Archive for the ‘Mexico’ Category
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Cities of Gold
A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado
Douglas Preston, 1992
463 richly researched and documented pages detailing 450 years of southwest adventure and discovery! Very hard to put down!
Douglas Preston literally takes you in his saddle bag on two 900-mile horseback/roughing-it odysseys with his cantankerous Santa Fe artist friend Walter Nelson. Two journeys cover the same geography: Coronado’s 1540 epic exploration from New Spain/Mexico through Arizona, New Mexico and Kansas.
The chapters and episodes are written from multiple viewpoints: New Spain’s (Mexico’s) culture, Coronado’s expectations in planning and leaving New Spain, Coronado’s experiences en-route, various and numerous native American initial encounters with white Europeans – Mexican Aztecs – and black Africans, And last, but not least by a long shot, … Doug and Walter’s experiences and observations of both what had changed and how little had changed in the intervening 450 years.
I found this a tremendous context piece to open my understanding and appreciation of the nearly complete uniqueness of New Mexico in particular and America’s great southwest in general. You will be exposed to amazing repeating patterns of history from 1540s Spain and New Spain right up into today’s New Mexico business and politics.
Cites of Gold is a thoroughly charming, entertaining, amazing, irritating, enlightening, frustrating, and fulfilling read! Check it out for yourself!
Tags: Apaches, Arizona, Comanches, Coronado, Esteban, Estevanco, Mexico, Navajo, New Mexico, New Spain, Pueblo Indian, Southwest, Spain, Zuni
Posted in Albuquerque, Ethnic/Cultural events, History, Mexico, Native American, New Mexico, Pueblo Indian, Santa Fe Trail, Southwest, Spain, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
I have just finished reading El Gringo, by W. W. H. Davis. Davis’ 1853 description of New Mexico is one the earliest full-length accounts to appear in English. It provides a beautiful picture of a newly conquered land, its customs, languages, landscapes and histories. He really captures the protected and unique nature of New Mexico in this paragraph:
“There is no country protected by our flag and subject to our laws so little known to the people of the United States as the territory of New Mexico. Its very position precludes an intimate intercourse with other sections of the Union, and serves to lock up a knowledge of the country within its own limits. The natural features differ widely from the rest of the Union; and the inhabitants, with the manners and customs of their Moorish and Castilian ancestors are both new and strange to our people. For these reasons, reliable information on this hitherto almost unknown region can not fail to be interesting to the public.”
Davis was a veteran of the Mexican War of 1846-48, and returned to New Mexico in 1853 to become United States Attorney for the territory. He traveled with only a few changes of clothes, a two-book law library and a ravenous curiosity, and he thoroughly journaled his entire travels to and throughout New Mexico.
His thousand-mile journey from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe would take 25 days by mule train, traveling in torrential rains and drifting blizzards. Many nights were spend sleeping on the ground under the wagons for shelter, and many meals were skipped due to inclement weather.
El Gringo was written by W. W. H. Davis (1820 – 1910) and first published in 1857. You can order from the Books page; enjoyi!
Tags: Albuquerque, Indian, Mexican, Mexican War, Mexico, New Mexico, Pueblo Indian, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Trail, Spain, Spanish, U. S., United States
Posted in Ethnic/Cultural events, History, Mexico, New Mexico, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
The talking part was fun, but I really enjoyed the question and answer portion. They asked for more about the uniqueness of the Indian Pueblos, their sovereignty and cultures, our flying saucer incidents (Roswell and Albuquerque), Oñate and the Duke of Alburquerque, “the missing R,” Spanish and Mexican impacts on New Mexico, New Mexico authors, and New Mexico futures.
This is a photo of me with Rick Chase, the District Director of Purdue’s Extension Service and one of the organizers of the conference. Rick was the gent that came across the 5 Perspectives on Albuquerque YouTube video and asked for an introductory presentation on Albuquerque’s and New Mexico’s history.
Great fun. Good people.
Tags: Albuquerque, Albuquerque Timeline, History, Mexico, New Mexico, Onate, Spanish, Timeline
Posted in Albuquerque, History, Mexico, New Mexico, Timeline, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
A number of people ask me, “Where and how can I buy a copy of the Timeline?” Here is the info if you are one of those folks and have a couple of hundred bucks lying around – and – a large wall space to fill.
There are a couple of things you will want to know if you would like to purchase your very own copy of the Albuquerque Historical Timeline:
- the 2 ft x 8 ft size is the smallest that is easily eye-readable
- each copy is a full-color exact replica of the 4 ft x 16 ft Convention Center original
- each copy has a very resilient laminate protecting it
- a single copy reproduction goes for $200, and that includes any tax and shipping
New Mexico Big Prints are the good folks that produced the 4 ft x 16 ft copies of the Timeline at the Convention Center and at the Airport. They also produced the smaller, 2 ft x 8 ft copies for high school and middle school use throughout Albuquerque and the Archdiocese, and it’s this size that is available for purchase. I suppose you could order a 4 ft x 16 ft size, but expect to come up with about $3,750 or so per copy.
