Tag Archives: Mexican

New Mexico History – ‘El Gringo’ by W. W. H. Davis

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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!

Mexican Immigration – Paul Rodriguez video

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tomsausalitoIn doing research for the Mexican Immigration video, I Googled across this video viewpoint by Paul Rodriguez on the topic. The explanatory text comes from the YouTube link.

New America Foundation, December, 2007 — CA Event: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America

In the recently published, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, Gregory Rodriguez takes an in-depth look at the largest immigrant group in American history. Rodriguez examines the complexities of the heritage and the racial and cultural synthesis–mestizaje–that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, Rodriguez argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how Americans think about race but how we envision our nation.

Gregory Rodriguez is an Irvine Senior Fellow and Director of the California Fellows Program at the New America Foundation. Rodriguez has written widely on issues of national identity, social cohesion, assimilation, race relations, religion, immigration, ethnicity, demographics, and social and political trends in such leading publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, where he is an op-ed columnist.

I hope you enjoy the watching … and the pondering. It seemed to fit very well with the video I just posted Mexican Immigration Through New Mexico And The Southwest. Please feel free to leave your comments; I’d love to know who’s out there listening/reading/watching.

Chronology versus Timeline

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tomsausalito

While I acknowledge this is a bit of a quibble, I’d like to see if I can explain and defend the differences and distinctions between a ‘Chronology‘ and a ‘Timeline.’

To me, the distinctions have to do with the different insights, understandings, and experiences that arise from viewing information in one format versus the other.

Let me show you what I mean with a simple example using the same basic dates and information displayed in the two formats:

Chronology

  • 1598 – Juan de Onate creates first permanent settlement
  • 1706 – Albuquerque area settled and named
  • 1821 – Mexican Independence
  • 1848 – U. S. Territorial era begins

and then —

Timeline

1598•••••••••••••••••••1706••••••••••••••••••••••1821•1848
•Onate creates                  •Albuquerque                           •Mexican               first permanent                 area   settled                          independence          settlement                         and named                                      •US Territorial

To my eye, the time context of the dates seem to tell a different, and somehow more effective, story in the timeline format. I believe one gets a deeper feeling for the relative periods of time and cultural influence  from this format.

That is why I chose to use a timeline format, even though it required a lot (a lot) of trial and error to:

  • get all the information into a single coordinated format
  • keep the overall physical length to 16 feet
  • figure out where to use 100-, 50-, 20- and 10-year visual time segments
  • see that adding a true-time-scale at the bottom was necessary to really  effectively visually represent the relative time frames for the 600 year timeline period

From most comments, it seems to work OK and support individuals in seeing the fascinating interactions between time, geography, demography and culture.

Welcome to the Albuquerque, New Mexico Timeline Blog

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tomsausalito 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