The Last Conquistador
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The Last Conquistador
Juan De OД±ate and the Settling of the Far Southwest
By Marc Simmons
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Pp xiii+201.Preface, introduction, appendices, notes, maps, bibliography, and index.)
In the Last Conquistador, Marc Simmons takes an in depth look at the life and frontier career of Don Juan De OД±ate, the first colonizer of the old Spanish Borderlands.
The book begins by tracing OД±ates heritage and family history. The OД±ates were Basques, a fact that can explain his family dynamics. The Basques inhabited the cool mountains of north-central Spain even before the ancient Iberians. The name OД±ate is a Basque word meaning “at the foot of the mountain”. The chapter then turns to CristДµbal de OД±ate, the extraordinary father of Juan. The steady rise of CristДµbal de OД±ate as encomendero and cofounder of Zacatecas are but a few of the great accomplishments in the OД±ate family. CristДµbals involvement in the Mixton war is documented as well as the mining, ranching, and sugar holding. Juan de OД±ate was born to this affluent family of power, wealth, and title. Juans childhood is documented as having been filled with “sparkle and sophistication” (pg35). He grew up in PДЈnuco, a mining camp considered a suburb of Zacatecas. Juan acquired his education and social graces in Mexico City. The book details the young Juan as participating in and around the constant battle with the Chichimecas and the assumption of the family mines after the death of his father.
In the year 1595, King Phillip II of Spain awarded a contract for the settlement of New Mexico to OД±ate. His goal was to spread Catholicism as a primary objective, but many colonists enlisted in hopes of finding new silver strikes. The book details the many delays OД±ate faced as well as the famous crossing point of El Paso Del Norte, he found in 1598. As OД±ate continued to explore we find hardships, cold weather, and food shortages as some of the major reasons for the struggles of his colony. Juan de OД±ate had few achievements and many problems during his inept reign as the first governor of New Mexico. Instead of using his power for the welfare of his people, OД±ate neglected their