Oñate, Juan de

Oñate, Juan de (hwän dā ōnyä`tā), fl. 1595–1614, Spanish explorer in the American Southwest, possibly b. New Spain. In 1598 he led an expedition north from New Spain, took possession of New Mexico for the Spanish king, and established a settlement at San Juan. He was immediately faced by an Native American revolt at Acoma, which he put down brutally. In 1601, Oñate, in search of Quivira, led an expedition across present Oklahoma to the plains around Wichita, Kans., then returned, unsuccessful, to New Mexico, where discontent was rife among the colonists. Anxious to find a route to the South Sea, he led (1605) an expedition westward, reached the Colorado River, and went down it to the Gulf of California before turning back to his colony. He was relieved (1609) as governor and tried on charges of misconduct in office. Convicted in 1614, he later sought a pardon, which was granted before 1624. One of his lieutenants, Gaspar de Villagrá, celebrated Oñate's deeds in Historia de la Nueva México, but his real achievements in founding and exploring a broad new realm did not receive the deserved recognition.

Bibliography

See study by G. P. Hammond and A. Rey (1953); M. Simmons, The Last Conquistador (repr. 1993).

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Oñate, Juan de

(born 1550?, New Spain—died 1630) Spanish conquistador. The son of wealthy parents in Zacatecas, New Spain, he married a granddaughter of Hernán Cortés. He received permission to govern the colony of New Mexico, which he founded in 1598. He sent exploring parties throughout the American Southwest to search for gold and led an expedition into present-day Kansas in 1601. Still searching for gold, he explored the region west to the Colorado River and south to the Gulf of California (1604). He resigned in 1607. Tried for his brutal treatment of Indians and settlers while governor, he was found guilty and exiled from the colony in 1614.