated on the east side of the Rio del Norte, 
opposite the junction of the Río Chama, was christened San Juan de 
los Caballeros. With the establishment of the governor’s headquarters 
there San Juan became the first capital of New Mexico. On August 18 
the rear-guard, which had been met and escorted up the river by Captain 
Vicente de Zaldivar, arrived at San Juan. Oñate had already explored 
as far north as Taos and to the east and west as far as Pecos and Jémez 
respectively. Work had also been begun at San Juan on an irrigating 
ditch for the proposed city of San Francisco, and between August 23 and 
September 8, a church was constructed and its completion celebrated. 
65 “ Ytinerario,” in Col. Doc. Inéd., XVI. 240. 
es Ibid., XVI. 242. 
67 Report of the Chief of the United States Weather Bureau, 1014-1915, p. 96. 
68 “ Ytinerario,” in Col. Doc. Inéd, XVI. 243. 
69 Ibid., XVI. 245-247. 
70 Oñate to the viceroy, March 2, 1599 (English translation), in Bolton, Spanish 
Exploration in the Southwest, p. 213. The fate of the Humaña party was not known at 
that time. 
