Francisco Martínez de Baeza was the colonial governor 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, Ke ...

from November 1634 to 18 April 1637. He was heavily criticized for rejecting the participation of Franciscan missions in the territory, for impeding the conversion of indigenous people to Christianity, and for exploiting the labor of these people.

Biography

Although the time and place of his birth are unknown, it is believed that he was born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Spain. He was appointed governor of Spain's New Mexico colony and installed in that office in late November 1634, succeeding Francisco de la Mora y Ceballos. He used the settlers and, especially, the native population as labor, making this activity his main function. Once in power, he organized a series of commercial companies, paying little attention to his duties as governor in the province, such as that of maintaining peace between settlers and Native Americans. Martínez de Baeza forced the Amerindians to gather

pine nuts Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trade ...

and trade in manufactured goodsJohn, Elizabeth Ann Harper (Second edition, 1996)
Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds: The Confrontation of Indians, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 1540–1795
University of Oklahoma Press. Page 84. (specifically in furs, fabrics, and cotton blankets), which were manufactured by Native Americans (including

Puebloans 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, Z ...

) in his workshops in Santa Fe. Many of these Native Americans (except the Pueblos) were prisoners of enemy tribes captured by the Spaniards. The lack of cotton forced to many of the inhabitants of some Native villages to negotiate with the people of other Native villages to get the cotton needed to meet the demand. Workers very little charged for their producction. The Native Americans had to work every day, including even on holidays. At the end of 1636, the governor already had a great amount of products to sell, so he was able to send nine wagons loaded with his production to the commercial fairs of Southern New Spain, in order to obtain a good economic benefit.The official history of New Mexico: Francisco Martínez de Baeza
Published by Rick Hendricks. Retrieved 29 December 2011, to 1:14 pm. Martínez de Baeza took little interest in the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missions, making it difficult for them to convert

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

to Christianity. Nor did he pay attention to Native American attacks against the missionaries, and as a result he was denounceds by the Franciscans. On 24 September 1636, a Franciscan custodian, Fray Cristóbal de Quirós, explained to Martínez de Baeza his decision to include several

catholic missions Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...

in Zuni lands and asked for escorts to accompany and defend the missionariers from possible external attacks. However, Martínez de Baeza rejected the demand, under the pretext that Quirós was not asking it respectfully. Later, the custodian explained him that the necessary

encomiendas The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

and tributes of the Zuni lands had already been approved to pay for the escorts. However, Baeza asked Quirós to show him some evidence so he would know what he was saying was true, because he knew that the Franciscans had decided that conversion to Christianity should to be done in the apostolic way, by persuasion, and never using military force. In November 1636, De Quirós wrote numerous letters to the Viceroy, in which he criticized Baeza. Also Fray Antonio de Ibargaray, sent some critical letters against him. Meanwhile, Martínez de Baeza wrote a series of reports containing false information about certain individuals of the clergy in order to discredit them in the eyes of the viceroy. His governorship ended on 18 April 1637, leaving the colony in hands of Luis de Rosas.

Last years

On 11 December 1639, in Mexico City, Martínez de Baeza signed his last testament, in the which he handed over fifty

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

to the "Cofradía del Santísimo Sacramento" (Brotherhood of the Holy Sacrament) of the parish of San Marcos in Seville, and other money to cover any debts that he apparently had with merchants from that city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baeza, Francisco Martinez de People from Seville Colonial governors of Santa Fe de Nuevo México