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New Mexico Timeline History

San Miguel Chapel, built in 1610 in Santa Fe, is the oldest church structure in the U.S.

1200's - 1500's: Pueblo Indians established villages along the Rio Grande and its tributaries

1536: Cabeza de Vaca, Estevan the Moor, and others began rumors of the Seven Cities of Cibola Gold:

1540: Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, while searching for that gold, discovered the Grand Canyon

1598: Juan de Onate established San Juan de los Caballeros as the capital

1600: San Gabriel founded as the second capital

1601: Colonists deserted San Gabriel

1609: Governor Pedro de Peralta established new capital at Santa Fe

1626: Spanish Inquisition established

1641: Governor Luis de Rosas assassinated

1680: Pueblo Indians forced colonists and Spaniards to retreat to Mexico

1706: Villa de Albuquerque founded

1743: French trappers reached Santa Fe

1807: Zebulon Pike led first Anglo-American expedition to New Mexico

1821: Mexico declared independence from Spain; Santa Fe Trail opened

1828: Gold discovered in Ortiz Mountains

1837: Governor Albino Perez and top officials assassinated in revolt against Mexican taxation

1846: Mexican-American War began; Stephen Watts Kearny annexed New Mexico to U.S.

1848: Mexican-American War ended; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed

1850: New Mexico designated a territory; denied statehood

1854: Gadsden Purchase added 45,000 square miles to territory

1861: Confederates invaded New Mexico; Territory lost northern-most section; Territories of Arizona and Colorado created

1863-1864: The Long Walk - Navajos and Apaches relocated to Bosque Redondo

1868: Navajos and Apaches return to homelands

1878: Railroad arrived

1881: Billy the Kid shot

1886: Geronimo surrenders; Indian uprisings ceased

1898: Thomas Alva Edison produced first motion picture in New Mexico

1910: New Mexico Constitution drafted

1912: New Mexico became 47th state

1916: Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico

1920: Women won the right to vote

1922: Oil discovered on Navajo Reservation

1942: New Mexico soldiers forced to endure World War II Bataan Death March

1945: World's first atomic bomb detonated at Trinity bomb site southern New Mexico

1947: Alleged crash of UFO near Roswell

1948: Native Americans won right to vote in elections

1950: Uranium discovered

1980: Deadliest prison riot in U. S. occurred at New Mexico State Penitentiary

1982: Space shuttle Columbia landed at Holloman Air Force Base

1998: New Mexico celebrated cuartocentenario, 400th anniversary of its founding

2000: Valles Caldera National Preserve established