In 1690, Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon was appointed Governor of New Mexico. When he assumed office at El Paso del Norte the following year, his assignment for the reconquest of New Mexico consisted of two parts. He was to first make a preliminary entry to determine the condition of the province, and obtain the surrender of the rebellious pueblos, peacefully, if possible, but by force if necessary. When this was accomplished, he was to recolonize New Mexico's abandoned settlements and reestablish the destroyed missions.

Diego de Vargas and a contingent of less than fifty soldiers, accompanied by three friars, left El Paso on August 17, 1692, and began an uneventful expedition north along the Rio Grande. In early September, de Vargas arrived at Santa Fe, where he found the old Spanish capital fortified and its inhabitants defiant. De Vargas, however, utilizing a masterful mix of diplomacy and a not so subtle threat of a siege, soon obtained their surrender. On September 14, 1692, de Vargas proclaimed a formal act of possession, and by the end of 1692, most of New Mexico's Pueblos had been officially restored to the Spanish empire without a shot being fired or any blood shed. This is the peaceful reconquest which is observed annually in September at the famous Fiesta de Santa Fe.

The second portion of the reconquest was far from peaceful. In 1693, de Vargas returned to El Paso, and by October, was on his way back with seventy families, eighteen Franciscan friars, and a number of Tlaxlacan allies to begin the recolonization of New Mexico. But by this time, the Pueblos had experienced second thoughts, and when the colonists arrived at Santa Fe in December, they found the city once again fortified.

For two weeks, the Spanish colonists camped outside the city while de Vargas attempted to persuade the Indians to surrender. Finally, a decision was reached to take Santa Fe by force, which was accomplished after a fierce battle which lasted two days. Afterwards, seventy Pueblo defenders were executed and several hundred captured men, women, and children sentenced to ten years servitude. The peaceful reconquest was over. During this time, a few of the Pueblos remained true to the promise of peace they had made to de Vargas in 1692. But most of them continued to resist, and by the summer of 1696, the situation deteriorated into a general rebellion which is often called the Second Pueblo Revolt. For the next several years New Mexico suffered terribly from almost continual warfare. Many pueblos were abandoned and their population dispersed as their inhabitants sought refuge in the mountains and among the Navajo and Apache. But the Pueblos had weakened by several years of warfare and were unable to resist effectively. Soon, more Spanish families arrived in Santa Fe, the missions were reestablished, Spanish settlements grew, and the Pueblos repopulated. By the close of the seventeenth century, a new era of New Mexico history could begin.

	Introduction
	1. Early Spanish Exploration of the Southwest
	2. Settlement of New Mexico
	3. The Reconquista of New Mexico
	4. New Mexico in the 18th Century
	5. A Spanish Province Becomes Part of the United States
	6. The Territorial Period
	7. The Quest for Statehood
This article, by New Mexico State Historian Robert J. Torrez, appeared in the Official New Mexico Blue Book, Cuarto Centennial Edition, 1598-1998. It has been reprinted here with permission of the author. The New Mexico Blue Book is free, published by the Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State, and may be ordered by calling 1-800-477-3632. For a detailed account of the founding of New Mexico, we recommend The Last Conquistador: Don Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest, by Marc Simmons, University of Oklahoma Press.