Juan de Onate more commonly known by the name Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a colonial governor who was also known as an explorer and conquistador of Spain in the 15th century. He had explored the North American territory during his time which now falls in the American Southwest map that we see today.
Why is Juan de Onate important?
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He is famous among the historians of today as the ‘The Last Conquistador ‘. The most well-known and remembered exploration of Juan de Onate include Lower Colorado River valley, territories of New Mexico, the Great Plains and on his way he met with several local communities mainly Native Americans. Some of the encounters have even resulted in fights among the two groups.
The youthful Juan de Onate
Juan de Onate was born in 1550 or 1552, as the exact date records are not available for his birth. The city his family resided at the time of his birth was Zacatecas which was then in New Spain and now is in Mexico.
His father was a silver mine owner, a Spanish Basque colonist and conquistador who was known as Cristóbal de Oñate. His mother’s name was Doña Catalina Salazar.
That is not all, he even got married to the grand-daughter of another famous conquistador times Hernán Cortés, Isabel de Tolosa Cortés de Moctezuma who is remembered for destroying the Aztec kingdom and conquering the Triple Alliance. Isabel’s great grandfather was also well known by the name Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin.
Going to the family line of Juan de Onate, his father was from the noble house of Haro and his maternal line was a descendant of a Jewish family, the Ha Levis. The family was later got the name as the Cadenas who fought the battle in 1212 of Las Navas and were the first of their time to protect Mohammad Ben Yacub.
What was the route of Juan de Onate?
Juan de Onate began his career as an explorer very late in his life at the age of 48 years. But once he began, he went with all his strength to discover the North American lands.
The first time he set on his voyage away from New Mexico was in the year 1598. All the lands that came in his journey he made people aware of the Roman Catholicism including the lands of Rio Grande.
Acoma War
On his way, Juan de Onate met with Pueblo Indians and established the province of Santa Fe. He later got involved in the battle of Acoma against the Pueblo people who denied to surrender their lands under the expedition discovery of Juan de Onate which meant sacrificing their winter food supplies to him.
The result of the battle was in the favour of the explorer but it was over the loss of 800 lives of children, men and women and the rest crew who lived were enslaved.
Juan comes back to Mexico
The crew of Juan de Onate was being attacked by the Ravados people and eventually troubled them all. But the significant impact came from the Escanjaques who made them take a step back and go back to their own lands in New Mexico.
He later told stories of his expedition and exaggerated to quite some level since he was backed by the health and situation of his men. He also accepted that the battle against the Escanjaques was lost by him in two hours.
Juan de returned with his living men on November 24, 1601.
Juan de Onate
What were the campaigns by Juan de Onate?
The other remarkable expedition led by Juan de Onate was in 1601 only and this time he was headed to the Great Plains. He left with a team of servants, 12 priests and some 130 armed and experienced men to dig gold in the city.
Well, the main motive to find gold was not fulfilled but the journey was exceptional in its own. He met with people from the Apache, visited the lands of Oklahoma and made ties which led him to further lands known to the native but were unknown to him and his people.
The final journey
The explorer inside Juan de Onate would not let him rest but continuously looked for more destinations which are yet to be learned. This made him set for another journey and this one was revolving around the Colorado River. His team was relatively smaller this time with a handful of 40 people at maximum.
It took him 4 months to cross the territories of Rio Grande and reach the Gulf of California.
However, his past records of founding new places at the cost of hundreds of lives made him travel to Mexico and his days of conquering and exploration came to a halt.
It was not like he was punished but travelling was no more credited to his account. He was appointed the head of Mining inspectors by the Spanish crown later on.
Don Juan de Onate lived for more than 70 years and died in 1626. Despite his discoveries, he is remembered as the explorer who killed and was cruel.
