The Hispanic population in New Mexico accounts for more than a third of the total number of inhabitants.The community’s origins date back to the first exploratory trip made by Coronado in 1540. The first Spanish settlement was founded under Onate’s leadership in 1598. Its location was just north of Espanola, New Mexico. The colony included many conversos or crypto-Jews that were trying to get away from the Inquisition in Mexico. After being pushed out nearly a hundred years later by the Pueblo Indians the colony was re-established and grew steadily throughout the later 1600’s and 1700’s. The main population centers lay between Socorro in the south to Taos in the north. The colony became part of the Mexican Republic after Mexico gained its independence from Spain in the 1820’s and soon thereafter New Mexico was added to the United States when Mexico was defeated in the Mexican-American War. This was in the 1840’s.
The treaty between the US and Mexico contained clauses that the property of the new US citizens would be respected. This did not happen and the biggest violator of the New Mexicans’ property rights turned out to be the US government itself. Millions of common grazing acres were lost by the heirs of the Spanish land grants to the newly formed national forests. President Theodore Roosevelt, the guiding force behind this, stated that the loss of both Native American and Hispanic lands was “an unfortunate consequence of progress”. The battle to recover stolen lands is still being fought by the descendants of the Spanish settlers.
In the present day, Hispanics are very active in the economic, political, and social processes in New Mexico. Both major political parties must take note of them and in many elections their vote is the deciding element. There are many successful Hispanic businessmen and women and influential business associations and there are increasing numbers of Hispanic doctors and lawyers practicing in the state.
The present day Hispanic community in New Mexico is basically made up of two different populations. One, found mostly in the northern half of the state is culturally descended from the Spanish settlers of the early days and those Native Americans who were absorbed into that society. The dialect of Spanish spoken by them is an archaic one and reflects the accent, pronunciation, and vocabulary of the 16th and 17th Centuries. In many ways, the language of Cervantes is alive, if not exactly well in northern New Mexico. The latest generation is in the process of loosing the language and if current trends continue, it won’t be many years before the older speech is lost. Most will be either monolingual English speakers, or the Spanish used will be of the modern variety.
The New Mexicans are a gracious, honest, and hardworking people who have suffered much from a colonial power, in this case, the United States. The latest assault on their culture and property has come from the large numbers of wealthy movie and media types who are able to pay fantastically high prices for land and houses. This has resulted in property values that are so high that many Hispanic families cannot even pay the taxes on property that has been in their families for centuries. This is particularly true in the Santa Fe-Taos areas.
The other side of the Hispanic coin in New Mexico is made up of large numbers of Mexican immigrants and has its strongest base in the southern part of the state although newer immigrants can be found in all areas. The vast majority are hard working, industrious individuals and assets to their respective communities. Many still retain ties to families in Mexico and send money home to help their families there and more are Native Americans from the southern part of Mexico and speak their native languages. However, the drug trade and the smuggling of illegal immigrants is making the border an increasingly dangerous place for all concerned and the huge numbers of illegal immigrants is becoming alarming to many Americans of all races and cultures.
There are much smaller numbers of Hispanic immigrants from other Latin American countries, particularly Central America and immigration from Spain has continued throughout, although at a much slower pace than in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
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