Santa Fe Plaza - Web Cam

SANTA FE, which means "Holy Faith," was founded in 1607 (the second oldest town in the U.S.) and joined the United States of America in 1912.

The full name of  the city, the location of New Mexico's state capitol, is "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis," or "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi."

INSCRIPTION AT PERALTA PARK

"On March 30, 1609, the Viceroy of New Spain appointed Don Pedro de Peralta Governor and Capitan General of New Mexico, instructing him to proceed to New Mexico . . . accompanied by twelve soldiers and priests."

"Above all, Peralta was ordered to found the Villa of Santa Fe. The inhabitants thereof were empowered to elect their own aldermen and mayors, who were to try civil and criminal cases arising in the town and surrounding area. The town council was to elect a constable and scribe, and pass ordinances. Each resident of the villa was allotted lots for a house, garden, orchards, vineyards and olive groves and four tracts for crops with water for irrigation. The villa was to be divided into six districts and one plaza for the royal buildings.

"The new Governor was instructed to consult closely with religious and civic leaders and carry out policies by common consent. He was admonished to proceed with great care and consideration."

Text and image from the City of Santa Fe website

 Santa Fe is the site of both the oldest public building in America, the Palace of the Governors, and the nation's oldest community celebration, the Santa Fe Fiesta, established in 1712 to commemorate the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in the summer of 1692. Peralta and his men laid out the plan for Santa Fe at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the site of the ancient Pueblo Indian ruin of Kaupoge, or "place of shell beads near the water."

RAILROAD

The railroad never reached the city of Santa Fe due to the mountainous topography surrounding the town. However, in February 1880 it did arrive in Lamy, New Mexico, just seven miles outside of Santa Fe and close enough to fulfil Holliday's dream.

Lured by ads placed in eastern newspapers boasting of the prosperity of towns yet to be built, farmers, laborers, miners and entrepreneurs followed the Santa Fe rails west.

Eventually, wealthy tourists also came to enjoy the sunshine of California and to explore Native American civilizations. The steam locomotive was reshaping the American West.

Railroads and the westward migration of settlers along the Santa Fe Trail had devastating effects on Native Americans of the Plains cultures. Traditional ways of life were forcedly abandoned as the United States government sought to promote its goals of Manifest Destiny and Native American assimilation.

In the Southwest, however, significant Anglo-American settlement did not begin to occur until after the turn of the century. For this reason, the native peoples of the Southwest were spared much, but not all (e.g., the Pueblo Revolt of 1680), of the cultural devastation of the other groups. In addition, by the 1920s, the government had started to modify its earlier policies of assimilation.

Native Americans living in the Southwest had been exposed to European culture since the early 1600s when the Spanish entered the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. Arts and crafts had played an important role in the lives of Southwestern Native Americans for centuries and, by the time of the first contact with the Spanish, Pueblo people were active in the art of pottery-making, textiles (cotton) and in carving.

Silverwork reached the Rio Grande Valley later via Mexico, and by 1860 the Navajo were accomplished silversmiths producing their own jewelry and later embellishing it with a variety of materials such as turquoise, coral and shell.

Turquoise holds a special significance in the spiritual lives of both the Navajo and Hopi peoples

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