The URL to contact the good folks at New Mexico Big Prints is http://www.nmbigprints.com/index3.html.
Tags: Albuquerque, buy, Copy, historical, New Mexico Big Prints, purchase, Timeline
Posted in Albuquerque, Ethnic/Cultural events, History, Mexico, New Mexico, Southwest, Timeline, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
In creating the Albuquerque Historical and Cultural Timeline, I was struck with the many layers of interactions between Mexico, New Mexico, the Southwest and the U.S.
Trade and immigration between “Mexico” and “New Mexico” has ebbed and flowed for more than a thousand years and most certainly will continue into the future.
The thought arose that it might be interesting and perhaps timely to use the Timeline to explore the history of Mexican immigration into/through New Mexico and the U.S. in the next video.
The Timeline could focus and correlate events taking place over time and geography and through politics – economics – cultures.
At a first look, I began noticing patterns of human and economic behavior of push-pull and supply-demand that seemed to emerge and persist right up into today’s news:
- Borders are arbitrary lines drawn on a map and then arbitrarily agreed upon
- People, nature and commerce do not necessarily adhere to these lines
- Cheap(er) labor can be seductively important to business profitability
- Cheap(er) labor consists mainly of needier than average individuals
- “Needier than average” can arise from strong financial need or desire, weak education, weak political awareness, shaky legal status, drought-flood-disease-war; the pool is large and constant
- Globalizing and internationalizing production and trade has usually sought access to untapped resources, such as: needier than average labor, cheaper than average minerals and materials, weaker than average laws, more available than average land
- Economic profit can be a stronger incentive than laws or penalties
- Enforcement of laws can vary widely for many different reasons and to many different advantages (and disadvantages)
Exploring the Timeline this way should be interesting; plus, by posting this I’ll create the incentive to really get the thing done!
Tags: border, business, economic, economics, globalization, Immigration, international, labor, law, Mexico, New Mexico, profit, profitability, Southwest, supply-demand, Timeline, trade, U. S.
Posted in History, Immigration, Mexico, New Mexico, Southwest, Timeline, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Welcome to the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Historical and Cultural Timeline blog.
The idea for the Albuquerque Historical and Cultural Timeline arose from a 2004 conversation with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. His mention of the upcoming 300th birthday of the founding and naming of Albuquerque stimulated me to put two years into creating the Albuquerque Historical and Cultural Timeline, correlating and displaying 600 years of historical and cultural events across New Mexico, the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
I need to express deep appreciation here for the following individuals who very graciously provided information, assistance, support and guidance throughout:
- Elizabeth Chestnut – Historian, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
- Dr. Linda Hall – History Professor, UNM
- Scott Meredith – History PhD candidate, UNM
- Dr. Cynthia Radding – Director of Latin American & Iberian Institute, UNM
- Rubén Saláz – Historian, author, Tri-Centennial History Task Force
- Dr. Joseph P. Sánchez – Superintendent of the Spanish Colonial Research Center, a partnership between the National Park Service and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque
- Joe S. Sando – Historian, author, Archive Director for Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
- Deb Slaney – Curator of History – Albuquerque Museum of Art and History
- Dr. Jane Slaughter – Professor and Chair of History Department, UNM
- Juan M. Solana – Mexican Consul and Alberto Bernal Acero – Deputy Mexican Consul
- Claude Stephenson – State Folklorist and author of The Albuquerque Arts Alliance “Albuquerque Cultural Survey”
- Sandia Laboratories Graphic Arts Department
- Don Couchman – Historian and Chairman of the Tricentennial History Task Force
- Craig Newbill – Executive Director, New Mexico Humanities Council
- Jerry Geist and Vicky Osborne – El Jefe and La Jefecita of the Tricentennial Committee
Without their support and assistance, the Timeline would not be visible to the public in the East Wing of the Convention Center and in the passenger waiting area of the Albuquerque International Sunport.
I intend through this blog to explore and present interesting historical and cultural stories contained within the Timeline in a series of blog-post and video formats. I hope you enjoy the very first video, “5 Perspectives on Albuquerque,” which is an overview of the structure and ‘how to read’ the timeline.
Your comments, thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
Tom
Tags: Albuquerque, Asia, cultural, culture, Europe, historical, History, Indian Pueblo, Martin Chavez, Mexican, Mexico, New Mexico, Pacific, Spain, Timeline, U. S., United States, University of New Mexico, UNM
Posted in Albuquerque, History, Mexico, New Mexico, Southwest, Timeline, Uncategorized | No Comments »