Diego de Vargas Zapata y Luján Ponce de León y Contreras (1643–1704), commonly known as Don Diego de Vargas, was a Spanish Governor of the

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

territory of

Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México ( en, Holy Faith of New Mexico; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The ...

, to the US states of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, titular 1690–1695, effective 1692–1696 and 1703–1704. He is known for leading the reconquest of the territory in 1692 following the

Pueblo Revolt The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, also known as Popé's Rebellion or Popay's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish empire, Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, larger than prese ...

of 1680. This reconquest is commemorated annually during the

Fiestas de Santa Fe Fiestas de Santa Fe is a festival held every autumn in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September. History On September 16, 1712 the first Fiesta council signed a proclamation declaring there should be a celebration to co ...

in the city of Santa Fe.

Pueblo revolt and reconquest

On 10 August 1680,

Pueblo people The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...

from various

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

s in northern New Mexico staged an

uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

against Spanish colonists. They laid siege to the city of Santa Fe, forcing the colonists to retreat on 20 August. The Spanish colonists fled south to El Paso del Norte (now

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( ; ''Juarez City''. ) is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is commonly referred to as Juárez and was known as El Paso del Norte (''The Pass of the North'') until 1888. Juárez is the seat of the Ju� ...

, Mexico), where they remained in exile for the next 16 years. In 1688, Capitan General y Governador Don Diego de Vargas was appointed Spanish Governor of New Mexico, though he did not arrive to assume his duties until 22 February 1691. He was assigned with the task of reconquering and pacifying the New Mexico territory for Spain. In July 1692, de Vargas and a small contingent of soldiers returned to Santa Fe. They surrounded the city and called on the Pueblo people to surrender, promising clemency if they would swear allegiance to the

King of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

and return to the Christian faith. After meeting with de Vargas, the Pueblo leaders agreed to surrender, and on 12 September 1692 de Vargas proclaimed a formal act of repossession. De Vargas’ repossession of New Mexico is often called a bloodless reconquest, since the territory was initially retaken without any use of force. De Vargas had prayed to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, under her title

La Conquistadora La Conquistadora (''Our Lady of the Conquest'' or ''Our Lady the Conqueror'') is a small wooden statue of the Madonna and Child now in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was the first Madonna brought to w ...

(Our Lady of Conquering Love), for the peaceful re-entry. Believing that she heard his prayer, he celebrated a feast in her honor. Today, this feast continues to be celebrated annually in Santa Fe as the

. Part of those annual fiestas is a novena of masses in thanksgiving. Those masses are also done with processions from the

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( es, Catedral basílica de San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the Arc ...

to the Rosario Chapel. The actual statue of La Conquistadora is taken in the processions. After the novena is completed she is taken back to the Basilica. This event includes participation by local tribes as well as Latino descendants that reside in the area. In the second decade of the 21st century, members of Native American tribes and pueblos protested the pageant, recalling the subsequent retaking of Santa Fe. The focus of these protests was The Entrada—a reenactment of de Vargas's re-entry into Santa Fe that has long been seen as inaccurate by historians and culturally offensive by Native Americans. The most recent round of protests against The Entrada started in 2015. That year, silent protestors raised placards citing historical facts at odds with the narrative present when the re-enactors reached Santa Fe's historic Plaza to portray the retaking of the city. Protests in 2017 resulted in 8 arrests; though the charges were later dismissed. Following the protests and months of negotiation the Entrada was removed from The Santa Fe Fiesta celebration.

Statue

On June 18, 2020 the city of

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

removed a

Statue of Diego de Vargas A statue of Diego de Vargas was installed in 2007 at the west end of Santa Fe, New Mexico's Cathedral Park, in the United States. The statue was removed in June 2020 Controversy over storage While the statue's fate is being debated, the statu ...

that had been erected 150 years earlier. The statue was one of several removed as wider efforts to remove controversial statues across the United States.

Notable soldiers who traveled with Vargas

*Ignacio Roibal (

Roybal Roibal, also spelled Roybal and Ruibal, is a Galician surname, later introduced into the Americas . It has its origin in the hamlet of ''Ruibal'', in the municipality of Moraña, Galicia, Spain where 3% of the inhabitants are surnamed ''Ruibal''. ...

) – Owner of the now-historic

Sena Plaza Sena may refer to: Places * Sanandaj or Sena, city in northwestern Iran * Sena (state constituency), represented in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly * Sena, Dashtestan, village in Bushehr Province, Iran * Sena, Huesca, municipality in Hue ...

in Santa Fe. *

Alonso Rael de Aguilar Alonso Rael de Aguilar was a high-ranking soldier under Diego de Vargas, serving as Secretary of State and War. Born in February 1661 in Lorca, Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the au ...

– Secretary of Government and War for de VargasChávez, Fray Angélico; ''Origins of New Mexico families: a genealogy of the Spanish colonial period''. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1992. *

Juan de Ulibarrí Juan de Ulibarrí or Uribarrí (1670-1716) was a Spanish or Criollo soldier and explorer who lived in New Mexico. In 1706 he led an expedition to El Cuartelejo on the Great Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Ulibarrí's diary survives ...

– soldier and explorer of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

*Captain Don Fernando Durán y Chaves (b. 1651, d. Bet. 1712 - 1716) or more detailed treatment see "El Palacio", Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 103-121.Some emendations in this present work -"Origins of New Mexico Families" are the result of more data found.

References

Citations

Sources