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A Cuarto Centennial History of New Mexico

"Truly an enchanted land."

by Robert J. Torrez
New Mexico State Historian 1987-2000
New Mexico State Records Center and Archives

In 1998 New Mexico reached another milestone in our long and colorful history. Our state observed its Cuarto Centennial, 400th anniversary, of the founding of the Spanish colony at the Tewa village of Ohkay in 1598. Join us as we briefly review four hundred years of the fascinating story of that portion of the New World we have come to know as our own Land of Enchantment.

	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.